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March, 2015
Cable and Harness Manufacturing: Productivity Through Flexibility
By Margaret Bishop, CAMI Research, Inc., Acton, MA
truly flexible test system will ensure usability and investment longevity across product lines, lifecy- cles, and generations. As a consequence, such a test system must handle extensive product com- plexity with a comprehensive test portfolio. In so doing, it will remain relevant as product designs change. Such a test solution must also provide fast, reliable, and accurate test results. A flexible cable test system provides value to a
C
broad range of users: It addresses job function and language differences, supporting a seamless work- flow from design through production. To achieve this, the system must offer customizable worksta- tions, touch-screen compliance, and a multilingual graphical user interface (GUI). In so doing, users see only the features meant for their job function, whether for full engineering and quality-control (QC) design and test diagnostic capabilities, or sim- ple pass/fail automated testing on an operator’s no- frills, touch-screen production-floor workstation. As an example, consider a workflow scenario
for a new product, consisting of a mission-critical cable with a complex connector, destined for vol- ume production. To demonstrate how such a setup might benefit from a flexible wire cable and har- ness test system, assume the product traverses a design-to-ship workflow that passes through proto- type and pilot manufacturing stages, before being ramped to higher volumes in assembly and produc- tion stages. A design will pass through design, pro- totype, pilot assembly/production, and shipping as part of this integrated workflow process.
Design Stage During the design stage, an engineer uses the
design features to define the color-coded wiring schematic and netlist for the new product. The con-
hoosing a flexible wire cable and harness test system is part of a decision process meant to provide improved productivity. A
nector type is defined, along with the resistance per wire, pin-to-pin connections, and wire colors, and even the test data against which the prototype will be measured. The annotated design is saved to the database for quick, error-free pickup at the next stage of the workflow —in this case prototyping. For
ing the appropriate plug-in test board if standard connectors are employed, or building a custom mat- ing harness if the connectors are specialized.
Pilot Stage As part of the pilot stage, the pilot line team
takes over, developing assembly and manufactur- ing processes then test-driving a small production run to generate and verify a robust and manufac- turable design. Since the product has a complex, mission-critical connector, the pilot line team wise- ly chooses to design-in a light-guided assembly into the process. This will ensure fast production of a high-quality product. CAMI Research reports that its light-guided assembly system can achieve as much as double assembly rates over manual methods while nearly eliminating errors. The pilot line team prepares a custom-mounting fixture using a light-guided assembly kit, and sets up the GUI on a computer touch screen to help streamline the main assembly line workstations. Using the full suite of diagnostic tests, the pilot
These different figures depict an example, kit, time study, and GUI for a light-guided assembly example.
configuration control, the wiring schematic diagram and netlist for the design are also printed and saved. During the prototype stage, the first article, a
master cable or harness, is built in reference to the saved design. The test interface is prepared to proof this master work. This might involve simply select-
line team proceeds to check the quality and reliabil- ity of the planned manufacturing processes. The test suite includes continuity, resistance, dielectric breakdown, insulation resistance, miswire, and intermittent defects. A truly flexible cable and har- ness test system will not be limited by connector type — or indeed whether a connector is used at all —and will cope with having long cables or no cables — e.g. a backplane or printed-circuit board. Following success during the pilot line stage,
preparations for higher assembly and production prepare for higher volume production steps. Engineers roll out light-guided assembly systems on assembler workstations, define test automation scripts, and customize each GUI. Customization includes setting the language and level of GUI simplicity required for each test operator, and
Continued on next page
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