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Wiring Harness News NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012 1
• Six Road Blocks When Designing High Voltage Connectors and Assemblies
JULY/AUGUST
2013
Altex
By Fred Noer
__________________________________
“Work smarter,
not harder.”
I
f Altex were to adopt a slogan, this
may very well be it. The phrase
aptly describes the prevailing phi-
losophy at the company, which manufac-
tures custom wiring harnesses, cable
assemblies and electromechanical
assemblies. The firm is headquartered in
Westfield, Ind., (at the far north end of
the Indianapolis metropolitan area) and
has a plant in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
To be able to work smarter, trans-
parency is emphasized at the company.
“There is a lot of sharing of information,”
said Rick Bromm, 51, vice president of
business development. “We need every-
one to be critical thinkers. If people are
without a good understanding of the
whole company, they can’t make good
decisions about what they do and how it
affects the big picture.
“Ultimately their understanding
flows down from the corporate goals
and objectives,” Bromm said. “Then they
can make better decisions at the front
lines and have autonomy to what they’re
doing. It definitely has contributed to
our execution and performance.”
Such a focus on intelligence and
empowerment of the 57 people (17 in
administration, 40 in production) at the
two facilities has proven effective.
Bromm stated Altex should gross $9 mil-
lion in sales by the end of the year. That
would represent an 11-percent gain over
2012. He foresees the same growth next
year. In 2009-12 the company grew 37
percent.
When Altex concentrated on making
The 2013 National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo broke
records once again as it was held May 8 and 9 at the Delta Center in Milwau-
kee. See page 29.
ALTEX builds electro-mechanical assemblies– including circuit boards,
instrument panels and cable harnesses — to customer specifications.
passenger car wiring harnesses and seat-
belt lock systems in the 2000s, company
sales peaked at $13 million. “We grew at
a good clip when we rode the automo-
tive industry wave,” Bromm said. “Our
revenues were higher, but now we’re
making better profit. When automotive
declined, so did we. It’s good we saw
that, managed it and diversified.”
Even with the recession at its height
in 2008-09, Altex made money, according
to Bromm. “We’ve always had a strong
balance sheet,” he said. “We finance our
operations through cash flow and cash
on hand.”
Such overall expert financial manage-
ment is attributed to Altex president Ben
Weidberg, 64, MBA and CPA. He bought
________________Continued on page 50
6 Road Blocks when Designing High
Voltage Connectors and Assemblies
By David Galambos, President
Canton Connector Corp
__________________________________
Designing a High Voltage cable assem-
bly and connectors can be very chal-
lenging. There are many aspects of the
cable assembly that must be considered.
Before beginning the design you must
answer some general, but very impor-
tant questions like: What is the operating
voltage and current? What type of envi-
ronment will the cable be operating in?
Will the cable be required to meet any
specifications? Are there any specific
requirements from the customer? After
you have answered these first round
questions you can begin drafting a
design. We have come up with the six
most common design road blocks and
tips on how to avoid and overcome
them.
Size Constraints:
Size constraints often make the chal-
lenge of designing a High Voltage con-
nector and cable assembly extremely dif-
ficult. Generally the High voltage cable
assembly is the last piece of the puzzle
that customer’s think about when
designing their equipment. Often times
the space required for a high voltage
connection that meets their operating
requirements isn’t available. The indus-
try is constantly moving towards smaller
lighter assemblies with increased oper-
ating thresholds. Using spacing to offset
high voltages has become a thing of the
past. Companies now look to the design
team to come up with a solution that
will resolve these issues and still keep
the cost of the cable assembly down.
Generally a custom connector design is
required to achieve this goal.
Designing around an
existing connector:
Designing around an existing connec-
tor can prove to be extremely difficult.
Customer’s come in with an existing
connector that they cannot deviate
from. Generally these connectors are
not performing up to their require-
ments, or mates to another component
which is a grandfathered part of their
design. Another reason could be the con-
nector needs to perform at an increased
performance threshold that cannot be
met with the current configuration.
Whatever the case may be an in depth
analysis of the inner working of the con-
nector assembly is required. Working
closely with the customer, the engineer-
ing team will analyze all aspects of the
design what materials are utilized? What
are the mechanical and electrical prop-
erties of the materials? What aspects of
the design can be changed to meet the
required specification without effecting
_________________Continued on page 4