Connected: Digital engineering of the future

EPLAN and CIDEON in Hanover

With the slogan “Connectivity for your digital engineering” EPLAN is presenting at Hannover Messe innovative joint use cases with the companies PTC and Lenze that will amaze visitors. The PTC example shows an augmented reality application that supplies service technicians with important MCAD and ECAD data via tablet computer. With Lenze, a new cloud service has been developed for the further utilisation of engineering data in the area of asset management. Last but not least, EPLAN is also taking a first important step in bringing the EPLAN Project to the cloud. “Copycats” are explicitly welcome. Monheim, Germany, 9 April 2018 – With a newly designed stand covering 420 square metres and a central focus on connectivity and collaboration, the solutions provider EPLAN will be presenting the latest engineering trends and complementary solutions based on cloud technology that originate from the EPLAN Platform in the upcoming Version 2.8. This time around, augmented reality technology will be used in the innovative stand design in Hanover. Visitors can use tablets in the upstairs gallery to experience an additional virtual dimension. Various trendsetting use cases are all highlighting one theme: networked solutions that bring life to the topic of Industry 4.0. EPLAN and CIDEON are collaborating with industry partners such as PTC and Lenze to advance customer applications with the help of state-of-the-art technologies including augmented reality and the cloud. Cideon and SAP will be alternating presenting their solutions for SAP PLM at the trade show stand in Hall 6 and at the SAP stand in Hall 7. EPLAN is additionally present at the eCl@ss and Smart FactoryKL stand in Hall 8, and will be jointly presenting innovative 4.0 concepts with Phoenix Contact and Rittal as regards “Smart Engineering and Production 4.0”, also in Hall 8.

Mechatronic Engineering 4.0

Using the PTC ThingWorx augmented reality platform, engineering components from the digital construction of a machine in the 3D MCAD model are combined with the corresponding EPLAN ECAD schematics. All that is needed is a tablet computer: touching an electro-mechanical component on the screen that is linked to a physical object automatically opens the EPLAN documentation. This documentation shows for example a motor within the ECAD schematics, with all of its electrical parameters and logical dependencies. Touching another system component is all that is needed to switch back to the MCAD view. In the future, the EPLAN Project will deliver the digital database directly from the cloud. Device data can be incorporated through the EPLAN Data Portal.

Heading to the cloud

“EPLAN already relies on several cloud-based engineering tools,” says EPLAN Managing Director Haluk Menderes. “With an in-house solution based on Microsoft Azure, we’re taking an important first step towards bringing the EPLAN Project to the cloud.” The benefits of an increased focus on cloud solutions are obvious to Menderes: “Users always have secure access to the most up-to-date data sets in the cloud – at any time, cross-regionally and interdepartmentally, regardless of device. This results in measurable time savings and a remarkable increase of efficiency in engineering.” The new possibilities of the cloud also open up innovative opportunities for the automation specialists at Lenze to automatically fill its own cloud application with components. The API supplied by EPLAN transfers relevant machine components (assets) from the cloud-based EPLAN Project in a structured manner for asset management. Aside from saving time, it also eliminates erroneous assignments for the components.

Preview: EPLAN Cogineer Advanced

At the 2018 Hannover Messe, EPLAN will also be presenting a first look at the next expansion stage for EPLAN Cogineer – with Cogineer Advanced, EPLAN will be offering the automation software exclusively as a cloud solution (Software as a Service). The two functional areas, Designer and Project Builder, will therefore solely be available as cloud-based solutions with separate licenses. Data security is naturally assured: user rights for Designer, in which the rule sets and macros for automatic schematic creation are defined, can be clearly delineated through a new Rights Management function.

EPLAN Data Portal: Around one million monthly downloads

Since the SPS IPC Drives, 18 new manufacturers have been integrated into EPLAN Data Portal – the total number of participating companies has thus increased to 224. The number of monthly downloads is even more impressive, which has levelled out at about one million. Moreover, the number of users in the portal is quite remarkable: more than 170,000 users are registered and, with about 820,000 device data, every one of them can quickly find the appropriate component for their projects. ©EPLAN, April 2018