How can the best be made even better? This is the question that Rittal asked itself as we began developing a new enclosure system. This ground-breaking system sees the rise of the enclosure evolution with more than 25 registered patent and trademark applications.
Following the official launch of Rittal’s new VX25 large enclosure system at last year’s Hanover Trade Fair, Rittal South Africa unveiled this enclosure evolution on our local shores during a customer day which took place last year.
After five years of development work, the VX25 is the first enclosure system that has been fully developed to meet the requirements for increased productivity in control and switchgear manufacturing and along the Industry 4.0 value chains. With the “SYSTEM PERFECTION” slogan, Rittal is promising a major innovative leap, which has been made possible by depth of experience and intensive customer dialogue.
The VX25 offers the highest possible quality and consistency of data, reduced complexity and savings in time, as well as safe assembly. The uptake since then has been phenomenal and the range has gone on to include a Blue e+ version which offers revolutionary energy efficiency thanks to innovative hybrid technology.
Study: observe, listen and learn
Intensive dialogue with Rittal customers was crucial in developing the new large enclosure system. During a large-scale, scientifically based usability study, researchers used words, images and moving film to document the everyday working life of control and switchgear manufacturers, covering ten companies in Germany, eight in the USA and six in China, including small, medium-sized and large companies. As a result, 150 systematically recorded and specific requirements for a new enclosure emerged, providing developers and product managers with a robust guide for the actual development work.
The result: Pure customer benefits!
The development culminated in the new VX25 large enclosure system. VX25 stands for the versatility of options, the fulfilment of x customer requirements and for perfect symmetry through a consistent 25-mm pitch pattern. The VX25 matches the way the control and switchgear manufacturer thinks and works – both in functions and processes.
Patents: a high degree of innovation
The heart of the innovation is the newly developed frame section. It determines the installation space, the efficiency in engineering and assembly, the expansion options, the stability and thus the reliability and flexibility in the customer’s workshop. With the new large enclosure system, it is possible to maintain all the important and established product features of the existing, worldwide TS 8 large enclosure system and to expand them significantly with a multitude of new functions and customer benefits. More than 25 registered patent and trademark applications demonstrate the high level of innovation in the VX25.
Production: maximum quality
For Rittal, SYSTEM PERFECTION also involves high-tech manufacturing. It has invested in new state-of-the-art production facilities in order to manufacture the new frame section of the VX25. New and fully automatic profiling systems and volume production lines with a total of 31 welding and handling robots are witness to maximum quality combined with precision and stability. The result is that the frame section of the VX25, which has a consistent 25-mm pitch pattern, is clearly more stable than its TS 8 predecessor, although the weight is the same.