Prática de Shadowing: Functional-Oriented Documentation in Automation - Eplan & IEC 81346 Explained - Aprenda a falar inglês com vídeo

Hello and welcome to ePlan Spotlight.

Our topic today is standardization.

My name is Thomas Michels and I'm here with my dear colleague Anders Darnas.

Hi Anders.

Hi Thomas, nice to be here.

Nice to have you in the studio.

Thank you, appreciate it.

So when it comes to this topic of standardization, to be honest this is not a new topic.

So this is somehow circling around when it comes to industrial automation, when we are looking at the ecosystem of industrial automation.

But this is also somehow, even if it's already there on the table for a long time,

it still sounds like a challenge for customers and our users.

And let's take this opportunity here in that spotlight to really have a look at the complete ecosystem of industrial automation.

So for example, when we take the role of the engineers, of the maybe machine builders, of the system suppliers, what does that mean for them?

On the other hand, when it comes, for example, from the operator point of view to these topics of service and maintenance,

so we have this topic of digital maintenance, more digital, less paper.

And finally, when we think about the interaction here, it's important that maybe now let's use this wording, that they have a common language,

that they have an easy environment to collaborate and then it's finally of course also this topic of supplier guidelines.

But finally behind all these topics here, this is this topic of standardization.

So find a way to collaborate as easy as possible.

But let's start really from the topic, from the core of the topic.

So Anders, what is the reason why?

Why standardization?

Well, Thomas, I would say it depends on really what kind of eyes you are using,

if it's the operator perspective or if it's really the subcontractor's perspective.

Let's start on the operator side.

And as you know from the operator,

they are not only maintaining and utilizing the assets of one machine or multiple machines.

It's a complete plant.

And of course as a complete plant you need to think

about various aspects like common safety aspects for the whole plant

but also the personal safety of the production staff that they need to think about.

You also need of course to think about the high productivity of their plant

and of course if there is mistakes or repairs that they are reduced to the minimum.

So for them,

they always think about standardization of the concept of simplifying communication to their subcontractors and simplifying collaboration to their subcontractors.

And this is really a key element for them to be able to assure

that all machines and systems that they are investing into are utilizing the same type of technology, for example.

And this is really to simplify for every field service engineer to manage the same type of HMIs,

for example, in their plant or PLC systems and of course

if you have completely different systems and for every machine

that would be an enormous challenge for the field system engineers to manage this.

So when you think about the fact

that you have for example a failure on one part of the line

which is utilizing a system

which has specific PLC system in the next hour you are jumping to the beginning of the line

and this part has a completely different PLC system, of course this creates a lot of challenges for them.

So to harmonize and simplify this, this is really a key element and of course to have

field system engineers that knows all the system requires really high training of course,

but of course for a new engineer coming into that plant would be an enormous time to onboard as well of course.

So this is really in the end of the day from

the operator perspective to reduce the complexity within the plant to maintain and handle their systems altogether.

On the other side, if you think from the subcontractors point of view, they have a slightly different, of course, view.

Because they are producing a machine, for example, in a line, which they are not going to maintain in the next 10 or 20 years.

So for them, it's about efficiency.

So utilizing standardization to ensure

that they are able to reuse their engineering from machine to machine or plant to the next plant.

And this is really to also have insurance that they are competitive in the market.

And also, of course, as they are maybe having multiple engineers in their firm,

that they are ensuring the same type of quality in every project, regardless who are involved.

And this is also what standardization do for them, as two examples.

Okay.

When we have a look at this list of benefits, that sounds quite reasonable.

There is a lot of added value in standardization, makes things easier, simplifies communication,

collaboration etc. So that is quite obvious from the operator point of view or as you mentioned also from engineering departments.

But the experience was made that when we talk to customers, when we have customer meetings on fairs and customer events,

and also not only customers but prospects, when you make the first steps with ePlan and we address this topic of standardization,

the first initial feedback is always that's not possible for us because we have individual solutions for our customers, we have variants in our machines,

we have modules, options, and we build every machine is is quite special yeah it's individual yeah

so yeah is this true and

and that's of course true Thomas I also experienced the same meeting companies in most countries actually

so when you

when you think from the very common view they think very commonly from let's say a mechanical perspective

and when you think from a mechanical perspective, yes the machine or plant or line whatever they are manufacturing,

it might be physically quite different so to speak.

