Schneider first to use UL’s new extended manufacturing assembly process (EMAP)

Marilyn Scales | October 12, 2021 | 10:46 am News 
Schneider Electric is the first OEM to take advantage of UL’s EMAP certification. Credit: Getty.

Underwriters Laboratories, the global safety science leader, announced that Schneider Electric is the first company to utilize UL’s new extended manufacturing assembly process. EMAP brings the final assembly of products closer to the point of installation and promotes faster speed to market by enabling UL authorized assemblers to apply the UL certification mark to a compliant product at a location outside the walls of the original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs) factories.

Additionally, EMAP is assisting in moving towards digitizing the issuance process of the UL Mark, which also allows for digital traceability of the UL Mark on certified product. This digitization process will help streamline the surveillance aspect of the final assembly process and help facilitate a more flexible supply chain solution that permits more efficient installations.

EMAP helped significantly reduce the time from order to delivery for Schneider Electric’s FlexSeT switchboards. FlexSeT is a new generation of low-voltage switchboards that gives users the digital power to dramatically accelerate time to market and reduce lead time for manufactures and their customers.

EMAP adheres to the same rigor of UL’s assessment, compliance and inspection processes. EMAP-authorized assembly sites must meet the same qualifications as a UL authorized factory through three key steps in the overall process: 1) authorization of assembly sites; 2) issuance process of how UL authorizes and applies the UL Mark for product safety; and surveillance by which ongoing inspections occur.

To qualify for UL’s EMAP, OEMs will determine which of their assemblers are eligible to complete their final assembly. UL will then conduct an assessment and inspection of the static assembler’s sites. This is the same assessment and inspection UL already conducts at OEM factories and will now complete at static assembler’s fixed sites.

A UL authorized assembler is a qualified company, such as a distributor, contractor or other OEM partner, which is completing the product’s final assembly outside of the UL-authorized OEM factory. UL authorized assemblers are permitted to apply the UL Mark for product safety at the final assembly point in the same manner as a UL-authorized OEM factory.

For more information on UL’s EMAP, visit www.UL.org.

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