How Rittal and Power/mation Enable AI-Ready Manufacturing

Edge computing is getting heavier. Vision AI for quality inspection, cobot path-planning, and real-time analytics are pushing GPU-class servers out of the IT room and onto the production floor. With that shift comes a physics problem: heat. Traditional enclosure fans and comfort cooling struggle once you concentrate tens of kilowatts in a cabinet or small row of racks. That is why data-center-grade thermal management is crossing into manufacturing, and why Rittal’s liquid-cooling portfolio, paired with U.S. enclosure production, is so relevant for 2026 projects.

This blog explains what is changing, the liquid-cooling options that fit factory constraints, and a practical rollout path. It is written for operations leaders, controls engineers, and IT/OT teams planning AI at the edge, using solutions you can buy, install, and support with Power/mation.

Why thermal design now decides whether AI succeeds on the line

On a traditional line server, air moves the heat out of the enclosure and the room’s HVAC does the rest. That breaks down when you add GPU-dense servers or high-power edge nodes: air simply cannot carry the heat far enough without noise, hotspots, and energy penalties. Liquid moves heat more than 1,000 times more effectively than air by volume, so data centers have spent the last few years migrating to rear-door heat exchangers (RDHX), in-row/rack liquid coolers, and direct-to-chip (DLC) loops. Those same techniques are now practical at the plant without building a new server room.

Rittal has turned this into a catalog you can mix and match:

  • Rear Door Heat Exchangers + Coolant Circulation Units to pull heat off high-density racks without aisle rebuilds.
  • Liquid Cooling Packages (LCP) Inline/Rack (DX or CW) for single cabinets or short rows. (DX = refrigerant; CW = chilled water.)
  • Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) with Coolant Distribution Units (CDUs), scalable from tens of kilowatts up to more than 1 megawatt per CDU for AI/HPC surge loads.

These are not theoretical. Rittal’s published DLC range spans ~70 kW to 1 MW per CDU, with modular blocks (in-rack, in-row) you can deploy in brownfield plants.

U.S. manufacturing matters (availability, customization, lead times)

For production environments, delivery risk is as real as thermal risk. Rittal manufactures industrial enclosures in Urbana, Ohio (a “manufacturing center of excellence” with 500,000+ sq ft) and stocks across U.S. distribution centers, which helps with availability, modification, and spares. If your AI program needs custom cutouts, busbar kits, or climate variants, having domestic production is a material advantage.

Where each cooling method fits on the factory floor

Think of plant-floor thermal design as three tiers. Choose the lightest tier that reliably meets your heat load, and build upward as density and availability needs grow.

Tier 1: High-efficiency air for industrial enclosures (Blue e+)

When your edge is still PLCs, IPCs, light inference accelerators, and networking inside an industrial enclosure, Rittal Blue e+ cooling units and fan-and-filter systems are a strong baseline. Blue e+ combines variable-speed components and heat-pipe technology for major energy savings. Rittal cites ~75% average energy reduction versus conventional units while maintaining stable cabinet temperatures. New fan-and-filter units add ~40% more air throughput with pleated media. This is often enough for control cabinets adjacent to lines or cells. 

When to use:

  • Heat loads in the single-kilowatt range per enclosure
  • No facility water available
  • Focus on reliability and low operating cost

Factory benefits: lower energy bills, less thermal drift on electronics, and drop-in retrofit into standard Rittal enclosures (e.g., VX, AX/KX families). 

Tier 2: Micro edge data centers with localized air or refrigerant cooling (LCP Inline/Rack)

If you are consolidating multiple servers and storage into one cabinet or a short row right on the floor (think MES nodes, local historians, VMS/AI inspection servers), LCP Inline or LCP Rack is the sweet spot. These units draw hot air from the rear, cool it through a multi-row heat exchanger, and return cool air to the server in a closed loop, keeping the thermal zone tight and reducing the burden on room HVAC. DX variants work when you do not have facility water. CW variants tie into chilled-water loops. Rittal’s published capacities cover ~12–35 kW per unit depending on configuration. 

When to use:

  • One or more IT racks up to a few dozen kilowatts
  • Desire to keep servers on the floor near lines/cells
  • Need fast install and minimal building changes

Factory benefits: smaller construction scope, room-neutral thermal impact, and a path to add redundancy (N+1 coolers per row). For pre-engineered bundles, Rittal Edge Data Center literature shows how racks plus power plus LCP can ship as a kit.

Tier 3: Direct Liquid Cooling (DLC) for high-density AI/GPU loads

When you are running GPU-dense inference or on-prem training near production (or building an AI testbed for R&D), air is no longer sufficient or efficient. DLC brings coolant directly to the cold plates on CPUs/GPUs. A Coolant Distribution Unit (CDU) manages flow, pressure, heat rejection, and leak detection. Rittal’s modular CDU family scales from tens of kW up to more than 1 MW per unit, expressly positioned for AI and HPC thermal envelopes.

When to use:

  • AI inference/training racks with extreme heat density
  • Need for high availability (N+1/N+N pumping, dual loops)
  • Pressure to cut fan energy and floor-space HVAC upgrades

Factory benefits: up to ~80% less air movement in the room, lower noise, and a clear path to future-proof density without constantly rebuilding the cooling plant. Liquid targets the heat source, so the room does not need to be a wind tunnel.

