Case Study: ATK achieves major cable-design productivity gains and cuts feasibility testing from months to weeks with Zuken E³.series

ATK increases cable design productivity for space shuttle booster replacement by moving to a digital design process

ATK, the prime contractor for NASA’s new solid rocket booster for the Space Launch System (SLS), faced the challenge of redesigning complex wiring harnesses with a much smaller team and without relying on time‑consuming physical mock-ups, massive spreadsheets and manual Visio schematics. To meet NASA’s schedule and reduce labor, ATK selected Zuken’s E³.series ECAD solution to modernize their electrical design process.

Working with Zuken, ATK integrated E³.series with Siemens NX using Zuken’s E³.3D Routing Bridge and managed data in Siemens Teamcenter, enabling automated connector checks, wire‑length and voltage‑drop calculations, and electronic formboard output. The Zuken implementation eliminated the prototype lab, cut design team size significantly, synchronized over 3,000 part libraries, and reduced feasibility testing from months to weeks—delivering faster, higher‑quality designs and measurable time and cost savings.

ATK

Nathan Christensen

Senior Manager Engineering Tools and Analysis