Harwin has been successfully manufacturing electronic components from its UK headquarters for more than 50 years. The company’s sales and service extend worldwide via offices and manufacturing facilities in the UK, Germany, USA, Singapore & Taiwan and a worldwide distribution network. Some products manufactured by the company include: High-Reliability connectors, RFI & PCB Hardware, an extensive range of industry standard interconnection products, and bespoke products designed to customers’ special requirements.

Paul McGuinness, Operations Director at Harwin explained: “Our technical expertise and total in-house manufacturing capability enable us to provide the highest quality products and allow us to respond to customer’s individual needs quickly and efficiently. With our Commitment to manufacturing in an industry that is fast changing and constantly evolving, Harwin recognises the importance of Research & Development. By continually investing in new technologies and skills, we are able to respond to customers’ individual needs quickly and efficiently.”
The company offers a total in-house design and manufacturing service from initial consultancy, evaluation and prototyping, through to tooling. Harwin’s key skills include: design and manufacturing of stamping and mould tools, precision turning, stamping, moulding, electroplating, auto-assembly and packaging. 3D CAD/CAM design packages and CNC equipment enables the company to build quality mould tools for high performance production with interchangeable, close tolerance components, whether from single or multiple cavities. The team of designers, toolmakers and process engineers work closely together to ensure a smooth transition from design and FMEA via mould tool manufacture to process-capable production.

McGuinness continued: “Our partnership with ARBURG over the last 30 years has enabled us to keep in the forefront of technologies in this changing market. Harwin have investing heavily over the past six years introducing a wide range of injection moulding machines from the ARBURG portfolio. This includes a range of 25, 50, and 80 tonne injection moulding machines. Our latest machine acquisition from ARBURG a 50 tonne ALLROUNDER 375 V Rotary table insert moulding machine, will further enhance our capabilities of insert/over moulding.

Harwin have found the ease and flexibility that the ALLROUNDER V range of machines offer, especially with the Rotary Table loading method, has enhanced the way the company processes insert/overmoulding applications. The rotary table enables the company to increase manufacturing quantities by adding a second tool to the table; thus enabling the operator to preload one tool whilst the other mould tool is being injected with moulding material.
 
A further feature of the rotary table injection moulding machine, was the introduction of the multi shot-weight programme within a single sequence. This has enabled Harwin to load two completely different tools/components on the same setup on the rotary table. This has had other advantages on very complex insert moulded components, for example connectors with extremely long loading times caused by the large number of inserts being loaded into a tool. This has, in the past, created problems with degradation of material in the heated barrel through long resonance times.
 
Paul McGuinness explained: “Now that we have the multi shot-weight function within the software of the machine, the sub standard material to be injected into a less critical packaging component tool or even dummy blank mould tool, ensuring that only correctly processed material in used in the manufacturing process of our connectors. This in turn has saved on short shot cavities and also reduced our rejection rate significantly. With Harwin being asked for more bespoke custom design connectors, our partnership with suppliers like ARBURG is of the utmost importance if we are to keep abreast with the latest technologies that they have to offer.”

Upgrades, developments and new technologies are under constant review, with regular visits to ARBURG’s manufacturing plant in Lossburg, Germany to help assist in the ever changing requests that Harwin’s Research and Development Department are being asked to develop by their customers. McGuinness concluded: “The relationship of our two companies has helped win a number of important contracts in recent years, which in normal circumstances we may have lost to the far east. Even in these difficult times, Harwin knows how important it is to re-invest for the future with the purchase of new equipment to keep adding to our capabilities and be ready for the upturn in business in the very near future.”