{"id":6622,"date":"2025-09-22T10:44:58","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/us.rs-online.com\/expert\/?p=6622"},"modified":"2025-09-22T10:44:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:44:59","slug":"industrial-control-panel-design-and-engineering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/us.rs-online.com\/expert\/industrial-control-panel-design-and-engineering\/","title":{"rendered":"Industrial control panel design and engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We spoke to Jordan Ward, the Circuit Protection and Controls Business Developer at Siemens, to learn more about industrial control panels, spanning essentials to common design and engineering challenges and the benefits of Siemens integrated control panel solutions.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Jordan Ward, Circuit Protection and Controls
Business Developer at Siemens<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The steady adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies, including automation systems, is fueling significant growth in the global industrial control panel market, which currently has an estimated value of $15 billion and is projected to grow to around $25 billion by 2033<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another fun fact? Engineering time accounts for up to 80% of a control panel\u2019s cost<\/a>. So, the impact of increasing engineering efficiency can be quite significant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We spoke to Jordan Ward, the Circuit Protection and Controls Business Developer at Siemens, to learn more about industrial control panels. Here, Jordan, addresses the essentials, shares solutions to common design and engineering challenges, and introduces the Siemens portfolio of integrated control panel solutions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1. Hi Jordan. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little about Siemens.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My name is Jordan Ward, and I\u2019m the Circuit Protection and Controls Business Developer for Siemens. I started my career at Siemens in Texas about nine or 10 years ago as a totally integrated automation account manager. I later transitioned to an account manager role in our Circuit Protection and Control business unit (BU), and now I\u2019m the business developer for low-voltage controls and circuit protection in this same BU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Siemens is a large, broadly diversified global company based in Germany. We provide a vast range of products designed to improve sustainability and efficiency across industries, ranging from electronic devices \u2014 like motors and drives, circuit protection, industrial controls, HMIs, automation systems, and industrial communications \u2014 to building, mobility, and technologies and specialized software and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. You joined us today to talk about integrated control panels. So, let\u2019s dive in. What should people know?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Control panels are employed in every industrial market segment \u2014 oil and gas, automotive, food and beverage, agriculture, automated manufacturing, you name it. They\u2019re the central command center for industrial machinery and systems and house a variety of electronic components and devices used to automate and manage processes, monitor systems, collect data for diagnostics, troubleshooting, and process optimization, facilitate system and network communication, and help ensure equipment and operator safety. These can include PLCs, HMIs, variable frequency drives (VFDs), power supplies, circuit breakers, industrial surge protection devices, overload relays, control devices, pushbuttons, industrial networking solutions, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each industrial market has different machines and processes with different operational needs, though. So, control panels aren\u2019t one-size-fits-all solutions. The difference between a standard control industrial panel built and an integrated control panel is that integrated control panels are customized, cohesive units built to suite your unique application using vendor expertise, which offers a number of impactful advantages. For example, integrated control panels are built to optimize space, airflow, interoperability, and wiring efficiency. They enable faster installation, increase system reliability by minimizing the number of connection points, and can even help improve uptime and optimize maintenance by centralizing diagnostics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

3. What common challenges do people face when it comes to industrial control panel design and engineering, and do you have any advice for overcoming these challenges?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of the most common control panel challenges is overcoming space constraints. Most organizations are working with limited panel sizes, and if they don\u2019t have an integrated plan and are just adding components themselves, they often end up with poorly laid-out environments that fail to maximize the limited space. This can also lead to obstructed airflow and inadequate ventilation and cooling, which could shorten component and device lifetimes or even cause failures. Integrated control panels typically employ modular components to optimize space, enhance flexibility, improve thermal management, and support scalability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Another is ensuring personnel and equipment safety. This often comes down to standards compliance. Here in the U.S., you want to ensure compliance with UL or National Electric Code (NEC) standards, like UL 508A. Internationally, you want you ensure IEC compliance. Integrated control panel solutions spec\u2019d by suppliers, engineering services, or certified panel shops can be a huge help when it comes to navigating these ever-evolving standards, ensuring compliance, and safeguarding staff and infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A third common challenge is wiring complexity. Most of us have probably at least seen a picture of a control panel filled with a mess of wires. But dense wiring like that can cause signal interference, make maintenance, system expansions, and troubleshooting more challenging, and take up even more of the already limited space within the panel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Plus, in today\u2019s world, data is everything. And while that\u2019s true in just about every industry, in industrial markets, that\u2019s resulted in the steadily increasing adoption of Industry 4.0 trends and technologies, like electrification, digitalization, IIoT networks, and remote monitoring and control. So, we\u2019re seeing more and more end users install devices that allow them collect and analyze real-time system data to support predictive maintenance strategies, troubleshoot issues, minimize equipment downtime and associated costs, and keep systems running smoothly. Very few organizations switch from legacy systems to smart systems all at once, though. It\u2019s typically done in stages spread out over time. So, a newer control panel challenge is planning for future expansions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another challenge that relates to this is interoperability, as not every supplier offers a full suite of both standard and smart industrial control solutions. So, most control panels will need components and devices from various vendors to be able to communicate with each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, of course, you\u2019ve got to protect all these components and devices. So, you not only need to incorporate things like circuit breakers, surge protectors, and overload relays, but you need to make sure that they\u2019re all capable of providing sufficient protection against electrical faults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given all these challenges, one of the best practices for building control panels is to work with a vendor that can help you develop a clear specification based on your applications demands and challenges. Another is to collaborate with all your stakeholders early in the process so you can identify and overcome any issues prior to the initial build, which \u2014 in the case of integrated control panel solutions like these \u2014 also leave room for scalability. All of us vendors do some things a little differently, but every trusted supplier is UL compliant, which is a big benefit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Please introduce us to Siemens\u2019 integrated control panel design and engineering solutions.<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Siemens offers a comprehensive portfolio of highly integrated control panel design and engineering products and solutions that are designed from the ground up with digitalization and scalability in mind and globally tested, certified, and field-proven to optimize virtually any application in any industrial market segment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our core integrated control panel products include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n