The production plant was already getting on in years. Increasingly frequent breakdowns, rising maintenance costs and growing difficulties in procuring spare parts made modernization unavoidable. The company invested in new control systems, drives and sensors - but unexpected problems became more frequent after the upgrade: Error messages, communication problems between components and sporadic failures.
What had gone wrong? One crucial aspect was overlooked: the fundamental revision of the electrical planning.
The hidden cornerstone of every successful modernization
When modernizing systems, many decision-makers understandably focus on the visible components - new control units, modern operating devices or more powerful drives. However, the true success of a modernization is often decided before the first hardware replacement: in the well-thought-out electrical planning.
The electrical planning forms the foundation on which all further modernization steps are built. It not only defines cabling routes and connections, but also the entire technical concept of the system - from the power supply and control architecture to the communication topology.
Why do many modernization projects fail?
Typical causes of problems with system modernizations:
- Insufficient stocktaking the actual electrical infrastructure
- Gaps in documentation between paper and reality
- Creeping changes over years that were never documented
- Interactions not taken into account between old and new components
- Underestimated complexity electrical dependencies
Trying to press new components into old planning structures is like replacing individual pieces of a puzzle in a finished picture - without adjusting the overall motif.
The methodical approach: three phases for successful modernization
Phase 1: Inventory and analysis
Start with a thorough assessment of the current situation:
- What documentation exists and how up-to-date is it?
- Where are there discrepancies between the documentation and the actual system?
- What electrical dependencies exist between system components?
- What "grown" structures have been established?
Phase 2: Concept development
An overall electrical concept is developed on the basis of the analysis:
- Where are structural changes necessary?
- Which interfaces need to be redefined?
- How can the integration of new and existing components be optimized?
- What standards should apply in the future?
Phase 3: Implementation planning
The detailed planning includes:
- Concrete circuit diagrams and system documentation
- Cable routes and dimensioning
- Interface definitions
- Test concepts
- Scheduling for minimum downtimes
The advantages of well thought-out new electrical planning
A medium-sized mechanical engineering company was able to achieve impressive results thanks to a methodical planning approach:
- 40% shorter changeover time than originally calculated
- 60% Less rework after commissioning
- Reduction in downtimes by 75% in the first year of operation after modernization
The key to success: not simply replacing components, but a fundamental redesign of the electrical infrastructure.
Conclusion: The methodical path to successful modernization
Investing in professional electrical planning pays off in every phase of the modernization project - from shorter implementation times and reduced error rates to long-term system stability. It is not a dispensable luxury, but the decisive foundation for the success of the project.
With state-of-the-art CAE tools and structured planning methods, even complex old systems can now be systematically transformed into future-proof production systems - the key lies in methodical electrical engineering planning.