However, when you look from the electrical engineering perspective and the controls design, well in general you have all the systems are quite the same.

So of course for every machine you need a power supply, you will need some type of controls in the sense of

PLC you will need some sensors you will need some actors then the question is only about for example sizing

so what is the size of the motors or drives

or how many sensors do you have or how many actors do you need

and of course this determines however if you look from an electrical perspective

that you can actually standardize because you can from a graphical perspective not see a difference

if the motor is 5 kilowatt for example or 10 kilowatt and

of course this makes only in the back logics what kind

of part numbers I need what kind of motor overload drive

I need for example what cable sizing do I need

which is has no graphical spec

but it has a big impact of course on the data behind it

but this is something that you can standardize

and build typical surround to really be able to standardize your engineering

so that I think is an important aspect to think about the difference in between mechanical and electrical

and the more functional view of the electrical let's call it

schematics yeah the 2d drawings to define the automation system

and to maybe put these glasses on and

and think a little bit different

but on the other hand of course you have to follow global global standards official standards

and the different markets we have IEC NFPA whatever is valid for for the special regions

or maybe for the interaction between the operators and the subcontractors

so are there or are these standards are driving the idea of standardization yeah definitely

so when you look from from functional engineering to what traditional is called production oriented engineering which is

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when you can say for example production oriented is where you

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find for example the engineering done based on not the function what the the system are doing

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but rather where you're looking on on hardware perspective

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so you look at the PLC input card and you put

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that on the one page and then you put the output card on the next page

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and so on and so forth and of course

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when you look from a functional aspect you put actually every aspect of that controls in one page.

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If that is the motor drive for example you need the input for example you need the output

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and this is all then connected to the same page.

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we talked now a lot i opened the topic i said

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the functional view then you stepped in functional engineering can you go a little bit into detail what what

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that really means of course tomat

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when we think about functional design of course we have to think about two different aspects so

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traditionally a lot of companies work with what we call production oriented documentation

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and this is more focusing on the hardware

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and how this is installed like a plc card you have

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on one page for the input you have an output on the next page

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and you are linking up your your sensors and and valves

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and so on and so forth however from an reusability perspective this is not really efficient and and

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when you think from an engineering perspective most engineers you want

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to think about how the components are connected in the design and this is exactly what the IEC 81346 is doing.

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It's focusing on the function itself and not on the hardware.

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So if you think about the picture that we are now looking at, we have three major aspects that we think about.

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On one side we look at the object from what it does based on the function itself.

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On the other side we think about the location and

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that means of course based on where this now function is placed on the machine or a plant.

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And last but not least, what is the product?

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What is it built?

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What is it doing? so to speak itself

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and based on these three elements I can very easily structure my function in

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that standard and in my documentation to structure it further we normally also apply a fourth aspect

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and that's the IEC 61355 which is determine the documentation structure and the documentation structure determines

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different aspects of my my project itself if we think first about

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if you look at the screen here we look from an

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pumping function we can also see how this have done different

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let's say sub functions looking to the safety for example to the switches

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that is necessary and various connections and so on and so forth.

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And this is giving, let's say, a grouped view on a functional design.

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If we then think about the last and fourth aspect that I mentioned, which is documentation structure, this also helps to document the project in different aspects.

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So as we look now on the screen, we also see some examples of how you can easily determine if I'm looking at documentation for controls design,

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electrical controls design if it's a cable diagram a fluid diagram

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or a parts list for example and of course this helps a lot

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when it comes to the to the structuring aspect as well

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so let me also show you maybe another aspect which is important

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when you're talking about documentation and reusability and documentation

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and what is important when you're talking about the naming convention is also cross -trade because normally

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when you think about a project you need them for example not only to having electrical controls designed

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but you also need pneumatic design for example

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so you are controlling certain cylinders for example based on on air

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and of course based on

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that documentation you need to think about the cross trade within the same project

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and traditionally in let's say old standards this is not really considered

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because that was not necessarily supported based on the engineering systems available.

