Cases & enclosures
ENCLOSURE ASSEMBLY: WHY EXTERNAL SUPPORT CAN SAVE TIME AND COSTS
For OEMs and integrators who rely on industrial enclosures to protect their devices and control systems, assembly is another task to add to the project timeline. Fitting items ranging from DIN rails and terminals through to keypads and labelling, assembly can also be a resource- intensive activity. Instead, outsourcing enclosure assembly can streamline operations, especially when it’s managed directly by the enclosure manufacturer. Chris Lloyd, managing director at Spelsberg UK, explores the requirement for industrial enclosure assembly services
T
he UK electronic contract assembly market is growing, and it is projected to rise further over the next decade, demonstrating demand for local contract assembly services. There are several key advantages to manufacturers and system integrators outsourcing the assembly of their completed product, or key constituent modules. Furthermore, these benefits can apply not just to smaller manufacturers looking to scale up, but right through to larger OEMs facing pressures to balance productivity and profitability alongside resources. A key challenge is labour cost, and recent economic data indicates that levels in the UK have climbed to their highest on record. This reflects aspects including wage growth and
higher employer contributions, putting pressure on manufacturers with in-house assembly teams. As a result, outsourcing labour on a contractual basis can be the less expensive option, whether that is for smaller companies that do not want the risk of taking on extra staff, or for larger organisations dealing with higher-volume production.
RESOLVING RESOURCE CHALLENGES At the same time, UK manufacturers are facing the ongoing challenge of recruitment and retention. On the one hand, there is a deficit in the quantity of labour required in manufacturing; on the other, there is the need for quality, which means relevant skills and experience. While assembly services can suffer from a lack of sufficient internal resource,
hiring relevant, temporary expertise can be difficult. Meanwhile, manufacturers or engineering firms do not want to utilise more skilled staff on tasks where they could be deployed more effectively to match their capabilities.
When it comes to the integration of electrical components or electronic devices within industrial enclosures, this lends itself to external support in assembly. By their nature, industrial enclosures are self-contained units, sitting on or outside a machine or system, rather than embedded and protected within. This makes their complete or partial assembly by an external team a lot more straightforward to manage from a design integration perspective. Typical assembly requirements for an industrial enclosure include electrical terminals and DIN rails. As a further stage, assembly services can involve the installation of devices such as I/O points, controllers, sensors, user interfaces such as keypads, as well as alarms, lights, or wider output devices. Installing these components within an enclosure can also involve adding the connections, including cables and glands.
SELECTING AN ASSEMBLY SERVICE When selecting an outsourced service for enclosure assembly, the common routes are either contracting
44 March 2026 Instrumentation Monthly
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