Touring the Rittal Innovation Center in Haiger, Germany.
Prior to my visit to the Hannover Messe this week, I had the chance to visit several Rittal factories in central Germany, including the company’s world headquarters, global distribution center and new innovation center.
It’s always incredible to visit a manufacturing plant where you can watch raw materials—here, 5-ton coils of steel—be turned into a finished product in front of your eyes. At one Rittal plant in Rittershausen, their oldest facility, we observed those steel coils as they were formed into both special and standard (TS8) products. Incredibly, 2,500 cabinets are produced there every day. A combination of punching, nibbling and lasering, not to mention turning, welding and bending, is employed to create the company’s products. A blank piece of metal is rolled and formed into a cabinet wall in minutes. Another piece is folded over on itself 16 times to form the frames—and then completely coated with a corrosion-resistant paint process that is at an automotive paint quality level.
The company is about more than that core of enclosures, though. I was impressed by their sister organization’s ePLAN Engineering Configuration software, their power distribution units, their IT infrastructure products, and the new Blue e+ air conditioning units that feature passive cooling and are the most efficient products of their type in the world.
Rittal’s commitment to its customers was on full display at the new innovation center. We were shown many new products—including several that are still in development or waiting for final governmental approval—that make their customer’s life easier. From automating the wiring/assembly process using virtual reality to physically pulling out/angling/moving the back panels, their engineers have thought of nearly everything. I was impressed by the flexibility offered using 3D models of the enclosures—an engineer can move, orient and replace different components and even see where hotspots might occur, and adjust the environmental/climate control modules to compensate.
At the Fair itself, Rittal has an enormous 16,500 sq-ft booth, some of which is permanently constructed as part of Hall 11 at the fairgrounds. If you’re attending the show this week, it’s definitely worth a visit.
Rittal NA
www.rittal.com
ePLAN
www.eplanusa.com/us/electrical-cae
Filed Under: Mobile Hydraulic Tips
