Written by Gary Nelson – Senior Product Manager – Device Connections
Will your new design need a component or enclosure that you’d ideally like to be customised in some way?
It can be a conscious trade off you end up making between using components and enclosures that exist in the general marketplace over having something that meets your specific needs. You may be looking for something as simple as a colour change or having characters marked onto the product or perhaps your needs are greater and you wish to have poles removed or holes milled into an enclosure. The more you modify the product the better the chance it has of meeting your exact needs and ensuring that your customers know the best way to handle your design especially where safety critical applications are concerned.
When considering the options between having a modified component or enclosure or using a standard off the shelf version the quantity you have to commit to taking can make the decision for you. If you have to commit to a high initial order quantity or non-recurring engineering charges it can make your new design no longer cost effective. This can force you down the route of using components within your product that do the job rather than something that differentiates your design to all of your competitors. So instead of having a bespoke looking and performing solution you end up being similar to all of the other products to yours in the marketplace and your design could end up looking like yet another me too unit.
At Phoenix Contact we understand the need to have customised solutions with low minimum order quantities, without non-recurring engineering charges and produced in realistic lead-times. We also understand how important it is to have online tools to help you design and customise the component or enclosure you wish to use which is why you’ll find a number of online configurators on our website.
The Combicon PCB terminal block configurator enables you to modify an existing standard Combicon component using an easy to understand interface. The minimum order quantity for a never before produced item is 1000 pieces however if the item you want already exists you’ll only need to buy the box quantity it’s packaged in.
Our enclosure configurators enable you to choose the style of product you need from our most popular ranges and drag and drop the connection technologies you wish to use within the 3d rotatable model. If you require special printing or holes milled within the unit we can arrange to discuss this with you and our minimum order quantities are generally 250 pieces.
If your new design needs customised components or enclosures we are here to help and have a wealth of knowledge and experience available to you to help you achieve what you want to achieve rather than making do with what’s currently out there.
For more information contact Gary Nelson on gnelson@phoenixcontact.com
Gary Nelson – Senior Product Manager – Device Connections
