Electrical enclosures for
machine & plant building

From empty enclosure to ready-to-install control system

Machine and plant builders don’t buy cabinets — they buy on-time delivery, repeatability and precise dimensions. ZPAS has been delivering all of this since 1973: the SZE2 and SZE3 industrial enclosures (IP 54/55, IEC 61439/62208) in standard and any special size, PSL control desks for control rooms and operator stations — and, on request, complete panel building: mounting plate fitted, wired, tested, documented.

Series machines benefit from repeat orders after drawing approval; special-purpose machines from our depth of manufacture: cut-outs, plinths, cooling and RAL colour to your corporate design all come from a single source.

Typical applications

Requirements — clearly classified

Standards in machine building

The electrical equipment of machines follows EN 60204-1 — under the responsibility of the machine builder, who declares CE conformity for the complete machine. The electrical enclosure provides the standard-compliant basis for this: switchgear assemblies to IEC 61439 on empty enclosures to IEC 62208, CE-marked — and UL-certified for export to the USA and Canada, which significantly shortens the acceptance process at the end customer.

Thermal design follows IEC 60890 using the cooling capacity calculator; for EMC-critical drives, the EMC version with conductive contact surfaces provides the answer — the basics are in the EMC guide.

Which enclosure for which machine?

Typical project: series machine for export to the US

Starting point: a special-purpose machine builder supplies its plant in series — half of the units go to North America. Every machine needs the same electrical enclosure in a special size, in the corporate colour, with a defined drawing revision. For the US customer, UL acceptance is what counts; for the plant, it is the delivery rhythm.

The solution: SZE enclosures to the customer’s drawing, UL-certified enclosure technology for the export machines and, on request, fitted and fully wired with a test report — the machine receives its enclosure ready to install on the line. ZPAS keeps the drawing revision: repeat orders are delivered in approx. six weeks, in the same colour, with the same documentation.

From small batch to large series: the drawing revision stays

For machine builders, repeatability is what counts: the first enclosure is drawn and approved jointly — after that, every further one is a call-off. Changes are handled as revisions, not as new projects; corporate colour, labelling and drilling patterns stay identical for years. This makes the enclosures a predictable cost item, from prototype and small batch to framework agreement.

In plant engineering, project business comes on top: enclosure rows across several sections, splitting for transport to the site, spare spaces for commissioning and a schedule that competes with the steelwork. Here too, our own production helps — sections are pre-assembled, tested, separated for transport and rejoined on site. The PSL desks for the control room come in the same colour, and the documentation for each section is included with the delivery. If you come early with the layout plan and circuit diagram, you get the drawing and quotation back within 2 working days at most — and a delivery date that holds in the project schedule: firmly committed, not estimated.

Planning checklist: electrical enclosures for machine building

These points should be clarified before design starts:

• Export markets: selling to the USA/Canada? Then plan the UL version from the start — retrofitting costs more.
• EN 60204-1 interface: main switch, emergency stop and door interlock are the machine builder’s responsibility — define early what the enclosure should prepare.
• Environment: chips, coolant, dust — they determine IP 54, 55 or 65 and the seal design.
• Power loss: quantify drives and inverters, design with the calculator to IEC 60890.
• Dimensions & colour: special size for the installation location, corporate colour of the machine — both from the factory.
• Depth of manufacture: empty enclosure, fitted, or fully wired with test report — decide per size and quantity.

Why ZPAS

Because a machine is only complete with its control system: enclosure, desk, cooling and wiring from a single source shorten your assembly time and your supplier list. Start with a first configuration in the electrical enclosure configurator; specifiers will find specification texts in the generator.