Planes, trains, ships, and cars contain thousands of wires that connect their various electrical systems. Building electrical wire harnesses to properly route all these wires is a monumental and complex task indeed. Until recently, the harness building process involved using wooden nail boards and large paper drawings. To call this process archaic wouldn't be entirely unfair – cumbersome, error-prone and, not least, slow as it was. Small wonder, then, that electrical harness manufacturers were searching for solutions to reduce production time and related errors.

Thankfully, their pleas were heard: In 2013, Komax Laselec presented their prototype of a truly groundbreaking alternative to the traditional harness building method: EasyWiring interactive harness assembly boards. This innovative solution brought modernization to electrical harness building, using software that guides the operator through the entire harness assembly process.

EasyWiring: It's fast, helpful…

The benefits of this system are manifold. The following list is extensive but not exhaustive:

• In small series production, EasyWiring ensures fast board setup and eliminates the need for multiple board storage.
• In the prototyping phase, where several iterations of design changes are quite common, each change is normally a laborious task; now, EasyWiring enables users to integrate design changes quickly and makes board reconfiguration much easier thanks to the suction cup accessories.
• For operator training, EasyWiring production can be set up “step by step” to train operators, safely guiding them through the manufacturing process.
• In quality control, where each wire harness is verified after production on a dedicated control board: the final check, the EasyWiring board, because it is easy to reconfigure, allows users to verify several types of harness on the same board and, once again, eliminates the need for multiple board storage.

It's modular and versatile…

To recap: Each EasyWiring system is composed of up to six HD display modules (available in 75” and 86” sizes), replacing numerous paper-and-nail-based boards and saving huge amounts of shop floor space. EasyWiring's key feature, though, is its fully software-driven user guidance during harness assembly. The operator has direct access to all the information that is required for the harness building process and proper tool selection. Pictures, videos and PDF files can be accessed at any moment to save time during production. Operators equipped with the EasyControl unit or a bar-code reader can scan the wires to be connected and the tools used in the harness assembly process, making everything fully traceable. Also, while prototyping, operators are able to make real-time modifications to harnesses, adding, deleting or modifying any information directly through the EasyWiring software.

It's twin-software driven…

Komax Laselec has developed two separate software solutions to allow EasyWiring to better accommodate automotive production requirements:

• EasyWiring Light responds to the need for a simple way to display a harness drawing digitally on the board. This affordable solution is the first step towards harness board digitalization, and thus paves the way for smaller manufacturers to digitally upgrade their entire wire harness building process.
• EasyWiring Interactive is even more advanced, guiding the harness board operator throughout the production process, ensuring easy data transfer from the customer's harness design software, reducing the time to production, adding flexibility, and allowing the single wire or subassembly routing required in automotive harness assembly, all while ensuring full traceability.

…and now it's automotive, too 

EasyWiring was originally developed for the aerospace industry. In 2021, Komax Laselec, in partnership with several automotive customers, expanded the software to better meet specific automotive production needs. The manufacturing instructions now match those already on the standard wiring board, with interactivity and traceability during production. Data integration has been simplified and automated. And the harness data import process from the CAD software to EasyWiring is faster and more accurate, significantly reducing the delay between harness design and production.

It comes as no surprise, therefore, that more and more automotive customers are adopting the EasyWiring automotive solution. The response has been quite enthusiastic “across the board!”

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