Modern software is key to providing reliable service

To provide reliable design & assembly service to our customers, our team of engineers and designers specialized in using different software. Among others, for the design and schematics of electrical cabinets, we are using EPLAN. 

We use it to create accurate and detailed designs for a wide variety of projects. It allows our team of engineers, designers, and technicians to create and visualize complex systems in three dimensions, making it easier to understand how everything fits together and works, thus avoiding costly production mistakes in terms of equipment repositioning, additional drilling, and milling and rewiring.

Rich 3D library of components for competitive advantage

One of the key features of EPLAN is its extensive library of 3D models, which includes a wide range of components and equipment from various manufacturers. This allows us to quickly and easily drop in the components we need for our designs, rather than having to create them from scratch.

When manufacturer components are unavailable in the EPLANs library of 3D models, we use Solidworks to model the component and add it manually.  

In addition to 3D modeling, EPLAN also includes powerful schematics design tools. 

These allow us to create detailed electrical schematics complete with routing and sizing information, which is then used to push to the cloud and pull down to our production facilities where other machines such as cable and wire printing and cutting devices, CNC machines, and different printers for marking equipment are then using this data for the further production process.

This kind of digitalization and interconnectivity of key elements and project stakeholders allows us to have full control over our data, speeds up the entire process, minimizes human errors, and provides cost-effectiveness. 

Having control over the entire process is crucial for business owners

To be able to offer our partners and customers consistency and the highest quality of service, we are confident that having control over the entire process is crucial.

In the process of electrical system design and by using third-party tools sometimes challenges occur. Not all manufacturers keep their elements up to date with respective 3D models. Some manufacturers do not have the components for 3D models at all. By relying solely on third-party databases we would not be able to offer quality and complete designs to our customers.

In this particular case, our engineers and designers reach out to SolidWorks. 

SolidWorks is a powerful 3D modeling software that is widely used in a variety of industries, including mechanical engineering, manufacturing, and product design. It allows us to create detailed 3D models of parts and assemblies, complete with precise dimensions and specifications, which we then import in EPLAN and can finish and deliver the final design to our customers. 

It includes a range of tools for creating 3D geometry, including sketching, extrusion, and revolution tools. We can also import and manipulate 3D models from other software, such as AutoCAD or Inventor.

SolidWorks also includes a range of advanced modeling tools, including surface modeling, sheet metal design, and weldment design. These tools allow us to create complex shapes and assemblies, and to accurately model the behavior of parts under different loads and conditions.

Assembly and production is a complex logistical process

Right next to knowledge, expertise, and experienced team members, one of the most important parts of any type of production is a well-organized process. 

Before anything else, the assembly and production is a complex logistical process. 

As a high-volume electrical panel building company, with over 1700 electrical cabinets built per year, we understand this very well.

Our team of skilled technicians is in touch with literally hundreds of thousands of different electrical components and elements, for many different customers and all for numerous different projects. 

Without well-organized processes and advanced software solutions, building this many electrical cabinets per year and being in touch with hundreds of thousands of different elements and components can quickly become a logistical nightmare. 

To tackle the challenge of high-volume electrical panel building we have developed proprietary software that allows us to track, monitor and report all of the components for every cabinet in real time. 

Our equipment commissioning department is equipped with monitors that show a list of newly arrived components on stock for all cabinets that are currently further down the line in production and that can slow down the production. 

These are high-priority components and a dedicated technician every morning scans the list, picks up, marks, and mounts these components on the belonging electrical cabinet. 

Color coding and process markings help us know exactly to which project and for what electrical panel component belongs. 

To make it easier for wiring technicians all of the components are marked according to project requirements and customer needs before mounting. 

Our production facilities are equipped with various printing machines so that we could cover the widest range of customer requirements. 

Running this kind of well-organized, digital, cross-integrated production facility allows us to be competitive in the market and offers peace of mind for our OEM partners and customers.

Wire preparation for high volume cabinet assembly

Modern, high-volume quality panel building comes with many challenges. Besides heavy machinery, different quality control segments, and a logistical nightmare with a variety of, and hundreds of thousands of components, we also have wires. 

Different applications and different customers require different wire types, different wire markings, different colors, different wiring principles, etc. 

To be able to tackle all these challenges we have equipped our facilities with modern wire processing machines and integrated them with our processes and systems. 

By integrating Komax Kappa 315 into our process we can pull the data and wire specification from EPLAN and quickly process it.

This setup enables us to mark, cut and strip the wires at exact lengths. 

