B&R Enclosures in Australia has been supplying Baker Hughes, one of the world’s largest oil field services companies, with stainless steel enclosures for a number of years.
Looking to expand its business partnership, B&R Suzhou approached Baker Hughes in China to offer enclosure solutions.
BACKGROUND
B&R Suzhou established a strong partnership with Baker Hughes in China following a visit to its regional headquarters in Shanghai. This visit facilitated an introduction by Baker Hughes’ Sourcing Director to the management at its Changzhou factory. This connection was pivotal, as Waygate Technology, a subsidiary of Baker Hughes located in Changzhou, specialises in manufacturing industrial testing and inspection solutions.
THE CHALLENGE
Baker Hughes Changzhou was experiencing quality issues with its former control panel supplier for X-ray inspection systems. To enhance functionality before introducing the product to the international market, a redesign was necessary.
After a comprehensive auditing process, Baker Hughes concluded that B&R was the ideal partner to supply fully wired control cabinets. This audit assessed B&R’s processing, business practices and factory conditions, ultimately leading to B&R passing the audit and being placed on Baker Hughes’ approved vendor list. With multiple ISO certifications, B&R demonstrated that its products met stringent quality standards.
Our previous experience in designing a Universal Double Door enclosure allowed us to customise the panel sizes to Baker Hughes’ specific electrical layout requirements.
Prior to delivery, the control cabinets underwent rigorous testing to ensure the highest quality.
THE STRATEGY
B&R’s Suzhou team collaborated closely with Baker Hughes to redesign the control cabinets for the KT-1000P X-ray inspection system.
Our scope included design, manufacturing of the control cabinets, electrical testing and seamless supply chain management. The X-ray inspection system is a market-ready product from Baker Hughes and the control cabinet we designed is integral to its automation control system.
This system performs non-destructive inspections of optically hidden features in electronics manufacturing, essentially functioning as an X-ray microscope that facilitates joint quality confirmation and analysis, helping to identify potential issues within electronic products.
THE RESULT
The project achieved a remarkable turnaround of just 10 weeks from order to delivery. Rigorous testing confirmed that the panel design met high quality standards from the initial production run. Baker Hughes expressed enthusiasm for the results and satisfaction with the entire process, highlighting the collaborative effort between our teams throughout production and delivery.