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However, with the IEC 81346 we think of course based on all the cross -trades

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that you need to have and document within the same system.

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And as you know based on the ePlant platform we have multiple different engineering disciplines

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that we are utilizing in our engineering platform.

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So to just take the example of fluid design utilizing eplan fluid

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and also electrical controls design using eplan electric p8 here is

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an idea of how you can see how the project capsulating

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both engineering standards using the ic81346 to also have the same naming convention

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and this is something that is getting more and more important

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and that's one additional reason why more and more engineers and more companies are changing from the traditional,

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let's say, production -oriented documentation to a more functional -oriented documentation.

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So maybe just to give you a little bit inside the software, just so you can get a feeling how it looks inside the ePlan platform.

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So let's switch over to the ePlan platform and have a look.

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So on the left side you can see now one of the industry samples that we have provided from e -Plan.

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We see the project and here we see also the first structure.

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This is what we are looking at right now is the IEC 61355, which is, as I mentioned earlier, is related to the documentation structures.

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And here, for example, I can very easily find, for example, the documentations

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which is related to electrical controls design this was the EFS

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for example we can based on the structure below we can see the plus

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which was the location in this case we see

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that this is then located for the enclosure one

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and we see also here for example the function

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which is related to a 400 volt supply

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and based on this i can then open the page

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and i directly find all related components related to that power supply

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so this is how you can see in a very simple

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way how you're replicating both the IEC 61355 for the documentation structuring

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but also the functional aspect of the documentation related also to the IEC 81346 okay

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so we you introduced these from my point of view

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or maybe in the market it's and you said that

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that customers are more and more switching to these new standards

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and these very powerful standards that really support this idea of functional engineering

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but when we look back there is a traditional way to create documentation

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and of course there is a reason why

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so is this argumentation for production oriented documentation still valid it's an interesting aspect of course Thomas

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because obviously we are faced with this question time and time again

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because of course the legacy aspect is always an important factor

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but also the legacy is also built on systems

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that was not really supporting functional design

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and this means for example just to take an example

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so in the typical hardware design

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or production design aspect you had to go through a lot of different papers to find the same information to

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that function on the other side today

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when you do it in functional design actually this is not at all necessary

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because in in eplan you have the ability to create all

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the data you need to collect all the information for the manufacturing

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if that is then related to for example wiring

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or to any other aspects in in the panel this can be collected out of all the functions

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so that means

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that the engineers can now support both the requirement on the

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manufacturing floor as well as the end customer the operator

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that is requiring a documentation which is much easier to to rely on

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when it comes to repairs and and maintenance so to speak so

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that is somehow maybe a change from the view to this

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to this documentation to this electrical documentation to have all the information in

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that functional structure in the schematics and then derive it to prepare it for the target group.

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So to extract a wiring list, to extract a bill of material and have all these different views

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but one source for this information and this source is easy to engineer so to say.

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We started with talking about the ecosystem and within the ecosystem the operator plays a major role because he's the order party.

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So he is is asking for machines

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and of course it's then also demanding for documentation

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and how is the operator now able to share this maybe

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there's a template project there are rules to do the engineering

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what is the possibility to share this with the with the sub suppliers yeah good question Thomas

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so of course when we think about standardization we normally talk about three different level of standardization

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so it's different operators have different requirements on their subcontractors.

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Of course, you have it from, let's call it basic standardizations in supplier guidelines,

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as we call them, to more enhanced and detailed requirements on their end.

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And if we start about the first level, what you're looking at here is the system level.

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And when you talk about the system level, it's more on what kind of software or documentation formats is required,

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what version do you need to deliver in for example how do you install it how do you license it

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so on a basic level basically defining the the standardization for

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those who want to go further they also talk about the layout guidelines And this also means that you are going,

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let's say, more deeper into guiding the subcontractors to define a specific project structure as an example.

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You want to have them in a specific device name structure.

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You want them to have specific graphics that they are using.

