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Customisation: the key to meeting enclosure market demands
In order to meet market demands, enclosure customisation can vary from the very basic to the highly complex. To help, Fibox is taking its customisation service to another level
I
t seems the buzz word in the enclo- sures industry at present is ‘cus- tomisation’. This basically means taking a standard, off the shelf, product and modifying it to suit, as near as possible, a user’s requirement. In this context, customising a product usually means the provision of holes, milled or drilled, some form of corpo- rate identity, usually relating to colour or graphics, and maybe the supply of accessories, cable glands, etc. Fibox, in addition to providing a very comprehensive standard customising service encompassing all the above functions, is taking a very dif- ferent view of what its customers really require. Using the adage ‘market driven’,
it is taking its customisation service to another level.
Meeting specification
Modern slide tooling techniques mean that enclosures can be manufactured exactly to a customer’s specification, in the injection moulding machine. This can be something as simple as a few gland holes to an extremely com- plex and high tolerance requirement – at a fraction of the cost of having an
enclosure tooled from scratch. Of course, there are horses for courses, and for small batch quantities this offering may not be feasible. But because Fibox works very closely with its OEM customers from incep- tion to completion of a project, the best and most economical solution to a customisation need is identified and implemented.
Fibox has been trading in the UK for 16 years, and in that time has seen some significant market changes. Certain segments have grown in strength by a significant amount; and govern-
ment legislation and lobbying have
driven forward the need for compa- nies involved in these growth seg- ments to be much more focussed on the offering they provide. Competition is brisk, and to succeed the top companies must be able to offer the best value for money. Fibox is heavily involved in the tracking of these growth segments, and realises that it is important to take into account the enclosure requirements of the companies providing solutions within the segment or it will only ever be another 'supplier'. So, by listening to – and building partnerships with – the key players in a given segment,
Because Fibox works very closely with its OEM customers from inception to completion of a project, the best and most
economical solution to a customisation need is identified and implemented
Fibox can utilise the decades of injec- tion moulding experience and state of the art machinery within the company and create bespoke products designed specifically for that segment. An example of this is the recently introduced FTB range which has been developed specifically for the bur- geoning global FttX market. Fibre to the home technology is a rapidly growing industry and by working alongside the key companies and the legislators Fibox has been able to produce products which are fit for purpose in all aspects.
But of course, life is never simple. There are always going to be applica- tions which cannot be covered by a customised off the shelf enclosure or a range specifically developed for a specific market segment. Once again, Fibox has that base covered. If the commercial criteria allows the com- pany has the facility in its moulding division to manufacture a bespoke enclosure to a customer’s own design. This is proving to be a popular option, especially where IP certification and two-part moulding is required. This basically means two different materi- als can be used in the same enclosure moulding. An example is membrane cable entries integrated into a rigid polycarbonate enclosure.
Customisation demands So, to summarise, customisation can be as basic as a 20mm clearance hole for a cable gland, or it can be a moulded enclosure manufactured to a specific design – and everything in between. Fibox is testament to the old saying....”The answer is yes, now what’s the question”.
Fibox T: 01642 604400
www.fibox.co.uk
34 Enter 222 OCTOBER 2012 Supplement: Enclosures & enclosure furniture
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