End-to-end engineering based on a single data model
When looking for a modern engineering system, one requirement was particularly important to Rippert: end-to-end consistency. “From the process flow diagram (P&ID) right through to control engineering – of all the suppliers that presented their products to us, only AUCOTEC with Engineering Base (EB) was able to meet this requirement,” say Thomas Quante, Head of Instrumentation and Control at Rippert, and EB administrator Thomas Möller.
From sales and project execution through production to commissioning, all disciplines involved work with the same data model. Engineering information can therefore be viewed and edited centrally. Engineering Base’s database-driven, object-oriented approach ensures data consistency across the various documents.
“Different identifiers for the same component in different documents are now a thing of the past, as are time-consuming comparisons of consumer and field device lists,” Quante reports.
Intelligent reuse of functions
A key element of the new engineering process is the function-oriented creation of assemblies. Individual functions are linked to the corresponding subcircuits or circuit diagram pages and can be reused as standards. This reduces coordination effort and potential sources of error.
Although switching to a function-oriented approach requires a different way of working, it offers clear benefits, as the EB administrator and key user explains: “Function-oriented engineering delivers significant time savings and provides a very clear structure for the individual plant sections.”
A customer project for coating bathtubs and shower trays demonstrated how this approach pays off in practice. The plant consists of three lines, each with up to eight booths. Since every booth has the same design, its structure could simply be mirrored in Engineering Base. Once the first line had been completed, the other two lines could be copied. The entire I/O level also remained identical for each line, with the exception of the processors’ IP addresses.
Flexible for future requirements
Rippert is gradually adapting Engineering Base to its own requirements and engineering processes. For Thomas Quante, the platform provides the flexibility needed to do so: “EB still has a great deal of potential. Its flexibility leaves room for further requirements and enhancements on our side, making it future-proof over the long term. But its end-to-end consistency is already exceptional today.”