A Look at NEMA’s New Industrial Control Panel Council

Nema held a virtual workshop for engineers in November to help improve their skills on industrial control panel standards. This workshop was a starting point to provide guidance on control panel installations.

NEMA's New Council

Since standards vary in different jurisdictions, the goal of this council is to help create harmonization of standards needed for installation and to reduce the challenges brought with them. 

“Our goal with the Council is to help manufacturers and their suppliers drive additional harmonization and reduce design challenges for the Industrial Sector,” says NEMA Industry Director Kirk Anderson.

NEMA's logo. Image courtesy of NEMA. 

In the new industrial age, associations like the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) strive to maintain the values of six sigma. One of these values is standardization of protocols and creating a council to properly install industrial control panels. 

NEMA's Industry Initiatives

Standardizing control panel installations is not the only thing NEMA is working on. They have also released a report for their members on 5G connectivity. Partnering with ABI, Nema put out the NEMA 5G 1 5G Best Practices Technical Guidance Report. 

This report is designed to help engineers implement 5G capabilities to improve manufacturing and increase business outputs. 

The report details the specific benefits of 5G in the manufacturing industry, the transportation industry, the healthcare industry, uses for energy mitigation, and cybersecurity.

Another initiative that NEMA headlines are their guidelines on reconditioning electrical equipment. These guidelines serve as a green initiative that promotes reusing specific electrical components. 

This guide aims to help users determine what to look for when considering the reuse of specific components or assemblies and what precautions to take. 

This guide is in the 2020 edition of the National Electrical Code (NEC), Technical Position on Reconditioned Equipment on NEMA's website at no cost. Patrick Hughes, NEMA Vice President of Operations and Strategies, says that this guide is to help improve safety, reliability, and performance of electrical systems. 

Transparency for Next Generation Industry Efforts

Advanced infrastructure is a crucial step in the next industrial revolution. NEMA and associations in other technical backgrounds help leaders transition from industry 4.0 to the next industrial revolution. 

Industrial control panel. 

Today, we see a complete transition into digital reliance. Improvements in technology in the past decade have proved capable of accelerating technology at a higher rate thanks to the sustainability and standardization of associations like NEMA. 

NEMA aims to take this to the next level with its new Industrial Control Panel Council.