June 2015

ESSENTIALS OF
AUTOMATED CONTROL PANEL DESIGN
A Control Design Essentials Guide, by the editors of Control Design

About the Control Design Essentials Series

The mission of the Control Design Essentials series is to provide industrial machinery designers
with an up-to-date, top-level understanding of a range of key machine automation topics.
Our intent is to present essential engineering concepts in a practical, non-commercial fashion,
together with a review of the latest technology and marketplace driversall in a form factor
well suited for onscreen consumption. We hope you find this edition useful. Check in at
ControlDesign.com/Essentials for other installments in the series.
The Control Design Editorial Team

This Control Design Essentials

guide made possible by EPLAN
Software & Services. See page 6
for more information on EPLANs
full suite of integrated computer-
aided engineering design tools.
A LOOK AT THE BENEFITS OF A VALUE-ADDED CHAIN
FOR CONTROL PANEL DESIGN & MANUFACTURING

F
rom a single control panel design to comprehensive,
mission-critical systems, computer-aided engineer-
ing (CAE) applications have enjoyed wide-scale use
over the past three decades. Whether CAE is used for design
automation, multidisciplinary design optimization, thermal
analysis or simulation, electrical and mechanical engineers
have long benefited from its use through greater efficiency
and more repeatable, accurate and optimized designs.
In many facilities today, the design, manufacturing and
logistic phases of control panel design are optimized indi-
vidually. However, the fourth industrial revolution, Indus-
try 4.0 (Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)) , is expand-
ing the reach of todays advanced CAE tools while tying
together the value-added chain in the factory to value-
adding networks outside the factory.
Todays CAE is integrating the value-added chain from
sales and planning to engineering and manufacturing,
establishing and automating efficient, cost-effective pro-
cesses and workf low with maximum f lexibility and in-
creased productivity. All phases of the value-added chain
are becoming smarter and working more intelligently.
The first three industrial revolutionsuse of water/ resource usage and efficiency is the heart of Industry 4.0. bine advanced CAE with modular components and auto-
steam power (18th century), use of electricity (19th cen- As the use and understanding of cloud computing and mated control panel design and manufacture is available,
tury) and use of computers (20th century)greatly ad- the IIoT technology grows, so does the smart factory. In affordable and repeatable. This includes all aspects, from
vanced industrial applications, mass production of goods the smart factory, everything is connectednot just the the planning, the electrical design and the mechanical
and automation of production. The digitization of pro- machines, but the corporate information systems, the hu- mounting layout to manual or automated production, as-
duction to maximize f lexibility and the optimization of mans who rely on them and other smart factories. Com- sembly and commissioning at the customer site.
CONTROL PANELS 4.0 WORKFLOW

