Around ten years ago, Sean Rezin was despairingly googling “CNC milling machines for panel building” and “switchgear manufacturing”. “I thought there had to be CNC milling machines out there and, consequently, a way of automating enclosure machining,” recalls the young Executive Vice President of Usemco. In-house investigations relating to the production process revealed significant weak points. “It was frustrating having to fabricate panels manually and laboriously drill holes in enclosures by hand. We were giving our staff work they actually didn’t want to do at all,” he openly admits. “We wanted to be competitive, but our panel building and switchgear manufacturing business was on its knees,” he continues. When searching online, Rezin came across an article about the Perforex drilling and milling machine. He immediately got in touch with the author, Van Miller, who is currently a value chain consultant at Rittal and Eplan in the USA. This set everything in motion.

A BOLD MOVE

The idea of using a Perforex to machine enclosures was initially met with scepticism by the Usemco workforce. “They thought automation was just something for mass production, not for custom projects and definitely not for batch sizes of one,” explains Rezin. However, following a thorough shopfloor assessment and ROI plan, purchasing the Perforex in 2018 proved to be an initial milestone in the further development of engineering operations. Even though the drilling and milling layouts still had to be entered directly into the Perforex software, the efficiency benefits were immediately obvious.

A COMPLETE OVERVIEW

“Thanks to the Perforex, this side of our business became more successful every year – but that suddenly stopped. To become competitive, we had to invest further in the process as a whole,” says Rezin. That meant making the move into automated wire processing. “One prerequisite for this, however, was switching from 2D to 3D engineering, along with an end-to-end engineering process based on Eplan software solutions such as Eplan Electric P8 and Pro Panel,” he continues. That involved completely transforming the engineering and production process. Up to that point, this process had been inefficient due to the numerous manual steps involved. Enclosure layouts were still being created manually, laboriously scanned in and sent to customers in PDF format. This was the normal approach used by the rather conservative water management sector, and by many Usemco staff who had been with the company for over 40 years.

YOUNG BLOOD MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

However, the switchover called for software expertise. “We wanted to start using Eplan and the Wire Terminal, but we didn’t have any engineers who could do that,” recalls Rezin. He had just two electrical engineering design staff back then, and they couldn’t learn how to use the new software alongside their day-to-day project work, never mind roll it out. “That meant I had to look outside the company to find suitable engineers. It wasn’t easy and we had to be creative,” says Rezin. He finally found what he was looking for at the University of Wisconsin and was able to recruit a few young engineers.

He really struck it lucky with Nikesh Chawla, who was just 24 and brand new to Eplan but gained an in-depth understanding of the software and, after instructive guidance from Eplan, had the necessary know-how to transform the entire process – from design and planning through to production. “Nikesh and his team integrated Eplan into production operations, which resulted in huge efficiency gains,” enthuses Rezin. The cumbersome creation of layouts on the machine has become a thing of the past. All production tasks now come directly from the engineering section, including both enclosure machining and automated wire processing.

• ABOUT USEMCO

  Tomah, Wisconsin, USA

  Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Tomah, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, Usemco is an industry leader in engineering and manufacturing custom pump stations, water boosters, control systems, modular buildings and steel fabrication solutions. All its pumping stations are pre-assembled, factory- tested solutions that simply require electrical and piping connections.

   

FROM 180 TO 700

Partnering with Eplan and Rittal changed the entire process – from engineering all the way through to production.“In 2015, we manufactured around 180 enclosures. Now, thanks to the Wire Terminal, we’re producing up to 700 a year,” says a delighted Rezin. The company’s sales team and customers are also benefiting. “Our sales staff now sell in a different way. It has improved the entire product portfolio,” Rezin continues. Instead of scanning in drawings, they now simply send a download link. The 3D models show customers exactly what the solution looks like. “That makes our market position much stronger, because many companies in our sector don’t use 3D engineering,” reveals Rezin.