The PC Systems Blog

I am very adamant here in the office that if you want something back in one piece, whether it is a sample, finished part or your son’s new toy, don’t leave it on my desk.  My curiosity often gets the best of me and my reassembly skills are often not as good as my destructive abilities.  I have just about everyone trained, but I still manage to get myself into some trouble occasionally.  Last Friday was one example.

Here at PCS, we continue to look for Lead free connectors for Automotive glass that will stand up to the SAE/USCAR-40 testing requirements.  We are confident that we have found a braided solution, but we are now focusing on finding a solder alloy that can be used on a solid Copper footprint and be robust enough to withstand the CTE (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) mismatch between the Copper and glass.

Kevin and I completed some testing on Friday using an alloy that we thought held promise.  We were attempting to test a couple different application techniques.  We found that the bond between the solder and the glass proved to be a little better than expected which resulted in some excitement.

The glass shattered on the third pull and the peak tensile force was measured at 80.5 lbf.  This is rather impressive considering the specification is 10.0 lbf.  Unfortunately, the other clips on the panel could not be pull tested due to the fracturing of the glass.  On the other hand,   some days we need reminded that work can be fun, and this was one of those times.  We are working on soldering clips to a new panel this week, with a slightly different testing technique which should help us preserve the panel.

We have been spending a little time trying to increase our online exposure.  If you participate on LinkedIn or Google+, we encourage you to take a look at our “brand” pages. 

You can find our LinkedIn page here: http://www.linkedin.com/company/paesano-connecting-systems-inc

You can find our Google+ brand page here: https://plus.google.com/110450868811597243721

Our General Manager, Jason Brigger, and myself recently took a trip out to Las Vegas to attend the CONEXPO-CON/AGG show. 

http://www.conexpoconagg.com/

This event occurs every three years and is one of the biggest shows for the Construction industry.  Our goal was to visit with current customers and also identify some potential new customers.  We were successful in both endeavors.

A little about the show:  It is HUGE.  Also, anyone that every played with Tonka trucks as a kid would be like a kid in a candy store here.   To give you a feel for the size, the exhibitor space covered 2.34 million square feet (40 football fields!).  There were 120,000 registered attendees, which is more than the population of Peoria, IL!  Here are a couple photos:

What did we learn?  Our product is a great fit for this industry.  Our largest customer is a positioning solutions supplier in this industry and there is no reason that we shouldn’t be selling similar harnesses to the OEMs of this market.  In every engine bay we found PVC coated Nylon braid, Split loom, and both Deutsch and Amp connectors.  Through our customer, our harnesses are already ending up in these same bays. 

We have focused very heavily over the past 6 months on improving the production methods in our Harness department.   I recall reading a statement from Peter Drucker that said that if you want to sell the same mousetrap to a new customer, you better be 30% cheaper that the incumbent competitor.  Although we may not be able to get to 30% cheaper (we might get close), we feel that with our improvements, increase in capacity, and better mousetraps, we will be able to find a good customer from this huge show. 

We handed out a newsletter at the show.  If you didn’t get one or lost yours, here is a link to a copy:  http://www.pcsridgway.com/Media/Files/CONAGG%20NEWSLETTER.pdf