The key ingredient is the company's technical skill in assimilating the tooling and processes necessary to produce the parts within the volume amount and timeline contracted. Custom products continually evolve and the need for good problem-solving and troubleshooting skills is important.

With custom cable assemblies look for a supplier with good tooling and termination capabilities because they are essential in this product area. Good cables start and end with good crimps and terminations. Good crimps are not inspected-in; therefore, the manufacturing and quality assurance process controls must be solid. Crimp heights must be measured and pull tests completed. In-process controls need to be audited and monitored.

If you have a broad product range, and an extensive backroom of termination tooling, this prevents you from having to pay for new application tooling amortized into the price for the cable assemblies. The result will be a corresponding increase in quality because correct tooling will be used. The Achilles` heel in this industry is good crimps; they start with properly applied tooling and consistent manufacturing process controls.

The focus for interconnect cable assembly suppliers must be on their core manufacturing competencies, material supply chain and management depth. There needs to be a good fit from "womb to tomb." As interconnects become smaller and higher performance, there will be an increasing need for strategic partnerships.

Within the electronics industry, discrete wire and custom round cable assemblies are the primary cable assembly types. Material costs for cable assemblies are typically 50 percent of the selling price of the product, and labor costs and gross margins are 25 percent. With this in mind, the primary focus to achieve cost savings and predictable delivery performance should be on material management; labor becomes secondary.

Fiber Optic

Fiber optic connectors have traditionally been the biggest concern in using fiber optic systems. While connectors were once unwieldy and difficult to use, connector manufacturers have standardized and simplified connectors greatly. This increasing user-friendliness has contributed to the increase in the use of fiber optic systems; it has also taken the emphasis off the proper care and handling of optical connectors

Fiber-to-fiber interconnection can consist of a splice, a permanent connection, or a connector, which differs from the splice in its ability to be disconnected and reconnected. Fiber optic connector types are as various as the applications for which they were developed. Different connector types have different characteristics, different advantages and disadvantages, and different performance parameters. But all fiber optic cable connectors have the same four basic components.

?The Ferrule

oThe fiber is mounted in a long, thin cylinder, the ferrule, which acts as a fiber alignment mechanism. The ferrule is bored through the center at a diameter that is slightly larger than the diameter of the fiber cladding. The end of the fiber is located at the end of the ferrule. Ferrules are typically made of metal or ceramic, but they may also be constructed of plastic.

?The Connector Body

o Also called the connector housing, the connector body holds the ferrule. It is usually constructed of metal or plastic and includes one or more assembled pieces which hold the fiber in place. The details of these connector body assemblies vary among connectors, but bonding and/or crimping is commonly used to attach strength members and cable jackets to the connector body. The ferrule extends past the connector body to slip into the coupling device.

?The Cable

oThe cable is attached to the connector body. It acts as the point of entry for the fiber. Typically, a strain-relief boot is added over the junction between the cable and the connector body, providing extra strength to the junction.

?The Coupling Device

o Most fiber optic connectors do not use the male-female configuration common to electronic connectors. Instead, a coupling device such as an alignment sleeve is used to mate the connectors. Similar devices may be installed in fiber optic transmitters and receivers to allow these devices to be mated via a connector. These devices are also known as feed-through bulkhead adapters.