LOM PRAHA s. e. is one of the world's leading companies providing complex services for Mi-helicopters and L-39 aircraft. The traditional Czech company, which is over 100 years old, today supplies NATO and EU countries. In doing so, it attaches great importance to state-of-the-art technologies for maximum quality and safety over the entire life cycle of the aircraft. These includes maintenance and modernisation of all dynamic components. LOM Praha also manufactures and repairs piston engines and runs a flight training centre.
Digitization means better and faster
High-quality data is key to process improvement and time savings for LOM. So the company opted for AUCOTEC's data-centred Engineering Base (EB) platform. The aviation expert has thus digitized its electrical documentation together with AUCOTEC's Czech partner TECHNODAT. Before that they needed two tools. This was complicated and provided no links between the logical wiring diagrams and the production documentation for wiring harnesses. EB's central data model simplifies complex workflows. Circuit diagrams, wiring lists and equipment folders are developed from just one system. Changes at one point are passed on to the entire project "on the fly", error-prone manual work and control runs are eliminated, graphics and alphanumerics are synchronized at all times.
Processes and methods optimized
"When looking for a suitable CAE system, what fascinated us about EB was its database architecture, which perfectly supports multi-user use", says Jan Kalita, head of the Modernization and Modification department. In a pilot project with EB, optimizations in the creation of device lists and connections quickly became apparent. The development of electrical circuit diagrams and supporting macros for work automation also became significantly more efficient.
Standardization accelerated
Thanks to EB's flexibility, TECHNODAT was able to develop special macro adaptations for LOM Praha. For example, they enable automatic connection selection for wiring harnesses including contacts, seals and dummy plugs. The assistants for connectors or assembly rules as well as the device or inline connection point manager for example included as standard in EB speed up the work additionally.
LOM engineers also appreciate the ability to select the equipment accessories within the project. This saves complicated retracing and "pairing" with the BOM. The conclusion of department manager Jan Kalita is that: "The use of EB has enormously increased the efficiency of our documentation process. Each additional project improves the standardization and quality of our documentation in the long term."