"Invisible champion" Cable Harness

All fields in the world are changing, and industry 4.0 is also one of the changing factors. The public is keen to discuss the current and future drastic changes in the automobile industry. In addition to common problems such as emissions, electric vehicles or driverless driving, there is another area that is not well known to the public and will enjoy the benefits brought by this fundamental change. It is the automotive electrical architecture system.

Compared with the engine, the automotive wiring harness is an important aspect of automobile manufacturing. The wiring harness is hidden in the car body, which is not deeply recognized by the car salesmen, and it is an indispensable and extremely important part of automobile manufacturing. All cars need wiring harness connection. Early cars only need a few yards of wires to connect the lights, wipers and heaters, while modern cars may have thousands of individual wires with a total length of several miles. In fact, with the widespread use of sensors, digital functions, actuators and networks, the most complicated part of modern cars is the wiring harness design.

For designers, there are many other different factors. In terms of customizing new cars, large German automakers have provided drivers with great freedom of choice. This successful model has even produced a unique abbreviation: KSK-German means "customer-only wiring harness". Therefore, at present, there have been hundreds of modifications, which have created a huge demand for the corresponding system development and production. Besides, the types and possible configurations of vehicles are constantly increasing.

These harnesses are designed in different locations around the world, and different teams are responsible for each stage, sometimes using different tools. External suppliers have brought more changes to the product mix, and the constant changes will simultaneously affect the design schemes of each stage.

In order to cope with the time pressure and the complexity of the project efficiently, the software must be able to handle multiple variables at the same time, work in a holistic way, and integrate the corresponding teams, design stages and every variable change in a clear and reliable way. This requires processing a large amount of data and providing high-quality data at the same time; Therefore, the whole design process needs to be fundamentally adjusted. It needs to abandon the document-oriented tool chain and adopt the "digital twin" harness design based on data instead.

The key to "quality and quantity" is to ensure the consistency of data from beginning to end: from the initial wiring diagram and 3D rendering of wiring harness to the complete system layout and production documents-there will be no difference in the system. This consistency ensures the speed and quality. All mistakes and defects have a price to pay, and the later they are discovered, the greater the price will be.

A data-centric engineering design solution was put forward to help users meet these challenges. Engineering Base (EB) Cable has been applied to the automobile industry for decades, and has cooperated with major automobile manufacturers around the world.

The common data model is the design foundation of EB, which will ensure that all participants in the project process can ensure efficient and consistent operation. As part of its unique change management capability, EB also provides various special functions. Similarly, EB can handle all kinds of individual vehicle configurations in a relatively clearer way with its extensive modifications and options.

Benefiting from this high consistency, changes made in one place will be updated to all design stages of the project simultaneously. The internal change management system can also provide an appropriate and reliable overview. Whether it's a cross-disciplinary change or the result of interaction with external suppliers, the change can be easily tracked and updated through the tracking function that can be configured separately. For file-based tools, this is an "impossible task". Even digital documents are usually just computer-aided lists or graphics, and there is no logic or detailed information behind them.

Another reason why the platform can achieve consistency is that it minimizes the internal interruption of the system. The data generated by EB can be used as the basis of the next design step. With the gradual increase of details (including parallel and different aspects), these data can be recycled and reused. This can eliminate error-prone transfer, while eliminating the need for interface maintenance. No information will be lost, and the individual receivers of each major involved do not need to wait for data transfer. This also applies to third-party systems such as ERP or 3D. Two-way connection can ensure the consistent exchange of data, and relevant experts do not have to leave their system.

The EB comprehensive planning process starts with the automatic transfer of connection data, and can be presented as a system diagram when necessary. This is the starting point for defining the wiring system and its corresponding joints in detail. Then, the introduction of 3D technology opens up the last joint for full integration, extending to product production. The interaction between 2D and 3D provides electrical and logical information for one side, while the other side receives mechanical data about topology, length and other factors. Whenever there is a change, intelligent incremental management can ensure that the two majors are properly adjusted.

They contain not only the usual attribute sets, but also the related information of relationships. For example, the relationship between plug connectors and components.

In the centralized model, this end-to-end consistency of digital rendering gives birth to the so-called "digital twin". Therefore, international teams in different countries can carry out efficient development work at the same time, and at the same time, they can use any function of vehicle configuration analysis and planning. EB also provides users with an overview of various aspects related to development of different harness suppliers from the central monitoring point. Therefore, the digital model can be used instead of the prototype car which needs a lot of energy to build, and the function can be improved directly. Aucotec's platform is able to generate the "digital clone" of this kind of physical wire harness because all steps of this process are integrated into a common database.

To ensure that we can solve the problems of complexity and time pressure when developing the latest and most advanced vehicle cable harnesses, this data-centric approach is essential. We believe that, considering the scalability of EB, from a single workstation to global enterprise solutions, and its simple integration with highly complex existing IT systems, the shift to a data-centric approach and the resulting "digital twin" are completely worthy of the title of "invisible champion".