The fact is, most wire harnesses are still manufactured by hand. This requires a great deal of time, takes up scarce personnel resources and drives up wage costs. In addition, with the increasing complexity of wires today, susceptibility to errors also increases. When it comes to subsequent troubleshooting for manually manufactured wires, the individual process steps are difficult to trace.

Automobile manufacturers demand automated quality

Clients are also well aware of the problems with manual work. Every car manufacturer therefore legitimately asks, “Which supplier will provide me with the most reliable, safest and cheapest wire harnesses?” Conversely, wire harness manufacturer ask themselves: “How can I economically meet the OEM quality requirements of the automotive industry?”

Example: best practice from Komax

The latest innovation, Komax Sigma 688 ST, is a telling example of fully automated UTP (unshielded twisted pairs) wire processes. For UTP wires used in applications with high data transfer speeds (CAN FD, FlexRay, or 100 MBit/s Ethernet), OEMs require open wire ends to be spot taped for quality reasons. This prevents ends from opening up unintentionally during downstream logistical steps or manual insertion processes.

Three fully automated processes

With the Sigma 688 ST, Komax is for the first time making it possible to fully automate processing with twisting and simultaneous double-sided spot taping of open wire ends for downstream operations. This automation step allows manufacturers to increase their performance, productivity, and profitability. In concrete terms, the step simplifies and accelerates logistics as a whole. No additional station is required for spot taping, which saves time, floor space and resources. In addition, systems test wire harnesses to ensure their efficiency and safety before they are installed in the vehicles.

Technology leadership in automation

OEMs are increasingly demanding greater production automation from their suppliers. As the market leader, Komax is well on the way to comprehensive automation. Komax offers wire harness manufacturers modular, expandable systems that can be automated and networked together as required. The WPCS interface saves time by communicating stored production parameters between the machine and the ME system.

Wire processing at market leader level 

We recommended that OEM suppliers talk to our engineers about the current level of development. And an investment in innovative Komax automation technology is worth considering. Each automation step opens up further advantages. Targeted process automation creates reproducible quality at OEM level.