The solutions and products of Siemens‘ Medium-Voltage Division - air- or gas-insulated substations for use anywhere in the world - are in widespread use worldwide. Their main task is safe and economical energy distribution. Since the technical requirements and demands for reliable energy supply have been increasing for years, as has the complexity of the coordinated Siemens systems, the company decided to switch from a document-oriented E-CAE tool to the library-based platform Engineering Base (EB).
Data centricity optimizes processes
„We wanted a system that would allow us to optimize processes and automate them more. The evaluation was completely open, but we chose AUCOTEC software again, also because we trust each other as long-term partners,“ says Andrea Forster, who as an industrial technologist knows EB‘s predecessors well and was already involved in the introduction of EB in the High-Voltage Division of Siemens Energy. In 2019, she was brought in as an expert for the system change to medium voltage. Today, she trains EB power users and is THE contact person there for handling the platform. EB‘s spectrum in substation planning ranges from single line to switching documents, cabinet layouting and routing. „With EB, we not only save on the extra layout tool, but can also seamlessly calculate the wire length in EB. That saves material and money,“ says Forster.
EB automated
„EB‘s cross-divisional operational capability offers the opportunity to standardize processes, create synergies and thus increases quality,“ the industrial technologist is pleased to say and explains that virtually all engineering processes are analysed in order to exploit EB‘s full potential. For example, single-line diagrams or floor cutouts can be created automatically based on the project structure and devices used. In addition, the engineering team is working on modularizing its standard circuit diagrams in order to best benefit from EB‘s Advanced Typical Manager (ATM) and also to automate circuit diagram development as far as possible.
Future inclusive
In addition, the medium-voltage professionals appreciate EB‘s openness to complementary systems, such as orders, 3D or production machines that directly implement EB‘s data. „This minimizes errors so that the designers gain time and the products gain in quality,“ says Andrea Forster and adds: „As many areas as possible should benefit from the data generated in EB. In addition, the data model also enables new solutions, such as the future use of artificial intelligence. For us, the change was the right step into the future.“
