UL Listed panel shop

Hey Guy's
I recently had a customer request that the panels we build for them be UL Listed/certified. In researching this I ran across this info on UL's web site.

http://www.ul.com/controlequipment/FAQ.html#having
http://www.ul.com/field/icp.html

I have requested info from UL about what I need to do to become a UL Listed panel shop but have not heard back from them yet.
Has anyone here gone through this process?
If so, what was involved and how much does it cost?

Thanks

Ouch@!&^%*$&^%

If so, what was involved and how much does it cost?

Click to expand...

way to much and a lot. However, if you want or need the UL listing, it is kinda like insurance, it ain't cheap but it is necessary. Years ago when I was working for a manufacturer of comfort heating products, we had some switches that were just UL recognized and a guy from UL was in the plant on a regular basis checking our production equipment, procedures, record keeping and the whole nine yards. Needless to say, his charges were high but we could not sell the product without his signing off on our UL labeling. Just one of those pesky things that is part of doing business I am afraid.

UL listing is mandatory by code in in some jurisdications, but not most. If you already use good practice in your shop, complying with the UL 508 standard won't be hard. It costs several thousand dollars for the first certification and training, plus anytime you need to add new components to your "folder" of acceptable components they hit you for several hundred dollars.

The benefit of UL 508 is being oversold. Many end users think it means the panel is well designed, safe, and will perform the desired funtions. This is by and large untrue. UL 508 inspection will catch any obvious and egregious violations of safety requirements, but by and large the inspectors don't have a clue about automation, have no idea what the panel is supposed to do, and in many cases want to adhere strictly to their interpretation of a standard that may not be at all applicable. (I am obviolusly not a big fan.)

For a one shot or occasional deal it is possible and perhaps more cost effective to have a one time inspection of the panel on site or in your shop.

A few years ago I had to make a machine that was CSA approved(Canadian version of UL Labs)

To meet this, we would have to build a machine & ship it to CSA; freight prepaid, export fees prepaid, duty prepaid, not to be returned, no cost, free to them, etc!

We finally got the customer to accept a machine on the terms that EVERY electrical & hydraulic component used in the machine was CSA approved. I have used this "version" of approval sucessfully since then - as long as you let the customer know up front and agree to it in the purchase order or contract.

I work for a small OEM. In the VERY few cases where UL certification is required we will job out the control panels to a UL listed panel shop. We just don't come across this kind of thing often enough to make it worth the cost of either becoming certified ourselves or having an inspector come in to inspect a panel.
If you need to do some type of internal certification, as I recall there are two ways to go about this. You can be certified as a UL panel builder. In this case you can self-certify any panels you build. You effectively become a UL inspector. Tom alluded to the second option. You can have specific designs UL certified. The company I used to work for went this route. They had a panel used in a mature product certified. As long ans NOTHING about that panel changed, the certification was valid. However, if the design was changed or a new part was used the design needed to be re-certified. This option is much less expensive but much more restrictive than the first.

Keith

That's what I thought.

Thank's for the info guy's.
From what I have heard so far it doesn't look like I will be becoming a UL Listed panel shop anytime soon. I would like to get these added to my customer base but the initial cost may out way the income potential. I will post any new info I come up with and the reply from UL.
Thank's.

Robert