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Custom Control Panels, Built In-House
Schematics, wiring, point-to-point testing, and as-built drawings, all from one shop.
One team, one shop
If you are comparing every control panel builder Canada has to offer, ask one question first: who owns the result when something fails at commissioning? Most panel problems start at a handoff. One firm designs it, a job shop builds it, a third party installs it, and nobody answers for the whole. Bedford removes the handoffs. Our panel shop sits in our own facility in Dieppe, NB, and the engineers who draw the schematics work in the same building as the Red Seal industrial electricians who wire the enclosures.
That is the whole model: one team for design, panels, code, install, and support. The person who wrote your PLC program can walk over and watch the panel being tested against it. If a terminal number in the field does not match the drawing, we fix the drawing, not just the wire.
Design, build, wire, test, ship. Every step happens under one roof, and every step has the same name on it. When something needs an answer at commissioning, you make one call, and the person who answers has the drawings in front of them.
Panels we build
We build panels around the control hardware you already run. Bedford programs five PLC platforms, Allen-Bradley, Schneider, Omron, Phoenix Contact, and Unitronics, so the panel and the program come from the same shop and the same drawing set.
- PLC and automation panels. Processor, I/O, safety relays, and network hardware for EtherNet/IP, Modbus TCP, or PROFINET, laid out for service access and future expansion.
- MCC and VFD panels. Motor starters, variable frequency drives, line reactors, and bypass contactors, with heat load calculated before the enclosure is ordered.
- Operator stations. HMI enclosures, pushbutton stations, and e-stop circuits built to survive the plant floor, not a clean office.
- Junction and marshalling panels. Terminal enclosures that land field wiring cleanly, with numbered terminals that match your loop and instrument drawings.
We also build direct replacements for failed or obsolete panels, working from your old drawings or from the panel itself when drawings no longer exist.
Built to code, inspection ready
Every panel leaves our shop wired to the Canadian Electrical Code and built from components that carry a recognized certification mark, CSA or an accepted equivalent. Conductor sizing, bonding, spacing, and overcurrent protection follow the code, not habit.
Here is the part many builders gloss over. In most Canadian jurisdictions, the CEC requires electrical equipment to be approved before it is energized. A custom panel with no certification mark typically needs a field evaluation, carried out under the SPE-1000 model code by an accredited inspection body. We do not apply a certification mark ourselves. We build panels so that a field evaluation is straightforward, and we supply the documentation the evaluator asks for.
The certifications we hold are on the people. Our industrial electricians carry Red Seal certification, and the engineering behind every build is led by a B.Eng on staff. If your inspector wants to talk through a build, we take that call.
Engineering before the enclosure
A panel gets designed twice: once on paper, and once by whoever has to keep it running for the next fifteen years. We try to make those the same design. Schematics are produced in EPLAN or AutoCAD Electrical, so your maintenance team receives drawings in a format they can edit later, not a scanned relic.
Before a single part is ordered, the design settles the questions that cause trouble in year three:
- Enclosure rating matched to the environment: Type 4X stainless for washdown areas, Type 12 for dusty mills, IP-rated equivalents where your spec calls for them.
- Heat load calculated from real component dissipation, then cooling sized to it, whether that means filtered fans, a heat exchanger, or an air conditioner.
- Spare I/O and spare panel space, so adding a sensor next year does not mean buying a new enclosure.
- Segregated wireways for power, control, and network wiring, keeping electrical noise off your communications.
Tested, labelled, documented
Every conductor in every panel is point-to-point tested against the schematic before power is applied. When we also write the PLC program, we go further and run an I/O checkout on the bench, so devices are proven against the code before shipment instead of during your outage window.
Every wire is ferruled and numbered. Every device carries a tag that matches the drawing. Legend plates are engraved, not taped on. And every panel ships with as-built drawings that reflect what was actually built, including any change made during testing.
Lead time is driven mostly by parts. Processors, drives, and specialty enclosures can be long-lead items, so we identify them at quote and confirm a delivery date before you commit to the build. If a failed panel is stopping production right now, call the line at 1-833-423-3367 and a real person will give you a straight answer on what is possible.
Built and tested under our QPS certification.
Built for the Maritimes
the Maritimes is a big region with a short list of panel builders. When a panel dies in a fish plant on PEI or a sawmill outside Truro, waiting on a shop two time zones away is not a plan. Bedford builds in-house and serves Halifax, Truro, Amherst, Moncton, Saint John, and Charlottetown, all reachable by road from our shop.
The work here is specific. Seafood processing means washdown, salt air, and stainless Type 4X enclosures. Forestry and sawmills mean dust, vibration, and motors that get worked hard. Manufacturers across the region run mixed fleets of PLC hardware collected over decades, which is exactly why we program five platforms instead of one.
The gallery below shows completed panels from the shop, with the hardware called out by brand, Allen-Bradley, Schneider, Omron, Phoenix Contact, and Unitronics among them. When you are ready, upload your spec, drawing set, or I/O list through the quote form and we will price the build from what you send.
Send specs,
get numbers
Send a spec, a drawing set, or a photo of the old panel, and get a real price back, free, with no sales pressure.
Built to scale
Panel work falls apart when volume grows faster than the shop behind it. Ours is set up for that day one.