Northwire Weblog

OSCEOLA, Wis. – October 27, 2008 – Northwire, Inc. has been producing high-flex-life, robotic-grade cables for nearly 20 years. Initially, these products were designed and produced for sensor and discrete industrial control applications. Increasing demand for more rugged cable in industrial network, machine vision and robotic applications has stimulated further flex life cable line expansions at Northwire. Most recently, Northwire has been concentrating its development efforts on products for machine vision and industrial data transmission.

Specifically, Northwire’s MVC 1394b FireWire, DataCELL® GEV-1000™ Gigabit Ethernet, CCXC Analog, and Camera Link cables have reached new performance levels for flex life and durability, proven by the Northwire Standardized Flex Testing Protocol (NSFTP)—mode A tick-tock, and mode B twist and flex. Northwire now has the most complete line of high-flex cable products for machine vision applications. Pricing for Northwire high-flex cable is remarkably similar to nonindustrial and non-flex tested products, making them an excellent overall performance value. Northwire Vision cable products are available in small quantities for immediate shipping through NorthwireDirect.

DataCELL FIELD MVC-800 Extended Length (EL) FireWire Cable IEEE 1394b

Northwire’s high-flex-life MVC-800 EL FireWire Cable for industrial environments surpassed 11 million flex cycles in rigorous bending, rolling and torsion tests. MVC-800 FireWire Cable is IEEE 1394b-rated. In addition to the extended flex-life, the cable has been tested and is certified to operate at IEEE 1394b 800 MBPS speed out to a length of 7 meters—2.5 meters beyond the 4.5 meters standard.

These rough-service, industrial-strength cables are UL recognized, CSA approved and RoHS compliant. For optimal shielding, there is a 100 percent coverage foil/polyester tape shield with two drain wires and an overall tinned copper braid. The outer jacket is flexible oil-resistant TPE and the cable is flame rated to FT-1. Standard color is Northwire’s trademark matte dark green.

DataCELL GEV-1000 Gigabit Ethernet Cable

DataCELL GEV-1000 has surpassed 12 million tick-tock test cycles. It meets the strict mechanical, electrical and shielding requirements for industrial GigE Vision camera installations and interfaces with standard and specialty Ethernet cable connectors. GEV-1000 has been thoroughly tested for standard compliance and application suitability. The cable was tested for TIA/EIA-568-B compliance using a Fluke DTX-1800 Cable Analyzer™. The test confirmed CAT 5e performance up to 60 meters. The cable has also been evaluated with a DALSA Genie-M640™ Gigabit Ethernet camera operating up to 60 frames per second. GEV-1000 will continue to be subjected to rigorous high-flex-life evaluation on Northwire’s exclusive flex-tension-torsion and bending stress testing apparatus.

GEV-1000 is suitable for use in motion applications and has dual shields (braid and foil), industrial-grade construction and a weld flash-resistant TPE outer cable jacket. It is oil and abrasion resistant and is suitable for outdoor installation.

CCXC Analog Video Cable

Northwire CCXC Cable for CCD analog video camera applications has surpassed 20 million flex test cycles in mode A and 21 million test cycles in mode B. The outer jacket of CCXC Cable is TPE elastomer, which is abrasion, flame, UV, weld-flash and water resistant, and features a temperature range from 80°C to –30°C. It is RoHS compliant and ideal for rugged industrial and outdoor use. With its tightly controlled impedance of ±5 ohms, it will perform at lengths up to 40 meters.

Camera Link Cable

Northwire’s Camera Link 28 AWG cable has reached the 20 million mark on mode A tick-tock flex cycle testing. The Northwire Camera Link product line includes standard cable and Power over Camera Link (PoCL)—Camera Link cable with power transmission capabilities. Northwire’s standard and PoCL Camera Link cables feature 28 AWG conductors and meet the requirements of Appendix D and Appendix E of the Camera Link specification. These cables use Northwire EnduroFLEX® TPE jacketing material for rugged industrial and outdoor environments. The cable is suitable for applications that require abrasion resistance, flame resistance, high- and low-temperature stability (a high temperature rating of 105° C and brittle point of -30° C), sunlight/UV resistance and water resistance.