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And of course, based on this, you are guiding the subcontractors more and more to have a recognizable documentation

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or structured documentation that all their field engineers are familiar with.

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and normally when we go the furthest level

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which is then design guidelines we also go really deep into

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also the graphical design rules it could be also even defining

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for example what predefined parts they are allowed to use in the projects as I mentioned earlier

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when you think about the operator they want to be able

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to have maybe a store spare parts in their their facility

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and of course instead of storing all manufacturers available on this earth of course they want to structure

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and standardize to a certain maybe brands or specific systems

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that is well known by the field engineers

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so this is normally where we talk about this three level of guidelines

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that operators work with towards their subcontractors a takeaway when when i have a look at these three

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steps there's the idea behind that it's scalable

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so the first steps are maybe some basic steps

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but they already can have an effect yeah

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when I just think about the system guidelines to standardize on the system so

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that you get the documentation based on e -plan for example

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you have these e -plan files coming from all the different sub suppliers

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that already has a great effect

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and then of course I think the operator can move can develop

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and go more and more into detail and get more

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and more holistic definitions of how the engineering has to be done

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and I think it's also a good idea to really get into collaboration

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and get into this work together with this with the sub suppliers

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and maybe even from the from the machine builder

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or from the supplier point of view it could be interesting

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to really address these ideas into the direction of their order party to think about hey how can we synchronize

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and really have a common understanding and not maybe too late find out

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that they did not follow a standard in that project yeah

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so that i think has both i think added values for both parties

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and what i took away is it is important to share the guidelines maybe standards data and whatever

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so now let's go maybe maybe more to the feature level

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or to the function level so what are the offerings from our portfolio to support this collaboration and sharing of data?

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Well Thomas, actually ePlan is utilizing the cloud

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and we are utilizing various different cloud applications to support

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that process and as you can see on top of our ePlan platform you see various different applications that we are providing.

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Some are free and some are subscription

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and as you can see on for example the e -manage

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this is the base tool to start sharing projects where for example the operator can very easily upload their standard

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and share with multiple different subcontractors

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equally they can define the rights of course to what subcontractor gets what kind of information

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they can besides of course e -plan data share any kind of documentation from word

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or excel or so on and so forth

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and equally the same the subcontractor can then upload their projects also to the image environment environment

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so when you also look at for example a viewer aspect

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so for those who doesn't have an eplan license they can

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of course still view the project they can have a look onto the documentation

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but they can also as the project proceeds you also maybe need to do some verification of the progress.

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And of course, the ePlanViewer is then a perfect tool to go in, have a look into the documentation,

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and also for the ability to handle redlining.

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So where they identify, for example, mistakes into the documentation, they can redline it, mark it up, and also communicate back to the engineering itself.

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Another aspect, and I mentioned it earlier, where the operator actually provide a clear standard for their subcontractors

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to work with specific component manufacturers they can even already pre -define them

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and provide it through the e -stock environment

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and based on this there is an approved parts list

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so to speak that every of the subcontractor can then work with

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and they don't have to reinvent the wheel again by utilizing new parts into the documentation Okay.

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Is it possible to have a short look at the ePlan cloud so that we get an idea? Of course.

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So what we are looking at here is now the cloud environment.

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And as I mentioned here, we see, for example, the various apps in our environment.

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We also see my current projects that I'm working with.

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I also see various different guidelines and e -learnings provided by ePlan in this environment.

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But let's start with the eManage and open to have a look on the projects that it's currently here in my environment.

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And as you can see here, we have a tab which is defining the internal project, but also where we are defining the external project.

