Founded in 1978, GFR - Gesellschaft für Regelungstechnik und Energieeinsparung mbH - is today, with a staff of over 250, one of the leading suppliers of building automation in Germany and Europe. With a range of branches, subsidiaries and partner companies, GFR develops and markets innovative system solutions throughout the world - from planning through construction to long-term operation and optimisation of modern building automation systems. Product lines that adapt to growing demands guarantee permanent security of investment for GFR‘s clients.
Faster AND better
The outstanding feature of GFR solutions is their consistency. For this reason the engineering group‘s decision fell on AUCOTEC. Instead of manual transfer from lists and separate graphics, GFR‘s own project management tool WEBPROJECT and the CAE software ELCAD for technical documentation are so closely linked that the workflow is one hundred per cent consistent. „In that way we automated the creation of circuit diagrams, significantly reduced processing times and improved the quality of the process as a whole,“ explains GFR‘s product manager for WEBPROJECT.
The interface between WEBPROJECT and ELCAD was gradually expanded. To begin with, the relevant circuit diagram templates, trade data and target page data were integrated.
Besides initial time benefits, this also resulted in a better view of VDI-control diagrams and circuit diagrams, because the standard-compliant project structure is always transferred at the same time. In the second stage, GFR was also able to transfer the configuration of the DIGICONTROL modular building automation system into the CAE. „AUCOTEC‘s support was always highly competent and successful, the software has optimal adaptation capability,“ according to reports by GFR‘s product management.
Complete package: Circuit diagrams at the press of a button
„What is new right now is that we can pass the complete preconfiguration, layout, addressing and assignment of the different automation modules to the automation station software and to ELCAD.“ The complete data transfer including module labelling enables a workflow that encompasses design and planning through to cabinet assembly. „Of course we use this complete package ourselves, but also resell it,“ says the product manager.
His conclusion: „Any customer who has entered information into WEBPROJECT just once can pass that information over to subsequent processes without further processing and without transmission errors. Electrical engineering documentation is there virtually at the press of a button.“ With this combination, planners, builders and operators are liberated from all the routine work that makes I&C Design a time-consuming, complicated and laborious task.
