How We Manufacture Your Control Panels at Bensons

Within Bensons we enable the flawless operation of complex control solutions by designing and building the highest quality, custom electrical control panels to meet exacting customer standards.

The peace of mind that our customers need is provided via a process of collaboration between the customer and the various teams within Bensons. It is underpinned by our Define / Design / Build / Test / Deliver process. Our commitment to delivering the highest quality solutions is evidenced by our long-standing ISO:9001 [2015] accreditation.

Build Phase

Building on the collaborative approach that pervades Bensons, our manufacturing process commences before our design phase is complete. Our manufacturing and design teams are in constant contact to plan work ahead of design approval so that we can ensure that our customers get the control panel they require when they need it.

For new customers or a new type of control panel to be manufactured, a kick-off meeting between design, manufacturing and ideally the customer will be held to flush out any issues that might cause problems in production if not addressed early.

For more standard jobs, once a design is approved, then it is formally released into production. A detailed Bill of Materials (BOM) is created and uploaded into our ERP system, this creates a work order that allocates materials to the job and triggers us to purchase replacement parts to maintain our stock levels. A set of 'Production Master' drawings is released from the design team to ensure that the control panel is built to the agreed design.

At Bensons, we carry out as much of the manufacturing in-house as we can, this reduces our dependence on sub-contractors, gives us greater control of quality and timescales, facilitates a smoother flow of control panels through the factory, and allows us to offer a value for money price.

We have a range of automation systems which include:

• Wire-cutting and stripping machines.
• Laser engraver to make our labels.
• Wire number and tag printing machines.
• Perforex 2-axis CNC machine to prepare backplates and doors.
• Busbar bending machine to allow us to form busbars in-house.

Our manufacturing process is adaptable to the requirements of the customer.
For one-off control panels, we have a skills-based approach where the assembly and wiring of the control panels are carried out by separate teams. For volume manufacture of standard control panels, we can flex our approach to a cellular model to optimise throughout, whilst maintaining quality at all times.

Conclusion

After production, we review our productivity and any issues experienced. If problems have been experienced then a Lessons Learnt activity will be held to ensure that we learn from our experiences and improve our capability for future projects.

With over twenty people in our manufacturing team, we have the capacity as well as the capability to deliver projects of all sizes quickly and effectively in line with the requirements of our customers.