Helping machinery manufacturers stay the right side of the UL508A standard will be firmly on the agenda when MACH 2014 kicks off next month.
PP Electrical Systems, a provider of electrical, electromechanical and electronic assemblies and control systems, will have a number of experts on hand (Stand 4415) to help companies meet all the requirements of an accreditation that is needed to supply machines to both North America and the US.
The Cheslyn Hay-based company has encountered a number of recent examples where manufacturers haven’t fulfilled all of the requirements and this has led to expensive re-working, delays in delivery and even breakdowns in customer relationships.
In response to this, it has been running a number of seminars to help educate production and engineering teams and, for the first time, will be taking this message to MACH 2014.
Tony Hague, managing director, explained: “UL508A certification is an industrial control panel directive sought by electrical inspectors. It provides evidence of third party verification that the product is safe and is required by any firm supplying controls panels or building machinery to go to North America or the US.
“This could be firms involved in food processing or packaging, machine tool manufacture, pharmaceutical, scientific equipment, semiconductor plant – indeed any style of automated machinery.”
He continued: “The key danger is that companies under estimate the requirements of UL508A, often focusing on simple component selection, which on its own does not come close to satisfying the requirements.
“This is where we can help and we’ll be delighted to talk companies through the process at MACH 2014.”
PP Electrical, which employs over 200 people at its state-of-the-art facility in Cheslyn Hay, works with twelve of the world’s largest machinery manufacturers.