Kellenberger cuts time taken to generate customer-specific schematics by around 90%
Kellenberger develops and produces numerically-controlled precision grinding machines and systems for sectors such as automotive, medical devices and industrial machinery. The Swiss-based manufacturer recently introduced Zuken’s E3.series to automate the generation of schematics for customer-specific machine configurations, cutting the time taken by more than 90%.
They also significantly simplified the machine configuration process through the introduction of options and variants.
Results
“We adopted an approach that relies on the definition of individual packages that combine to represent the different configurations. These packages are represented in the graphic feature tree of E3.schematics, and it is straightforward to select and combine these elements. We deliberately limited our use of Boolean algebra in cases where single packages mutually exclude each other.”
With this approach it is now possible to select an individual configuration of the newly developed machine type with a single mouse click. The time savings enabled by the new method are substantial: Surer estimates that the time required to filter an individual schematic configuration can be reduced by up to 90%: from 4-8 hours to around 5-30 minutes. This is achieved mainly due to the fact that the engineer no longer has to navigate through numerous schematics sheets.
The company’s decision to introduce E3.series from Zuken offers not only sizeable advances in generic usability and functionality inherent in the latest ECAD systems, it also created the opportunity to automate the generation of individual schematic configurations. This capability is provided by the object- oriented architecture of E3.series that enables options and variants to be supported within the feature tree of an over-defined schematic, from which they can be selected with the click of a mouse. The method was defined, tested and refined during the development of a new machine type whose electrical equipment, including options and variants, was fully represented in E3.series.
The newly developed configuration logic is now being transferred to Kellenberger’s complete machine portfolio. To make life even easier in future, the engineers are working on a configurator that allows selection of customized electrical documentation for every supported configuration. To make this happen, all schematics developed on the legacy system need to be converted into E3.series format, using Zuken tools that make the conversion a largely automated process.
It now possible to select an individual configuration of the newly developed machine type with a single mouse click. The time savings enabled by the new method are substantial: Surer estimates that the time required to filter an individual schematic configuration can be reduced by up to 90%: from 4-8 hours to around 5-30 minutes.
With E3.series it is now possible to filter an individual schematic for any customer specific machine configurations, resulting in a reduction from 4-8 hours to around 5-30 minutes.
