3D electrical systems design workflow for electromechanical innovation
July 2026Fieldbus & Industrial Networking
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens has announced new 3D electrical design capabilities within its industry-leading Capital software to unify wiring design and physical harness routing in a single, model-based workflow that spans the Siemens Xcelerator portfolio of industry software. The new capabilities enable electrical and mechanical engineers to work concurrently in a shared 3D context, improving collaboration while reducing late-stage design changes.
As electrical systems and software content continue to increase in complexity, disconnected ECAD and MCAD workflows can lead to delays, errors and costly rework. Siemens addresses these challenges by integrating Capital within Designcenter software for advanced product engineering and Teamcenter software for product lifecycle management, enabling engineers to design, validate and manage electrical systems directly within the mechanical design environment.
“For the first time, customers can pair best-in-class electrical system design, including AI-driven harness development, with 3D mechanical design in a unified, model-based workflow without compromise,” says Frances Evans, senior vice president of Lifecycle Collaboration Software at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “We are helping our customers reduce development risk while accelerating innovation with better collaboration across disciplines, earlier insight into design issues and more confident decision making for complex electromechanical products.”
Key capabilities
The new 3D electrical design capabilities support earlier validation of electrical systems, improve data continuity across the digital thread and reduce manual hand-offs between multidisciplinary engineering teams. Engineers can visualise electrical content in 3D, identify issues sooner and align design intent with physical implementation.
Key benefits include:
• Faster product development through earlier electrical system validation
• Improved ECAD/MCAD collaboration in a shared 3D environment
• Reduced cost and risk by minimising late design changes and rework
• Higher engineering productivity using familiar electrical and mechanical design tools, boosted with AI.
Industry perspective
“Cross-disciplinary conflicts between electrical and mechanical teams are relatively inexpensive to resolve early, and increasingly painful to resolve late once adjacent subsystems have hardened around them,” says Chad Jackson, chief executive officer and chief analyst at Lifecycle Insights. “The shared 3D context offered by Siemens connects electrical and mechanical engineers from the start of harness design and makes early resolution operationally possible.”
The new capabilities are relevant for manufacturers developing electrically complex products across multiple industries.
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