WHMA
Looking for answers in all the right place
 
 

Article and Photographs Submitted by WHMA Staff
 
 

When it comes to solving industry problems, members of the Wiring Harness Manufacturers Association (WHMA) are the first to roll up their sleeves and pitch in.

It was at the association's spring '99 conference in Orlando, Florida, that a grass roots effort got underway to find a customized, integrated accounting and manufacturing software package that essentially could run an entire wiring harness operation. A task force of some 12 WHMA companies volunteered to poll members' needs, determine the appropriate software vendors and investigate possible enhancements of existing software packages to make them a better fit for the wiring harness industry. Up until then, there had never been a unified effort to find such a software solution.

At this fall's ATExpo, the WHMA team met with a select number of software companies to discuss the key features members wanted. Jim Vyduna, CRV Electronics, who heads up the task force, points out a few deficiencies that current packages have.

"For one thing, very few can handle different units of measure — inches versus feet versus the metric system — for building wire harnesses, keeping track of material requirements, and inventory control," he notes. "Also the software packages out there are not bilingual. In other words they don't have the ability to translate internal part numbers into customer order numbers and vice versa to give you ready access to both yours and your customer's part numbers."

At WHMA's spring 2000 conference, members will hear a report back from the task force, and see demonstrations of the software enhancements that the vendors are proposing for the industry.

On another front, WHMA and IPC have been working together for several years on the development of Acceptability Guidelines — the standards that wire harness manufacturers ultimately will use to measure their products against. The pairing is perfect. IPC has experience in publishing documents and specifications; WHMA has hands-on manufacturing and quality knowledge.

A good deal of give-and-take has gone into each phase of the project. What started out as a single document, over time, has evolved into a family of documents, complete with color photographs: Acceptability Standard…Workmanship Standard…Test Method Standard…and Design Standard. Right now, a number of WHMA members are writing sections and circulating the materials via e-mail.

As this family of documents starts to take shape, the committee will be looking for people with the expertise in those areas to join the team. The goal is to have the first document — the Acceptability Standard — finished by the end of 2000. When these guidelines are published, it will be a big, big win for WHMA. "As an association, we'll benefit from having our name out there as the co-producer of the definitive reference source for quality control managers," says Vernon Judy, Qualastat Electronics, Inc., and co-chair of the Industry Technical Guidelines committee. "And as manufacturers, we'll benefit from being able to say that our harnesses are made to industry specifications."

In addition to the written word, WHMA and IPC are putting the final touches on a video that presents a comprehensive look at wiring harness assembly methods and techniques. Filmed at WHMA member Wilco Wire Technologies in Fremont, Calif., the 28-minute tape is designed for wiring harness companies to use in training new employees in areas such as wire cutting and terminating, crimping with hand tools and dyes, soldering, terminal-block insertion, and quality issues. The video will be released in November and member and non-member companies can purchase copies through the WHMA office.

"As our association continues to grow and gain momentum, WHMA is becoming more and more member driven and more focused on taking care of its own," emphasizes Andy Larsen, executive director of WHMA. "For the past several years, we've been working on providing our members with a group health care plan. If we receive the kind of cooperation that's needed from members, then we'll be able to realize our long-term goal of providing all member companies — regardless of size — with a viable, cost-effective health care program."

A new, proposed website for WHMA will provide members with such advantages as free-of-charge website development, advertising, and hot linking to the site. According to Bill Brown, pictures at left, once the details are worked out with Raychem, who's funding the enhancements, the graphics, color and sizzle of the new site hopefully can be unveiled at WHMA's spring 2000 conference.

In terms of taking care of members, a new, updated WHMA web site with more graphics, more color and more sizzle is in the works. Although still in the discussion stage, Raychem Corporation, Menlo Park, Calif., has agreed to fund the web site enhancements as a way to encourage WHMA members to start doing business on the web. And to sweeten the deal, Raychem is offering to design, free of charge, as many as 100 different web sites for regular members, which will be hot linked to the WHMA site. In addition, there will be space for members to advertise their products and services.

