Process Defaults and Thresholds
Process group site variables control several aspects of wire harness costing. Any wire harness entry can be adjusted as necessary for your local installation. Follow these steps to access plant variables for a given VPE and process:
1 Select Tools > VPE Toolset, and then click the VPE Manager button in the VPE Toolset window.
2 Double click the Wire Harness VPE in the Select VPE window.
3 In the VPE Manager, click + to expand the Assembly and User Guided process groups.
4 Under these groups, click Variables.
5 There is one variable of particular interest in the User Guided Process Group: automaticProductionThreshold. The setting of this variable determines whether aPriori will assign cutting and stripping operations to manual or to semi-automatic or automatic machines. The default threshold is an annual volume of 50.
6 Many wire harness variables are available in the Assembly Process Group, and are well documented in the comments columns. The following table lists the wire harness settings as of this writing. Use the procedure above to list the most up-to-date variables. The values in this table have been compiled from various industrial sources or from time studies in industrial applications, to provide reasonable defaults. You can adjust them if necessary to reflect your specific installation.
Variable Name
String Value
Unit Type Name
Notes
applyHeatShrinkConstantTime
7.9
Time
Constant time (in seconds) allotted for installing and shrinking heat shrink tubing as branch covering (regardless of bundle length).
applyHeatShrinkPerInTime
8.616
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted for installing and shrinking heat shrink tubing as branch covering (per inch).
applySealTapeConstantTime
7.6
Time
Constant time (in seconds) allotted for applying seal tape as a branch covering (regardless of bundle length).
applySealTapePerInTime
1.1
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted for applying seal tape as branch covering (per inch).
attachBackshellTime
70
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to attach a backshell to a connector.
attachDustCapsTime
60
Time
Time (in seconds) to attach a dust cap to a loaded or unloaded connector.
attachShrinkBootTime
140
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to attach a shrink boot to a connector.
attachStrainReliefTime
90
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to attach strain relief to a connector.
automaticProductionThreshold
50
 
Annual production volume above which semi-automatic or automatic machines are used when available. Below this threshold, only manual tools are used.
branchLayoutCableTieTime
5
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to apply each cable tie during branch layout.
breakoutTapeTime
8
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to seal tape each bundle break out.
coaxConnectorTime
360
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to connect each coax connector.
defaultBraidAngle
45
Angle
Default braid angle for harness braiding machine.
defaultDistanceBetweenMarks
50
Length
Maximum linear increment along the total length of the wire for placing circuit identifications during wire marking.
defaultMarkingRate
6000
hr^-1
Default number of marks per hour achieved by the Wire Marking process.
diffWireBaseLayoutTime
6.2
Time
Base time (in seconds) allotted for the layout of difficult to lay in wires (stiff wires, multi conductor cables, etc.).
diffWireHandlingTime
1.2
Time
Additional handling time (in seconds) allotted per foot for the layout of easy to lay in wires (stiff wires, multi conductor cables, etc.).
easyWireBaseLayoutTime
4.2
Time
Base time (in seconds) allotted for the layout of easy to lay in wires (flexible single wire).
easyWireHandlingTime
0.8
Time
Additional handling time (in seconds) allotted per foot for the layout of easy to lay in wires (flexible single wire).
formboardTestingRate
240
hr^-1
Number of connectors that can be tested per hour using formboard testing.
installSleeveConstantTime
7.9
Time
Constant time (in seconds) allotted for installing a tube or sleeve as branch covering (regardless of bundle length).
installSleevePerInTime
2.217
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted for installing a tube or sleeve as branch covering (per inch).
installSplitTubeConstantTime
8
Time
Constant time (in seconds) allotted for installing split tubing as branch covering (regardless of bundle length).
installSplitTubePerInTime
.5167
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted for installing split tubing as branch covering (per inch).
lengthBetweenWraps
250
Length
Length between sections of a bundle that are wrapped with tape or a cable tie.
manualArcTimeStandard
1.32
 
Unused in Wire Harness cost model.
manualHarnessAssemblyFactor
1.3
 
Factor to account for additional assembly time when harness is assembled by hand instead of using a formboard.
pottingApplicationTime
480
Time
Standard time (in seconds) to apply potting to a connector.
ribbonCableBaseLayoutTime
6.2
Time
Base time (in seconds) allotted for the layout of easy to lay in ribbon cables.
ribbonCableConnectorTime
120
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to connect each ribbon cable connector.
ribbonCableHandlingTime
1.8
Time
Additional handling time (in seconds) allotted per foot for the layout of ribbon cables.
solderWireTime
120
Time
Time (in seconds) required to solder a single wire into a connector.
spotTapeTime
3
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to apply tape for pre-bundling during branch layout.
stuffContactTime
25
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to insert each contact into a connector.
stuffPlugTime
80
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to insert each plug into a connector.
stuffWedgelockTime
14.4
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to insert each wedgelock into a connector.
stuffWireSealTime
6
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to insert each wire seal into a connector.
triaxConnectorTime
360
Time
Time (in seconds) allotted to connect each triax connector.
unmarkedWireFactor
1.2
 
Factor to account for additional difficulty in harness assembly when wire marking is not used for circuit identification.
useFormboard
true
 
Set to true if a formboard is used for assembly. Set to false if harness assembly is done by hand.
yarnUnitWeight
2015
m/Mass
Length per mass of braiding material.
yarnUnitCost
7.63
Currency/Mass
Unit cost of braiding material.