Digital

Initial situation and motivation

Wire harness production in the automotive industry is still largely carried out manually. Technical approaches to automate the production process, at least in part or even completely, have been known for several years. There are also specialized companies that offer corresponding machines and systems commercially. Nevertheless, the proportion of value added by automated production in the industry has remained at a consistently low level. A trend towards changing this situation is not discernible today, although various reasons indicate a clear need for action towards automation[see Reasons for automation].

A key reason for this situation is that the current design of wiring harnesses is generally not suitable for automated systems. This is also due to the fact that the complexity of vehicle networking has been increasing for years and the wiring harnesses primarily follow the requirements of the vehicle and the product function to be achieved. Requirements for automation-compatible design still play a clearly subordinate role in industrial practice today.

Current focus of work

Against this backdrop, the goal of this subproject is to establish requirements and recommendations for digital product descriptions based on known barriers to automation and related design guidelines for the “ Wire Harness ” definition. This will be achieved by standardizing data profiles for the digital description of components and “ Wire Harness ” based on the standard data formats KBL (cable harness list) and VEC (Vehicle Electric Container).

During project phase 2.1, the first version of DIN 72036 was developed in collaboration with the project partners. To this end, Subproject 10 derived data-format-independent requirements for the digital product description—in the form of data needs—from the design guidelines listed in the standard. Subsequently, the subproject mapped these requirements to the KBL and VEC data formats and, in doing so, ultimately defined three data profiles:

• A VEC-based data profile for wire harness components
• A VEC-based data profile for line sets
• A KBL-based data profile for line sets

The intended benefits of the data profiles defined in the standard essentially extend to all stakeholders involved in development and manufacturing. This is because the data profiles clearly and transparently specify which data is fundamentally required in the process of automated wire harness manufacturing and how it should be digitally represented. This provides guidance for all stakeholders, thereby preventing unnecessary iteration cycles and potentially facilitating the development of tooling solutions that can be used industry-wide.

As part of the process of defining the data profiles mentioned above, requests for extensions were submitted to the relevant standardization bodies in order to address existing gaps in the data formats with regard to digital product description.

In Project Phase 2.2, the goal is now to continue along the path we have taken and to maintain and expand the data profiles in coordination with the other subprojects. This is based on all activities related to the release of a new version of DIN 72036 as part of the planned scope expansion—for example, to include high-voltage applications—as well as all new topics, such as the introduction of an automation metric. Furthermore, the VEC and KBL data profiles are to be published on PROSTEP using corresponding XML schemas.

Outlook

As its primary outcome, the subproject aims to contribute to a standard being developed as part of the ARENA 2036 IILS initiative. The goal is to standardize data profiles for the digital description of components and Wire Harness based on the standard data formats KBL (wiring harness list) and VEC (Vehicle Electric Container).

The reason for this is that the standard data formats mentioned tend to avoid imposing strict requirements regarding minimum data content. This applies in particular to the VEC data format, which—unlike the KBL—is explicitly designed not only for the use case of “ Wire Harness ” mapping but also aims to support an indefinite number of other conceivable usage scenarios. However, if the goal is to be able to verify compliance with design guidelines based on digital data, specific requirements regarding the content and scope of the digital product description must be met. The data profiles serve to make this transparent.

As a secondary result, the sub-project is working on expanding the above-mentioned data standards in order to close existing gaps that are relevant for assessing the suitability of the wire harness with regard to automated production. Corresponding tickets will be submitted to the relevant standardization committees.