Running simulations within one minute when it previously took 22 working days of real-world operations

Deciding on construction site logistics in seconds versus days

The Max Bögl Group ranks among the largest construction companies in Germany’s construction industry. Nearly a century of company history reflects a clear line of experience and the courage to innovate, enabling the group to grow steadily and reliably. Max Bögl’s energy corridor team is responsible for several route sections of the civil engineering work for the currently most important infrastructure projects of Germany’s energy transition, the SuedLink and SuedOstLink corridors.

To plan the substantial earthmoving involved, Max Bögl will increasingly rely on Siemens Digital Industries Software’s Plant Simulation in the Tecnomatix® portfolio in the future. This allows the company to plan material flow, vehicles and transport processes more precisely. Plant Simulation is part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services.

Constructing energy corridors as a key to energy transition

In energy corridor construction, Max Bögl bundles its experience from civil engineering projects where lines are routed over many kilometers. This expertise now shapes work on SuedLink and SuedOstLink. Expanding renewable energy is changing the requirements for Germany’s power grid because large and sometimes rapidly fluctuating volumes of energy must be transported over long distances. Companies are building transmission routes, modernizing existing grids and adopting infrastructure to future load flows.

Installing the SuedLink and SuedOstLink lines

SuedLink and SuedOstLink are among the central energy projects in Germany. The lines connect wind power from the north with industrial consumption and distribution centers at former nuclear power plant sites in the south and ensure renewable energy reliably reaches where it is needed. The projects comprise of two underground high-voltage direct current (HVDC) transmission lines that extend over several hundred kilometers. They are considered an important component of the energy transition because they allow load fluctuations in the grid to be balanced much more effectively. To install the lines, construction crews must excavate an approximately 2.30-meter-deep trench using open cut construction. Depending on soil conditions, this depth can increase to up to four meters. After excavation, a defined working space is available where workers place the protective ducts and bed them in thermostable backfill. This material keeps the heat generated in the lower zone and protects vegetation. They then backfill the trench in layers and restore the original terrain profile.

Tackling large-scale construction challenges

The challenges for Max Bögl’s expert team are due to the project’s scale and the many factors influencing the construction sequence. This includes using large excavators, whose productivity depends strongly on each location’s soil type. Rock, compacted clay or coarse gravel extend excavation times, whereas teams can handle sandy or loose layers quickly. Additionally, transport vehicles must be available in parallel. These include tractor-trailer combinations as well as high-performance tractor units with high drawbar pull.

Further, the quality of access roads between the sites, intermediate storage and the final disposal location shapes the workflow, as do weather conditions and workforce availability. These factors determine how sites are organized and how many machines are required for dependable progress.

Improving decision-making via simulation

The decisive point lies in the interplay between the excavator and the transport vehicles. Any delay during loading or any queue quickly leads to downtime. Too many vehicles increase costs. Too few slow down progress. Determining the right cadence and reliably for assessing the impact of individual parameters is nearly impossible for a project of this scale using conventional means. Thus, the need for simulation.

Within Max Bögl’s research and development (R&D) department, they have already used Plant Simulation to analyze processes in precast production. Building on that experience, the team decided to transfer the method to a much more complex field of work. They created a first feasibility project as part of a master’s thesis on a section of SuedLink, focusing on topsoil removal and excavation. The results showed that early-stage models are well suited for sound decisions. Anna-Maria Mehringer, civil engineer from Max Bögl’s infrastructure business unit, then deepened the topic and continued the work.

Defining soil types

Mehringer expanded the model step-by-step and collected the data necessary to increase the simulation’s explanatory power. A key step was collaborating with Max Bögl’s geology department since they had access to soil models for the planned construction section. Working closely with those specialists, the team created a parametric simulation that realistically represents the local conditions of each construction segment.

“Using Plant Simulation, we have now expanded the base trench model and tested it on additional sites, where it has worked very well too,” says Mehringer. “For the simulation, we look at a partial segment. We position the excavator there, which sets the pace. It moves along the segment, starts excavation and stockpiles part of the material to the side because it will be reinstalled later. The remaining soil is transported by tractor-trailer combinations or tractor units with trailers to an intermediate or final disposal site.”

