As “SPS Connect – The digital automation hub,” the PLC automation trade fair will now be taking place online for the first time from 24 to 26 November. Eplan and Rittal will be present virtually and presenting their end-to-end range of solutions through presentations and product articles. They are supporting companies during the current crisis and on the path towards industrial transformation. The sister companies will be providing practical answers to the question of “What matters now?” At the heart of the services on offer are things that make a difference in times of pandemic: delivery capability, online services, cloud engineering, industrialisation in panel building and switchgear manufacturing, product innovations and data sovereignty.
The ongoing pandemic is a stern test of strength for many companies. Surviving the crisis and emerging from it more vigorous is the primary goal. “What we need are strong and reliable partners who can support companies in the long term – throughout the crisis and far beyond. Future partners with innovative strength and enablers for industrial transformation are needed,” says Uwe Scharf, Managing Director Business Units and Marketing at Rittal.
The pressure to change is enormous: Companies must question outdated solutions and processes and, more than ever before, introduce measures for saving costs and increasing efficiency. The Friedhelm Loh Group’s Eplan, Rittal and German Edge Cloud companies are guiding their customers along this path. Sebastian Seitz, Eplan’s CEO adds: “One hundred per cent digital data as the single ‘source of truth’ – available from planning to engineering to manufacturing – forms the basis for further automation. Industrialisation in panel building and switchgear manufacturing and the transformation that accompanies it are in full swing. End-to-end data availability is the essential requirement here.”
The practical programme of presentations at SPS Connect
In the context of SPS Connect, Thomas Michels, Senior Director Cloud Business Software at Eplan, will be presenting a paper on “Networked Engineering in the Cloud”. Customers and automation experts have been actively involved in the run-up to the presentation. It will paint a real picture of today’s automation requirements in engineering and provide valuable recommendations for action. Eplan eView is also on the digital agenda, as is the new data standard that Eplan is proactively promoting. Around 60 manufacturers have already made their components available (with about 80,000 data sets) in the Eplan Data Portal following the new standard.
Another speaker is Dr. Dirk Pieler, Head of Rittal’s Industry Business Unit. In his key note address on “What matters now – Industrialisation in panel building and switchgear manufacturing”, he will show that nowadays, industrialisation pays off much earlier than many people expect. End-to-end data is the key to success, and this helps in avoiding errors and significantly increasing productivity. The key to this is the digital twin, which links every process step from engineering to enclosure machining, wiring and testing through to servicing. Further support for improved efficiency is provided by configuration tools and technology for housings and enclosures. This is joined by automation solutions from wiring processing to panel machining and complete enclosures, as well as a 24-hour delivery service within Germany.
Services: preferably digital
In the wake of the altered market conditions, Eplan adjusted its business early on to a working environment that is now dominated by home offices. For months now, all training and consulting services have been available virtually. Training courses that had previously been held face-to-face at training centres are now being shown online. So that the now-pressing issues in engineering can be discussed, Eplan’s consultants are also available via video conference. They are assisting customers in their digitisation strategy and helping to prepare for a higher level of automation.
Innovative product solutions for industry and IT
Rittal has come up with some new developments in the field of enclosure and cooling technology. These include the new VX SE free-standing enclosure, the AX plastic enclosure and the latest energy-efficient “Blue e+” outdoor cooling units. The new AX plastic enclosures round off Rittal’s range of compact enclosures. The manufacturer now offers the best of two worlds: the advantages of sophisticated technology combined with the benefits of an extremely robust material. The AX plastic enclosure protects the electrical components even in very harsh environments, such as outdoors. Its new mounting functions make rapid expansion possible and provide a greater scope for installation using smart technology.
Rittal’s other product highlights include numerous new developments in the field of IT infrastructure. Here, the focus is on the new VX IT Rack and RiMatrix Next Generation (NG), the future platform for creating IT infrastructures. With the RiMatrix NG, Rittal has developed a new module system to set up data centres flexibly, securely and rapidly. Based on an open platform architecture, individual solutions can be realised worldwide for every future IT scenario: whether these be single-rack or container solutions, central data centres, distributed edge data centres, or high-scale colocation, cloud and hyperscale data centres. RiMatrix NG is the first platform to support the use of OCP direct current technology in standard environments.
Sister company German Edge Cloud is also presenting its new ONCITE development, the first AI-based and real-time capable edge cloud solution for in-house Industry 4.0 processes.