Energy, uptime, and TCO: what the numbers suggest

  • Targeted heat removal uses less energy. Liquid targets the source of heat, reducing fan horsepower and room mixing. Rittal notes liquid systems can cut required airflow by ~80%. That typically reduces both electrical and maintenance overhead for air handlers.
  • Blue e+ reduces enclosure cooling energy. Rittal’s field and lab data cite ~75% average energy savings from Blue e+ units via hybrid heat-pipe design and variable-speed components. For hundreds of cabinets across a plant, that compounds
  • Capacity where you need it. Published LCP capacities (~12–35 kW per unit) and DLC CDUs from ~70 kW up to more than 1 MW let you align capex to actual heat load and scale later without re-architecting the facility.

The bottom line: a liquid-first design for GPU/AI nodes is often cheaper over three to five years than oversizing room HVAC. It is also more reliable because it stabilizes inlet temperatures at the server or cabinet.

Practical design decisions for factories

  • Heat-load realism. Inventory worst-case server configs (GPU count, TDP per card) and sum to cabinet/rack level. Add a growth factor (often 1.5×) to avoid painting yourself into a thermal corner.
  • Fluid strategy. DX (refrigerant) LCPs speed installs where water is not available. CW (water or glycol) integrates with building chilled water for larger deployments. For DLC, plan primary/secondary loops: facility water on the primary, treated coolant on the secondary to protect servers.
  • Leak mitigation. CDUs include pressure/flow monitoring and leak detection. Rear-door and inline units minimize liquid proximity to electronics. Keep quick-disconnects serviceable, specify drip trays, and train maintenance.
  • Service clearance and access. LCP Inline and rear-door exchangers change the cabinet footprint. Validate aisle widths, hinge swing, and lifting points.
  • Redundancy policy. Decide whether cooling follows the same redundancy as compute (e.g., N+1 at the row, dual pumps in the CDU). Rittal’s modular design makes it straightforward to scale redundancy later.
  • Monitoring integration. Tie CDU/LCP telemetry into your SCADA, BMS, or IIoT stack. Power/mation can instrument with Turck IO-Link or Banner Snap Signal to feed OEE and maintenance dashboards. This step maximizes uptime and makes subscription maintenance viable. 

Reference architectures you can deploy in 2026

A) Smart Vision Cell (single rack)

  • Workload: AI inference for inline vision; historian; local MES agent
  • Thermal: LCP Rack DX (closed loop, no facility water), or LCP Inline beside a single rack (~12–35 kW).
  • Enclosures: IT rack + cable management; keep controls in industrial enclosures with Blue e+.
  • Why this works: fast to permit and install; easy to scale to two racks later. 

B) Micro Edge Data Center (2–6 racks)

  • Workload: multi-line analytics, VMS, small model training
  • Thermal: LCP Inline CW tied to plant chilled water; optional N+1 unit.
  • Enclosures: Pre-engineered Rittal Edge Data Center stack (racks + power + cooling).
  • Why this works: consolidates compute near operations without building a new room; allows redundancy. 

C) AI/HPC Pod on the Floor

  • Workload: GPU-dense inference or on-prem model development
  • Thermal: DLC with In-Row CDU, scalable up to and beyond 1 MW cooling capacity as you add servers.
  • Enclosures: Standard 19″ racks with DLC-ready servers; optional RDHX for hybrid air-liquid stages.
  • Why this works: right-sized for high density; reduces room HVAC upgrades; future-proof for AI growth. 

Do not forget the “industrial” part of industrial edge

Putting IT gear on the plant floor adds risks that data centers do not face:

  • Particulates and washdown: house network/edge gear in industrial enclosures with proper ingress protection. Reserve IT racks for sealed micro-data-center footprints. Pair with Blue e+/fan-filter units as needed. 
  • Power quality: spec proper grounding, busbar systems, and surge protection within the enclosure body, not just at the panel. Rittal standardization helps with consistent builds.
  • Service logistics: choose cooling solutions that plant maintenance can actually support. LCP modules and CDUs are field-serviceable. Parts and expertise are domestic. 

How Power/mation helps you execute (and de-risk)

  • Assessment & design. We quantify cabinet/rack heat, select the lightest workable cooling tier, and map electrical and fluid tie-ins.
  • Rittal supply + modification. With U.S. enclosure production in Urbana, OH, we secure the right cabinets, cutouts, and accessories, then stage them with climate units and power distribution for faster installs.
  • Controls + monitoring. We integrate temperature, flow, and door/lock status into your existing SCADA/BMS using IO-Link and signal-overlay hardware, so your team sees trends and alarms. 

Power/mation has long combined Rittal enclosures and climate control with trusted portfolios from Phoenix Contact, ABB, Turck, Banner, and more. In 2026, that ecosystem naturally extends to AI-ready thermal design, giving you one partner for cabinets, cooling, power distribution, monitoring, and safety. With fast turnaround on modified enclosures thanks to U.S. production and stocking, plus flexible service options for predictable Opex, Power/mation makes it simple to design, deploy, and support your next-generation manufacturing environment.

Ready to get started? Contact us today to discuss your project or schedule a heat-load assessment.