Reports of -65°F June Temperatures from Test Facility Officials at Northwire - NWI Lab360

Online, July 1, 2013 (Newswire.com) - OSCEOLA, WI. - Northwire, Inc. (NWI) Certified Project Managers report extreme temperature conditions ranging from -65°F to 300°F during Endurance trials. Tests conducted on high flex retractile cables to predict life expectancy achieved 400,000 cycles. Inside Northwire's on-site test and development facility, the cable manufacturer rapidly responds to meet customers' demands for cost-effective, complex test requirements across a variety of test disciplines ranging from -65°F for aerospace applications to RoHS2 compliance for medical device cable.

Like the majority of NWI's in-house test and development capabilities, the highly customizable Endurance test fixture is easily modified on-site to suit unique parameters and adapt for distance, velocity, acceleration and extreme environmental conditions.

"Northwire is pleased to support our customers' competitive advantage in today's fast paced environment. Our test and development ensures highly reliable products to complement their rapid go-to-market strategy," states Tom Heitman, Project Manager. Heitman explains, "Whether we employ existing tests or innovate complex test solutions that have never been done before, our Certified Project Managers leverage proven processes and disciplines including Six Sigma to create highly adaptive, flexible and custom solutions designed to simulate and assess each unique critical to quality characteristic."

To ensure that customer product requirements are translated into test and development strategy, NWI's wire engineers engage with customers through every test process phase including product analysis, test equipment evaluation, test strategy documentation, implementation, metrics evaluation, continuous improvement, strategy review and testing. In addition to deploying a collaboratively designed test strategy, tools utilized during technology development and prototyping incorporate:

• Design of Experiments
• Design for Six Sigma
• Hypothesis Testing
• Simulation
• Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis
• Process Failure Mode Effects Analysis
• Design for Manufacturing and Assembly
• Finite Element Analysis

Fortified with over 1,200 years of tenured expertise at the center of Northwire's test and development capabilities, NWI Lab360 leverages professional certifications in Six Sigma, Lean, Project Management and the American Society for Quality to optimize design, manufacturing and engineering to achieve the highest quality and shortest lead times for any volume of custom technical wire and cable, retractile cords, cable assemblies, connectors, harnesses, injection molded plastic parts and over-molded products.

With fixture design and development conveniently located in-house, Northwire's tests adapt, flex and feature a wide range of destructive and non-destructive capabilities across various disciplines:

• Test Equipment
- X-ray fluorescence material analyzer
- Oscilloscopes and spectrometers
- Time Domain Reflectometer
- Impedance Analyzer
- Signal Generator
- Cable Assembly Analyzer
- Function Generator
- Network analyzers
- Temperature extremes
â-ª -65°F to 300°F
- Horizontal and vertical flame chamber
â-ª VW-1, FT1, FT2, 1061 Cable Flame
- Flex life
â-ª Endurance life expectancy
â-ª Torsional
â-ª Rolling
â-ª Variable
â-ª Bending
â-ª Continuous
• Mechanical
- Strain relief
- Over-mold compatibility
- Assembly compatibility
- Solder compatibility
- Water migration
- Cold bend
- Ambient and Low Temperature Impact resistance
- Crush resistance
- Durometer
- Tensile
- Elongation
• Environmental
- RoHS2
â-ª Hexavalent Chromium
â-ª Lead, Mercury and Cadmium
â-ª Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
â-ª Polybrominated biphenyls
• Electrical
- Continuity
- Spark test
- Dielectric withstand
- Dielectric constant
- Capacitance
- Inductance
- Attenuation
- Impedance
- Insulation resistance
- Conductor resistance
- Propagation delay
- Hypot
- EMI shielding
- RFI shielding

In addition to a comprehensive suite of testing and development competencies, Northwire offers an especially comprehensive Quality Management System comprised of Certifications to ISO 13485:2003, ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100C:2009. Northwire is also ISO 17025 compliant. Working closely with third party testing, Northwire maintains various UL, ANSI, CSA, cUL, cULus, CE, NEC, AWM, IEEE, NPFA, SAE, ABS, OSHA and MSHA approvals.

Field-proven with over 41 years of design, test and development, and manufacturing expertise, rely on Northwire's subject matter experts to navigate complex domestic and international standards, agency compliance, environmental regulations and electrical, mechanical, ergonomic, aesthetic, harsh duty and end-user requirements. Connect today to learn more about Northwire cable engineering company's in-house test and development capabilities at 800.468.1516, [email protected] or through Live Chat.

About Northwire

Cable manufacturer, Northwire, Inc., celebrating over 41 years of innovation, is a registered woman-owned small business with corporate headquarters and manufacturing in Osceola, Wisconsin, a professional sales & design engineering center in Carson City, Nevada and manufacturing in Santa Teresa, New Mexico. The cable engineering company is the premier partner for the design, manufacture and contract services of custom technical products including wire and cable, retractiles, assemblies, connectors, harnesses, injection molding, over-molding and contract engineering and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) for diverse applications in life sciences, energy, mil spec, industrial, machine vision, architectural lighting, underwater, and more. Northwire is a member of NDIA (National Defense Industrial Association), NCMA (National Contract Management Association), RIA (Robotics Industries Association), AIA (Automated Imaging Association), Fieldbus Foundation, ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendors Associations) and WAI (Wire Association International), among others.

For more information, visit www.northwire.com.

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