Enhancing Manufacturing Efficiency with SEE Electrical suite of software

What we're seeing in the industry is a very big transition because of digitization and also because of the energy transition. Historically, we've had single-source equipment that gets built, but nowadays, you're seeing orders for configurations that have multiple sources, things like solar and battery storage, and so on.
By John Lane, Technology, Automation and Data Analytics Leader, Schneider Electric

Recognizing an opportunity to improve quality and manufacturing efficiency, Schneider Electric Power System North America sought an integrated approach to electrical design and wiring processes. They found the solution in ETAP SEE Electrical suite and began their transformation journey. In this demonstration, you’ll learn how Schneider Electric evaluated new methods against existing workflows. As a result, SEE Electrical Expert and SEE 3D Panel are now being implemented in manufacturing facilities to deliver more robust engineering designs, while adopted to automate manufacturing with wiring machines.

Schneider Electric is a global industrial technology leader bringing world-leading expertise in electrification, automation, and digitization to smart industries, resilient infrastructure, future-proof data centers, intelligent buildings, and intuitive homes. Anchored by deep domain expertise, they provide integrated end-to-end lifecycle AI-enabled Industrial IoT solutions with connected products, automation, software, and services, delivering digital twins to enable profitable growth for customers. A company with an ecosystem of 168,000 employees and more than a million partners operating in over 100 countries ensures proximity to its customers and stakeholders.

Location: Nashville Metropolitan Area, Tennessee, United States

Year: 2025

Engineer to order business model for electrical distribution equipment

Challenges

  • To accelerate offering and delivery times: The switchboard market is highly competitive and demanding, with numerous competitors and significant time pressure.
  • To ensure timely delivery of unique switchboard configurations: Each new building requires different switchboards and panels, with varying wiring, communication options, and mechanical and electrical components.
  • To revamp the product lifecycle and workflow: The manufacturing process for switchboards is discrete, with each order requiring specialized equipment, ratings, sizing, and components. The switchboards are modular, and the software should support high-level modular design.
  • To meet the new electrical CAD requirements and the complexity of designing the electrical harnesses.

Which solutions do they choose?

Selected applications

They utilize ETAP SEE Electrical EXPERT software with SEE Electrical 3D Panel and SEE Electrical Shop Floor, to integrate the design and production processes in one workflow from order to design, manufacturing, delivery, and maintenance.

Why do they use ETAP?

Main Customer Benefits

  • Single source of truth based on 3d Model for electrical designer, manufacturer and maintenance engineer. 
  • Clear workflow Engineer-To-Order process, with specific steps, approvals, and life cycle controls.
  • Calculated wire lengths and terminations by using 3D model.
  • Wiring simplification, with a highly reduced number of wrong electrical connections. 3D Visual Work instruction and wiring lists exported to the wire and harness production machines, with labels.
  • Delivering more robust engineering design.

What do they think about ETAP?

Opinions

[...] as far as we are using the SEE Electrical software suite, which is the SEE Electrical Expert software, SEE 3D Panel and also the [SEE Electrical Shop Floor], with the SEE Electrical Expert and the SEE Electrical 3D Panel we're delivering more robust engineering designs. The information that's available to drive manufacturing automation is dramatically increased versus the prior solution that we had.

By John Lane, Technology, Automation and Data Analytics Leader, Schneider Electric

And all of this is culminating into a higher level of quality with the machines doing a lot of the preparation of the wires. We have more consistent application of in fittings on those wires and the length of the wires are cut correctly per the 3D models.

By John Lane, Technology, Automation and Data Analytics Leader, Schneider Electric



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