MTU Aero Engines - Engineering Workbench ePROTAS
More than 250 engineers at the Munich-based company MTU rely on the ePROTAS platform for turbine development. The system has been in operation for over fifteen years and now manages a database of over 240 terabyte.
Project goals
The development of a new engine is complex and time-consuming. For this reason, MTU has standardised the development processes as well as the tools involved. Those responsible now needed an approach to optimally support engineers in their daily work while at the same time ensuring compliance with the specifications. Last but not least, the development must also be comprehensively documented for regulatory reasons. Due to the high complexity, the company decided to commission 4Soft to develop the ePROTAS platform.
Customer benefits
ePROTAS not only combines models, processes and analyses for engine design, but also has interfaces to other important IT systems. Additional test data from engine prototypes and their analyses are also fed into the system. Furthermore, ePROTAS links design results with MTU’s product lifecycle management: the analytical data relevant for component approval are linked to the associated drawings in the application programme and integrated into configuration management. This provides the user with a wide range of data for engine design. This helps the engineers to understand the different disciplines. Many terabytes of CAE data for different design variants and simulation runs are stored, managed and archived in a structured way in the system.
In addition to data storage, ePROTAS also offers the integration of engineering processes into computer-supported workflows, thus enabling users to handle data in a systematic and traceable manner. The innovative software solution integrates a variety of applications and ensures that the tools receive the necessary data for their tasks and that the generated data is correctly reinserted into the central product model. The customised software system guides the engineers step by step through the entire process. As a result, even new or non-specialist employees can quickly familiarise themselves with the subject matter. In addition, the use of ePROTAS reduces maintenance costs and improves product quality.
ePROTAS distribution and communication view
Our contribution
The project team of 4Soft took over the requirements management as well as the process analysis and the functional conception for ePROTAS, which were refined and finalised together with MTU. 4Soft implemented the complete system including the engineering workflows. The project team implemented the platform according to an agile object-oriented approach and numerous possibilities were created to integrate additional tools. Quality assurance, third-level support and maintenance of ePROTAS also fall within 4Soft’s area of responsibility.
The individually designed software system ePROTAS optimally supports MTU in its work processes. The system has been continuously expanded and optimised and is now one of MTU’s top 10 IT systems. Several hundred users log into the group-wide development platform every day.
Costumer review
4Soft ist langjähriger Software-Partner der MTU Aero Engines. Wir haben gemeinsam unsere konzernweite Entwicklungsplattform ePROTAS konzipiert. Sie vereint nicht nur Modelle, Prozesse und Analysen zur Triebwerksauslegung, sondern auch Testdaten von Prototypen-Prüfständen als auch aus der fliegenden Flotte. Die in der Luftfahrt besonders hohen Maßstäbe bezüglich Nachvollziehbarkeit, Rechtemanagement und effizientem Handling von komplexen Prozessen wurden dank der professionellen Arbeit von 4Soft in ePROTAS anwenderfreundlich umgesetzt.
