While wire harnesses and cable assemblies are often confused, these two vital components of today’s electronic-centric world couldn’t be more different. For one, wires and cables are two separate things. A wire is a single strand of a conductive material, like copper or aluminum. On the other hand, a cable is a group of insulated wires that have been twisted together and housed within a protective outer jacket. So, what is a wiring harness used for? Wire harnesses are the physical structure that turns a group of wires, connections, terminations, and other components into a cohesive, functioning electronic system. Their application is only limited by the imagination.
At Meridian, we design and manufacture the perfect wire harness technology to match our client’s exact needs. We are the wire harness manufacturer of choice within many markets including: industrial controls, medical, telecommunications, military, and a host of other ancillary industries.
Wire Harnesses for Industrial Control Systems
An electrical wiring harness within an industrial control system helps provide the infrastructure for cables and wires to transmit their given signals, data, or power supply. Wire harnesses deployed in industrial control system settings run the gamut, from complex bottling facilities to a municipal wastewater treatment facility. For clients needing custom solutions for their own unique set-ups, an experienced wire harness manufacturer is vital to project success. Our talented design team strives to avoid waste and save money within every step of the production process.
After three decades producing custom wire harnesses, we’ve learned many lessons, know how to effectively source components, and have become really good at producing solutions on-time and on-budget. We put this wealth of experience to work for our clients, producing the perfect solution for complex industrial controls with the best components to match the unique project demands.
Wire Harnesses for the Medical Technology Industry
Doctors and hospitals rely on electronic medical devices now more than ever to effectively diagnose and treat patients. Without cutting-edge wire harness technology aiding in the distribution of power, signal, and data through these systems, many of the medical breakthroughs we enjoy today simply would not be possible. When we work with a client in the medical field, our already stringent quality assurance procedures are ramped up even further because we know a patient’s life could easily hang in the balance. Even now-ubiquitous devices like blood pressure measurement devices, X-rays, and MRIs all require sophisticated wire harness solutions.
To harness medical devices’ electrical systems, we utilize specific knowledge in the field and such components as bio-sensitive connectors, custom strain reliefs, jackets with additional strengthening agents like Kevlar to prevent cutting, and other considerations in order to produce a solution that perfectly fits the requirements placed before it.
Wire Harnesses for the Telecommunications Industry
The world we live in is more connected than ever. Thousands of satellites orbit the Earth every day to allow people the world over the ability to send and receive data anywhere on the planet in seconds. But global connectivity requires an unfathomable level of infrastructure in order for our communications systems to actually “talk” with one another. We produce many of the custom wire harnesses used across the world and beyond that allow for this to take place 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. With wire harnesses used in telecommunications, our designers have to take into consideration our client’s end goals not just at present, but years down the road, as well. Anticipating future demand only comes through years of experience. Three decades of producing the perfect solutions for clients in telecommunications affords our team with an almost freaky ability to anticipate what our client’s needs will be. We engineer this forethought into our products so now and in the future, they continue to perform at the highest standards possible.
Wire Harnesses for the Military
We absolutely understand that a military wire harness will be deployed in some of the harshest environments Planet Earth has to offer. The harness will also usually undergo heavy usage and many external threats to the unit’s integrity. Having designed wire harnesses for the U.S. military for decades, we have the experience to create a durable, effective solution for the electrical systems our men and women in uniform rely on to stay on the cutting-edge of the modern battlefield. Everything from secure communications systems to the electrical system within our military’s battle tanks requires customized solutions that can withstand the many cases of abuse thrown at it and still perform exactly as it is intended to. Our design staff knows how to employ specialized considerations into our military wire harness technology such as the aluminized mylar sheathing that prevents interference in communications systems.
Wire Harnesses Used in Other Industries
From alternative energy to automotive, our wire harnesses are employed in industries the world over. We’ve developed an incredible array of tools, overmolds, housings, and other components in order to have the capability of producing the perfect solution to almost any wire harness technology problem a client can bring through our doors.
Here are three questions to ask of your wire harness manufacturer before engaging them with producing the critical components in your project:
- What is your experience in my industry? Many manufacturers divert into very specific niches for producing custom wire harnesses. Perhaps they have good experience in the medical industry but have little to no experience in your specific industry. It’s very important to partner with a custom wire harness manufacturer that knows the intricacies of your industry, the specific demands of the system, common shortfalls to avoid, the right materials to use, etc. if they are to produce a viable solution.
- What Quality Assurance measures does your company take? QA certification is one great way for a manufacturer to demonstrate they have the processes in place to ensure continued quality with each and every product that rolls off their line. At Meridian, we maintain certifications through ISO and UL for our products, processes, and commitment to customer service. These internationally-recognized certifications are a must when your wire harness technology needs to work as intended cycle after cycle.
- Do you design and produce your own products? Look at the wire harness manufacturers’ track record. Are they building custom solutions or using off-the-shelf components? Can they incorporate the necessary tweaks in design and production to give your product the best lifespan possible, given the unique environment it will be employed? Our team is incredibly adept at prototyping and will almost always produce several iterations of a product to be tested before ever moving forward with large scale production. We have tremendously specialized machinery, tools, and experience to produce custom cable and wire harness solutions that simply work. Finally, designing and producing your own products means you need to have a really good logistics network in place to source material and get final products to their intended destinations in a judicious and cost effective manner. By leveraging our production facilities both in the U.S. and abroad, we can quickly get the materials we need to complete the project and then turnaround these vital components into the hands our clients faster.
Wire Harnesses Tough Enough for Polar Bears
Heat, cold, polar bears, oh my? In a real-world example, our team produced the custom wire harness to be used by a scientific expedition to the Arctic to study global warming and polar bear health. Our brilliant engineers had to incorporate special design features like a polyurethane barrier to withstand the extreme cold, Teflon insulation to protect the cables and wires within the assembly, and custom overmolds over Y-junctions to provide a good mechanical bond with the cable and protect against breakage. Like many products we produce, this special project had to be perfect – a failed unit in the field would mean missing out on being able to collect crucial data within the limited window the team was able to be out. Taking our testing procedures to a near-fanatical attention to detail, our team was able to produce the perfect solution that performed exceedingly well under this extreme real world example.
Ready to Get Your Custom Wire Harness Project Started?
When the smallest of mistakes in the design and production process can cause delays, ramp up expenses, and cause a product to not perform as it was intended, your whole operation needs to be seamless. How do you do this with so many moving parts in wire harness production? Well, you hire brilliant engineers and design staff. You create a testing laboratory that mimics real-world conditions. You continually improve your processes and your service to customers. You test each and every unit that rolls off your line. And you become obsessed with surpassing your customers expectations.
At Meridian, we do things this way because it’s simply who we are. We treat every project as absolutely vital to our continued success. Whether that’s the electrical system within a medical device or telemetry in a military comms system, our products work, cycle after cycle, and year after year.
Contact our team to get your project started today.