Rittal cables support factory assembly and cabling

Imagine you walk into a large, well-maintained room with many cabinets and mounting plates waiting to be machined. Several staff members focus on assembly and wiring work. Another thing that will surprise you is the complete absence of paper – no folders crammed with circuit diagrams, and no work orders. Is this the future of control and switchgear manufacturing? At Lieberau Electrical Engineering GmbH in Ostbevern, Germany, such a future is already a reality.

Rittal cables support factory assembly and cabling

　　Efficient cabling With a Rittal cable machining centre, cabling sequences can be precisely planned and defined, ensuring efficient system availability and optimal workflows on the shop floor.

Since its inception in 1995, the medium-sized company has grown from a small contract manufacturer with four employees to an end-to-end supplier that not only manufactures control and switchgear, but also undertakes all related engineering work.

At Riberau, the data generated by the engineering department is seamlessly used to manage shop floor processes. "For example, the 3D planning in the ProPanel simulation design software provides data for computer numerical control machines and fully automated wire and cable processing for control equipment manufacturing." The cable processing centre at Rittal Automation Systems is responsible for cutting, stripping, crimping and labelling the cables.

　　A space-saving miracle The compact Rittal wire processing centre is easily adapted to small production environments.

　　It's four times faster

During an eight-hour shift, the new machine is capable of processing up to 1,500 wires. And once the job starts, there is no longer any need for operator intervention, so the wire and cable machining center produces exactly the same amount overnight. "Employees can take the cables off the machine in the morning and start installing them right away." Rieberau said. Compared to the old solution, the productivity of the cable processing operation is about four times higher. And there is no need for a staff on duty to be on call to operate the machine at all times.

According to the company's managing director, cable processing centers offer another key advantage. "We are now able to specify the order in which the cables are processed and stored on track." This feature is essential to ensure the efficiency of the cabling operation. For example, if your company is tasked with routing a small series of ten cabinets, you can choose a sequence to ensure that the relevant employees install the same cables in each cabinet in turn. Workers know what they're doing after completing the first cabinet-related step, so work on the rest of the cabinets goes faster. However, if you are installing a connector with five cables, it may be more appropriate to install all five cables in one cabinet before moving on to the next one. "As a result, we were able to specify exactly how the wiring would work, which would improve the efficiency of the process," says Riberau. In this way, the cable glands are seamlessly integrated into the complex workflows on the shop floor.

　　Paperless workflows Lieberau has digitized work orders. Tablets provide employees with all the information they need to do their jobs.

　　Digital order processing

What's more, Ribrakao does not issue work orders in the form of paper work orders. Instead, the company equips each employee with an iPad, giving them all the information they need to do their job. QR codes are available for the cabinet, selected parts and boxes with cables assembled using cable machining centers. Employees scan the code on their iPads and start working. "This ensures that the connection to the ERP system and the engineering department is constantly updated," explains Rieberau, "for example, only approved plans can be used on the server and employees can start cabling." "Employees are able to see the path of the wiring on the screen, the trajectory and other things. This not only ensures high efficiency and speed, but also greatly reduces the possibility of errors. Using the stylus, employees can enter the necessary change instructions into a PDF file of the circuit diagram directly on the iPad. This method corresponds to the traditional redline write-off method, which involves marking changes on a printed circuit diagram with a pen. However, thanks to digitalization, any changes made can now be incorporated back into the engineering process, ensuring that the finished cabinet and the updated circuit diagram are perfectly matched.

Through the full implementation of automation and digitalization, Ribrakao has achieved great results. "We are able to do more work today with the same number of employees than in previous years," says the company's general manager. Lieberau believes that automation in the manufacture of control and switchgear still has a long way to go. The next step may be autorouting. "The cable processing center puts the processed cables into its storage cells in a defined order, so it is conceivable that it will be able to pass the cables to the robot for wiring." We are already working on this and are confident that we will be able to achieve robot-assisted cabling operations in about two years," says Lieberau.

Source: Rittal

Rittal cables support factory assembly and cabling

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