With a daily production output of 2.5 million bars of chocolate, a CAE system for professional electrical planning is pivotal to production and electrical design. These delicious yet practical square chocolate bars proved extremely popular, and 2.5 million of them are produced each day by "Ritter Sport" using sophisticated automation technology .For this reason, a CAE system for professional project planning of electrical engineering is pivotal to production and electrical design. 
The company was founded in 1912 by Alfred Ritter and his wife Clara. In the ensuing years, it became increasingly clear that technological progress and a high degree of automation technology were the basis of financial success. The idea took off – in 1999, Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG reported sales of DM 516 million with a workforce of around 800 at its Waldenbuch and Dettenhausen plants.

The company's trademark square chocolate bars – practical and delicious
Particularly in the food industry, flexibility and rapid response to changing market requirements are a top priority. Whereas chocolate bars were once fairly indistinguishable from one another, today's consumers are more discerning, and imaginative varieties and flavours involving highly sophisticated production technology are now commonplace. Fast retooling of machines is essential, and electrical project planning must likewise be capable of adapting quickly to new requirements. Against this background, "Ritter Sport" now pursues a consistent standardisation strategy and has chosen EPLAN for its CAE project management.All bought-in process equipment and machinery must also be based on the same company standard."We feel it is important that our machine suppliers should generate their electrical engineering circuit diagrams and documentation using EPLAN", explains Claus Labenski, electrical project engineer at Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG, Waldenbuch. "We collaborate closely with the machine producers at the design stage, and transfer our symbol files directly to the suppliers. In this respect, EPLAN provides a number of functions for the generation of company-specific standards, thus meeting one of the principal requirements of "Ritter Sport". We determine the representation format in the circuit diagrams, and also prescribe which contactors or controllers should be used, for example. In this way, we can also cut the warehousing costs for spare parts and be sure of receiving standardised documentation", explains C. Labenski. As well as accelerated planning and optimised availability, this also leads to shorter retooling times and reduced machine downtime. "Ritter Sport"  are firmly convinced that neat, up-to-date circuit diagram documentation is the key to problem-free, reliable production.

Shortening machine downtime
Potential and contact cross-references, as well as automated cable and device ID tags for on-site labelling, are particularly important factors for minimising machine downtime. Uniform electrical engineering documents are an  essential basis, since this is the only cost-effective way of initiating essential amendments in the event of subsequent modifications to bought-in machinery or process equipment. Because EPLAN is now well-established as a CAE tool amongst most suppliers, this ensures uniform, standardised project documentation. EPLAN does not prescribe the compulsory selection of certain components when generating circuit diagrams, so the project engineer does not need to commit himself to specific manufacturers' components at the planning phase. "We use the EPLAN functions to enable us to plan without committing ourselves in advance. We simply draw the coil of the new relay and position the contacts.Rather than committing to one specific relay, this provides a general relay which can then be applied to all plans", explains C. Labenski. "With EPLAN, item selection for components is not compulsory", elucidates Thomas Barth, Produkt Manager at EPLAN Software & Service GmbH & Co. KG, Monheim.

Innovative in every direction
Not only are "Ritter Sport" at the cutting-edge of consumer taste – they also use state-of-the-art production technology. As well as established PLC technology such as S5 and S7, they also use field bus technology.PLC programming is generally performed in-house. "Here, the functions of EPLAN provide support by allowing us to transfer addresses directly. This simplifies programming and saves time", explains Jürgen Kussmaul, another electrical engineering project manager. "The flexible structure of address designations means that the organisation of maintenance work is much easier.In this way, we achieve a clear overview of our systems".
With EPLAN, the address designations of the PLC systems can be freely assigned and the device tags integrated automatically."We implement this in exactly the same way in the PLC program by labelling the inputs of the PLC according to the address, e.g. 125S4.0 for switches on page 125, input 4.0 of the PLC. In the event of a malfunction, the designation shows immediately which input or output is defective", elucidates C. Labenski. The result is a clear time saving, simplified trouble-shooting, and consequently shorter machine downtimes.

External interfaces
EPLAN Software & Service see further potential for efficiency in everyday planning work. A direct connection between EPLAN and a merchandise information system would be one conceivable option. In this way, the project engineer would be able to ascertain component availability even at the planning stage."This is possible with EPLAN, and is widely used via the certified interface to SAP R/3", explains T. Barth. Another strategically important interface has now been created between EPLAN 5.20, the Interbus tool CMD (Configuration, Monitoring, Diagnostic) from Phoenix Contact, and the IEC-1131-3 programming tool PCWorx. This enables the CAE software to access the field bus project management data and automatically generate a circuit diagram to reflect the current project status, together with documentation of the bus topology.
"In the conches (where the chocolate is liquefied), we use Interbus as our field bus system, and the CMD link makes our work easier", explains C. Labenski. "In the past, it was more difficult to emulate these bus modules in the CAE system and integrate them expediently into the device tag system", adds T. Barth. "The CMD link allows us to transfer the module structures of the bus system to EPLAN and incorporate them automatically into the project, thus ensuring clear, reliable documentation", continues T. Barth.
In future, the support of powerful modern software packages such EPLAN will become indispensable. "In order to assert yourself in the face of global competition", concludes Claus Labenski, "you need to keep pace with the market, and that can only be achieved with state-of-the-art tools. EPLAN is one such tool".

Last edited: 2002-07-16 14:54