A 3D interface to CATIA V5 has boosted productivity. The wiring diagram data is first transferred from E3.series to the CATIA system. This data also includes all plugs and their ID numbers. The plug data is stored in both the E3.series component database and the CATIA database, the only difference being that E3.series contains definitions for the terminals via which the plug connections are linked, while CATIA contains definitions of the geometric location of the plugs and the layouts of how they are connected via cable ducts.
“We can now use the plug ID numbers to automatically assign the data from both systems. This gives CATIA all the information it needs to perform autorouting, i.e. automatically filling all cable ducts or conduits. This means that the production lengths of the cables are calculated automatically, which enables us to greatly minimize the number of mistakes made and time required for this work.”