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So again, as I mentioned earlier, you can define different rights to specific locations to divide it between different subcontractors

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that you want to provide certain data with and of course

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when we look at the different projects we can go in here

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and have a look where we see then the project details

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when it was created we can download this to start working

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with these documentation we also see here an example of a pdf

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which is of course also possible to to share together in between

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and directly from here I can for example also open my eView

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and this is also directly accessing the project online without any licensing

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and directly are going into the project documentation

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and as we can see here on the left side we see the same structuring referring to the same standards

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that I talked about earlier we see the view of pages at the moment

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but of course I can also see see for example

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if it's a cabinet designed in a 3d environment with our

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eplan pro panel you can also look from a device oriented perspective

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but I can also have a look on the red linings for example that has been done in the project

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but just to take an example we were in earlier in the EFS look area for documentation

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which is electrical controls design we can of course also see here different type of functions we see the locations

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and i can directly go into my documentation

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you can also see here on the right side this is

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where i can do my for example redlining based on the same i can also then mark the area

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which is going to be marked and communicated that there is a change

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and based on this i can write the necessary information i cooperate this and of Of course,

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I can then communicate it back to the engineering company or subcontractor that it's actually doing this.

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So I have a direct link between the subcontractor

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and the operator working together simultaneously based on the data that it's worked with.

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So this also shows a very quick view on the eView.

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But also maybe just jump back to also talking about the eStock, for example, as I mentioned earlier

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and this is also an application directly here in the cloud environment

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and this is where I can see for example it's directly

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opening up my parts on the left side we see the general information

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but I can also see the the graphical macro

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that is available from a 3d perspective or a 2d perspective

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and also a product picture

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and this is also where I can see the all the necessary technical information

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that I'm utilizing and of course this is also available for the engineer

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so if I open ePlan again I of course also find the ePlan cloud here

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and based on the ePlan cloud I can also find the

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eStock environment where it's now opening up also all the same parts

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so I can go and have a look

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and based on the parts I can also see the same

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part here to start working also with this terminal for example

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so as an operator the different level

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and different solutions in the cloud can support again the collaboration together with the subcontractor

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and simplify communication and simplifying the management of the guidelines in between

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so i understand it was really a presentation

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and introduction of a very powerful really let's call it an engineering environment We talked about these aspects,

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the benefits of standardization, we talked about the different aspects.

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So we have these design topics, the system topic, we have then also these structuring topics coming from these standards.

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We talked about parts, libraries are standardized so that you have a common basis to work together.

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And now we finally saw these services that support the communication between different departments

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and now just the question that is popping up in my mind is

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when customers say yes we want to do we say okay

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they can start right even maybe better today than tomorrow

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but there is of course a question coming up okay how is eplan supporting in that topic of standardization and

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start to structure engineering.

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Maybe you can just summarize it in short words.

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Yes, of course Thomas.

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I would say ePlan have multiple ways to support our customer

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in their journey and I would like to mention a few of them here today.

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So I would like to start to promote our ePlan engineering standard.

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This is a fantastic opportunity to start with ePlan not from scratch but with really a lot of data,

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not only from best practices from different type of industries

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but also from multiple different standards including different type of typical

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drawing reports from the different type of industries basic projects and

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so on and so forth let me show you live where you find it

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because you need to go to eplant .com

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so as you can see now on the screen this is where we were actually before

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when we looked in our cloud apps for eManage and EVU and eStock and so on and so forth.

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So on the same location you will scroll down and you will also find our ePlan engineering standard.

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So as we can go in here to discover more we will find more information what it is all about

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but also you find our download page as well.

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Here we'll be able to find also on the left side how you can filter on different best practices

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or industry standard projects for example but also what type of norms

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that you're looking for for the IEC for example or an FPA

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and also here you will find every aspect from as I said basic projects from building automation for example or

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if you are in the machine building environment you of course

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also find the same type of projects here you find typical information from various also suppliers like Phoenix Contact

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and Rockwell and Siemens and so on and so forth.

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So here you find really a lot of information

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that really helps you to get started where you have perfect standard with the highest quality that you can expect also

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referring to standards like IEC 81346 as I mentioned earlier in the standardization phase

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and here you can really find perfect reference project and best practice project from your industry and just download and start using.

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So this is one way Thomas that I would like to promote.

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Another way would be also

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if you think from the operator perspective as I mentioned earlier they important to ensure

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that your subcontractors are really aligned on your expectation how you want the projects to be designed,

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how you want them to be also delivered, how you want them to qualify the quality that you are delivering for example.

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And this is something that the operator is commonly doing also by creating what we call e -learning.

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So they are providing trainings to the subcontractor basically.

