If you spend all day designing automa-tion solutions to help make industry more productive, isn’t it time you did the same for yourself and automated your own work processes to make your design work easier, quicker and more efficient?

Traditional CAD systems have pro-vided a big leap forward down this path, but now a second big leap is available to serious electrical designers, says design engineer, Sagren Govender.

As head of Ecodesign & Automa-tion Ltd, Govender is introducing EPLAN Electric P8 engineering software and ser-vice to Kiwi engineers as the next step in modernising design workflow. He says the advantages of using EPLAN software tools go way beyond the initial design process.

“EPLAN Electric P8 gives you unlimited scope for planning, documenting and man-aging automation projects for machinery and process plants. It not only automates the production of schematics but also the calculation of the necessary wiring informa-tion to determine the optimum cable routes, connecting lengths and bundle diameters for control and switchgear engineering, as well as harness design.”

Govender says the automation of these design parameters flows through into the automatic production of detailed reports based on the wiring diagrams – an integral part of the comprehensive documentation system which automatically provides the data needed for subsequent phases of the project such as production, assembly, com-missioning and service.

“It doesn’t matter who your customer is or where they are in the world. EPLAN gives you the option of designing to different standards such as NFPA, IEC, GOST and GB. You simply select the standard you want and all the symbols are automatically available for that standard so the style and plot-frames are consistently correct.”

He says it is not just professional engi-neers and systems integrators that rely on

EPLAN, but also OEMs that need to get their design innovations to market as quickly as possible.

“At its Auckland base, the world leader in airport baggage, cargo and parcel handling systems, Glidepath, has switched to EPLAN. Glidepath has completed more than 700 projects in over 65 countries around the world and to remain competitive, efficient and deal with project demands, the company now uses EPLAN to automate its electrical design processes.”

This strategic decision by its dedicated electrical controls and software design team followed Glidepath’s success in an airport project in India last year where Ecodesign & Automation produced over 1500 schematic drawings for 21 MCCs and over 100 reports including cable schedules, PLC IO lists and BOM for Glidepath. By cutting design time in half, EPLAN helped complete this project ahead of schedule and under budget, allowing sufficient time for the manufacture, FAT and shipment of the MCCs to India for installation.

Govender says by using EPLAN’s P8 software, Glidepath and other New Zea-land companies including Tetra Pak, Scott Technology, Brightwater Engineering and Compac Sorting, are able to create macros (typical reusable circuits) for motor control, PLC IO and sensing devices to expedite the

design process.These macros contain multiple varia-

bles and, in conjunction with P8 software, designers can use EPLAN’s EEC1 (Engi-neering configuration one) Excel-based software to populate these variables autonomously, and then auto-generate error-free schematic drawings and all re-quired reports.

“High quality data for devices is avail-able from over 120 leading electrical and automation manufacturers for more than 550,000 devices such as PLCs, VSDs, cables and sensors – all download-able from the EPLAN Data Portal. This fingertip availability cuts labour costs,

increases accuracy and contributes signifi-cantly to meeting ever shortening project timeframes.”

Govender says Electric P8 is German-designed and commands over 65 percent of the European market.

“We are here to help New Zealand engineers step up to the world-leading engi-neering design platform. EPLAN will change the way you work, streamline all your design processes and permanently reduce design costs. Everyone we have helped switch to EPLAN enjoys their work more than ever, and no-one wants to go back to the old tech-nology and the way they used to work.”

Ecodesign & Automation is the official distributor for EPLAN and support provider for EPLAN products. The company has a dedicated team of design engineers to help create EPLAN macros, additional Visual Basic applications for design automation, and also offers an electrical and control detail design service using EPLAN’s suite of products.

Automate your electrical design processes with EPLAN

For further information:Ecodesign & AutomationP: 09 262 4394E: info@ecodesign.net.nzW: www.eplannz.com

Ecodesign & Automation engineer, James Disley, uses EPLAN P8 and EEC1 to increase design accuracy and productivity

20 ElectroLink March - April 2016