Control panels for vulcanising presses

The press builder ships vulcanising presses to rubber and tyre plants across the UK and Europe. Every press carries platen heating zones, hydraulic pressure control and a cure recipe that has to hold its window for the whole cycle — a panel with long wiring runs, dozens of heater and thermocouple circuits and a test regime their electricians dreaded. Machine assembly was waiting on panels, and hiring more panel builders in the UK was not realistic.

A released electrical documentation set existed per press size, together with a customer test procedure covering heater continuity, insulation resistance and thermocouple polarity.

• Electrical documentation and parts lists per press size
• Approved component list with UK and EU supply preferences
• Cure-cycle control specification and the customer PLC program
• Test procedure with insulation and thermocouple acceptance criteria
• Rolling twelve-month build forecast

• Industrialization review of the panel documentation with agreed change notes
• Panel build to IEC 61439 — heater, thermocouple, hydraulic and safety circuits
• Thermocouple polarity and heater-circuit continuity checked zone by zone
• Insulation resistance and functional test against the customer procedure
• Test records archived per panel serial number
• Packed and delivered to the UK assembly hall on an agreed weekly lane