In line with Komax kappa 315, we have installed Weidmuller Interface GmbH & Co. CRIMPFIX R,  CRIMPFIX LZ, and Zoller+Frohlich GmbH UNIC-GV which we use for crimping wires up to 2,5mm2 and ensuring that all ferrules on wires are tightened/pressed per current standards and norms. 

Digitalization and integration with EPLAN and our assembly process allow our technicians to quickly prepare all wires per project and customers' requirements, all in specific lengths, with specific markings, and in required colors, and still offer quick turnaround times without sacrificing quality.

Heavy-duty equipment for high-volume control panel assembly

Our production facilities are equipped with some heavy-duty equipment set up for high-volume control panel assembly. 

Among others, we have installed and set up Perforex BC 1008 HS which is ideal for machining electrical cabinets and their components such as mounting plates, doors, metal sheets, side plates, etc. 

CNC Services

Besides its integration capabilities with our other production software such as EPLAN and the capability to pull information and drawings from it, our team of skilled technicians in the machining department is using it to create machining drawings for different production needs. 

This kind of approach enables us to offer additional CNC services such as drilling, cutting out in square or round forms, logging, grinding, and threading in different materials such as aluminum, steel, stainless steel, plastic, and polyester. 

By installing and running this kind of workshop we have increased our capacity and can offer precise, fast, and quality production and assembly for our projects and our OEM partners.

Installation of DIN rails and wire ducts is an inevitable process in every electrical cabinet assembly.

Our technicians, looking at the documentation made in EPLAN and prepared by our electrical design department, using cutting machines and pop rivets, can quickly, efficiently, and safely install din rails and wire ducts.

Given that the mounting plates come pre-drilled from our heavy-duty machinery the use of pop rivets speeds up the process of assembling and connecting din rails and wire ducts on the mounting plate.

Pop rivets are usually used to make strenght joints in a range of materials, including metals, plastics, wood, and leather. Typically, the process is used for joining plastic or metal. 

The use of pop rivets instead of threaded fasteners has many advantages, some of which are durability, cost-effectiveness, allowing for joining of parts when there is limited rear access, weight, more secure tying, vibration resistance, etc. 

In the rare case of pop rivet misinstallation the replacement of it can be done in a relatively simple way; the already installed rivet can be removed and a new one placed.

Pop rivets can be used in a variety of applications and they are available in many materials such as steel, stainless steel, copper, aluminum, monel, etc., allowing us to be flexible and adaptable to customer requirements and project specifications.

Powerful machinery for quality product and quick turn around times

Duplico, as a high-volume control and distribution panel building partner, holds licenses from renowned manufacturers such as Schneider Electric OKKEN, Siemens Sivacon S8, CUBIC, Logstrup, and Eaton xEnergy. 

To be able to offer a variety of panel building services, stay competitive, and deliver high-quality end product per all relevant norms, manufacturers' standards, and requirements some processes in power distribution cabinet assembly requires powerful machines.

We have equipped our facilities with machinery set up for copper processing, cutting, punching, and bending.

Our FlexPunch series from EHRT is equipped with three CNC controlled axes, allowing for production parts to be made with virtually perfect accuracy, enabling us to focus on craftsmanship and saving us a lot of time, which would otherwise be used for manual labor. 

With the machines of the FlexPunch series, we can process (punch and cut) material that is 15-200 mm wide and 3-16 mm thick with great speed and accuracy. 

Just in line with the FlexPunch from EHRT comes our bending machine 420CNC/w  from Stierli-Bieger AG.

The Stierli-Bieger 420 CNC/W bending machine is a very efficient machine that allows us to save up to 100 000 programs with 20 different bends each so that we can quickly re-use the previous bends for repeating copper bars and elements. 

All in all, the heavy machinery installed in our workshop enables us versatile and easy to use, allowing us to focus on offering great service to our partners.

The most important segment in production facilities

Quality control is a crucial aspect of any production facility as it ensures that the end products meet the required standards and specifications. It involves the inspection, testing, and verification of products being built during and after the production process to ensure that they are built per the required specification properly. 

For us, reliability and quality is a continuous process and comes from improvement at all levels and in all functions in our business. 

Specifically, to be able to process quality control at the level behind which we can vouch we have turned to digitalization and innovation. By ditching the old-school paper rich checkbox style inspection & control lists, and creating innovative software solutions we not just simplify the process and reduced the carbon footprint but are now seamlessly able to document the entire production process, per every segment, together with pictures of the assembly during the assembly process and combine it with final quality control check-up list all in one digital file that is easily shareable with our customers.

