EPLAN Software & Services showcased at Automation Fair 2010

Farmington Hills, Michigan – EPLAN Software & Services received a large amount of attention at Rockwell Automation’s Automation Fair 2010 — welcoming around 1,000 attendants to their booth during the two day event in Orlando, Florida. There, visitors saw the highlights of EPLAN’s Version 2.0 upgrade, learned about the best practices of EPLAN customers, experienced a new way to troubleshoot on the shop floor, and explored an NC machine using EPLAN project data for manufacturing enclosures.

A focal point at EPLAN’s exhibit this year was their showcase of best practice examples among companies who had already implemented and integrated EPLAN with their existing systems. One example illustrated how Curt G. Joa, Inc., a world leader in machinery for the production of disposable products, reduced design time by 71% after implementing EPLAN as part of their engineering process. The Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin based machine builder also achieved error-free reports, greater consistency in visual design, and a nearly complete elimination of design errors. Another company, INP North America, Inc. of Alpharetta, Georgia specializing in international engineering and services for industrial automation, engineering processes, instrumentation and electrical engineering drastically improved and expanded their client offerings. After replacing their legacy system with EPLAN they were able to quote and handle projects that had more demanding size and time requirements. This added capacity afforded by EPLAN allowed the company to adapt existing French electrical designs to U.S. nuclear industry standards for the furnaces and adjacent equipment at the Mixed Oxide (MOX) Fuel Fabrication Facility in Aiken, South Carolina.

Another major attraction at the EPLAN booth was the introduction of the Version 2.0, the company’s biggest upgrade since the unveiling of the EPLAN Platform in 2006. The latest release boasts over 1,000 new and enhanced features to make customers’ engineering even more efficient, more precise and more integrated. For example, with the new Pro Panel module, users can now quickly and easily create drawings and production documentation of panel layouts with associated 3D views. The Pro Panel module is fully integrated into the EPLAN Platform offering customers greater control and flexibility to make optimum use of the available mounting space. The result is substantial quality, cost and efficiency gains in their collaborative product development process.

During the Fair, EPLAN presented their solution for equipment maintenance using a portable digital assistance (PDA) device. The demonstration showed how easy it is to troubleshoot on the manufacturing floor by uploading EPLAN project PDFs on an iPadTM, allowing for quick and mobile difficulty assessment and resolution.

Booth visitors also had the opportunity to view an NC machine with an interface to the EPLAN Platform. The Perforex machine, developed by EPLAN partner Kiesling, relies on an automatic transfer of production data from the EPLAN Platform which manages schematic design, lists and manufacturing documentation generation, parts data integration, and automatic reports. The Perforex is a key part in the design and manufacturing of mounting panels and enclosures that meet specific customer requirements. Once all of the necessary data is collected from the EPLAN Platform the Perforex drills, taps and mills holes and features that control panel builders need with unrivaled speed and precision.

EPLAN also illustrated the effectiveness and efficiency of their Data Portal, a web-based manufacturers’ parts library, by selecting Rockwell Automation products from the Portal during schematic design in a technical session titled Integrating Electrical Design and PLC Programming. During the session, EPLAN also demonstrated the fast and reliable exchange of controls data between EPLAN and the RSLogix 5000 through the RSLogix Architect software products. The bi-directional interface helps manufacturers accelerate time to production, speed startup and improve quality of controls data. The session was a popular event drawing a standing-room-only audience of over 100 two days in a row.