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Topics

Digital – from Head to Toe

For equipment manufacturers to perform their core business optimally, a particularly high degree of efficiency is required from all engineering processes. In the event of order peaks, outsourcing sub-processes can be a good option. For this partnership to be successful, the supplier needs a high degree of technical expertise, and data transfer must be seamless. The WAGO solution offers the necessary data consistency along the value chain.

A look at day-to-day operations in production quickly reveals the great challenges that control cabinet manufacturers must constantly meet. These include customer requirements that can change from one day to the next, and order peaks that are difficult to plan for. The ongoing skills shortage is another problem for these companies. “In these circumstances, good partners are incredibly important,” says Steffen Winther from the Market Management Engineering Services department at WAGO.

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Planning with the Smart Designer from WAGO:

With the Smart Designer from WAGO, system designers who, for example, design circuits for packing machines, can rely on an efficient and intuitive software tool: Configuration starts as soon as the tool is started through the WAGO website or EPLAN. The most current product information is always available to users online – including data sheets and product images, as well as downloads of CAE and CAD data. With just a few mouse clicks, designers can select interface terminal strips and I/O modules, which can then be assembled later in a way that is affordable, space-saving, and functional. An automated plausibility check guarantees that the DIN-rail assembly design is error-free. Designs are also exported – including parts lists, photos of the products used, and a 3D model – and orders are sent to WAGO.

Winther describes the situation as follows: “Every planning tool speaks its own language. If our customers use a CAE system for electronic planning – EPLAN or WSCAD for example – we have go in blind to try to understand this data and work with it.” After all, interface problems or data discontinuity quickly make the extended workbench unprofitable for customers. With WAGO, customers can rely on high-quality CAE product data and CAE macros.

“Customers can start working on the mechanical structure directly via an interface to the CAD tool,” explains Winther. “Or we handle that for them.” It’s important for the planning to function as simply as possible. WAGO’s Smart Designer configuration software allows planned terminal strips to be constructed easily. Once assembly is complete, the data can be conveniently transferred to the WAGO Smart Printer thermal transfer printer. It works – no matter the data source. “In the WAGO system, everything fits together,” explains Winther. Customers can outsource process steps at any time, process the partial results further themselves or get involved in the process with their own data. “If necessary, the designer can request a completely assembled rail from WAGO directly from the Smart Designer after the planning stage by just following an HTML link,” says Winther.

Transparency instead of a Black Box

For most, what happens once an order arrives at WAGO is no more than a big black box: Yet what they see as a black box is, to WAGO, a glass box. Production at the Minden company is completely software-based and transparent from start to finish – at least, it is for every employee who needs access to the ordering and production processes.

Computer-based systems were introduced early into the product development process at WAGO; they are used in manufacturing and for product data management. This is because a rapidly increasing product range, the competitive market, and the company’s global presence place huge demands on the development and production departments.

Digital – from Head to Toe

Planning with the Smart Designer from WAGO:

Digitized Ordering Process: Step 1:

Transparency instead of a Black Box