What Engineers Want: The Frustrations and Fixes for Control Panel Outsourcing

Keeping your control panel manufacturing, retrofitting, and outfitting in-house can create extra layers of complexity and costs for your operation. Not only do you need to keep the necessary personnel on board at all times, but you’ll need to source and store components for whatever projects your engineering teams are working on. 

Control panel outsourcing seems like the obvious solution, but outsourcing can come with several frustrations of its own. However, if these can be overcome, your teams can be free to commit fully to scope and timescales, knowing they have a dependable vendor to rely on that’s capable of delivering exactly what they need, when they need it.

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the key frustrations engineers have with control panel outsourcing and how these can be addressed to build a successful partnership. 

1. Specification Clarity

The Frustration: One of the biggest issues with working with third-party vendors is making sure they understand exactly what you’re looking for. This can include issues with use-cases, specifications, or even measurement classifications. However, a vendor who bombards you with five emails a day asking questions or seeking endless clarifications is also not ideal.

The Fix: Finding a vendor that understands what the control panel is being used for, where it’s being deployed, and what standards it needs to be rated for. A specialist control panel manufacturer with a wealth of experience, rather than a part-time manufacturer, will speak the same language as your engineering teams and know exactly what industry documentation (such as regulatory requirements and build plans) is needed to be provided with the panel. The right partner will also offer an array of standard designs that you can take off-the-shelf, as well as the capacity to create bespoke designs for custom jobs.

2. Dependable Delivery Timings

The Frustration: Lead times are generally tied to contractual delivery and handover dates for projects. When signing off on a project timeline, you estimate that equipment delivery will match its scheduled installation date, with delays having consequences. Equipment like control panels shouldn’t be delivered too early either, as storing them for a few weeks creates its own issues. Your control panel suppliers, therefore, have an effective window of maybe a couple of days to get things right. If they consistently miss this window, your job either gets pushed back, risking project overruns, or you encounter the aforementioned storage problems.

The Fix: Make the effort to understand how your control panel supplier actually operates. Do they have the capacity for large or bespoke orders? Is keeping to schedules a part of their ethos? Do they sound like delivery punctuality and making their windows matter to them? Is accountability important for them so that they acknowledge their mistakes rather than trying to push them onto someone else? 

3. Unreliable Quality

The Frustration: Whether due to miscommunication or poor workmanship, one key frustration is control panels that are out of spec, poorly wired, or mislabeled. Not only will you have to correct the mistakes, but these mistakes can also make the control panels non-compliant with relevant regulations, making you legally liable for future issues. Unreliable quality in your control panels means extra work for your teams in inspections and fixes, as well as an erosion of trust in other equipment that’s delivered, with the potential for extra costs too.

The Fix: Before deciding on where to outsource your control panels, ask potential suppliers about their quality control procedures. This can be supported by actual documentation from their design and manufacturing processes, which will allow both parties to identify where mistakes might have arisen. Ensuring adherence to relevant standards (such as the relevant NEMA  and UL standards) can also be a direct way of knowing that the product you’re receiving is fit for purpose and up to regulatory expectations.

4. Cost Management

The Frustration: You think the price per unit of the control panels has been finalized and you build that into the project quote, only for the invoice to come through and you realize that a lot of extras, such as packing, shipping, and individual component costs hadn’t been factored in. There is no problem with a business charging properly for expenses it undertakes; otherwise, it wouldn’t be around for long. However, a vendor massaging your initial quotes or negotiating just to get the deal leaves a bad taste.

The Fix: Instead of a supplier that’s looking to make short-term gain by focusing on one deal, look for a control panel manufacturer that is comprehensive and transparent about their pricing and is willing to work with you to deliver a product that meets the scope of your budget. Being willing to work collaboratively on pricing helps you manage costs more effectively and demonstrates to the vendor that you value a long-term partnership.

Conclusion

Outsourcing your control panel manufacturing should be a straightforward way to reduce complexity within your company, thereby reducing the need to maintain qualified panel makers and a well-equipped workshop space for what may be a relatively uncommon need. Outsourcing enables you to leverage the expertise of experienced manufacturers. 

However, there can be several frustrations with finding the right supplier for your needs. This can include a lack of clarity around control panel specs, poor build quality, missing expected delivery windows, and unexpected costs. The key to overcoming these challenges is good communication and understanding what you need from your control panel supplier. Of course, some issues may only become apparent after delivery of equipment, but being aware of what you need will help build better partnerships.

At Enercon, we’ve built control panels for thousands of projects across a very broad spectrum of industries. If you’d like to hear how we can help design, build, or install control panels for your next project, contact us today.