Mangelberger Elektrotechnik GmbH is a solution provider for switchgear as well as for energy management, light staging and complementary services. The Roth-based company supplies chain stores such as discount grocery stores and restaurant chains worldwide – often in the role of sole supplier, so there are high demands on production and logistics in terms of flexibility and resilience.
With the award-winning Industrie 4.0 solution, Mangelberger is automating and digitizing its value creation processes, in particular through the use of AI and Digital Twins. The central objectives are to reduce material costs and to continuously optimize the circular economy of control cabinet components that is already in operation. Another focus is on mastering the challenges of demographic change with future-oriented ways of working based on the principle of “Work as a Pleasure”.
Mangelberger builds “control cabinets with brains”: An AI analyzes the performance of more than 8,000 enclosures in practical use and uses this data to select the right components for developing new products. Further advantages are achieved in spare parts optimization, for example when customers configure products. In this case, the AI checks which spare parts are currently installed in the enclosures used and automatically plans new product configurations based on this information.
Many components of the control cabinets have remained unchanged for more than 20 years. This enables automated assembly processes as well as the reuse of components that Mangelberger buys back from the customer after their life cycle. Overall, 60 percent of the components that are installed in a new product currently come from repurchased and recycled control cabinets.
The AI of the Industrie 4.0 solution also recommends to customers when they should recycle in order to align internal demand and supply. In addition, Mangelberger determines the proportion of CO2 generated in the production of purchased goods. This proportion is to be increasingly offset by the renaturation of the company’s own brownfield sites.
Employees are equipped with individual RFID tags. Cobot-supported workstations “recognize” the employee via this device and automatically adjust their height to the ergonomically ideal work situation. In addition, the AI used analyzes the work processes – such as the sequence in which screws are turned in – of each employee and makes suggestions for increasing efficiency.
