Cable Assemblies Manufacturing Process

Manual Termination – Soldering

To support short-run manufacturing requirements, manual termination processes are used when appropriate. This approach helps meet customer quantity requirements while supporting lead-time objectives for lower-volume production.

Manual termination provides flexibility for applications that may not be suited for higher levels of automation while maintaining assembly quality and manufacturing responsiveness. Manual steps also help offset the increased setup costs and waste from high-volume automated assembly equipment.

Semi-Automated Termination

Automation is incorporated wherever practical to help control manufacturing costs and improve efficiency.

By utilizing automated equipment to the fullest extent possible, production processes can deliver consistent results while supporting cost-effective manufacturing across a broad range of cable assembly programs. Various types of machinery are capable of providing high-volume strip, cut, and tinning operations as well as automated crimp and soldering processes.

Ribbon cable termination capabilities support a wide range of customer requirements.

Applications may include:

• UL-rated ribbon cable
• Custom NON-UL ribbon cable extrusions
• Custom color jackets and stripes
• Assemblies with 2 conductors to 100 conductors
• Standard and custom ribbon cable pitch spacing
• Additional requirements such as carrier films, markings, and shielding
• Available in bulk spools or as terminated assemblies

Our manufacturing teams have the experience required to terminate these cable types properly across a variety of custom configurations.

Overmolding – Multi-Cavity Capabilities

Overmolding solutions are designed to maximize manufacturing efficiency with a completely custom solution. Design engineers develop molds and overmold tooling that allow as many terminations as possible to be processed within a single mold shot. Higher complexity designs that incorporate components, PCBAs, and other hardware may require more sophisticated tooling designs that use both an inner and an outer overmold tool.

Efficient utilization of mold cavities helps reduce manufacturing costs while increasing throughput.

Overmolding – Custom Color Compounding

Overmold compounds can be matched to customer color requirements across a wide range of applications. Customers can specify Pantone colors or provide swatches or coupons to match so that production lots can be made to the exact desired color specifications.

Color matching is accomplished through equipment that measures color by wavelength. This process enables custom color development for overmolded products based on customer specifications.

This capability allows assemblies to align with equipment color schemes, branding, or support color-coding requirements for product identification and application-specific use.

Overmolding – Custom Designs

Custom mold designs can incorporate customer-specific branding and identification features. Depending on the exact requirements, customers can provide general guidance or a complete specification with vectorized artwork to include in the build.

Design engineering and tooling capabilities support molds that include:

• Customer or product names
• Logos
• Polarity markings
• Customer-supplied artwork

Quality Assurance – Electrical Testing

Every completed cable assembly is electrically tested for faults before delivery. Custom electrical test fixtures may be needed to support testing due to the pin count, connector type, and number of measurements needed.

Testing can include:

• Open-circuit detection
• Short-circuit detection
• Shield integrity verification
• Pin-out verification
• Dielectric withstanding voltage
• Insulation resistance

This testing process helps confirm that assemblies meet required electrical specifications prior to shipment.

Quality Assurance – Physical Analysis

Cable assemblies are physically tested to verify their ability to meet demanding application requirements. Typical tests and measurements taken include a 100% inspection or an AQL check of critical dimensions. Key features to inspect include overall length measurements, the length of breakouts or taps, and a review of custom features like overmolds or injection-molded members.

Reliability remains a critical consideration, and physical testing is conducted to confirm assemblies will fit within the allotted space and can withstand the expected demands placed on them during use.

Quality Assurance – Environmental Analysis

Many assemblies are intended for demanding operating environments. Environmental testing is performed to verify that products can withstand the anticipated conditions during their service life. Some cable assemblies are required to go through 100% thermal screening or temperature cycling, while others just need to survive testing during the initial qualification or validation tests.

This testing helps ensure assemblies perform as expected in their intended applications.

Supply Chain Management and In-House Inventory

Manufacturing support extends beyond production to include supply chain management and inventory stocking services.

Capabilities include:

• Blanket and stocking agreements
• Managing supply chain logistics
• Kitting and specialty assembly considerations
• JIT (just in time) production and shipping products when needed
• Flexible stocking agreements from 6 months to 18 months depending on the circumstances

These services are intended to help customers maintain efficient operations and receive assemblies according to their production schedules.