WAGO’s new Customer Experience Centre brings applications to life

In March, electrical connection specialist WAGO completed a four-year development of its new UK headquarters. The Customer Experience Centre is a vital part of the building, hosting customers for training as well as product specification. Demonstration equipment is integral to presenting operational products, and WAGO has partnered with Spelsberg to provide the industrial enclosures that house its products.
 
To develop relationships or discuss complex matters in depth, face-to-face meetings are vital. This is particularly true when industrial applications focus on the ease of use and build quality of tactile equipment. These were the key motivations for the development of WAGO UK & Ireland’s new, multi-million-pound headquarters.

In March this year, the electrical connection manufacturer officially opened its 62,000 sq ft eco-friendly offices and warehouse in Rugby, where the German company has had a presence since 1990, benefitting from its central UK location. Previous visitors to Rugby will remember the 250-metre-high radio masts, finally removed in 2007, and it’s on this historic site that WAGO’s new UK facility is based. Rugby’s newly developed residential and commercial area of Houlton is named after the American town that received the world’s first transatlantic phone call, sent from Rugby Radio Station in 1927.

Following that technological achievement, it’s fitting that WAGO’s application to develop on the heralded land was granted as part of the company’s UK growth plans. The building hosts just over 100 people with capacity to double that figure, and the facility has been constructed to a BREEAM Excellent standard, using WAGO’s pioneering electrical connections throughout.

Customer Experience Centre

A crucial area of the new building is the Customer Experience Centre, hosting visits from WAGO’s partners, including electrical distributors across the UK, as well as customers in the process and power generation sectors, through to OEMs and system integrators in automation. In addition to providing training on its electrical connections, electronic interfaces, and automation technology, the facility is also playing an important role by assisting WAGO’s customers in product selection as well as offering proof of concept by showing products working for real.   

Andy Turtle is WAGO UK & Ireland’s Product Manager for Control, Power, and Interface Products, responsible for providing power and its safe management for control equipment used by industrial end users in sectors such as process industries and power generation. To present this equipment in operation, Andy has designed a demonstrator that comprises an array of WAGO equipment.

“Typically, these control applications include a PLC plus I/O, connecting the system to the wider process and networks,” explains Andy. “WAGO products supply these electronic interfaces with DC power, along with protective equipment, and metering.”

In addition to WAGO’s new generation, compact electronic circuit breakers (ECB) and Pro 2 power supply unit (PSU), the demonstrator also includes a WAGO compact logic controller CC100. Via its integrated web server, the controller runs an interactive display. The demonstration also showcases WAGO’s timers for the control circuitry, as well as relay-controlled resistors that emulate an electrical load.

Demonstration unit

“With the working demonstrator, we can show a customer how WAGO equipment safely manages the power supply in a highly efficient way and enables real time condition monitoring. For example, in the event of an overload, instead of the downtime associated with fuse replacement, the equipment just needs a reset to return it operational status, minimising downtime and cost,” says Andy.

Presenting WAGO control, power, and interface products in real-world settings, it was important to mount them in an industrial enclosure that would provide fast, simple access, and also demonstrate robust and safe protection.
For WAGO’s demonstration unit, Spelsberg specified a range of enclosures from its AK distribution board range, rated up to 1kW DC / 690 AC, and providing IP65 protection with IK07 impact resistance.

“When we need to provide enclosures to mount and protect our products, we use Spelsberg,” says Andy. “The build quality of Spelsberg’s enclosures is always very high, and as well as being durable long-term, the boxes are simple to use, whether installing equipment into the enclosure, or mounting the box.” 

Close relationship with Spelsberg
 
While WAGO and Spelsberg already enjoy a close working relationship, this is based on easy communication thanks to rapid, in-person support.

“Spelsberg’s customer services are fast, they’re accommodating, and delivery is very timely, so the whole buying experience is worthy of mention,” says Andy. “Their ethos is very much like WAGO. We focus on quality engineering, backed up with quality support that quickly enables engineers to do their job.”

“It’s a great relationship,” explains Spelsberg UK’s National Sales Manager, Clare McCusker. “As well as supplying WAGO with enclosures for their customer projects, including their demonstration units, we also specify WAGO products in our products, including the terminal connections used across many enclosures in the Spelsberg range.”   

About Spelsberg

Spelsberg is one of the largest manufacturers of electrical enclosures in the world. With over 4,000 enclosures available as standard and further customisation possible, it offers solutions for almost any application.

With the largest supply of non-metallic enclosures, ex-stock in the UK, its products are often available for delivery within 24 hours; customisation is possible on any product, including bespoke entries, engraved corporate logos or fitted terminals, within 48 hours. Products can be ordered direct from Spelsberg or from most leading supply specialists including RS, Rapid, Farnell and CPC.