Northwire Standardized Flex Testing Protocol (NSFTP)

NSFTP includes rolling and torsion flex under tension and bending flex. Mode B is a rolling and torsion flex test. The test apparatus twists the cable—attached to a weight—360 degrees at approximately 30 cycles per minute. Mode A is the bending flex (or tick-tock) test. In this test, the apparatus bends the cable under tension, using a hanging weight, and is flexed 90 degrees over a fixed nylon block. Each bending cycle is completed every two seconds. For more information on NSFTP and to view an animation of the actual flex testing, go to www.northwire.com/flex.

Northwire, Inc., based in Osceola, Wis., is an industry leader in the design and manufacture of industrial-grade technical cable. Custom design choices include paired, non-paired, triads, various shielding and grounding options, special insulation options, plus a large variety of conductor and jacket colors. Northwire has manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin and New Mexico, USA, with sales offices in Jiangsu Province, China, and The Netherlands. Northwire is a member of the RIA (Robotics Industries Assn.), AIA (Automated Imaging Association), EMVA (European Machine Vision Association), JIIA (Japan Industrial Imaging Association), CMES (Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society), Fieldbus Foundation, ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendor Association) and PTO (Profibus Trade Organization), among others.

OSCEOLA, Wis. – September 23, 2008 – Northwire, Inc. offers online ordering for EnduroFLEX III® Retractile Power Cordage through www.NorthwireDirect.com, the company’s Web ordering site. No minimum order quantity is required.

Retractile cords from NorthwireDirect are available in three to five business days. They feature high coil memory, and are outdoor-rated and resist chemicals, oil, detergents, solvents, abrasion, UV-light, moisture and tangle. Cords are available in 300V- and 600V-rated versions, 12 to 18 AWG, and with two to five conductors. Cords are UL-listed SJEOW and CSA approved SJTOW.

“Building retractile cords that perform properly is an art,” says Ted Beach, director of sales. “A cable destined to become a retractile cord will most likely be designed differently from one that will not be coiled. Northwire’s proprietary manufacturing processes, innovations and knowledge of the coiling process help to produce the finest retractile cords available in the world. The complete process, from prototype design and engineering to production and manufacture, is performed and finished at our facilities to guarantee a superior product for every customer every time.”

In addition, custom retractile cords are available quickly in many other configurations. Conductor constructions include tinned or bare copper, special alloys, complex stranding, coax and composite. The toughest jacketing materials are available and can be built to function under severe conditions and environments. Cords are available in a special thermoplastic alloy jacket rated to 90°F, which maintains flexibility to -50°C.

Northwire offers no-risk prototyping, technical assistance, complimentary samples, delivery of custom cables and a money-back performance guarantee. Standard retractile power cables available through NorthwireDirect are shipped in five business days or less after receipt of order.

Visit www.northwiredirect.com/retractile for a checklist of retractile cord design specifications, including intended use, predicted number of cycles, use environment, torsion, mounting and tangent design.

Northwire, Inc., based in Osceola, Wis., is an industry leader in the design and manufacture of industrial-grade technical cable. Custom design choices include paired, non-paired, triads, various shielding and grounding options, special insulation options, plus a large variety of conductor and jacket colors. Northwire has manufacturing facilities in Wisconsin and New Mexico, USA with sales offices in Jiangsu Province, China, and The Netherlands. Northwire is a member of the RIA (Robotics Industries Assn.), AIA (Automated Imaging Association), EMVA (European Machine Vision Association), Fieldbus Foundation, ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendor Association), PTO (Profibus Trade Organization), among others.

Northwire provides special custom cable design and prototype assistance. For more information on our products and technical services, e-mail Northwire at cableinfo@northwire.com, call 1-877-904-4185 or +1 715-294-2121 or visit www.northwiredirect.com/retractile.

