Wire Harness Manufacturer – Top Reasons on Why Choosing the Right Manufacturer Is Crucial

An assembly of cables, connectors, and wires that is responsible for transmitting electrical signals or power to one or more devices is known as a wire harness. Companies that undertake the action of assembling the necessary cables and wires function as wire harness manufacturers. These companies typically perform a wide variety of on-site services such as soldering, cutting, crimping, stripping, and assembling wires. If your business deals in wire harnesses and assemblies, you should get in touch with a wire harness manufacturer. However, choosing such a manufacturer in today's times can be a daunting task. After all, there are so many companies that manufacture wire harnesses, with all of them claiming to provide high quality.

In this post, we'll take you through all the reasons why you should choose the right manufacturer of wire harnesses for your business. But before we get to why you should choose a high-quality manufacturer, let's talk about why it's a great idea to outsource wire harness manufacturing. 

Wire harness outsourcing: The benefits

There are multiple benefits to outsourcing your wire harness and assemblies requirements. We'll look at them all in this section. Typically, most businesses in today's times are turning to China and some other Asian countries for sourcing wire harnesses. The reason for this can be explained through the following points:

• Expertise: An experienced wire harness manufacturer has years and decades of experience when it comes to manufacturing harnesses and assemblies. This experience is sure to have resulted in the manufacturer becoming an expert in the field of manufacturing wire harnesses. In such a scenario, if you employ your own team for manufacturing wire harnesses, you may miss out on the expertise. It will also drain your resources dry, which is particularly true if your business is small or medium-sized. So, if you want your wire harnesses to be manufactured in the most fail safe way, it's best to engage the experts. This would also give you the time required to focus on other areas of your business that need to be improved.
• Lower production costs: If you want your business to manufacture wire harnesses, your expenses are likely to shoot through the roof. Think about it. From labor costs to equipment costs to additional expenses such as overheads, insurance, taxes, and benefits - you'll have to cover them all. In the long run, this will only result in increased prices of your products, which will eventually result in your customers looking for alternatives. However, when you outsource the manufacturing duties and responsibilities to a low-cost country, you'll end up saving a lot of money on overheads and high labor and production costs. And we all know what happens when production costs are low, right? You'll be able to offer your products to customers at significantly lower prices. The best thing is that despite lower production and labor costs, the quality of the wire harnesses you'll be supplied will be top-notch.
• Efficient production capabilities: Production efficiency has never been as important as it is in today's era of cutthroat competition. Simply put, if your production is inefficient, you'll eventually have to face product shortages and a wide variety of inventory crises. This can be disastrous for your business, especially if demand for your products suddenly shoots up. However, when you outsource wire harnesses, you engage manufacturers who have the necessary infrastructure for producing large volumes at one go. This only ensures that your inventory is never empty and you always have a stock of products in hand. So, even if demand for wire harnesses drastically increases overnight, you can cater to the demand and keep your customers happy.
• More capital for you to invest in your business: While there's no reason that you can't set up a wire harness manufacturing unit of your own, the fact of the matter is that it'll be incredibly expensive. Instead of spending a fortune on setting up the infrastructure required to manufacture wire harnesses, you'd be much better off outsourcing the products. This would go on to free up a lot of business capital, which you can invest in other areas of your business. You may also choose not to invest the freed up capital. If you can manage to save it, it'll come in handy if your business suddenly experiences a significant cash crunch.

• Sourcing raw materials at cheaper rates: In low-cost countries like China, a wire harness manufacturer will be able to source raw materials at significantly cheaper rates than what you can manage at home. Discounted rates on raw materials can make it easier for the manufacturers to source the materials in bulk, which can then be used for producing bulk volumes of harnesses. These discounted rates also ensure that the savings are passed on to you - the customer.
• Flexibility to work with different manufacturers based on need: Perhaps the biggest advantage of outsourcing wire harnesses from a wire harness manufacturer is that there's a lot of flexibility for businesses. You can work with more than one manufacturer, especially if you want wire harnesses of different designs. You can choose a particular manufacturer for one type of design, and another for a different sort of design. You would need different equipment for producing different designs, and investing in all of them simply won't be financially feasible. Instead, opt for the flexible route and work with multiple manufacturers who already have the machinery in place to deliver your custom orders.

