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Customer application September 18, 2020
A Terminal Block System for All Switchgear Units

JOKIEL GmbH designs and manufactures switchgear units for various sectors. TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks from WAGO are an important component for meeting demands on low throughput times and high quality, qualities for which the family-owned corporation in the Upper Palatinate is known.

“The systems for our customers are used all over the world,” says Thorsten Jokiel, who serves as managing director of JOKIEL GmbH together with his brother Markus. “Therefore, we only collaborate with leading manufacturers, who recognized worldwide and produce correspondingly certified products.” When it comes to connection technology, JOKIEL relies on WAGO; it has been equipping its control cabinets with TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks since 2006.

The Benefits of WAGO for You:

  • The right actuation variant of WAGO’s preassembled TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks is available for any application

  • Reliable, easy, intuitive handling with Push-in CAGE CLAMP®

  • The WAGO-smartPRINTER Prints Marking Strips in Seconds

From Buildings to Automotive Manufacturers

JOKIEL, headquartered in Amberg, around 50 kilometers east of Nuremberg, manufactures switchgear units for a wide variety of applications. In 1982, when the company was first established, Bernhard Jokiel initially concentrated on building technology; however, the switch to the construction of switchgear units for specialized systems occurred soon after. Today, 50 employees manufacture control cabinets for companies from domains including filtration and refrigeration technologies, the automotive sector, various industrial sectors and low voltage distribution boards up to 3200 A – and still for building technology too. Up to 1,200 control cabinets are built in Amberg annually, with dimensions that extend from those of wall cabinets – the size of an A4 sheet of paper – up to 20 meter long switchgear units. “The variety of applications that we provide offers our industrial customers an advantage: In addition to constructing the switchgear units for their production, we are also involved in the construction of new production halls,” says Thorsten Jokiel. “Our customer always has the same contact person.”

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For more than 30 years, JOKIEL GmbH and their 50 employees have designed and manufactured switchgear units for use in building technology and specialty systems.

One Spring Clamp for All Applications

It is naturally also advantageous if the components used in the switchgear units are also certified for all applications, like the TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks from WAGO. Their spring pressure connection technology has the necessary certifications, so that JOKIEL can work everywhere in the world and in all applications using only this single rail-mount terminal block system. JOKIEL has used TOPJOB® S for around ten years, and, even before that, the switchgear manufacturer used other spring clamp terminal blocks from WAGO. “We were one of the first switchgear builders to use spring clamp terminal blocks,” says Thorsten, recalling that “the conversion from screw connections to spring pressure connection technology was a real milestone. WAGO’s spring clamp terminal blocks were such a relief for us during wiring, since there were no more screws to be tightened. And our customers have benefited since then from maintenance-free connections.” Whereas the screws in screw clamp terminal blocks have to be regularly re-tightened, this labor is no longer necessary with spring pressure connection technology. “Thus, our customers could significantly reduce their maintenance expenses, while the connections remain fail-safe. In the meantime, spring pressure connection technology has been accepted by our customers, and this technology is now used in all sectors without reservation,” says Jokiel.

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Due to their compact design, WAGO’s TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks enable a higher-density of wiring in the control cabinet.

Push-in Connection Technology Saves Time during Wiring

With the conversion to TOPJOB® S in 2006, JOKIEL was able to save even more time during wiring the switchgear units: “Thanks to push-in connection technology, we can insert many conductors directly using this terminal block,” explains Thorsten Jokiel. Company-wide, this accounts for around 80 % of the conductors, most of which have a rated cross-section of up to 2.5 mm² (14 AWG). All conductors are provided with ferrules using a fully automated conductor assembly machine. “The wiring guides are automatically generated from the circuit diagrams and technical drawings designed in EPLAN,” explains Jokiel. “Mounting plates, control cabinet doors and housings are also drilled and milled completely automatically on a CNC drilling center.” After a moment of thought, he adds: “Because of this consistency, we achieved what is now referred to by the expression ‘Industry 4.0’ early on. This allows us to achieve fast throughput times and – thanks as well to our skilled employees – a very high standard of quality. After all, our customers use our systems for several decades.”

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By using WAGO’s smartPRINTER, JOKIEL reduces the time spent marking series production items by around 30 to 40 %.

Higher Wiring Density in the Control Cabinet

For Jokiel, it is therefore natural to maintain the components used in their systems at state-of-the-art levels. This was also true during the conversion from WAGO’s “classic” spring clamp terminal blocks to TOPJOB® S. His brother Markus summarizes it this way: “Why should we stay with the old system when the new series offers only advantages, and none of the earlier disadvantages? Not only does the new push-in connection technology make wiring easier – the new terminal blocks also have an improved design. They are around 15 to 20 % narrower, so we can achieve a higher wiring density in the control cabinets.”

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In addition to TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks in various sizes, JOKIEL also relies on converter companies, interface and I/O modules, power supplies and switches from WAGO.

TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks from WAGO offer synergies that achieve the low throughput times and high quality we are known for.

Thorsten Jokiel

Managing Director of JOKIEL

Marking up to 30 % Faster

Markus Jokiel, who is primarily responsible for development and design of the systems, lists other advantages that WAGO’s smartPRINTER offers with regard to marking: Using the thermal transfer printer allows generation of multi-line marking strips, which can be applied to several rail-mount terminal blocks at once with a single hand movement. Thanks to the identical profiles of all TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks – Jokiel uses 2- and 4-conductor terminal blocks with other cross-sections in addition to the 1.5 mm² (16 AWG) blocks – the marking can be applied consistently. A Thorsten Jokiel explains: “I can mix different terminal blocks on one DIN-rail and still mark them at the same level with one strip.” Markus adds: “We use the Smart Printer primarily for our series production. At the moment, we have 27 different rail-mount terminal blocks stored in memory for recurring switchgear units. By pressing one button, we can print the necessary marking strips. The time savings in contrast with conventional marking is definitely around 30 to 40 %.”

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The smallest control cabinets are not much larger than a DIN A4 sheet of paper – the largest are up to 20 meters long.

Connecting a Larger Cross-Section is Also Possible

He refers to yet another advantage of the TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks: the high safety margins. All single-deck TOPJOB® S Rail-Mount Terminal Blocks connect solid, stranded and fine-stranded conductors one size over their rated cross-section, without requiring special handling, and can handle the nominal current load of these conductors. “Every once in a while, conductors with a higher cross-section than originally planned are required for the external connections. With TOPJOB® S, I don’t have to swap out my terminal block, but can simply connect, for example, a conductor with a rated cross-section of 4 mm² (12 AWG) to a 2.5 mm² (14 AWG) terminal block,” explains Markus Jokiel.

“The products from WAGO offer synergies that support us in implementing our short throughput times and high standards of quality,” says Thorsten Jokiel in conclusion. “In addition, the delivery reliability is high and the delivery times are short, which is important to us, because we practice just-in-time manufacturing. WAGO is therefore basically our only terminal block supplier.”

Author: Olaf Meier

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