Collaborative Electromechanical Engineering: A Concept to Overcome Domain- and IT-System Borders

The product development process for new electric motors necessitates close collaboration between the domains of electrical and mechanical engineering. Starting from the customer specification, requirements must be translated into a three-dimensional design that aligns with manufacturing capabilities while considering the economic aspects of the overall project. As a multidimensional optimization problem involving multiple engineering disciplines, a systematic and efficient collaboration focused on customer value becomes the critical success factor. Current practices involve spatially close collaboration among project stakeholders, including electrical designers, mechanical engineers, manufacturing experts, procurement, logistics, sales, project- and product-management. Information exchange predominantly occurs synchronously through meetings or asynchronously via drawings or text-based documents. However, due to specialized IT applications and data formats in each domain, like electro-magnetic finite-element simulations or 3D-CAD-design, achieving systematic data and information continuity remains challenging. Consequently, information loss at domain boundaries becomes nearly unavoidable. We present a concept that systematically utilizes color coding within 3D-CAD environment to achieve both visually accessible and technically precise representation of product-and manufacturing-related information across domain borders. By uniquely associating motor components or component regions with relevant features, standardization of product and manufacturing properties becomes feasible. These standardized features can then be automatically processed throughout the subsequent process chain. The RGB color space provides ample combinations suitable for the design and manufacturing of electric motors, associated suppliers and even beyond. The concept derived can be seen as a starting point for knowledge management within organizations, inter-company collaboration based on standardized features, paperless manufacturing, and, in the final stage, a fully integrated digital value stream. The potential of the methodology is demonstrated by means of a case study in punching tool manufacturing for motor laminations, in which the concept is already practically applied: Tools required for punching or interlocking are color-coded during design, enabling automated NC-programming, subsequent manufacturing and measurement of the corresponding labeled features.