A medium sized machine building company invests an average of up to fifteen working hours per month
creating missing device data—time that can be better used elsewhere. Solutions provider EPLAN is now
providing support: with the new Data Portal Request Process, customers can order individual device data in
Data Standard quality using the credit system. In addition, new selectors from ABB and Siemens simplify
engineering, and the American NFPA format is now also supported.
Faster access to suitable, preferably standardized device data – that’s the
daily maxim in project work these days. While the EPLAN Data Portal offers device data for millions of
components, it can sometimes happen that the required device data isn’t found on the portal. Users have
had to create or modify such data themselves until now, which is time consuming and sometimes cost
intensive. With the new Data Portal Request Process, users can now hand this task over to EPLAN. This
saves a lot of work for creating individual device data and ensures the receipt of correct, standardized data.
From the request to the device data
If a user working on a project requires device data that isn’t found on the portal, they can send their
individual requests for creating device data to EPLAN. The credits required for this are directly shown, and
the user can then use their credits to draw the corresponding amount for each query from their quota. This
saves on frequently creating procurement orders and is transparent as regards potential in-house cost limits.
An EPLAN team creates the required device data within a few days in accordance with the Data Standard.
This new service provides significant relief to companies as part of their engineering processes. EPLAN
Business Owner Master Data Josefine Heck explains: “The new Data Portal Request Process provides our
customers with maximum support in creating digital device data that is as complete as possible. In this way
we have their backs so they can focus on truly value creating tasks in engineering.”
NFPA standard integrated
Companies in machine building and plant system engineering sectors are often faced with the challenging
task of preparing documentation in country specific standards. Countries such as China and the United
States of America have local standards – in the US it’s the NFPA Standard, a standard that is now newly
represented in the EPLAN Data Portal. Furthermore, there’s an integrated filter that allows searching for
device data by standard, representing a next step for truly collaborative engineering on the world market.
ABB and Siemens: new selectors on the portal
The inclusion of new selectors is yet another win for portal users: ABB e-Configure – a global configurator
that supports selecting circuit breakers for protecting motors, fuse relays and power switches as examples –
was recently integrated. And the Siemens Electrical Product Finder is now also part of the portal, where
designers can find data for Sirius compact starters, overload relays and monitoring relays to name just a few.
Expanded data standard
Well over 500,000 device data in the EPLAN Data Portal already meet the criteria for the high quality Data
Standard. In the interest of its customers, EPLAN aims to roll out the standard more broadly. A first step is
defining additional product groups, including in the fields of fluid power technology, where product groups not
previously available have now been integrated. The company Festo, one of the most important suppliers in
the fluid power sector, has already uploaded a quarter of its nearly 50,000 devices into in the portal in Data
Standard quality. For users this means comprehensive data that can be used and further enriched
throughout the entire engineering process.
