EPLAN Blog

Technology is disrupting nearly every industry and manufacturing is not immune…which is a good thing.

The connected factory, Industry 4.0, The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), the Connected Enterprise, mechatronics. Whatever you call the future of manufacturing, it is clear that it is advancing…and rapidly. The ability to connect the design process to all aspects of production is ground zero in your ability to keep pace with these changes.

While upgrading your tools is an expenditure you’d rather not deal with, there is a solid business case for transitioning to high functioning computer-aided engineering (CAE) design software. We’re going to look at the value of systems that utilize the power of your database-driven software in this discussion.

A lot goes into producing machinery. At EPLAN, we put a lot of thought into our platform that allows production to move faster, more efficiently and cost effectively. EPLAN helps you manage engineering data consistently from concept design, through detailed engineering all the way to manufacturing and service with a focus on decreasing processing time and simple project management.  

But, there’s more to efficient engineering than creating machinery. What happens to the equipment produced once it is shipped and in your customer’s hands is just as important as the production itself.

We were reminded of this by one of our customers, Neutron Factory Works. Neutron is based in Delta, British Columbia. They install and maintain equipment for manufacturing, processing and warehousing facilities around the BC Lower Mainland. They provide 24/7 services. On their website they state:

Downtime is the biggest preventable expense in any factory, your losses due to idle equipment and staff during production grow exponentially by the minute. How you move through this situation will have more of an effect on your company’s performance than any other cost saving measure. Protection of your investment is key. Try us out and see the difference it makes when you have a team of experts engaged in a preventative service model maintaining your facility.

Mechatronics, the next wave in manufacturing, is creating a tsunami of innovation and efficiencies that will alter the landscape of engineering and production.

That is a heady, zealous statement, and one that can be backed up with experiences in the real world…a world that is already being disrupted with a convergence unlike any seen before.

So, what is mechatronics? It is a unification of the various disciplines of engineering; systems engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, telecommunications engineering, control engineering and computer engineering. It is a design route that brings synergy to the production process.

Integrating manufacturing with a mechatronic approach offers many benefits. Here we will offer a cursory overview of four of these benefits.

As The Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT) matures, the cost and time efficiencies that it can bring are pretty astounding. To be able to have unified operations across all touch points of the product development process makes optimized engineering possible. Here are 5 ways that it does this.

1. Data

Working in a connected environment means you can share data across all aspects of the production, from pre-planning to build. What does having the ability to be able to leverage data through out the engineering process and also into the manufacturing process mean?