Siemens, Cadenas team for digital twin data

Business news | July 16, 2020

By Nick Flaherty

German CAD specialist Cadenas has added planning data for automation and switching technology products from Siemens for 3D digital twin tools.

Users of Siemens PLM solutions will now have direct access to digital Siemens components such as switches, controls, relays etc., which are available within Siemens NX, Solid Edge, Teamcenter as well as the Cadenas portal, enabling engineers to quickly integrate them into product designs.

Siemens is a key developer and user of digital twin models for Indusgtry 4.0, using a portfolio of hardware and software products that enable a seamless data link between development, production and suppliers. “Siemens plays a pioneering role when it comes to comprehensively representing constructions as digital twins. Intelligent, native 3D CAD data of the individual components are required to simulate and optimize the virtual representation of a design in advance. Here Cadenas, with its many years of know-how in the creation of digital parts catalogues, makes another important contribution to the holistic implementation of the Industry 4.0 strategy of Siemens,” said Thorsten Reichenberger, Senior Business Development Digital Business at Siemens.

There are over 50,000 automation and low-voltage switchgear products and systems from Siemens, and access to planning data and CAD data for these components was previously only possible via Siemens’ own online platform, the Siemens Industry Mall. In order to use the planning data in NX, Solid Edge or Teamcenter, a manual import was necessary. The planning data itself was mostly available in the neutral STEP format.

As part of the cooperation between Siemens and Cadenas, the first step was to make the basic data available within the Cadenas platform which is also integrated directly into NX, Solid Edge and Teamcenter as a component library. Users of the Siemens PLM solutions can now find these components with just a few clicks and insert them directly into their product design without changing systems or the need to store the files locally.

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“As an OEM partner of Siemens, we can make a significant contribution with our many years of know-how from over 800 successful catalog projects to further extend Siemens’ lead in Industry 4.0,” says Walter Leder, COO of Cadenas.

This can now be used in digital twin software such as the Mechatronics Concept Designer (MCD) from Siemens PLM. As an integrated solution for automation development within the 3D CAD software NX, the MCD in combination with the intelligent digital components from Cadenas, enables virtual testing of the commissioning of technical systems in advance and digital coordination of the control system details. This significantly shortens the lead time until the start of production.

“The aim of the cooperation between Cadenas and Siemens is to support manufacturing companies by improving the flexibility and efficiency of their design and production processes, helping bring products to market faster. This consistently increases efficiency, minimizes the error rate and significantly shortens development cycles. All in all, this means a sustained increase in competitiveness for companies,” said Reichenberger.

The new 3D CAD models download portal from Siemens is available to CAD users at siemens.partcommunity.com.