Cable harnesses are usually designed according to geometric and electrical requirements.

A
diagram is then provided (either on paper or on a monitor) for the assembly preparation and
assembly.

The wires are first cut to the desired length, usually using a special wire-cutting machine. The
wires may also be printed on by a special machine during the cutting process or on a separate
machine. After this, the ends of the wires are stripped to expose the metal (or core) of the wires,
which are fitted with any required terminals or connector housings. The cables are assembled
and clamped together on a specialworkbench, or onto a pin board (assembly board), according
to the design specification, to form the cable harness. After fitting any protective sleeves, conduit,
or extruded yarn, the harness is either fitted directly in the vehicle or shipped.

In spite of increasing automation, in general, cable harnesses continue to be manufactured by

hand, due to the many different processes involved, such as:

 routing wires through sleeves,

 taping with fabric tape, in particular on branch outs from wire strands,
 crimping terminals onto wires, particularly for so-called multiple crimps (more than one wire
into one terminal),
 inserting one sleeve into another,
 fastening strands with tape, clamps or cable ties.

It is difficult to automate these processes, with suppliers like 1X Technologies, Belden Inc., and
Alpha Wire leading the Cable Harness industry in quality manual production, automating only
portions of the process. Manual production remains more cost effective than automation,
especially with small batch sizes.

Pre-production can be automated in part. This affects:

 Cutting individual wires (cutting machine),

 crimping terminals onto one or both sides of the wire,
 partial plugging of wires prefitted with terminals into connector housings (module),
 soldering of wire ends (solder machine)
 twisting wires.

Testing the electrical functionality of a cable harness can be done with the aid of a test board.

Increasingly, such diverse needs are being met by modular

switchboards,
which are designed to change with business needs and building
uses. But
there are different schools of thought about whether modular
installations
should be welded or bolted for optimum durability and adaptability
to
change.
“Not many engineers and end users have the opportunity to
examine and
compare the large number of different modular systems and
welded
constructions that are available in the market today. To make this
comparison harder, the technical differences between the different
modular
systems alone are profound,” says Mr Terry Schweickle, Director of
SMB
Harwal, which is largest manufacturer of Australian-made LV
switchboards
in NSW. SMB produces the latest, third, generation of iNTELECT
switchboards in Australia, extending an iNTELECT product line of
which
tens of thousands have been manufactured in Australia, giving
reliable
service in data centres, banks, schools, hospitals, power stations,
shopping centres, mines and factories. Different versions of the
iNTELECT
range have been sold in over 23 countries.
“As one of Australia’s largest LV switchboard manufacturers, we
manufacture and assemble switchboards of both bolted modular
construction and traditional welded construction,” says Mr
Schweickle.
“Occasionally we hear queries raised about the rigidity and
strength of
bolted construction compared to welded construction. This is a fair
question, and one which we are well placed to address, because we
build
both, and thus have no vested interest to build one form of
switchboard
construction over another unless there are genuine benefits to do
so.
“We also manufacture our own metalwork and conduct our own
R&D on
optimum outcomes, unlike many other Australian switchboard
manufacturers. This equips us to know if or when traditional
welded
construction provides any advantage in either design or cost, in
which
case we will use it.