E3.formboard: A complete solution for creating cable harness drawings for manufacturing
Manufacturing Documentation Creation
E3.formboard
E3.formboard provides a complete solution for creating cable harness drawings for manufacturing. On any size sheet, one or more manufacturing drawings can be created. Automatic functionality makes the placement, arrangement and dimensioning of the harness and its segments easier.
The formboard drawing provides a view of the cables and harnesses as defined in the schematic diagram. It comprises both electrical and non-electrical components including connector placement, wire segments, protective coverings, clips, labels etc. You can manually or automatically place configurable connector tables in the drawing which display pin, wire, cable, signal, gauge, color, and target information; making the manufacturing process much more streamlined and error free.
These tables are dynamic, meaning that a wire can be added to a pin displayed in the table and connected to a pin in another table and Formboard will automatically route the wire from pin to pin through the harness segments. Nodes can be added to individual harness segments. New branches can be added at the node point and rotated around the node to optimize the layout on the page.
Harness segments can be highlighted when the length displayed on the sheet does not correspond to the manufacturing length defined for each segment. These “out-of-scale” segments can be automatically adjusted to display the correct manufacturing length assigned to the segments of the harness.
Features
Build to print detailed 1:1 drawings
Place single or multiple pin connector views
Automatically place configurable assignment tables
Supports arced connection segments (B-Splines)
Automatically calculate wire lengths over routing segments
Easily rotate branches
Place and check non-electrical parts (mounting, tubes, hoses, clips, etc.)
Integration with automatic wire preparation machines
E3.formboard is fully integrated with E3.cable. The logical interconnection data defined in E3.cable is used directly in E3.formboard and any changes made in either module are automatically reflected in the other.
Re-engineer Harnesses
For harness manufacturers, harnesses are laid out on the formboard sheet, connectors and splices placed, segments and branches added and connection pin tables placed. Wires can then be added using the pin tables. Using this method wires are automatically routed along the correct segments the lengths of each wire and the bundle diameters are automatically determined.
Print Management
Intelligent jigsaw-style print functionality, breaks full scale formboard sheets into multi-sheet documents of any size, each sheet is numbered and continuation lines make stitching the whole drawing together easy. For design changes individual sections can be printed to replace the modified section, avoiding costly full reprints and improving productivity.
E3.Toolbox
E3.Toolbox empowers designers to maximize production value by helping create precise documentation without spending time with customization for different use cases. E3.Toolbox runs inside E3.series, providing a suite of tools catering to all industries and design principles.
The latest release of Zuken’s electrical and fluid engineering solution, E3.series, addresses the challenge of growing complexity within today’s products and processes. Key enhancements lie in the areas of topology planning, modularity support and variant handling, which are designed to support the requirements of manufacturing companies using modular product design to control complexity.
Zuken USA now allows users to purchase eTraining online and begin your course immediately. The new purchase process allows you to create and manage your eTraining account directly. Companies can now more cost effectively purchase a block of eTraining courses and allocate them across the organization.
ECAD offers many advantages over traditional manual processes with the ability to select parts from a vast database of smart components and synchronization with your business systems like ERP to drive a complete quotation based on the design.
After acquiring various companies around the globe in the 1990s, Alstom needed to integrate these new elements into its international corporate structure in a meaningful way.
Mecalac Construction Equipment UK is a global manufacturer of compact plant machinery, providing market-leading solutions that maximize return on investment.
The growing number of E³.series applications and options reflects the growing complexity of the electrical engineering process itself. The engineering process has become increasingly concurrent: activities that once were performed one after another can now be carried out simultaneously. In a certain sense, with its object-oriented architecture that enables parallel development of schematic planning, fluid cable planning, and even cabinet and harness layout, E³.series was one of the first engineering software products to fully embrace the trend of concurrent engineering.
What presents itself as an apparent manufacturing quoting tool can quite effectively be used in all sections of the engineering and manufacturing process. From the initial quoting stage, right through to the final output on a formboard, 1:1 drawing can be printed directly from the application.
We will demonstrate workflows that help designers take the next leap in productivity in various industries like aerospace, harness manufacturing, industrial machinery etc. The attendees will have a chance to ask questions and learn about the latest developments towards fully automating your design workflow.
This webinar follows our first webinar “Wire / Harness Design Automation Basics I” where we have seen the logical part of the design process. Now we will look at the physical part of the wire harness design process.
Electrical and MCAD integration, if you’re not already doing it, has the potential to save you a good deal of time in the electrical product development process. On the most basic level you can cut out the prototype stage needed for calculating wire lengths. If you’re also working with E3.formboard, as well as the basic module (E3.cable), then you can obtain the entire harness structure.
The majority of electrical designers have to contend with options and variants and the resulting harness families and derivatives. Today I’m going to investigate the source of these differences and explain how you can save time in updating the associated data.
“Different customers provide different levels and types of information at the beginning of a project. Some know the components they are using, others don’t. While another company may know the layout of the car, another might not. The way E3.series is structured with its database means that I can start the project either at the schematic phase or at the formboard.”
– Mike Tickner, Director
Datasheet: E3.formboard
Manufacturing documentation (formboards) for producing cable harnesses.
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