Knowing what is possible in advance

The simulation model Max Bögl developed from this provides concrete answers about the expected working time for a construction segment and the logistics it requires.

“Based on the selected logistics parameters within Plant Simulation, we can vary machine deployment flexibly,” says Mehringer. “That gives us accurate information on the time required before we even start. You can immediately see excessive idle times for the excavator or the transport vehicle if the cadence is not yet optimal. Using Plant Simulation models, it’s very easy and fast to bring those elements into better alignment.”

Ensuring certainty before work starts

In the past, such decisions largely relied on estimates and on-the-ground intuition. Only during execution did it become clear whether the assumptions were correct. Corrective measures then required additional time and led to higher costs.

“Leveraging Plant Simulation gives us reliable foundations for estimating new projects,” says Mehringer. “It also means significant time savings until we reach the optimum result. We want to simplify the simulation to the point that the respective site managers can access it directly and therefore have a solid basis for decision-making.”

Running simulations is faster and provides significant savings

The relationship between reality and simulation makes the benefit strikingly clear. A construction segment that takes around 22 working days in real-world operations runs through Plant Simulation within one minute. The model therefore runs over ten thousand times faster than the actual process. This speed makes it possible to evaluate variants in rapid succession and compare their effects immediately.

The models to date show clear economic potential. According to the simulation, it is possible to reduce transport equipment idle time by around 20 percent and lower costs by roughly 7 percent using more targeted resource deployment. These results underline how strongly improved cadence and machine utilization can influence the course of a project.

Creating a foundation for further development steps

The simulations to date provide the foundation for the next development step. Max Bögl is using the results to look at processes for the project’s entirety and not just segment by segment. The goal is to systematically model and make transparent typical processes in open cut installation, their dependencies and possible bottlenecks. On this basis, the company can investigate various project variants in the future, analyses that today still require substantial manual effort.

A key advantage lies in the speed of the simulations. Max Bögl can represent construction segments that take several weeks computationally in a short time. This allows the company to evaluate numerous variants in parallel and compare them with one another. The result is a broad database that enables well-founded statements about schedule, cost and resource deployment.

These results allow quick responses to changing conditions. If restrictions or bottlenecks arise during execution, Max Bögl can promptly analyze and assess alternative variants. Therefore, the simulation provides a robust basis for short-term decisions during an ongoing project.

Simulating a moving construction site while expanding know-how

The initial results make a special characteristic visible that sets this project apart from previous applications. With Plant Simulation, Max Bögl models a construction site that advances over many kilometers. The simulation models accompany progress along the entire route, which employees update with each work front shift. Other industries have considered simulating large earthmoving operations, but those scenarios were tied to a fixed location and cannot be readily transferred to the dynamic conditions of corridor construction.

“Using Plant Simulation lets us run through different construction-sequencing scenarios and directly compare their impact on schedules, costs and resource deployments,” says Michael Stahl, head of central department for supply and wastewater in the infrastructure business unit at Max Bögl.

Using Plant Simulation creates an additional benefit. The simulation consolidates information that had previously been distributed among many experts and turns it into a shared picture. This know-how remains available and can be used for new projects. Processes become more transparent, and decisions on site become better grounded. The digital way of working supports the company in refining and advancing its methods step-by-step.

“The visual 3D representation in Plant Simulation is helpful for understanding the processes in the model,” says Mehringer. “It makes it much easier to check the logic and programming, and it also lets us show the model to people who are not deeply familiar with simulation. Using the model, we can explain the construction sequence well and discuss it together.”

Innovating into the future

The results to date show how planning for major infrastructure projects can be made even more precise. Leveraging Plant Simulation provides a foundation for preparing decisions faster and responding better to real-world project progress. The approach Max Bögl is taking on SuedLink shows how modern digital tools complement established processes, integrate existing expert knowledge and open up new opportunities in construction planning.