INDUSTRIAL INFO-TAINMENT s i : e h s T su re • 2013 WHMA Conference Is tu • Growing your Business: Part 2 a e F • Preventive Maintenance Advantage • Wire Wisdom Wiring Harness News NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 1 • Why Wire Harness Companies Fail JANUARY FEBRUARY 2013 NRI Electronics By Fred Noer __________________________________ D uring his latest visit to NRI Electronics an ISO auditor was astounded to find the company had 30 continuous improve- ment projects under way. He expected NRI to have just a few projects in the works, similar to other companies he has audited. The comparatively high number of projects is typical at NRI and reflective of its employees’ attention to detail and their drive to improve all aspects of NRI operations. Everyone’s effort at NRI coincides with its quality policy: “Through company-wide empower- ment, we are committed to continuous improvement in order to satisfy the expectations of our customers.” NRI has 40 customers, all OEMs that are supplied with wiring harnesses, printed circuit boards and electro- mechanical assemblies. Twelve cus- tomers provide 80 percent of company revenue, and the other 28 account for 20 percent of sales. Several customers have been with NRI for 10, 12 and even 25- plus years. Sixty-six percent of the customers are in the agriculture and industrial markets, The Preventive Maintenance Advantage By Michael Hallman TE Application Tooling Field Service Manager __________________________________ W hat is preventive mainte- nance and why is it important? The basic description of preventive maintenance is planned maintenance activity that is designed to improve the life of machines or equipment and avoid any unplanned maintenance activity. In the wire harness industry, machines and tooling are the key components that are vital to an organization’s ability to pro- duce the final product. From the small- est hand tool to the largest automatic wire processing machine, when equip- ment malfunctions, production is affect- ed in a negative way. Quality OEM equip- ment suppliers provide preventive main- Michael Hallman TE Application Tooling Field Service Manager ________________Continued on page 11 The NRI Data Cell assembling the less complex harnesses. All harnesses are tested using the Cirris Easy Tester on the cart. with 22 percent in defense and 12 per- cent in aviation. Most of the customers are located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and Nebraska, and some are in the southeastern United States. One customer in Japan is provid- ed with harnesses and PCBs. Company operations are in two Min- nesota cities – Anoka and Rochester. Anoka is a far northwestern suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Rochester is approximately 85 miles southeast of the Twin Cities. Production at the Rochester facility is 95 percent wiring harnesses and five percent electromechanical assemblies. The building covers 30,000 square feet. Harness orders range from a simple six-inch jumper wire to a complex har- ness containing up to 500 circuits. They may have 512 conductors, BNCs and biaxial and triaxial Tyco connectors. Length can be up to 70 feet for applica- tions in cranes and agricultural sprayers. Quantities typically are 10-25 but may be as few as one and as many as 3,000. Cost is between $2 and $3,200. Conversely, Anoka, whose building measures 12,000 square feet, does most- ly PCBs, both surface mount and through hole, and electromechanical assemblies. Manufacturing of harnesses, simple ones that are short and contain ________________Continued on page 38 2013 Annual WHMA Conference T he 2013 Wiring Harness Manu- facturers Association (WHMA) Annual Wire Harness Confer- ence will be held February 20-22 in Las Vegas. The Renaissance Hotel will serve a conference headquarters. This will be the 20th Annual WHMA Conference – a fact not overlooked by WHMA Program chairman Paul Nelson of Data Cable in Orangeville, Ontario. “Every WHMA Conference is filled with good information and networking opportunities - but this year’s agenda is really special. We will have a variety of sessions touching on quality improve- ment, marketing, re-shoring and strategy deployment just to name a few,” said Nel- son. The keynote presenter will be Greg Paul Nelson WHMA Program Chairman Lane of Low Volume Lean. His two top- ics are: “Don’t Limit Your Improvement to Manufacturing” and “Without a Clearly Deployed Strategy, You Will Never Reach Breakthrough Objectives”. _________________Continued on page 3