Paper is patient, as the saying goes. Paper is a no-go in digital times, say Eplan and Rittal. With the development of Rittal ePocket, a new digital circuit diagram, the sister companies are cleaning up their act and giving digital data on the control cabinet the right of way. The much-used paper documentation has thus become obsolete.
“With the new ePocket, our customers are taking a step toward benefiting from data quality in applications that continue to grow in operations and service.”
- Uwe Scharf, Managing Director Business Units and Marketing
If all project data, such as circuit diagrams, maintenance plans, certificates, etc. of a machine or plant are available digitally, changes can be directly fed back into the project and possible downtimes can be reduced to a minimum.
Project access via the Eplan Cloud
To make this workflow work, each control cabinet of the VX25, VX SE, AX and KX series will in future have its own “place” in the Eplan Cloud. Via a QR code on the control cabinet, the owner of the ePocket can access the machine and plant documentation including the digital twin in the Eplan Cloud. The benefit increases even more if he later gives other players an insight into the current documentation. For employees in service and maintenance, for example, this means that they can easily access the circuit diagrams directly at the plant via smartphone or tablet using the integrated Eplan eView. In the event of a repair, this ensures that the diagrams can be found quickly and that faults can be rectified quickly.
This digital process from schematic creation to maintenance benefits companies threefold: faults are eliminated more quickly and repeated printouts of sometimes 500 or more pages of documentation are saved — a clear time advantage. The environment also benefits from the reduction in CO2 emissions caused by the elimination of paper. Last but not least, the risk of fire is reduced if no paper is stored inside the control cabinet.
Digital twin in operation
From now on, the digital twin accompanies the real control cabinet throughout its entire life cycle. With the digital circuit diagram pocket, the machine and plant documentation is always up-to-date and available from any device, regardless of location, even when the plant is in operation. “We are intensifying our offerings for ‘Operations’ because the opportunities for our customers and the industry are clear,” explains Scharf: “Tracking options and information content of the data are continuously increasing. Operators, planners, switchgear constructors and maintenance personnel thus remain in contact with each other and in business even when the plants are in operation.”
