Industrial Control Panels: Speed to Market

Interstates has over 40 years of combined experience building quality, reliable industrial control panels. This article series underscores the importance of planning ahead and partnering with an experienced panel shop to navigate today’s volatile market.

The Value of Experience

Choosing an experienced panel shop with the locations and resources to get your panels built and delivered faster increases your speed to market, and you can prioritize quality by choosing a UL-listed shop. UL508a-certified industrial control panels give your projects superior, repeatable quality that meets best-in-class global standards. Interstates has been building quality control panels for almost 40 years, and for 25 years, we’ve been UL listed. Our UL-listed panel shops are in Sioux Center, IA, and Fort Collins, CO, with another coming soon in Omaha, NE. Partners with the right locations and decades of expertise have the resources and knowledge to provide many types of industrial panels, including PLC or DCS Controls, Remote I/O, Network, HMI, VFD and Starter, Power Distribution, and Heat Trace Controls.

Speed to Market

Industrial projects are expected to be completed faster and faster all the time. It’s normal for you to want and expect quick turnarounds. Knowing this, we pull from our deep bench of team members skilled in estimating, engineering, and fabrication to quickly turn around proposals and get fabrication completed as soon as possible.

You need to partner with a panel shop that can turn projects around quickly without sacrificing quality. Panels built in a controlled environment ensure consistently high quality, and they can arrive ready to install, cutting down overall installation time. If your partner has multiple locations, they can utilize each shop strategically to turn around projects more quickly. At Interstates, we are constantly evaluating our queue of work to stay flexible and meet our clients’ expected delivery needs.

The Benefits of Choosing an Established Panel Shop

Partnering with an experienced panel shop means you’ll have access to industry resources and valuable vendor relationships. Interstates has experience fabricating panels for a broad spectrum of industries, so we know what to expect and are adept at reducing on-site scheduling delays. Working closely with your panel shop at the early stages of the project means they can get a head start on panel fabrication, even starting before the design is complete if that’s what it takes to keep your project on schedule. We know what questions to ask, and we can step in when schedules get squeezed.

Recently, we were able to put our expertise to work when a major manufacturer was struggling to meet project demands concerning a Variable Frequency Drive. To meet the deadline, the manufacturer shipped us the panel, which was received late on a Friday. Our team worked through the weekend and Monday to finish the component installation and control wiring so the panel could be shipped to the site for installation on Tuesday. While it doesn’t always come down to the wire like this, our panel and programming technicians are always ready to solve problems and keep your schedules on track.

Turn-key Solutions Speed Project Delivery

It’s important to note that many control systems installed 15-20 years ago are no longer supported by their manufacturers and need to be updated. It may seem like changing over systems will create a lot of downtime, but not doing it now could lead to even more significant problems down the road. Our teams can execute and support the quick changeover of these systems, even over a short weekend when that’s what the client needs to reduce downtime. Partnering with a company that can provide your UL-certified panels and updates your systems will save you time and money overall.

In addition to our certified panel shops, our dedicated pool of engineers, programmers, and technicians is ready to create flexible, turn-key solutions ready for installation and commissioning. Using one company to handle your panel needs – from design through commissioning and maintenance – ensures not only a reliable product but time efficiency through faster installations and reduced on-site delays. Partnering with Interstates is a smart first step if speed to market is your goal.

Getting projects done faster is a balancing act – you don’t want to let quality slip in your pursuit of speed to market. With Interstates, you’ll maximize your investment and project schedule with our vast experience, dependable delivery, and cost-effective pricing. We can help you navigate the current supply chain crisis and provide precious efficiency in demanding times.

To learn more about how our industrial control panels can benefit your projects and get them finished faster, contact us at bdev@interstates.com or 712-722-1662.