MJ 2023 PRINT EDITION.indd
From the Editor
It’s challenging to set a theme for any particular issue these days, but a common thread running through this issue is automation. It’s a hot topic as staffing and training issues continue to plague most industries, while OEMs push for the consistency automation provides.
In the cover article, Trends in Automation, George Tilli mentions, “customers are moving towards digitalization where they can create 3-D models that will produce cut sheets and everything they need to upload to a machine and begin processing. They are moving towards on-demand processing, versus batch processing.”
In his article titled Islands of Automation, Paul Harvell talks about “charting a course for design-to-manufacturing automation,” where “a reasonable next step toward improving the bottom line is to adopt a holistic approach, bridging and automating the business, design, and manufacturing islands.” Paul stresses tracking all our data through the sales (quoting), design, and delivery gates while focusing on the accuracy and quality of the final product.
Along the lines of clean data in the automation stream, Arik Vrobel discusses his new cloud based tool for data validation called Predictive Interconnect Analytics in the article Wiring Harness Design Validation. His fascinating solution to the problem of inaccurate information on customer drawings “will integrate seamlessly with numerous native CADx tools by leveraging standard outputs such as the parts list, From-To lists, and other design data to provide comprehensive feedback so that the designer can target ‘design risks’ to minimize mistakes.”
I hope you find these, as well as other articles we have written and compiled, useful and informative. As always, feel free to think of WHN as your research arm. If you have a subject you would like to see us explore in these pages, please feel free to contact me.
Joe Tito
Editor
Wiring Harness News 407-739-9811
