Digitalized and automated cabinet building
Competitive strength through digitalized and automated processes
Cabinet building offers many tools to comprehensively solve the challenges in the manufacturing process. Consistent data flows and automated processes make it possible to implement projects much more efficiently, flexibly and transparently.
Digitalization as a strategy for resilient cabinet building
New, data-based technologies offer many advantages in cabinet building. They simplify and speed up processes, especially in production, and make them secure and traceable.
Even last-minute adjustments can be implemented securely and quickly, as the engineering data is automatically incorporated into all relevant processes.
Automated cabinet building thus forms the perfect basis for digitally networking interdisciplinary processes and parallelizing tasks such as work preparation. This can eliminate or significantly reduce the most time-consuming processes in cabinet building, namely:
- Reading printed circuit diagrams
- Manual wire processing
The result is higher productivity in the same area with consistently top quality and reduced project costs, even for batch size 1.
Digital Lean Wiring (DLW) Virtual wiring
If the assembly and connection information is known ahead of time, the cables can be prefabricated from start to finish by machine. The digital data, either from ECAD or DLW documentation, is transferred directly to the wire assembly machines. Time-consuming and error-prone manual data entry is eliminated.
Machines produce individual wires, wire bundles and wire harnesses between 30 % and 80 % faster than would even be remotely possible by hand – with consistently high quality. The fully prepared wire bundles can be sorted so that they are prepared for wiring in an assembly-optimized order. This saves time, as the wiring technician does not have to change tools as often.
The technician gains additional time because of the printed marking of the wires or the labeled tube already defines the connection source and destination. It is no longer necessary to search for this information in the circuit diagrams.
With automation, wires are perfectly prefabricated in a fraction of the time
If the assembly and connection information is known ahead of time, the cables can be prefabricated from start to finish by machine. The digital data, either from ECAD or DLW documentation, is transferred directly to the wire assembly machines. Time-consuming and error-prone manual data entry is eliminated.
Machines produce individual wires, wire bundles and wire harnesses between 30 % and 80 % faster than would even be remotely possible by hand – with consistently high quality. The fully prepared wire bundles can be sorted so that they are prepared for wiring in an assembly-optimized order. This saves time, as the wiring technician does not have to change tools as often.
The technician gains additional time because of the printed marking of the wires or the labeled tube already defines the connection source and destination. It is no longer necessary to search for this information in the circuit diagrams.
Smart services for virtual ad hoc on-site support
SMART CABINET BUILDING is a joint initiative of the following companies: Weidmüller, Komax, Zuken, Armbruster Engineering and Steinhauer. Together, they are providing holistic solutions for fully digitalized and automated cabinet building. They are achieving this by networking their technologies and expertise across companies.
All sub-processes, from engineering, work preparation and procurement to assembly and quality testing, can be executed based on data and with dedicated tools and services.
In 2021, the jury of the specialist publication "SCHALTSCHRANKBAU" presented the SMART CABINET BUILDING initiative with the INNOVATION AWARD 2021.
