Bullet Proof Jackets For Standard Computers

By Author: Robert Bell
Total Articles: 3698
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In this current day and age of advancing technology, more and more computers are being used in businesses; you will probably find the same amount of PCs on the factory floor as there are in the office, in most modern and successful manufacturing plants.

Now the main problem is how do you protect the Personal Computer on the factory floor? Because personal computers are designed to be used in air conditioned offices or homes, surrounding them with dust, fluid and untrained operators, can cause problems.

We discovered a company called Computer Security & Solutions, who specialise in manufacturing protective PC enclosures, depending upon the manufacturing environment, this dictates which design the computer cabinets will be, from IP56 (dust proof) to IP66 (Nema4 - waterproof), if they are to be in a wash down area they have a higher chance of being manufactured from stainless steel, to reduce corrosion in a wet or damp environment. Otherwise they will be manufactured from mild steel then epoxy powder coated to added protection on the shop floor.

These units provide a safe and secure environment for the ...
... standard computers, protecting them from dust and fluids, we all know what would happen if we got fluid on a computer, it will short out and not work, but do we really understand what would happen if dust or dirt got onto the hard drive?

Dust on the hard drive will result in erased data, this data will be relevant to the running of the business, data for customer orders, etc.

Using these PC enclosures allow the companies to reduce costs further, whilst improving profitability.

1.The same software is used as in the offices, this gives the Management the added tool that they can see exactly were the business is at any specific time. Using software such as SAP, they can advise a customer when their order is due to be completed, as well as notifying customers of any potential delays with their order, which operator has processed the order and most importantly how long the order took and how much scrap was created - ensuring improved productivity and increasing profitability.

2.Use the same cabling infrastructure as in the offices, this will either be Category 5e or Cat 6 network cabling or even fibre.

3. Should there be any hardware issues, the Personal Computer that has failed can be swapped with a computer from an office.

4.There is little production down time when a computer fails.

The computer cabients are cooled by filtered fan units, to unique air conditioning untis with no moving parts - Compare this with using industrial PCs:

1.Industrial PCs are more expensive

2.They have dedicated software that takes some configuring I linking it to a business network

3.Long down time waiting for engineer to come to site for maintenance or repairs

The computer cabinet is similar to a bullet proof jacket, protecting the PC from the hazards on the shop floor including fork lift truck drivers and untrained operators, as well as the dust and fluid.