Sven Frischen-Nocher, COO/VP, INGUN USA, Inc.

As we move into 2018, there are several trends that we can expect to see in the manufacturing and wire harness industries.

First, is a continued interest in networking wire processing equipment on the manufacturing floor. Networking of wire processing equipment offers many benefits, including the opportunity for two way communications, job optimization, rerouting of jobs if a machine is down, complete traceability and automatic calculation of the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).

Once your wire processing equipment is networked with a central server and specialized software, the possibilities and benefits become almost limitless, so expect to see more companies taking advantage of this technology.

Another trend that will continue to grow in 2018 is the increasing complexity of automotive wiring harnesses due to the addition of more Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS). Today, even entry level vehicles have one or more systems, such as Blind Spot Detection, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Departure Warning Systems and Automatic Braking.

All of these systems require additional sensors and cameras, which in turn means more wire and cabling in vehicles. Wire harness manufacturers are doing everything possible to minimize the size and weight of the wiring harness. Some examples of steps being taken by manufacturers is the use of higher voltages, which require less current and allow the use of smaller sized wires, or aluminum wire being used to reduce weight.

As we move closer to the era of the autonomous vehicle, safety critical systems will require redundancy, which will mean even more electronics and wiring. A major challenge as we look to the future will be to keep the weight, space and cost of automotive wiring harnesses under control.

The final trend I expect for 2018 is a desire for increased quality and traceability among manufacturers and a growth in software designed to achieve this. As systems become more complex, the chance of failure increases. Every step of the manufacturing and assembly process must be closely monitored for not only each component, but for the system as a whole.

Failures must be able to be quickly traced to the root cause and solved immediately. Only by measuring and monitoring processes via software can overall quality be improved. Quality control managed by software will become essential to the manufacturing process and will help ensure product effectiveness.