Oerlikon AG

Spare parts catalogs with integrated schematics

AC Automation GmbH & Co. KG is a specialist provider of automation systems. The Augsburg-based company was founded in 2011, when the Atlantic C Group took over Autefa filaments which is part of the Oerlikon Group. The team of AC-Automation includes automation specialists, logistics experts and designers, who have experience in projects implemented worldwide.

Removal and handling units, automatic transport systems, warehouse automation with real-time simulation, shelving operations these are all technologies in which AC-Automation boasts extensive know-how and expertise. In the first year of the affiliation to the Atlantic C Group, the company was able to record incoming orders from India, China, Korea and Israel worth over 30 million Euro. Since spring 2012 AC-Automation has been operating a spare parts catalog system based on PARTS-PUBLISHER from Docware which enables it to create machine- specific catalogs - in paper format, on CD and on the Internet.

EPLAN Integration

A special requirement, which ACAutomation made of PARTS-PUBLISHER, was the professional integration of circuit diagrams in the spare parts catalog. A spare parts catalog system, which supports ”mechanics“ and ”electronics“ equally, was desired. In addition to spare parts research and ordering, effective troubleshooting and signal monitoring in circuit diagrams should also be possible. The integration of circuit diagrams in the spare parts catalogs should be automated to a large extent, without major additional work and expenditure in the catalog creation.

The solution

As an interface developed jointly by EPLAN and Docware exists, which connects PARTS-PUBLISHER and EPLAN P8, a fully automated solution was implemented for the desired integration of circuit diagrams in the catalog system (paper, CD, Internet), without major work and expenditure. The interface works as a plug-in at the EPLAN system. Circuit diagrams and components, as well as information about their representation and ordering data, are exported in a specific format from EPLAN and imported to the PARTS-PUBLISHER workbench, where they directly enter the automated catalog creation. With just a few mouse clicks an information platform, which supports mechanics and electrical systems, is created. Mechanical parts and circuit diagrams are partially linked. Navigation is effected via the circuit diagram directory, component names and interactive circuit diagrams. Mechanical and electrical components can be ordered directly from the catalog via a common shopping cart.

The circuit diagram viewer

• Display of data sheets like in the parts catalog

• Navigation via drawing directory or component ID

• Hotspots on the data sheets for components and termination points

• Reference, hyperlinks, signal monitoring (display of all linked elements for the selected components, e.g. superordinate level, contacts, alternative representation locations)

• Customised dialogue for searching for components

• Attribute (display of additional information and products or parts lists for the individual components)

• Link between mechanics and electrical systems (enables user to skip between mechanical spare parts catalog and circuit diagram; requirement is the existence of the material number in the circuit diagram, which functions as link information)

• Multilingual (circuit diagrams can be imported in different languages; the changeover is made via the database language)

Benefits

• ”All-round information and ordering system“ for service technicians, which covers mechanics and electrical systems

• Fully automated acceptance of electrical projects in the spare parts catalog

• Complete integration in the mechanical spare parts catalog

• Common ordering system for mechanics and electrical systems

• Comfortable support when troubleshooting incl. signal monitoring

• Complete integration of documentation in a common system

“The fact that our PARTS-PUBLISHER catalogs support mechanics, documentation and electrical systems is rated very positively by our customers and service technicians. In particular, the option of signal monitoring via several drawings is very popular. It is an excellent aid for eliminating electrical malfunctions.“

Claus Blank, Construction, AC-Automation & Co. KG