Expert Days with complete value chain in Smart Cabinet Building

At the Smart Cabinet Building Expert Days at Komax in Nuremberg, Germany, participants were able to experience the entire value chain of cabinet building. At 11 stations, the partners of the Smart Cabinet Building Initiative presented their solutions and demonstrated how engineering and production can be optimized, automated and made more economical. Thanks to digitalization and automation, all process steps are networked, supported by the digital twin as basis for continuous data flows. In small groups, visitors went through the entire process chain - from digital control cabinet planning to mechanical processing centers, pre-assembly of terminal blocks, highly automated prefabrication of cables through to final assembly and testing.

In addition to the host Komax, Weidmüller, Zuken, Armbruster Engineering and nVent Hoffman were also present at the Smart Cabinet Building Expert Days. Weidmüller is a specialist in industrial connection technology, automation and digitalization and supports with its solutions the efficient planning, assembly and commissioning of control cabinets. Zuken contributes state-of-the-art E-CAD software and tools for digital engineering, which serve as the basis for end-to-end data processing for the entire cabinet building value chain. Armbruster Engineering focuses on digital assistance systems and solutions for assembly support, further increasing quality and efficiency in production. nVent Hoffman, a leading provider of enclosure and protection systems, is also part of the initiative and supplies automation solutions for mechanical processing.

Rethinking wire assembly
At the Komax stand, the focus lay on automated wire assembly. Wiring control cabinets is traditionally an extremely time-consuming process, taking up almost half of the total production time. On average, it takes 266 seconds to read the electrical diagram, manually assemble and compare a single cable. In addition, there are current challenges that make control cabinet construction even more difficult: A shortage of skilled workers, high cost pressure, short delivery times and frequent design changes. Komax is meeting these challenges with a comprehensively digitalized and automated approach. The focus lies on the automated prefabrication of the cables, which are bundled for each component and provided with all wiring information. As the information can be read directly on the cable, there is no need for time-consuming reading of the circuit diagram during assembly. Wiring is carried out in an optimized sequence, which significantly speeds up the process and minimizes sources of error.

The automated wiring process begins with digital data preparation. The necessary production data is extracted from modern 3D E-CAD systems and prepared for production. Komax software solutions such as Digital Lean Wiring (DLW) and WIRE Mind come into play here, allowing wire lists to be imported, missing data to be added, wire sequences to be optimized and print layouts to be defined. The finished data is then transferred to the machines, which automatically assemble, label and bundle the cables.

Reduce wiring time by up to 80 percent
For the actual cable production, Komax provides its customers with various partially and fully automated machines that can process a wide range of cable types and cross-sections. For example, the machines in the Zeta series, which enable fully automated, sequential cable production - including automatic cable changing, flexible finishing and individual labeling. The prefabricated cable sets are then delivered directly to the installation site, where they can be laid in the optimum sequence. This reduces the wiring time per cable to a fraction of the previous duration. Mobile and flexible test systems such as the KT 236 from adaptronic are also available to customers for testing the finished control cabinets. These enable both low-voltage and high-voltage tests and are characterized by their simple operation and robustness.

Thanks to this holistic approach, wiring time can be reduced by up to 80 percent in series production as well as for individual items. At the same time, qualified personnel can concentrate on more demanding tasks such as planning or quality assurance and use their expertise in these areas in a focused and efficient manner. Automation also ensures greater flexibility, shorter production times, reduced inventories and greater process reliability.

Innovation and exchange
In addition to the interactive demonstrations and discussions with experts at the individual stations, the Smart Cabinet Building Expert Days also offered numerous opportunities for networking. A particular highlight was the evening event, where participants were able to exchange experiences and make new contacts in a relaxed atmosphere. The varied supporting program helped to ensure that the Smart Cabinet Building Expert Days at Komax in Nuremberg were not only a forum for technological innovation, but also for partnership-based dialogue and inspiration. “The Smart Cabinet Building Expert Days showed how we can shape the future of cabinet building together with strong partners and innovative solutions,” says a satisfied René Lehn, Application Specialist data2wire. The event was received so well by the participants that the five partners of the Smart Cabinet Building Initiative will be holding Expert Days again next year. “However, the exact dates have not yet been set.”