By developing proprietary software solutions for continuous quality control in our production facilities for control and distribution cabinet assembly we have reduced mistakes for our final quality control checkup and lowered overall annual nonconformity results, thus, increasing customer satisfaction and affirming us as a reliable OEM partner and turnkey solution provider. 

For the management system according to ISO 9001:2015

ISO 9001 certificate confirms successful compliance with international standard ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems Organizations that hold the ISO 9001 certification demonstrate a successfully implemented quality management system in their organization. Organizations can have established a quality management system in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001, but only with certification procedures prove that this system is successfully implemented and thus their clients and other market participants can trust the introduces quality management system.

If you belong to organizations that want to maximize your benefit in every way from your management system, you will most likely wonder what additional value you will have and from the system certification itself. Will you benefit from the cost-benefit equivalent of the certification by making use of the helpful remarks of the expert who will evaluate your system? Will your certificate be internationally recognized? Will it enable and encourage you to constantly develop and improve your system?

The introduction of a quality management system should be the strategic decision of the organization. The organization’s environment, the organization’s goals, the products it offers, the proccesses established, the organizational structure and the market in which the organization operates is influenced by the introduction and application of a quality management system. The ISO 9001 standard promotes the acceptance of a process approach when developing, implementing and improving the efficency of a quality management system increases customer satisfaction by meeting its requirements. The ISO 9001 quality management system demonstrates its ability to consistently deliver products that meet customer requirements and requirements of laws and regulations.

Most organizations that invest their time, effort and financial resources in the preparation, implementation and operation of their quality management system will want to obtain an independent certification of their compliance, ie obtain a certificate from a certification company.

For the management system according to ISO 14001: 2015

Environment is a surrounding in which an organization operates. The environment includes air, water, soil, natural resources, flora, fauna, humans and their mutual relationships. ISO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management Systems norm – The requirements in the operating instructions state requirements for an environmental management system that will enable the organization to develop and implement policies and targets that take into account legal requirements and information on significant environmental aspects. The main purpose of this international standard of support for environmental protection and the prevention of polution is in balance with socio-economic needs.  Among other requirements, the norm also prescribes policy requirements and environmental managment goals.

The management of an organization wishing to introduce an environmental management system in accordance with ISO 14001: 2015 must define the environmental management policy of the organization and ensure that such policy is consistent with the nature, scope and impact of its activities, products or services on the environment.  It must also ensure that policy involves the commitment of the management to permanently improve and prevent pollution and includes the commitment of compliance with the corresponding legal requirements and other requirements that the organization has commited in relation to its environmental aspects. Environmental management policy must provide a framework for setting up and reviewing general and individual goals. The policy prescribed must be accessible to the public and must be communicated to all persons working in the organization.

The organization must establish, apply and maintain documented general and individual goals at the appropriate functions and levels within the organization.  General and individual goals must be measurable, whenever possible, in accordance with environmental management policy, including commitment to prevent pollution, compliance with the relevant legal requirements that the organization is commited to and commitment to lasting improvement.

Duplico has received certificates for UL 508A Qualified Manufacturer Technical Representative.

Underwriter Laboratories (UL) is a global leader in applied safety science. UL provides testing, inspection and certifications alongside software products and advisory offerings. UL is one of the oldest security certification companies that, among others, certifies products, processes or systems based on industry-wide standards.

The UL certificate serves as a recognized symbol for proving safety and quality products.
UL508 A is a technical standard for industrial control panels in the United States. It covers the basics of electrical safety, specified by NEC (regionally acceptable standard for the safe installation of electrical installations and equipment) and includes guidelines specified in NFPA 79 standard (protection of operators, equipment, production sites and work in progress from electrical hazards) for design purposes and production of industrial control electrical cabinets.

By acquiring these certificates Duplico has achieved the possibility of manufacturing and certifying electrical cabinets for the American and Canadian markets.

Employees are required to complete a mandatory training.

The UL 508A MTR Program provides a means for a manufacturer’s staff to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the UL 508A Standard. This qualification provides the manufacturer evidence that its employees are qualified and competent for designing and manufacturing industrial control panels.

UL offers formal training programs to maintain and ensure continued UL 508A knowledge and skills at the discretion of each manufacturer.  The UL 508A Qualified Manufacturer Technical Representative increases accountability of a manufacturer and enhances the value and safety of the products.