• Company Profile
  • Employee
  • History
  • Information Technology
  • Vision
• Diversity
  • NWBOC
  • NAWBO
  • WBENC
• Newsroom
  • Internal Company News
  • News Archive
• Facilities
  • Louisville
  • Asia
  • Mexico
• Environment
  • ISO-14001
  • RoHS
  • Sony Green Partner
  • WEEE
• Products and Services
  • Contract Manufacturing
  • Kits
  • Printed Circuit Board Assembly
  • Cable Assemblies
  • VMI
• Markets
  • Automotive
  • Computing and Storage
  • Consumer
  • Contract Manufacturer
  • Industrial
  • Peripherals
  • Telecommunications
• Technical
  • Asia-Link, Inc 101
  • Certifications
  • Engineering
  • Quality Assurance
  • Testing
• Contact
  • Maps and Addresses
  • Question Form

Training: Wire & Cable Introduction

While it might appear that wire is a very straight forward product to buy, this is not actually the case. The U.S. wire and cable industry makes a large variety of products intended for an equally large number of applications.

Wire and cable products are used in many industries, but certain ones are identified primarily with the electronics industry because of their size. The size or thickness of a wire is a direct measure of the amount of current it can carry, and electronic circuits don't normally carry a lot of current.

Miles of wire and cable are installed in most buildings in the United States. As local area networks (LANs) proliferate to link office and factory computers, special coaxial and fiber optic cabling is also required. Fiber optic cable is increasingly used over copy for many commercial applications, particularly in the telecommunications industry.

Wire is a conduct, bare or insulated, that carries electrical current. Cable generally refers to two or more wires enclosed in a jacket or shield. The terms wire and cable are almost synonymous; wire is generally thought of as a single conductor rather than a piece of stranded wire or a set of conductors. If there is more than one conductor, or if a single conductor is very large, then it is referred to as a cable.

There are numerous types of wires, whose names describe the number of strands included, whether shielding is present, how many conductors there are, and the wire's intended use. Purchasing decisions are generally based on these physical characteristics as well as on the gauge or thickness, the length, the amount of insulation needed, and special safety standards, if they apply.

Harnessing is the process by which a group of wires or cables are assembled to lead from one point to another. Metal is wrapped around insulation in a process called crimping, then a connector is attached to the wire. The wire is stuffed into its housing, where the connection is formed. Harnessing design is most commonly in a double-ended configuration, where both ends of the assembly are disconnectable.

High-volume OEMs are rapidly moving to automated harnessing processes in order to save costs and avoid moving offshore. Automation drastically reduces error; as little as one half of one percent of the product is flawed. And, since about 70% of the cost of harness fabrication is for labor, automation allows OEMs to meet their goal of reducing production costs. Frequently, the harnessing is done by the supplier, but some OEMs are leasing or acquiring their own equipment.