It is the same story repeated in almost every company I visit.
“We have invested in crimp force monitoring (CFM) technology for our crimp process. Invested as part of a full process automation system or installed onto bench top presses. Everything started well, but we ran into trouble along the way. We were getting false readings. The monitor was signalling an error despite the fact the crimp looked fine. After some time, our operators by-passed the monitors and continued without the CFM’s.”
You have now entered the CFM Cycle.
Crimp failure might not have happened yet but it could be looming around the corner. And that corner could be close or it could be longer off. But with every non-monitored crimp performed, the higher the probability crimp failure will occur.
What are the causes?
Typically it is a lack of understanding of the crimp process itself. Also it is possible crimping is treated as an afterthought, an assumption what looks good on the outside is the same on the inside and will perform well under normal conditions for the life of the product that a wire assembly is installed into.
Let’s consider a few factors which have likely been part of the reasoning for not using CFM’s. Or de-activating them all together.
- Crimp Monitors do not Solve Your Crimping Problems. Click to read. Unrealistic assumptions that all crimp setups are the same, that it will be business as usual when monitors are installed. And not not using a crimp monitor as a diagnostic as well as a monitoring tool.
- When a crimp monitor signals an error and the crimp looks good on the outside, it is the fault of the monitor itself. This can be an incorrect assumption. Cross Section Analysis is one tool to evaluate a wire termination that is causing the monitor to signal an error.
Good Crimp
Under Compressed Crimp
Let me be crystal clear about one point. The crimp process is one of (if not the) most critical processes in a wire assembly or harness. It only takes one defective crimp to render an assembly defective. And that defect may some take time over the life of the product to affect it’s performance. Don’t take the crimp process for granted, understand the crimp process, the elements that go into it and optimize crimp performance.
Crimping Solutions provides end to end support for the terminal crimp process. Crimp Performance Optimization is our program that offers support to companies who want to activate (or re-activate) Crimp Monitors. Crimp Performance Optimization leverages our decades long experience in the crimp process to provide the needed training and knowledge in terminal crimp technology. And the deployment of our tools to evaluate problem applications to improve crimp quality and the stability of the crimp process.
We are ready to help you to Optimize Crimp Performance. Connect with us to hear more.
