CADENAS supports Automation Designer Product Data Workflow

Intelligent product data - the basis for efficient engineering

Electrical designers need manufacturer-validated, high-quality technical product data of the components they use for a seamless planning process. The Automation Designer Community Portal, developed by CADENAS GmbH, offers electrical designers access to intelligent product data. Because the Automation Designer Community Portal is seamlessly integrated into various ECAD solutions, the digital twins of well-known manufacturers' components can be embedded into the engineering workflow of electrical engineers, most easily in 4th generation ECAD tools such as NX Electrical Design.

To push this development forward, CADENAS focused on intelligent engineering data at an early stage to enable the digital twin of manufacturer components. For users in the field of electrical engineering, this means convenient online access to high quality, manufacturer-verified product data in addition to component geometry. This engineering data is available independently of ECAD software. Intelligent component data for electrical planning is ready for use inside NX Electrical Design, E³ Zuken and Wscad.

Component manufacturers are the backbone for seamless planning processes

By working with CADENAS, manufacturers of electronic components can provide their customers with intelligent ECAD or planning data that address the specific needs of electrical engineers. The data includes information relevant to electrical engineers like pin/terminal assignments, material master data, attachment points, circuit symbols, various views, technical values, classifications, and part numbers. Electrical designers can insert the required components into their ECAD system with just a few clicks from the Automation Designer Community Portal. When manufacturers work with CADENAS to create a digital product catalog, their components reach 100,000 electrical engineers around the world. These components have intelligent data that can be accessed with little effort, providing a valuable service to Electrical engineers.

Electrical engineers prefer to select products that are available in their engineering environment with just a few clicks and provide all the information needed for project planning. According to CADENAS surveys, about 87% of all downloaded parts data lead to sold products. After the planning phase in the ECAD system or with the release of the design, the components are directly transferred to the bill of materials (BOM) and to the PLM/ERP systems as well (enterprise resource planning). The purchasing department receives all the information necessary for the procurement of these components.

Integrated electrical planning for mechatronic engineering

Automation Designer from Siemens Digital Industries Software enables simultaneous, parallel engineering across all disciplines involved. The basis for this mechatronic engineering approach is a common data model for mechanical, electrical and automation engineering. This results in consistent data between system planning, mechanical CAD, circuit diagrams, PLC hardware configuration, signals and PLC software. The mechatronic data model included in Automation Designer ensures consistency throughout the entire engineering process. As a result, the solution acts as a mechatronic control center and now offers NX Electrical Design. NX Electrical Design is a complete ECAD module that is fully integrated and synchronized with mechanical and automation engineering data.

Electrical Design's integration into NX includes extensive functionality for the creation of circuit diagrams and 3D cabinet design. This data model links the 2D schematic symbols and the corresponding representation in the 3D cabinet. This integration gives electrical planners consistent data at all times and enables them to navigate between the circuit diagram and the control cabinet display.

Product data management in NX Electrical Design

NX Electrical Design manages manufacturer catalogs data within the Reuse Library. Electrical engineers can access intelligent data from the Reuse Library to create a circuit diagram and control cabinet layouts. The Reuse Library can be filled directly from the Automation Designer Community Portal. The seamless integration into the NX Electrical Design interface makes it easy for electrical engineers to find electrical components and data from the Automation Designer Community Portal and insert them into the Reuse Library.

Find accurate product data through the Automation Designer Community Portal

Users can access the Automation Designer Community Portal through their web browser. The online Automation Designer Portal is based on CADENAS' PARTcommunity technology.  Electrical engineers start from an overview of all available manufacturer catalogs. They can find and select electrical components using search and filter functions. The user can then transfer This selection to the NX Reuse Library. The standard ECLASS Advanced classification structure is used for the exchange of intelligent engineering data from the manufacturer catalogs.

Further information about the technology for Electronic Product Catalogs is available at: www.cadenas.de/en/ecatalogsolutions

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