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15-30 day return policy
Rated excellent
Fast delivery 3-6 days
Pay later with invoice, 15-30 day credit, Always interest-free
Can enclosures be processed and assembled even faster?
>> OFF TO A FLYING START! THE DEMAND FOR RACKS IS ROCKETING
IT managers are aware that they will constantly face new, as yet unknown challenges in the future. They must be able to react faster than ever and create data centers that offer a high degree of flexibility for the future. That is why Rittal has developed the new infrastructure platform RiMatrix Next Generation.“During the development process, we thought ahead and considered the ability to adapt to different and constantly changing requirements,” saysUwe Scharf, Managing Director | Business Units and Marketing at Rittal.A new working day dawns at Meurer-etechnik in the Westerwald region of Germany. In the incoming goods section, a young man wearing a black T-shirt with the companylogo on the front and sleeve takes delivery of a pallet of eight AX compact enclosures from Rittal. Production Manager Steven Lauer is already waiting for their arrival.In just one week, the UL-compliant enclosures will be delivered to a manufacturer of special machinery based in the Cologne area.Lauer, a slim-built man in his 20s, is eager to see how the new AX enclosures differ from their predecessor, the AE.
“Now we begin,” he says. Lauer has assigned the task of dismantling the AX enclosures to three of the facility’s electricians.
One of them is already clamping the first enclosure door in the Perforex CNC machining center. The mounting plates are next.
Progress is fast, because the doors and mounting plates are simply added to the delivery package and the staff does not have the trouble
of first detaching them from the enclosure, which is normally the case. Using the digital twin's manufacturing data from the Eplan Pro Panel
, the machine cuts all the necessary holes in twice as fast. "That part is the most fun," says Lauer, who is standing relaxed at the machine's operator terminal.
“The additional space on the gland plate is a huge advantage and
the AX is also far more flexible when it comes to the interior fit-out.”
MORE CABLE SPACE
Now it’s time for pre-assembly, configuration and wiring. A fully automatic wire processing machine has already produced the necessary cable nets – also with the help of data from the design engineering department. In this way, Meurer-etechnik is gradually implementing “enclosure manufacturing 4.0”. Lauer assigns an area at the back of the bright factory building to three employees, who lift the compact enclosures onto small metal trestles. Next to each of the plant electricians is a trolley with tools and a number of boxes containing electronic components. The enclosures are now lying on their backs with the doors mounted. Next to them are the mounting plates, to which the men next attach mounting rails and cable ducts. Contactors, terminals, inverters and similar components are then installed. During this configuration process, the electricians regularly consult their tablets to compare their work with the 3D model. Next comes the wiring. Last but not least, the fully wired mounting plate is mounted in the enclosures.
Lauer has been at Meurer-etechnik for ten years. When he was an apprentice, he still had to learn to place each hole manually. “The technology has come a long way since then,” he says. before asking his colleagues: “So, what’s different about the AX?” The answer: “It feels like there’s more space on the gland plate.” And there is actually 30 percent more space to insert cables. “That’s a huge advantage,” Lauer insists, as digitalization is continuously increasing the number of components in the housing and thus also the number of cables that need to be pulled in via the gland plate. He also takes a closer look at the inner wall of the compact housing. “There used to always be problems with the interior, because there weren’t enough options to fit the deep recesses. That has now changed,” he notes.
Being able to install the rails at different heights makes the process of designing the levels more flexible. Lauer points to a gray box on one of the trolleys.There are now only three cable nets left in it. “When the box with the cables starts to look empty, I know we’re on the final stretch,” he says.There were no errors during the testing, and the enclosures for the particular machine manufacturer were even ready half a day earlier than planned.“You’re happy if there’s no risk of missing the delivery deadline and the quality is up to par,” says a happy Lauer.
