“We are very versatile, keep up with technical advances, and have been actively making acquisitions. Often architects give us follow-up contracts and recommend us to others”, explains Wolfgang Fiegl, Electrical partner of Harald Sulzer.That Sulzer & Partner are professionals shows on their internet page www.sulzer-partner.de: The range of services includes the usual electrical installation, power distribution, lighting systems, security systems, network for data and communication and also such specialities as CCTV, acoustic systems, stage lighting systems, building automation systems and of course the EIB bus systems.From the first contact, the customer is aware that he is dealing with “As experts. soon as the client has explained his building project, and has accepted our offer, we carry out the execution on the computer; draw the symbols for electrical devices, distribution, lighting, containment and so on. We also plot it and take the plans with us to the meetings with the customer. This process is very quick and is well received by the customer” explains Herr Fiegl about the first planning steps and how efficient you can be using the system.

Good Development
The planning office of Sulzer and Partner has been constantly growing, and with it the use of DDS Building Services Partner. Fiegl explains about this: “We adopted the system of Data Design System from the beginning and we are very happy with it.” it.” Very quickly, the first 3 licenses became 5 then 8 and today in Sulzer and Partner, there are 10 workstations with licenses for the program
For Sulzer and Partner, the straightforward data exchange with architectural plans in DXF or DWG format was a strong argument in favour of DDS. The building’s height dimensions could be easily entered to create a 3D model, which is vital for accurate modelling of the services, automatic calculations and for system visualisation. Electrical Partner also provides other tools, with which you can draw sketches quickly and easily. Once a sketch is done, the routing and the wall or roof penetrations can be added. The planning of the installation takes place with symbols which are linked to ZVEH – a German costing system - through a product database. The switches, sockets, lights and so on are placed this way with a click of the mouse.“The layout of the cables and conduits can also be added and changed as many times as necessary during the course of the project. The extraction of quantities by a click of the mouse and the automatic generation of the schematic distribution and switch plans from the installation planning saves a lot of time”, explains Herr Fiegl. For him, the comprehensive layer management functions of the software are also very important. This way, each discipline such as heating, lighting, low voltage, data network or architecture can be planned separately and put together or separated again for the visualisation, the coordination, or for the printing of plans for each discipline.

Automatic Calculations
The planning is also substantially easier thanks to the automatic calculations: Electrical Partner has built in calculations for lighting (lumen method), volt drop, diversified power requirement and short circuit analysis. Schematic circuit diagrams and terminal and cable lists are automatically generated on the completion of the installation plan. Schematic diagrams can also be developed independently of the installation plan.
The constant development of the software, with numerous updates each year is another reason for the trust of Sulzer and Partner in DDS: “This way, we stay up to date with the technology” remarks Herr Fiegl. Company founder Harald Sulzer is also very proficient with Electrical partner, as he was one of the first users of the program. The company has regular contact with DDS, and has suggested many improvements which have been included in subsequent versions of the software.
Sulzer and Fiegl have such a good working knowledge of the DDS software that they present their knowledge and experience at CAD seminars held at the Friedrichshafen Chamber of Trade. The data workflow in the planning office is also very professionally organised. The projects are “archived” in a central server per customer. All workstations have access to this through a network, which enables a clear division of the planning work, as Herr Fiegl explains. “As soon as our technical drafters have prepared the architectural plans, each engineer can work on the outline of his individual discipline, for example, electrical installation, cabling containment, EIB, security and fire alarms.” The multiuser capability of the software allows the engineers to work on the project simultaneously.

Multi-Disciplinary Planning
The application from DDS is valuable to Sulzer and Partner in many ways. Their success as an electrical specialist led the company to diversify into heating, air conditioning, ventilation and public health. Naturally they turned to DDS. HVAC Partner and Piping Partner are based on the same principles as Electrical Partner and offer the same high standards of design and functionality that they were used to in the electrical product.
The principal advantage is that the architectural plans only need to be entered once and can be used by all disciplines. Beyond that, the separately developed plans can also be brought together, for example as a working coordinated model, or for 3D visualisation. The ability to present coordinated multi-disciplinary 3D models to their clients has proved to be very useful. During the design process, automatic collision detection between all the services reduces the risk of planning mistakes causing expensive changes during the construction of the projects.
“If we hadn’t started with DDS, we would be working with separate, incompatible systems now. There is no other CAD system on the market that offers the same level of capability across all building service disciplines” Herr Fiegl happily explains.
Sulzer and Partner have been using Electrical Partner from Data Design System for over 10 years.

Sulzer Case Study.pdf (1.44806 Kbyte)