The European 4.0 Transformation Center (E4TC) at RWTH Aachen Campus has investigated the strategic digitization of design and control engineering and the technical layout of machines and plant systems. The 38-page research report titled “Engineering 4.0” is based on an eight-month field study of German machine manufacturers (producing both series products and special machinery), of engineering offices/hardware planners, and of component manufacturers. For the first time, the methodology developed to quantify available potential in engineering and measures to be taken enables a well-founded consideration of current engineering workflows for both series production and special-machinery manufacturing. Its central finding: A partial automation of engineering processes achieves an optimal cost/benefit ratio.

What does the digital transformation in engineering mean and what role does the Eplan Project play in it? A decisive one, because digitization isn’t only relevant for a company’s back-end or commercial processes. It actually affects the entire product development process. The practical advantages are clear: Users can utilize the services of the Eplan Platform and tap into the added value of cloud-based services at the same time.

Ideally, a company’s engineering solution should also be supporting its digitization strategy. But how is this best implemented? Solutions provider Eplan and its affiliate Cideon are presenting the »Efficiency Lab» at the heart of its trade show stand during the Hannover Messe - working in dialogue with visitors, a performance/target comparison is established as a basis for the systematic digitization of engineering processes. The path taken into the cloud also consistently carries a company forward: Eplan eView is being presented to visitors as the first solution of the Eplan ePulse system. A third focus is the integrated value chain in cooperation with Rittal

A total of 230 guests from the fields of science, business and politics celebrated the founding of the new Eplan office in Shanghai, China, on 8 June. During the special ceremony, Eplan Managing Director Haluk Menderes spoke about the future of Eplan, which is the leading provider of engineering software solutions in Europe: “We will continue to grow in China – the conditions for it are excellent.”

Digital device data are the key element for efficient engineering these days. One of the biggest challenges for this is both the data quality and the depth of said data. Eplan Data Portal is rising to this challenge: since the start of the year, the portal is now being updated on a monthly basis, more often than before. Users now also have a rating function for qualifying device data, thereby offering manufacturers practice-based feedback from the market. Furthermore, since the Hannover Messe, a Lab Version of the Eplan Data Portal allows users to get early access to test and try out the program’s most current developments.