Early Detection of Errors: Why it’s Crucial for Seamless Electrical Design and Production

In this article, we’ll highlight the most common electrical design mistakes and discuss the risks if they remain unspotted.

What are the most common design problems that cause electrical errors?

While there are many common electrical design faults that can impact upon the cost, viability, and duration of projects, the good news is that effective advanced computer aided design can help to overcome them.

The following are some of the most common design problems:

• Components that don't fit into the designated enclosure space
• Wires or cables that don’t fit inside the wire ducts.
• Relying on outdated designs by copying and pasting from previous projects, resulting in out-of-date information and confusion on the shop floor.
• Multiple versions of the same design without a clear revision management process which leads to confusion and inefficiencies.
• Communication breakdown between design engineers, procurement, and production that causes an unnecessary waste of resources.
• Duplication of component tags leading to erroneous parts ordering and prolonged delays.
• Missing or incorrect part numbers that wreak havoc on manual searches and project timelines.
• No synchronisation between schematic modifications and panel layout drawings.
• Missing wire numbers
• Incorrect drilling information.

The Problem of Simple Design Mistakes

Electrical design mistakes, when overlooked, can have far-reaching implications. Instead of being confined to the design phase, they can pervade the production process, affecting efficiency, timelines, and budgets. Proactively identifying and addressing design errors before they snowball into more serious issues is, therefore, crucial.

By adhering to best practices in advanced electrical design, engineers and design teams can significantly reduce the possibility of errors. A robust design methodology, coupled with comprehensive validation and review processes, provides vital protection against costly mistakes. The strength of early error detection lies in its ability to not only prevent errors but to maintain a smooth and uninterrupted flow throughout the design-to-production lifecycle.

Find out more

To find out more about the importance of seamless electrical design and how EPLAN software can help your business to eradicate the problem of design mistakes, download our free guide, ‘How to Avoid Electrical Mistakes Getting Through to Production: An Electrical Design Guide.’