How To Design Reliable And Cost-Effective Cable Harnesses? Miracle Electronics

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How To Design Reliable And Cost-Effective Cable
Harnesses? Miracle Electronics
While concentrating on all the elements of
designing a cable harness, the element of cost-
effectiveness is generally left behind. However,
in todays overly competitive market, it is good
to provide high quality cable harnesses, but it
must also not be forgotten that customers are
demanding for profit margins too. They are
constantly pressurizing cable harness
manufacturers to lower their costs while
providing quality. If this is what you are
looking for too, you can approach Miracle
Electronics, one of the very few cable harness
manufacturers in India who can provide
reliability and cost-effectiveness in a single
package of cable harness.
The two basic types of costs that are involved in
the construction of cable harnesses include
manufacturing costs and material costs, which are
both also responsible for deciding the long term
reliability of a harness. To decide upon these
costs and their value, factors like types of
wires, types of connectors, types of cable ties,
types of labels, shielding, jacketing, placement
of cable ties, placement of labels, and overall
tolerances play very important roles. Let us
learn in detail about these elements that can
add unnecessary costs or complexities to a cable
harness that will ultimately affect the overall
price. Wiring/Cabling Although the cost of
wiring tends to be quite low compared to the
total cost of a wire harness, they do add a cost
element. This is why while picking out a wire,
you need to consider whether
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you are to use the expensive Teflon, or a much
inexpensive PVC wire will do. You can also check
for other specially customized options regarding
voltage, temperature rating, special wire
coloring, strand count, etc. Also, at times,
cables are needed to be used instead of wires.
This will add to the material costs and requires
more manual labour to strip and
crimp. Soldering/Crimping Both soldering and
crimping have their own advantages, but crimping
is much more cost- effective as compared to
soldering. This is because crimping requires
lesser labour time and operator
training. Jacketing/Shielding External
protection is of utmost importance for a cable
harness. So, what type of external protection is
required? Installing a shrink tube or braided
loom requires terminals and connectors to be
installed after shielding, which requires
additional hand labour, thus increasing
costs. Cable ties You need to ask a few
questions when it comes to determining the tie
wraps required. How many tie wraps do you need?
What types of tie wraps are needed? At what
spacing are the tie wraps needed? All these
questions can determine that labour required, and
thus the costs. Labels The material cost of a
label can vary, but all of them require labour
for printing and applying. Also, the costs of
the labels may be very small as compared to the
costs of applying them. Other elements like the
type of labels and the placement of labels can
define the costs too. For example, wrap around
labels are quite inexpensive as compare to shrink
labels. Furthermore, it is very essential that
each wire is located properly and connected to
the harness in the appropriate location, which
again can be labour intensive and
costly. Tolerances Generally, designers take up
the safe path of using tight tolerances on cable
harness designs. But, wire harnesses are
flexible, which means that tight tolerance is not
required. In fact, tighter the tolerance, the
more difficult it becomes to manufacture the
harness, thus making it more expensive.
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For more information, please visit Miracle
Electronics