AC Automation GmbH & Co. KG is Oerlikon Management AG since April 13, 2018.

AC Automation GmbH & Co. KG is a specialist provider of automation systems. The Augsburg-based company was founded in 2011, when the Atlantic C Group took over Autefa filaments which is part of the Oerlikon Group. The team of AC-Automation includes automation specialists, logistics experts and designers, who have experience in projects implemented worldwide.

Removal and handling units, automatic transport systems, warehouse automation with real-time simulation, shelving operations these are all technologies in which AC-Automation boasts extensive know-how and expertise. In the first year of the affiliation to the Atlantic C Group, the company was able to record incoming orders from India, China, Korea and Israel worth over 30 million Euro. Since spring 2012 AC-Automation has been operating a spare parts catalogue system based on PARTS-PUBLISHER from Docware which enables it to create machine- specific catalogues - in paper format, on CD and on the Internet.

A special requirement, which ACAutomation made of PARTS-PUBLISHER, was the professional integration of circuit diagrams in the spare parts catalogue. A spare parts catalogue system, which supports ”mechanics“ and ”electronics“ equally, was desired. In addition to spare parts research and ordering, effective troubleshooting and signal monitoring in circuit diagrams should also be possible. The integration of circuit diagrams in the spare parts catalogues should be automated to a large extent, without major additional work and expenditure in the catalogue creation.

As an interface developed jointly by EPLAN and Docware exists, which connects PARTS-PUBLISHER and EPLAN P8, a fully automated solution was implemented for the desired integration of circuit diagrams in the catalogue system (paper, CD, Internet), without major work and expenditure. The interface works as a plug-in at the EPLAN system. Circuit diagrams and components, as well as information about their representation and ordering data, are exported in a specific format from EPLAN and imported to the PARTS-PUBLISHER workbench, where they directly enter the automated catalogue creation. With just a few mouse clicks an information platform, which supports mechanics and electrical systems, is created. Mechanical parts and circuit diagrams are partially linked. Navigation is effected via the circuit diagram directory, component names and interactive circuit diagrams. Mechanical and electrical components can be ordered directly from the catalogue via a common shopping cart.