How to Stock a Complete Inventory of Electrical Enclosures

Posted by Allied Moulded Products on November 18th, 2020

For many multi-level or campus-like facilities, maintaining an inventory of commonly used electrical components and the electrical enclosures can minimize extended production down-time or closing down retail or offices due to an electrical problem. Your onsite inventory mechanical and electrical components should be determined by past maintenance and repair operations.

Here we will consider how to determine which electrical enclosures to keep in stock so that your facility maintenance and equipment repair teams can quickly perform routine or emergency tasks for electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems. For this discussion, electrical enclosures include electrical outlet boxes, electrical junction boxes, and electrical enclosures that are used to house power and control components.

3 Tips to Stock an Electrical Enclosure Inventory

The goal here is to streamline your inventory management for electrical systems, while still maintaining a high level of emergency response. Some facility managers are forced to reduce inventory to make room for new equipment or other capital expenditures. If you are aware of your fast-moving and most often used electrical enclosures, then you can stock an electrical enclosure inventory that will fit most of your repair and installation needs.

1. Stock commonly used electrical enclosures

Some of the most common facility installations include ceiling fans, lighting fixtures, and new receptacles. But for an industrial facility, you may need to be prepared to add an equipment remote on/off box, need to split an overloaded circuit breaker panel, or install an electrical enclosure for a new piece of production equipment.

A combination of various size electrical enclosures for inventory may include small to medium junction boxes and electrical enclosures that can handle all these electrical repair and installation needs. Consider non-metallic electrical enclosures that are lightweight and easier to stock and handle versus the heavier metal counterparts.

2. An inventory of common electrical enclosure sizes

The most commonly used electrical enclosures are the small 4x4 electrical boxes that are single- and double-gang to mount new receptacle outlets and to wire new lighting fixtures. Anytime you are installing new electrical power, control, or process equipment, it must be safely housed within an appropriate electrical enclosure.

Consider the size of your currently installed electrical enclosures to determine which sizes are most commonly used within your commercial facility or industrial factory.

3. Electrical enclosure materials to stock

Finally, you want to consider the best electrical enclosure materials to keep in stock. Many companies are replacing old, metallic electrical boxes with fiberglass or polycarbonate electrical enclosures. Nonmetallic electrical enclosures fit a wider range of applications. They can be used indoors or outdoors, and polycarbonate or fiberglass electrical enclosures have the following benefits:

• corrosion resistant
• withstand abuse and impact
• resistant to chemical damage
• less expensive than stainless steel
• low weight / high strength characteristics

Visit us at Allied Moulded Products, Inc for a full line of fiberglass and polycarbonate electrical enclosures to fulfill your inventory requirements. If you're an electrical contractor, keeping an inventory of commonly used electrical enclosures means you can respond to projects faster and beat out the competition.