A
dvanced CAE can improve workf low during development, planning and design
of a control panel. When the order is received, integrated planning and project
management can then feed the customers control panel requirements to engi-
neering who in turn feed consistent data to production.
Even with a batch size of one control panel, the new CAE technology automates the work-
flow across the complete smart-factory supply chain. Automation of these planning, routing,
control-cabinet-engineering and 3D-visualization functions feeds the integrated factory floor.
Customers are demanding quick delivery, customized designs and high-quality hardware and
documentation. They want it all at the lowest price. A quantity of one or small lot sizes add to the
challenges of efficient manufacturing. Because of this, it is necessary to improve process quality
by restructuring the data workflows in the value-added supply chain in product development and
design through manufacture and delivery. Continuity and consistency of data and systems start-
ing with engineering, technical order preparation, material logistics, production and assembly
and continuing through setup and commissioning at the customer site is the goal.
A CAE-improved workflow and business processes can also create productivity gains by
integrating the design approach. This integration allows parallel yet well-coordinated work-
flow. For example, instead of the engineers working sequentially, integrated automation de-
sign tools within CAE allow electrical, fluid power and process instrumentation engineers
to work simultaneously and share well-controlled data. This integrated and built-in workflow
coordination enables the engineering team to closely collaborate at different sites and with build the cabinet. And as time passes, the service technician can access the latest data when
customers, suppliers and system integrators. necessary. Having accurate data readily available improves quality, and reduces engineering
To ensure this up-to-date data, CAE integration to product data management (PDM) is an and manufacturing times.
important part of workflow from the initial sales through service and maintenance. Having The advanced capabilities of integrated CAE tools not only make the restructured work-
all the data needed ensures the control cabinet is priced correctly, engineers have the appro- flows of individual engineers and collaborative teams more productive, but they can automate
priate information for design and manufacturing has the parts list and drawings necessary to elements of the design process itself.
CONTROL PANELS 4.0 DESIGN
T
he use of CAE for control panel design and manu-
facture in the Industry 4.0 era removes engineering
from its isolated island. With Industry 4.0, engineer-
ing is digitally connected to planning, purchasing, manufac-
turing and logistics. If data, such as a bill of materials or de-
tail drawings are revised, everything downstream is updated,
as well. All information is shared, in real time, with fewer
opportunities for errors and with easier changes.
In cases where control panel design originates from an iso-
lated engineering island, a bill of materials document is cre-
ated and delivered to purchasing, which then purchases the
hardware based on the document. The manufacturing floor
and shipping use the same document with possibly obsolete
information unless carefully controlled and revised.
CAE using the Industry 4.0 approach, with end-to-end
engineering tools, provides consistent standardization
across systems. Whether at the factory, at a remote site or
at a sister factory, users can select, place and connect hard-
ware, components and wires in to a schematic and quickly
create a panel layout using a predefined and automated
design process. Integration of these engineering tools and
an automated design process with ERP also improves effi-
ciencies. For example, as the components are selected, de-
livery time and product availability can be checked along
with cost, installation, assembly and wiring times.
Legacy CAD tools typically require manual entry of
data, cross-referencing and error-checking by the design
engineer every time a new design is created. With the in-
evitable customer-requested modifications, this can be
very time-consuming, low value
work. Just changing a motor size
or contactor could change the
power distribution, safety contac-
tor, I/O, panel layout or parts list.
With CAE using components
and structures designed, tested
and certified by component man-
ufacturers in advance, design
moves quickly. Web-based reposi-
tories of manuals, subassemblies,
part drawings, part images and
configurable intelligent devices
make selection of the standard,
correct components a quick pro-
cess. If design work typically re-
quires a variety of modifications
to the same product or design, the ability to archive and STANDARDS ARE CREATED ONCE
reuse standard, certified data provides significant effi- IN HIGH QUALITY.
ciency improvements. Sets of rules secure the know-how at a central location.
Although the standard components and structures must Automation of the documentation reduces the lead
be defined in advance, the effort pays off through the abil- times and labor considerably.
ity to automate the electrical engineering of more than Automated mechanical engineering enables 3D assembly.
50% of the control-panel design. The design guidelines The automation of the panel-layout creation is another time
created in the process ensure maximum transparency and saver. Following defined rules built in to the CAE tool and us-
consistent design and quality in the schematics. Electrical ing additional rules and standards created by the user reduces
or f luid schematics can thus be generated automatically at lead times and labor involved with panel-layout design. The
the click of a button. Control-panel design firms benefit benefits of advanced CAE extend to manufacturing, reducing
from this automation strategy in several ways: manufacturing costs and boosting productivity.
CONTROL PANEL 4.0 MACHINING
W
ith the design finalized, the CAE system auto-
matically generates a complete electrical and
mechanical drawing package for manufactur-
ing that includes all wiring diagrams, bill of materials and
assembly diagrams, and it can even generate automated
setups for custom enclosures, back panel drilling and wire
processing.
Digitization of the value chain allows multiple compa-
nies to work together to automate repeating processes and
manufacturing, and it enables revision of data on the fly.
With CAE systems, control-panel design and manufac-
ture proceeds quickly and accurately due to the integrated
value-added chain.
As work progresses, data (assembly drawings, detail draw-
ings, bill of materials and automated setups) is automati-
cally updated in real time across the value-chain. Changes
are seamlessly communicated to the entire workflow partici-
pants so last-minute changes are possible and are automati-
cally incorporated using a variety of intelligent file formats
such as smart PDFs and other electronic file methods.
Automation is advanced yet simplified by feeding au-
tomatically generated and up-to-date setups to CNC pro-
cessing equipment, machining centers or wire processing
machines both locally and at external suppliers. In most
control-panel design and fabrication shops, it is com-
mon to manually lay out and cut the pushbutton, HMI
and enclosure-mounted devices and then manually drill
or cut the holes, which can be very time-consuming and
loud. The same is true for panel layouts. All the parts must
be placed on the bland back panel per the panel layout
and the holes marked and drilled, which is another time-
consuming process.
With CAE, not only can the layouts be automatically
generated, the CNC setup for custom enclosures, enclo-
sure cutouts and panel drill programs, and wire processing
machines feed, cut, strip and trim schedules can be auto-
matically created, as well. Connecting with a smart-factory
CNC shop makes this possible. Whether it is a single cus-
tom panel or a batch of 1,000, significant time is saved dur-
ing enclosure manufacturing and panel assembly.
The project lifecycle for advanced CAE and Industry 4.0
control-panel design will only get better. An improved and
integrated workflow including project development, plan-
ning, design, purchasing and manufacture will reduce costs
and boost productivity across this value chain. Applying this
advanced computer-aided design to engineering and manu-
facturing can automate processes from design of power dis-
tribution, communication networks, I/O and panel layouts
to a significant portion of control-panel manufacturing such
as enclosure modifications, panel layouts, cable runs and
wire routing.
MADE POSSIBLE BY
This Control Design Essentials guide
was made possible by EPLAN Software
& Services, a 30-year-old process
consultancy and provider of application
softwaredesigned to reduce configuration
time and engineering costs. EPLAN advises
companies on process optimization,
develops software-based engineering
solutions for mechatronics, and implements
tailored CAD, PDM, PLM and ERP interfaces
to accelerate product development
processes and reduce engineering costs.

Start here to learn more about EPLANs

data-driven approach to automation
engineering.