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And this is also something that ePlan provides to create for various operators

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that wants to educate and share and coach their subcontractors to do the design in their preferred way.

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And this is also something that you also find not only for of course the specific operator,

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but you find e -learnings also on the eplan .com environment.

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So if I start also the e -learning environment, this is also where you can filter on the different type of e -learnings.

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Of course, Also here you find the update trainings that we provide, but also all the other specific information for Fluid,

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for example, or how to handle reports or how to handle multiple terminal, for example.

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So the e -learning environment is also something that we share to all our customers, of course, to get deeper knowledge in the e -plan environment

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and the e -plan platform

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but also we help operators to specifically share how they want their design to look like

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and to be delivered and to be also trained to their subcontractors.

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To mention, last tip would also be to promote our professional service organization.

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And this is, of course,

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where experienced consultant coach and help our customers to take the journeys and take the step by step implementation of their standardization.

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And, of course, also building up their reusability to ensure efficient engineering in their design process.

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They also help, of course, operators to help them with the supplier guidelines to standardize.

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And of course here in the portfolio of where you find on our homepage where I'm currently looking, you will find multiple different approaches how we help our customers.

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Everything from standard personal coaching to where we promote, for example, consulting subscription,

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where you can on a yearly basis continuously educate your team to explore more

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and more of the power in the ePlan platform.

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So Thomas, these were three examples how ePlan helps the customer to take this journey into standardization and efficient engineering.

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A very powerful package when we see it from the solutions, the data,

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the experience and the guidance and then of course also the very flexible way to do it via e -learning for example.

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But I will not miss to point also something out that the consulting team,

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you mentioned the experience in the consulting team and also the experience in these standards and norms.

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So they put together this small booklet here and this is really a full description of what we talked about today.

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So standardization, following these norms, how to make the first steps into that topic.

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So this will be available for download from the ePlan homepage

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and really gives a compressed overview and enables the first steps into these topics.

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So thank you very much to the consulting team.

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They put all their know -how and experience in these pages.

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So that's really helpful.

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So, before we come to the end of that session, Anders, I would say thank you very much for sharing all your knowledge,

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all your experience and introducing these topics across all the options ePlan offers to make the first steps into standardization.

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Thank you very much for that.

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Thank you, Thomas.

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It was a pleasure to have you here.

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But before we finally close, I think it's also important that we address further spotlights.

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So you are also in other topics.

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Yeah, for sure.

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And I would like to really promote our service and maintenance spotlight.

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So this is also looking more deeper into the operators world where the projects are,

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let's say, operational and how they also look from a maintenance point of view into their assets.

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A second spotlight I would like to promote is also the new 2025 version.

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We're showing all the news and of course this will be really cool to see.

429

Okay and then I just add two more topics when we go a little bit earlier into the engineering process.

430

We talk about pre -planning, so all the things that are done in basic engineering

431

and then of course we show the continuity of the engineering process based on the ePlan engineering platform.

432

And one topic of course is also the idea

433

and our topic to have electric P8 when you do your schematic design

434

and use the automation functions that are available in ePlan.

435

So maybe get rid of all these manual tasks

436

and really use the schematic to put all the data to describe the automation system

437

and then use functions like from scratch auto connecting,

438

report generation and so on to make your engineering faster and raise the quality of the overall documentation.

439

Okay, so very interesting topics.

440

Again thank you very much Anders and hope to see you in further spotlights.

441

Thank you very much for your attention.

442

Thank you.

443

Thank you.

O que é a Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing é uma técnica de aprendizado de idiomas com base científica, originalmente desenvolvida para o treinamento de intérpretes profissionais. O método é simples, mas poderoso: você ouve áudio em inglês nativo e repete imediatamente em voz alta — como uma sombra seguindo o falante com 1-2 segundos de atraso. Pesquisas mostram melhora significativa na precisão da pronúncia, entonação, ritmo, sons conectados, compreensão auditiva e fluência na fala.

Prática de Shadowing: Functional-Oriented Documentation in Automation - Eplan & IEC 81346 Explained - Aprenda a falar inglês com vídeo

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O que é a Técnica de Shadowing?