Why should you choose the right manufacturers?

Now that you know all about the benefits of procuring your wire harnesses from a wire harness manufacturer, let's talk about the reasons why you should be on the lookout for the right manufacturer:

• High quality guaranteed: Wire harnesses are responsible for transmitting electrical signals or power to a wide variety of devices. That is why it's important that you procure wire harnesses that are made from high-quality raw materials and meet all the necessary safety and industry standards. A reputed manufacturer is bound to deliver quality every time you place an order. However, a manufacturer that doesn't provide consistent quality may pose risks to your customers and their properties. Think about it - all it takes is one faulty component within a wire harness to cause potentially irreversible damage to a piece of expensive equipment. We recommend assessing the quality of the manufacturer's manufacturing processes and adherence to legal and industry standards before signing on the dotted line. You can engage a product sourcing agent or a procurement agent to do this.
• Fair contract negotiations: When you're on the lookout for a wire harness manufacturer in a country like China, some manufacturers may try to lure you into a deal by making false and/or exaggerated claims about themselves. When it comes to the contract negotiations, unscrupulous manufacturers will usually try to negotiate a deal that's only in their best interests and not yours. Whenever you experience something of the sort, bring the negotiations to an end and look for an alternative manufacturer. Manufacturers who are unethical during contract negotiations are likely to be deceitful in their manufacturing work as well. And we've already pointed out what can happen if the quality of wire harnesses isn't good.
• Prompt and timely deliveries: Manufacturers who are worth their salt are the ones who deliver products in a prompt and timely manner. Even if they do run into difficulties at their end, they'll be honest and transparent about them to ensure that you and your business are inconvenienced as little as possible. However, the same can't be said for manufacturers who aren't very good or ethical about their work. Sourcing wire harnesses from such manufacturers may lead to missed deliveries and result in a wide variety of inventory crises. Ultimately, working with inferior manufacturers is a high-risk ball game, as ultimately, it's your customers and your business that stand to suffer most.
• Flexible approach: Even if you and a wire harness manufacturer sign a long-term contract, the manufacturer should be flexible regarding changes to the contract in the future. This is due to the fact that the best wire harness manufacturer understands how the world of business works. In business, changes often have to be made overnight. For example, if your customers complain about the design of your wire harnesses, you have to incorporate their feedback which can result in changes to the design. In such a scenario, a high-quality manufacturer of wire harnesses won't raise any complaints or issues. However, an unethical manufacturer will most likely be resistant to change. In this situation, you may be forced to incur additional expenses if you terminate the contract prematurely.
• Thorough testing before delivery: The wire harness manufacturers who are serious about their work will conduct thorough testing to make sure that their manufactured products don't have any defects. These tests are vital for your business as well, as selling untested products to your customers may result in problems for them and ultimately, for your business. So, it's vital that you choose a manufacturer that's known for testing each and every product before handing them over to clients.

Conclusion

There are several benefits of sourcing wire harnesses from manufacturers in low-cost countries, but only if you choose the right manufacturer. We recommend engaging a procurement agent or a product sourcing agent for the best results. While you'll have to pay the procurement or sourcing agent separately, it'll be worth it in the long run. The sourcing agent will conduct all necessary inspections and supervision to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck. Also, sourcing agents have the knowledge and experience of negotiating contracts that are win-win for both the manufacturer and your business. So, when it comes to sourcing wire harnesses, reach out to a reputed sourcing agent and let him represent your business and its interests.

Sourcing Allies is a team of expert China sourcing agents that has helped western customers manufacture and source products from low-cost regions since 2006.

For more on China sourcing visit our website or write to us at info@sourcingallies.com.