Enclosures have long been a major requirement for the electronics industry and Pretoria-based company Perfecta was established in 1973 to design and supply high quality sheet metal enclosures that today are produced using the latest in CNC technology.
Some seven years ago, the company realised the potential for plastic enclosures using a proprietary technique called 'planar modular production technology' or PMPT (trade-marked). This technology is originally developed by the Munich-based team and has been licensed for use in 14 countries, including South Africa, where a new company was formed using the registered trading name of PMPT. Every PMPT company is virtually identical as the licensee provides the technology, computer-controlled manufacturing equipment, and support as a turnkey package. This means, in principle, that the companies can exchange enclosure designs or production capacity as necessary.
Despite the capabilities and success of these two Pretoria companies, their lack of a distribution and marketing infrastructure has limited sales to mainly the Gauteng region. A decision was taken last year that the company should expand its activities into other markets and a new company, CES Solutions (Components Enclosures Systems) was established in mid-2003 with a view to it becoming the marketing and sales arm for the manufacturing facilities.
In terms of the existing companies that CES Solutions inherited, Perfecta is focused on the highest quality sheet metal enclosures and has its own powder-coating and zinc-plating capability. K-Box SA on the other hand, is focused on the PMPT technology and the use of plastics (ABS, acrylics, HIPS etc). Where required, in specific enclosures, the plastic-formed parts can be combined with sheet metal components from Perfecta. The major advantage of the PMPT technology is that it avoids the need to manufacture expensive tools and moulds, and the process allows faster development times plus the ability to handle small to medium (several thousand) production runs at highly competitive pricing.
As the size of the electronics enclosed in the housing reduces with time, the design can be changed rapidly. The design service is provided by CES Solutions (K-Box) and customer changes to a prototype (or production units) is simple - holes for example, being removed or added by sample changes to the software program. For a customer trying to sell a prototype device, a major advantage of the PMPT process is that even a one-off has an unrivalled professional finish.
The customer also benefits in that rather than using standard off-the-shelf enclosures, his own product line can be totally personalised. Customers can develop their own enclosure applications with sub-D holes, cut outs, air slots, pocket millings, push-outs etc. After completion of the prototype, CES Solutions can then promptly deliver a high quality, product in small or large quantities. Other in-house capabilities of Perfecta and K-Box SA include multicolour screen and PAD printing on both plastic and sheet metal, while the plastic enclosures can be shielded on the inside with a copper layer that reduces EMI/EMC problems. The objective of CES Solutions is to become a one-stop-shop that can offer a total solution for customers.
For more information contact CES Solutions, +27 (0)12 803 9695, [email protected], www.ces-solutions.co.za
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