Circuit Breaker Industries 

CBI-electric: low voltage, previously known as Circuit Breaker Industries or CBI is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. CBI-electric: low voltage is a supplier of quality low voltage electrical distribution, protection and control equipment. The foundations of CBI were established in 1949 as a joint venture within the then Heinemann Electric Company in Trenton, New Jersey, USA. After a merger with Fuchs Electrical Industry during 1986, a new company called Circuit Breaker Industries (CBI) was created. CBI-electric: low voltage is fully owned by Reunert, which is listed on the JSE. 

 

With an exciting background of groundbreaking achievements, CBI-electric: low voltage has prospered for more than five decades to become a leader in the design, development, and manufacture of Circuit Breakers, Residual Current Devices, Surge Protection, Wiring Accessories, and Metering Products. CBI-electric: low voltage supplies products to supply authorities, utilities, original equipment manufacturers, commercial property developers, and industrial, mining, telecommunication and general power distribution applications. 

 

Over the past 10 years CBI-electric: low voltage has established itself as a supplier of specialized precision protection products in niche markets around the world. Based on the success of this strategy, the majority of the production output is exported. 

 

Manufacturing 

A single Circuit Breaker consists of over 200 individual manufactured parts and CBI has the manufacturing capabilities to produce over 25 million parts a month, all within very close specification.  

 

CBI-electric: low voltage is a highly vertically integrated company, able to convert raw materials into finished products. All tooling required for the manufacturing of components is designed and manufactured in-house. CBI has one of the largest tooling design and manufacturing facilities in South Africa. All jigs, fixtures and test equipment required for the assembly and testing of products are designed, manufactured and calibrated in-house. 

 

Testing Facilities 

CBI-electric: low voltage is able to rapidly design, develop and test customised prototype products. This ability, combined with the growing need to meet various international safety standards, has led CBI-electric: low voltage to establish a testing and research laboratory.  CBI's testing facilities, the only private testing facility of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere, comprises a control room, with two 10 kA and one 65 kA fully computerised test bay. Circuit Breakers up to 65 kA can be tested against local and international standards for overload, endurance and vibration, thereby reducing the time required to develop a product from inception to completion. 

 

CBI & Emcomp 

The co-operation started in 1998 when Emcomp, at that time Emcomp Scandinavia AB, started to introduce the Hydraulic-Magnetic products to the growing telecom sector. The telecom power sector at that time had both design and manufacturing focused on Scandinavia. The business increased and when more and more telecom companies started to move production as well as design out to Asia and Eastern parts of Europe, Emcomp continued to serve these companies with CBI products. Since 2009 Emcomp has been driving the CBI sales in Europe as a geographic market and also keep serving international OEM accounts on a global base.