How AI is revolutionising engineering
Monheim, Germany, 31 March 2025
The potential inherent in artificial intelligence is huge and it can be effective for the urgently needed increase in growth in industry. However, AI must be appropriately harnessed for industrial applications. EPLAN and Rittal will be pointing the way at the Hannover Messe. AI-driven industrial automation will help companies boost their productivity, for instance by making processes even more efficient – including in mechanical engineering and plant system engineering. The affiliated companies will be demonstrating how AI can help companies forge ahead when industrial and software expertise are combined by way of use cases with their partner Siemens based on Siemens Industrial Copilot and Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.
Sebastian Seitz: “AI allows us to develop tools that reduce the amount of manual work to be completed, to automate recurring processes and to make the workflows for engineers more efficient than ever before.”
“Artificial intelligence will revolutionise the engineering of the future – including automation,” says EPLAN CEO Sebastian Seitz. “We’re taking an active part in advancing this and are combining it with data standards in engineering to offer our customers tangible benefits that accelerate the entire process.” At the Hannover Messe, EPLAN will be presenting a use case based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service with which a mounting plate layout can be generated fully automatically using AI. The selection of the correct control cabinet and/or the assembly plate as well as the cable ducts, DIN rails and other components is also part of the process. The AI generates the appropriate layout at the push of a button and the user then immediately knows which control cabinet is the right fit for which project. The experts at EPLAN estimate that there is potential for time savings in planning and design times of up to 40 per cent. Anyone interested in finding out more can stop by both the EPLAN/Rittal Stand E06 in Hall 11, and at the Microsoft Stand G06 in Hall 17.
A focus on end-to-end integration
EPLAN is working with Siemens on a far-reaching, end-to-end integration that will digitalise and automate the entire engineering process in the future. Siemens Engineering Copilot TIA can already be used to generate blocks of code for programmable logic controllers. The companies will be presenting a showcase at the Hannover Messe in which the Industrial Copilot can make changes in an EPLAN project, but this is just the beginning of what is possible. The ultimate goal is to be able to create customised solutions that take customers’ process to the next level. The integration between the EPLAN Platform and the Siemens TIA Portal is being further strengthened to help achieve this. Furthermore, both partners are working on the standardisation of data models to further improve interoperability and data consistency. This includes the use of administrative shells and digital twins.
“AI allows us to develop tools that reduce the amount of manual work to be completed, to automate recurring processes and to make the workflows for engineers more efficient than ever before,” says Sebastian Seitz. Continuing he emphasises, “It will get even more interesting when AI systems can interact with each other independently and across the board. At that point we will be taking the benefits for our joint customers to a whole new level.” However, barriers must first be cleared and cloud-to-cloud connections created. The right mindset is required here to boost systems’ interconnectivity.
AI-Driven Industrial Automation: EPLAN and Rittal offer specific answers and examples as to how electrical engineers and designers can soon be supported in a new way in their day-to-day work.
EPLAN presents a use case based on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service with which a mounting plate layout can be generated fully automatically using AI.
Time saved – quality increased
EPLAN and Siemens see considerable efficiency gains to be achieved, particularly in the area of automation technology, such as reducing the time needed for planning and design. AI-supported software tools and systems allow developers to simulate a variety of scenarios within just a few minutes that previously would have taken days or even weeks. Aside from the time savings, this also considerably increases the quality of the results. And the goals are ambitious – one idea is to have industrial copilots with what are known as AI agents acting as digital assistants to help engineers to work more efficiently and precisely. They will take over time-consuming routine tasks, thereby enabling development departments to focus on creative and strategic challenges.
AI requires data – standardised data
First-class data is the foundation for all automation, including the use of AI. This challenge can be met with the requirements that EPLAN established years ago with the EPLAN Data Standard (EDS): comprehensively defined, standardised device data. What is clear is that nothing will work without an excellent data foundation. This applies to standardisation, for automation and, ultimately, for the use of AI. Standardisation initiatives such as the Asset Administrator Shell and the ECLASS standard provide the basis to create a uniform database. In addition, decision processes for artificial intelligence must be transparent and comprehensible. “We are working on designing our AI models so that they aren’t perceived as a ‘black box,” but so that they can justify their suggestions and decisions,” Sebastian Seitz says.
