Eplan, a Global Encompass partner, has added the Eplan Fluid and Eplan Harness proD products to the Encompass Program. With the Eplan suite of products, users can bi-directionally compare their engineering data with the control systems from Rockwell Automation.

The major new release of the Eplan Platform is launched. Version 2.3 focuses on standardisation and automation, which opens up new opportunities for users when it comes to standard-compliant design and handling safety values. Simple macro editing and extended search functions for system settings guarantee highly productive engineering for users. Another practical benefit: central administration of phased-out devices and associated test runs to give transparency and safety to existing projects.

Since mid-April, Eplan has been an official Siemens PLM Solution Partner. The aim of the partnership is to offer an interface between two market-leading systems - Eplan and Teamcenter. This integration closes a loophole in the PLM process: the configuration data for the Eplan platform can now be processed in Teamcenter. Companies from different industries can benefit from this integrated approach which forms part of a consistent product creation process.

Select components directly from the machine in the event of faults or maintenance requirement? This works with the new Eplan Data Portal app which is now avail-able in two languages from the iTunes Store. It allows users to access over 230,000 components in the portal, search and select mobile devices and components. The intelligent basket transfers the data collected into the original Eplan project, unless the customer has a soft-ware service contract.

Based on the motto of "Integrated Industry", the new version of the Eplan Engineering Center One (EEC One) is not only the individual discipline specialist combined to produce an overall solution. EEC One now has multi-lingual functionality to lift national barriers, thus ensur-ing improved interaction for automation on an interna-tional stage. Customers use the software to generate schematics and fluid plans automatically - now in Russian or Chinese too.

The Eplan Data Portal has grown massively since its launch in 2008. The number of manufacturers has in-creased to 48 - with component manufacturers Sick and Saia-Burgess among the new additions. Data and mac-ros relating to more than 225,000 parts can be simply imported into the project by means of Drag & Drop. This saves the time-consuming independent development of device macros. Users can benefit from standardized, up-to-date data and efficient configuration with no changes in media format.

Advanced Machine & Tool, AMT, of Fort Wayne, Indiana, saw considerable productivity improvements by using EPLAN solutions and has switched from AutoCAD Electrical to EPLAN. Time-consuming product development steps, like device tagging, wire numbering, and machine design standardization, including archiving and re-using recurrent content, have been simplified and accelerated.

The partners Festo and EPLAN are each pushing forwards with the aim of connecting the worlds of configuration in electrical and pneumatic engineering. A data package developed by Festo specially for EPLAN users with over 2,000 smart devices macros now gives extra strength to the mechatronic orbit of the CPX terminal. Users of the EPLAN Platform can use this to simply and easily create overview drawings, electrical and pneumatic circuit diagrams, and PLC overviews.

Solution provider EPLAN showcases the new Version 2.2 of the EPLAN Platform at SPS IPC Drives, Hall 7A / Stand 240. With numerous functional extensions and innovative additional modules, for example for field cabling, it opens up new perspectives in engineering for users. The new graphical macro selection, smart terminal analysis and automatic termination points when copying sections of a circuit provide rapid design engineering results. Engineers receive a solid system which accelerates processes and provides a basis for standardization and automation.