Porsche AG (PAG) is the epitome of innovation and high-tech products worldwide. The research and development center Weissach manages more than 3,500 patents, and each year another 100 are added. Since 1972 the Porsche think tank with all development departments, workshops, measuring centers, wind tunnel and crash facilities is located in Weissach. Here also the harness designs, i.e. the complete vehicle cabling are developed.
No movement without connection
Nowadays the wiring harness is tremendously complex because it connects electronic components from the window winder to the ESP. „However, no electric component will function without the connecting copper“, says Uli Loser, IS project manager of the information systems for the product generation process at the PAG in Weissach. He says that two to three kilometers of wiring harness with up to 2,000 individual wires are the rule these days. In order to plan this „nervous system“ of a vehicle more efficiently and with less material expenditure, Porsche chose the software system Engineering Base (EB) from AUCOTEC.
The challenge: individuality
„Almost no harness design in our series production matches another one. Here we talk about the customer-specific wire harnesses (KSK), and that is a challenge“, relates Bernhard Metzenbauer, subject specialist for electrical systems/ electronics/hardware integration. In his opinion EB is the ideal tool for this purpose because it can always optimally map cable harnesses including the underlying intelligence, be it a 150
percent vehicle or a heavily reduced version. What is important is the as-built representation also for the Porsche service, which gets the EB data one to one, without further processing and precisely fitting each vehicle. This considerably reduces the fault localization in the garage.
„The decision was absolutely appropriate“
© Porsche AG„Our current experience unambiguously shows that the decision in favor of AUCOTEC was absolutely appropriate“, says Uli Loser. Thus all those involved in central development now use only one database for designing. This interdisciplinary planning is the basis of various optimization steps in all product lines; in series production the quantities enormously multiply each gram of copper saved. Moreover people were impressed by the training period required for EB. „It is different but easy to learn“, thus the unanimous opinion of the users.
Porsche is keen on having EB established as the standard solution for the entire branch. The tool‘s openness is the ideal precondition for this, thus Uli Loser. His conclusion: „Only now in the live phase have we started to realize that EB offers additional possibilities. These we want to exploit and expand with AUCOTEC.“
