PLASTIC ENCLOSURES - White Paper

“Configurable” is the big buzzword in plastic enclosures with a major revolution transforming not just the products but the entire design strategy behind them.

OKW V.P. Marketing Robert Cox explains how configurable plastic enclosures are radically changing the way engineers design new electronics products…

Plastic enclosures have for too long been the victim of silo mentalities: one design for desktop enclosures, another for wall mount enclosures, a third for handheld enclosures.

Such a blinkered approach is restrictive, inefficient and ultimately costly. Worse than that, it is uninspiring.

Fast forward to the new generation of configurable enclosures that can be clipped quickly and easily into base units, on to wall brackets – or simply carried as ergonomic handheld units.

They can be quickly and easily configured to house membrane keypads, touchscreen displays plus charging/data download sockets just by clipping in different sections.

These configurable standard plastic enclosures answer the prayers of design engineers needing to create versatile electronics products for an increasingly mobile society.

No longer do engineers have to specify expensive custom enclosures or compromise their designs with the limited functionality of traditional standard enclosures.

Instead they can specify modular enclosures – such as OKW’s ‘Interface-Terminal’ range – that can be configured to suit an ever-increasing variety of needs.

‘Interface-Terminal’ enclosures feature a range of:

• front covers and plates – for use with membrane keypads and glass touchscreens
• rear plates – including snap-in strips for versatile mounting and lowered mounting pillars for extra space
• handheld options – such as battery compartments and charging points
• desktop base unit and wall mounting options.

All these different sections can be configured together to suit the needs of the design engineers, their clients and the end-users.

Simple but clever design touches such as snap lock systems increase the versatility of the enclosures.

It means that display units can be clipped into place in either horizontal/landscape or vertical/portrait format.

Also, units are mounted not with old-style fixed connections but plug-in connectors to create a fast, easy and rational solution that obviates the need for fault-prone rewiring.

These configurable plastic enclosures enable designers to create products that are much more flexible and better suited to the demands put on the modern man-machine interface.

In today’s increasingly mobile world, end users need data gathering and communications devices that can be handheld, then cab-mounted in vehicles and finally clipped into desk units for data download and mains charging.

These end users are also becoming increasingly design-conscious.

An enclosure that is not attractive, tactile and ergonomically clever and convenient is likely to give negative impressions of the product contained inside.

But it is not just the products themselves that are changing radically – it is also the very design process itself.

Designing configurable plastic enclosures

Plastic enclosures specialists like OKW are no strangers to launching ever-expanding ranges to meet customer demand but something has changed.

Evolution is giving way to revolution. Previously OKW would unveil an initial launch range of standard plastic enclosures then add new variations and accessories as customers requested them.

Now the emphasis is on going to market with as wide a range as possible from the outset – giving designers a much greater choice of enclosures and fixtures from day one, enhancing their creative freedom.

These bigger ranges make it much easier to bring enclosures into the design process from the very beginning.

This avoids the age-old problem of having to use too large an enclosure because the PCB size was specified at the start of the project without specifying the housing first.

Designing a major range of configurable plastic enclosures such as the ‘Interface-Terminal’ can take between two to three years, from initial concepts to product launch.

Enclosures must be contoured in such a way that – whether wall-mounted, desk-mounted or handheld – they always look completely at home in that role.

If a configurable enclosure looks like a desktop unit bolted to a wall or a wall-mounted unit simply plonked on a desk, then it is not going to inspire confidence in the product that it houses.

Each enclosure must look as if it were designed specifically for that application, and no other.

But the demanding challenges involved in designed such a wide and versatile range of plastic enclosures do not end there.

Configurable plastic enclosures: discretion in design

OKW’s designers face a very real dilemma. Configurable plastic enclosures like the new ‘Interface-Terminal’ range must be exciting enough to inspire clients’ design engineers and product end users.

But they must also be discrete – in the sense that they must enhance the product they contain, not detract from it.

If the enclosure has obvious styling cues that immediately suggest ‘OKW’ or ‘Interface-Terminal range’, then it will draw attention away from the client and the products that they are manufacturing.

There must be no superfluous design language – nothing to suggest that ‘Product A’ in an ‘Interface-Terminal’ case has the same enclosure as ‘Product B’ created by another manufacturer.

It is like framing a beautiful painting – the frame must draw attention to the picture, not away from it.

And so it is with enclosures. Understated elegance is vital. Form must follow function, not the ego of the enclosure’s designer.

This discretion in design is further aided by launching with a bigger range of sizes and colours from the start, making the origins of the enclosures less obvious.

A greater selection of colors also enables engineers to ally their new products with their companies’ overall brand strategies much more easily – and more cost-effectively.

But the subtleties of design extend still further. OKW’s new ‘Interface-Terminal’ enclosures are also designed to co-ordinate with the company’s other existing ranges.

This means that client companies which want to design units housed in different ranges of enclosures can do so without the design styles clashing.

And as configurable plastic enclosures evolve, the next logical step is the interchange of components between ranges.

So different ranges of configurable enclosures are not simply visually compatible, but physically complementary thanks to common connections.