Burkert Fluid Systems: Fluidity in Engineering
November 1, 2017
Bürkert Fluid Control Systems is a manufacturer of control and measuring systems for fluids and gases. The company’s products have a wide variety of applications and are used in a number of industries such as water treatment, hygienic processing, gas handling and microfluidics. Bürkert products and systems can be used wherever fluid media and gases need to be measured, controlled and regulated.
When the time came for Bürkert to expand software licenses as part of the companies effort to remain at the top of their game, the Bürkert took the opportunity to re-evaluate its software and design needs. Consequently, the company invested in EPLAN Electric P8, supported by EPLAN Fluid and EPLAN Data Portal, through realising that EPLAN could help improve design efficiency, productivity and accuracy.
“We needed a new electrical design software suite that would allow us to become more efficient and EPLAN fitted the bill. In addition, our corporate standard is EPLAN – in fact, EPLAN is widely regarded as the industry standard today,” says Tom Carnell, Engineering Systems Applications Manager at Bürkert Fluid Control Systems.
Improved efficiency
Improved efficiencies Bürkert’s goal was to accquire a single tool that could be used by all of its engineers to generate drawings, which could then be shared within the company and with its customers – however they were also impressed with the range of other productivity and quality benefits offered by EPLAN.
Since adopting EPLAN Electric P8 and the EPLAN Data Portal, the company has been able to reduce project design time significantly and eliminate common editing errors, leading to faster turnaround times. Many tedious tasks, like device wiring and numbering, have also been automated, saving time and improving accuracy.
EPLAN also supports streamlined revisions management as project documentation can be exported to Bürkerts customers in formats like smart PDFs, and their changes re-imported and incorporated automatically. Once a design is finalised, the CAE automatically generates a complete build package for manufacturing that includes all diagrams, lists and component ID, and if desired, automated setups for NC machining and wire processing.
“We use EPLAN for our control panel projects and it has simplified the design of complex electrical circuits, the integration of PLCs and HMIs and the production of reports such as BOMs. We are also able to integrate other parts of the control panel project such as manuals, datasheets, and Solidworks designs into EPLAN, which are then sent to the customer as a PDF upon completion of the project,” explains Carnell.
“In addition, we’ve achieved dramatic improvements in engineering efficiency,” he added. “We have been able to cut our design time significantly, and design changes and additions are now easily managed.”
Consistent Data
The EPLAN Data Portal, provides online device data of over 340,000 components that are controlled and managed by 51 manufacturers such as Festo, ABB, B&R and Phoenix contact. As a result, the data portal has delivered another productivity improvement opportunity due to the wealth of information that is immediately available. Order numbers for procurement, technical macros for creating schematics, location drawings for equipment, function templates for intelligent device selection and preview screens can all be transferred simply and effectively by dragging and dropping from the EPLAN Data Portal into the project. This effectively does away with the time consuming creation of master data. The outcome is faster delivery due to more intelligent planning, more reliable mounting as well as better wiring.
Moreover, storing and reusing data opens the way to standardising and modularising product content, accelerating design and manufacturing and enabling large economies of scale in purchasing components.
Quality documentation
One of the key benefits highlighted by Bürkert is the ability to quickly and easily create professional and easily understandable project documentation.
“Thanks to EPLAN we can effortlessly convert project documentation in minutes, the quality is outstanding. The EPLAN interface is also easier to use and the Data Portal offers a vast number of components, making it easier to access and integrate than with our previous software solution,” explains Carnell.
What the customers needed: EPLAN
For Bürkert, EPLAN’s support made for a smooth transition. EPLAN’s 24/7 global technical support makes troubleshooting much easier.
Using a powerful CAE program is often not enough to ensure effective design work and sophisticated engineering, EPLAN therefore offers advanced, educational training packages in order to enhance organisational knowledge and productivity. Bürkert chose to enlist their staff on a 5-day Electric P8 training programme, the course did not only help to establish and extend product knowledge, but also enabled Bürkert to optimise their usage of the software, in order to boost productivity.
Engineering Systems Applications Manager Tom Carnell who has been impressed by the training and support commented: “EPLAN has not only supported us by providing an effective software suite, but also by assisting with the implementation and by offering training and advice.
I consider them to be a fully-fledged partner in the project work we carry out for our customers.”
