Fields partially lined with copper make the construction of even complex switchgear much easier and speed up the process. As a long-standing close partner, Ehrt has installed the system for the production of the lifelines of modern energy distribution.

"Digitalization is coming with power and speed, which is why switchgear manufacturers and electrical installers have to face new challenges. This leaves less and less time for traditional tasks. We want to help here and offer even better solutions and services that relieve our partners and customers of these tasks or make them easier," emphasizes Dirk Seiler, Managing Director of Sedotec in Ladenburg.

Anyone who processes copper into busbars and couplings should know what they are doing. Starting with the special machines required for this, know-how and experience are also required in the production of the individual copper parts. With the types of copper that Sedotec processes, it is important to know and observe factors such as tensile strength, yield strength and elongation at break. The fact that these values can change depending on the processing method does not make things any easier. This all needs to be taken into account if copper is to be cut to length, punched, notched, bent, ground, countersunk and deburred in order to manufacture the couplings and main busbars for a switchgear system. A coupling comprises 60 to 80 copper parts. Several more kilograms and meters are added for the rails. Sedotec processes over 500 tons of copper every year.

Long-standing machine partner Ehrt provided support in setting up the semi-automated system for copper processing. The experts from Rhineland-Palatinate develop and manufacture punching and bending machines for copper, aluminum and steel rails. The company specializes in the precision processing of flat material such as busbars, bars and profiles. "Our collaboration goes back to 2014, when Sedotec received a prototype machine. It was a development partnership right from the start," recalls Thomas Ehrt, Managing Director of the machine manufacturer. And Seiler adds: "We were happy to describe our wishes and ideas and Ehrt always implemented them perfectly." This was also the case with the current system. "The people did a great job. After 14 days of installation and commissioning, the result was: Switch on - it runs," praises Seiler.

Gantry system with gantry crane replaces material store

As a result, Ladenburg now has self-sufficient copper punching machines that are supplied by a shared gantry storage system with a gantry crane. The existing HC 80 will be joined by another latest-generation Holecut Professional HC 80 punching machine and two EB 40 Professional E copper bending machines with electric servo drive.

There are two storage areas under the gantry crane in front of the machines, each of which can hold around 40 tons of material of different dimensions. This makes the gantry system with the storage area and the gantry crane the core of the automation for the two independently operating punching machines. Material is automatically recorded, stored, managed and fed into the machines. "The automatic storage of material in particular makes our work much easier," says Sedotec Production Manager Leonardo Torresi. The current status of the system can be called up at any time - at the machine and in the office. "The gantry can replace an existing material store," assures Daniel Schenk from Technical Sales at Ehrt. And so Sedotec is pleased that Ehrt also took care of dismantling the massive paternoster storage system. "The monstrous part would probably have outlived us all otherwise," says Seiler with a grin.

Interface to ERP enables full transparency

The ultra-modern and largely automated system is controlled by PunchPRO, the Ehrt solution for nesting multiple production orders. Schenk explains the possibilities: "The challenge today is to organize the production orders optimally. PunchPRO offers the solution, because it can arrange the production orders in such a way that material utilization is optimized." The respective sequence is not influenced, as it is all about optimizing material utilization. "The waste of raw materials is minimized, which saves costs and reduces waste," promises Schenk.

The operator sees the production orders clearly displayed. The status of each order can be queried both from the office and by the operator himself. Individual orders and even entire production shifts can be planned in advance in the office while the machine is producing in the hall. "This set-up time optimization increases machine running times considerably," emphasizes Schenk. Production orders can be saved and called up again at any time. Any deviating quantities can then be easily edited.

"This takes our production to a whole new level in terms of both quality and quantity," Seiler is convinced. However, quantity is not the real motivation at Sedotec. "We don't want to sell 'more' copper," says Seiler. "On the contrary, Vamocon systems require less copper". This is made possible by a trick that is as intelligent as it is revolutionary. For the Vamocon low-voltage switchgear, the main busbar system remains at its standard central height, as with the other 13 bay types in the system.

With this expertise and the new system, Seiler wants to convince switchgear manufacturers that it will be more lucrative for them to take on the challenges of digitalization in the future. "With the digitalization of a switchgear system and its integration at the operator, switchgear manufacturers and electrical installers can develop a new field with a lot of added value and better assert themselves in an increasingly competitive market," Seiler is convinced. Internal copper processing with everything that goes with it, such as purchasing, warehousing and production with ancillary activities such as pressing in nuts, etc., is no longer profitable for switchgear manufacturers in the long term. "We can do this faster, better, more cost-transparent and cheaper," promises Seiler. The new, automated copper competence center that Sedotec has installed with Ehrt, which provides more power for the production of the lifelines of a switchgear system, will ensure that Seiler is probably right in the end.

A partnership with the same goal

And Seiler has already put forward the next requests for the inclusion of downstream processes such as deburring, bending or press-fitting in automated punching production to achieve fully automated production at Ehrt. "We are aiming for fully interlinked and automated line production, as we have already achieved with our sheet metal production," he says, describing the next step. With Thomas Ehrt, Seiler is knocking down open doors. "This is exactly the direction in which our developments are heading and where digitalization is providing us with excellent support." So nothing stands in the way of Sedotec and Ehrt continuing their development partnership. Switchgear manufacturers, electrical installers and planners will be pleased to hear it.