Another enhancement planned is a search engine. "We anticipate having members write up a paragraph or two about their companies and the type of work that they do for posting on the association's web site," explains Bill Brown, Squires Electronics, Inc., and chair of WHMA's Internet Oversight Committee. "That way, if someone comes looking for say battery cables or military harnesses for helicopters, WHMA's search engine would be able to match that request with members' capabilities. Once the details are worked out and a contract is signed, we hope to officially present the site enhancements at our spring 2000 conference."

Overwhelmingly, members voted to hold the spring 2000 conference (April 16-19) again in sunny Florida, and have a two-day golf tournament as part of the package. The conference will be on the grounds of Walt Disney World at the Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., adjacent to a championship golf course.

"Once again, we're looking for input from members to shape the educational content of our program," says Larsen, "and anyone interested in sharing their company's 'best practices' should contact me at the WHMA office."

"Good feedback from our membership is what drove the educational content of last spring's mini symposium," relates Steve Wilson, Assem-Tech Inc., and co-chair of the association's Program Education Committee. "And members' feedback is what's driving our spring 2000 program."

Among the topics that members are keenly interested in are industry trends and marketing analysis (factors driving market growth, competitive threats including offshore trends impacting our business, etc.); and quality and manufacturing issues.

Next spring, instead of having a supplier come in to talk to members, WHMA's program committee is working to attract a major OEM, such as a Motorola, IBM, Caterpillar or Xerox.

"We'd like our keynote speaker to tell us what his or her company looks for in outsource manufacturing," says Wilson. "How important is size? How important is location geographically? What kind of equipment do you think people ought to have? What qualifications does an outsource supplier need? Are you satisfied with your outsource supplier? If not, why not?

"These are the type of questions that we need answered in order to become more visible as an association and more visible as individual member companies."
 
 

Sponsorship awards presented at ATExpo

Members played an active part in WHMA's recruitment effort by helping sponsor a reception at the ATExpo this fall. For their participation and commitment, sponsoring companies received a commemorative plaque.
 
 

On hand for the awards ceremony were: Platinum-level sponsors: Jim Sopp, Komax Corporation and Chuck Riester, Panduit Corp.; and Gold-level sponsor, Fred Knaack, Wiring Harness News; Silver-level sponsors: Norm Sagon, Electro-Transfer Systems, Inc.; Tim Hahn, Ladd Industries Inc.; Dave Kelly, Daniels Manufacturing Corporation; Paul Timashenka, AMP, Inc.; and Barry Maier, Noma Cable Tech. (Front row, from left): Mark O'Donnell, Kenwood Electrical Systems; Susan Lobel, Federal Mogul Systems Protection Group Inc.; and Tom Morris, T.M. Morris Manufacturing Company, Inc.

Platinum-level sponsor, Jim Sopp, Komax Corporation
 
 

Platinum-level sponsor, Chuck Riester, Panduit Corporation

Gold-level sponsor, Fred Knaack, Publisher, Wiring Harness News

Silver-level sponsors (back row, from left): Norm Sagon, Electro-Transfer Systems, Inc.; Tim Hahn, Ladd Industries Inc.; Dave Kelly, Daniels Manufacturing Corp.; Paul Timashenka, AMP, Inc.; and Barry Maier, Noma Cable Tech. (front row, from left): Mark O'Donnell, Kenwood Electrical Systems; Susan Lobel, Federal Mogul Systems, Protection Group, Inc.; and Tom Morris, T.M. Morris Manufacturing Company, Inc.

OTHER SPONSORS OF THE EVENT WERE:

Gold-level
(Member not in attendance at the reception)
ESI Holdings, Inc.

Silver-level
(Members not in attendance at the reception)
Almega Tru-Flex, Inc.
Ideal Industries, Inc.
Lamcor Incorporated
PVC Compounders, Inc.
TSE (Technical Services for Electronics, Inc.)
USA Harness, Inc.

Bronze-level
Assem-Tech Inc.
Kingsley Machine
Oleco Incorporated
HellermannTyton
Wirefab Industries Ltd.