Compressed air wire delivery cuts panel wiring times by up to 90%
28 November 2025 
Rittal Automation Systems has unveiled a new wire-handling system that uses compressed air to feed pre-assembled wires used for panel-building and switchgear manufacturing. The system transports the wires just-in-time and just-in-sequence from a wire terminal to up to four workstations, and is claimed to achieve wire assembly time savings of up to 90%.
The new system, demonstrated at the recent SPS exhibition in Germany, acts as an extension to Rittal’s Wire Terminal WT C automatic wire assembly machine.
The system, consisting of a wire distributor, a wire receiver, and Teflon transport hoses, is designed to handle wires with cross-sections from 0.5–6mm², and lengths from 220mm to 4m. The maximum transport distance is 80m.
The wire-handling system, used in conjunction with a wire terminal, speeds up the most time-consuming step in panel-building and switchgear manufacturing, resulting in substantial time and cost savings. Instead of removing sets of wires from the terminal in wire rails or chain bundles, the pre-assembled wires are delivered to workstations just-in-time and just-in-sequence, at the push of a button. The system streamlines intralogistics and saves storage space.
The pre-assembled wires are carried by compressed air in Teflon tubesEmbedding the wire-handling system into Eplan’s Smart Production software ensures that the wires are delivered to workstations on time and in the correct order. Using data from a digital twin created during planning and designing, the software guides users step-by-step through the wiring process, and requests the required wires from the wire terminal and the output system. This allows less experienced or semi-skilled personnel to perform wiring far faster, and error-free.
Rittal says that the new wire-handling system closes a gap in the end-to-end, data-driven automation of panel building and switchgear manufacturing. The manufacturing process can now be managed more efficiently, and companies can satisfy customer demands faster, with fewer skilled workers.
“The new wire-handling system immediately generates added value by further accelerating the wiring process and by reducing errors through the interaction of Eplan software and the output system,” says Thorsten Eberz, head of product management at Rittal Automation Systems. “At the same time, companies can begin preparing for the future of panel-building and switchgear manufacturing: the wire distribution system can be used, not only to supply workstations, but also future wiring robots.”