OSCEOLA, Wis. – September 18, 2008 – Northwire, Inc.’s DataCELL FOUNDATION fieldbus cable is one of the first to be FF-844 certified by the Fieldbus Foundation. This certification assures that the cable is electrically precise and meets FOUNDATION fieldbus type A cable physical property requirements. Northwire has provided FOUNDATION fieldbus cable for rugged plant environments with networked process automation and control for over 10 years.

“Customers can be certain that they will quickly get high-quality, durable FOUNDATION fieldbus cable for their industrial networking needs,” says Ted Beach, director of sales, Northwire, Inc. “FOUNDATION fieldbus is the most widely used network protocol in process automation today. Through continued product innovation and refinement, Northwire remains the leading manufacturer of industrial-networking cables.”

DataCELL FOUNDATION fieldbus cables are easy to strip and feature a round, smooth jacket that makes installation in cable glands effortless and secure. All versions are ITC (instrument tray cable)/PLTC (power-limited tray cable) rated for exposed-run (ER) applications and pass the same crush and impact tests for metal-clad cable (under UL 1569). ITC-ER/PLTC-ER cable allows users to eliminate the conduit when the cable is installed in accordance with recent National Electrical Code (NEC) amendments.

The line includes an arctic-rated ITC/PLTC-listed version with optional armor and a RoHS-compliant UL 1309 marine shipboard-listed cable with a cut- and abrasion-resistant TPE outer jacket; both are suitable for use to –60 degrees C. CSA, HL ABCD armored cables are also offered.

DataCELL FOUNDATION fieldbus is available as single-pair or multi-paired bus cables, with as many as 12 pairs in a single cable. Shield options include individually foil-shielded pairs with drain wire as well as an overall foil with drain wire. Also, overall tinned copper braid is available for low-frequency noise immunity. Cable is offered in a variety of jacket and inner-conductor colors and options. Choices include 16 AWG—for longer runs—and 18 AWG in single-shielded, twisted-pair spur cables and as multi-pair cable. Cable is available with optional ground wire. The Characteristic Impedance Z0 is tightly controlled to be 100 Ω ± 10 Ω at 31.25 kHz.

The most popular versions of Northwire DataCELL® FIELD cables are available off the shelf in bulk quantities. Single-pair cable orders are shipped direct from our factory stock in 17 days or less.

Contact Northwire for information and samples at +1 715-294-2121, or www.northwire.com/isa.

Northwire, Inc. has been an industry leader in the design and manufacture of industrial-grade technical cable since 1972. The company’s complete line of DataCELL FIELD rugged cables for discrete factory automation include, DeviceNet™, PROFIBUS® DP, AS-interface, CC-Link and CANopen. Northwire’s line of DataCELL FIELD rugged cables for process automation include, FOUNDATION fieldbus H1, HART® compatible and PROFIBUS PA.

Job Description

Offer custom designed assembly products to new/existing customers and support the growth of machine vision business from product design to full production phase.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities of the job:

• Design assembly products for manufacturability based on customer requirement.
• Work closely with sales, customer, tool maker (plastic injection tooling), Engineering & Manufacturing team to successfully prototype products from design stage to fully approved production phase.
• Provide technical instruction and direction to the Assembly manufacturing personnel (processes include plastic injection, soldering, crimping, cabling, and additional assembly operations).
• Troubleshoot equipment and tooling as well as analyze the process and materials when required in order to implement corrections/improvements.
• Communicate with customers, visit them, understand their needs and provide technical solutions.
• Drive and develop continuous improvement activities during design and process stages.
• Excellent performance at tooling design, FEMA, Cost evaluation and customer satisfaction.

Educational and Experience Requirements:

• Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. Master Degree preferred.
• Minimum of four-year degree in manufacturing or process engineering.
  • Five (5) to seven (7) years experience as Design/Process engineer in plastic injection manufacturing environment, designing tooling and providing Technical Customer support.
  • Proficient with Design software (CAD, Solid Works, Pro-E) and familiar with LEAN manufacturing techniques.
• Tooling Design and implementation of new products.
• Design of Experiments and Failure Mode Analysis.
• Plastic Injection Processing (TPR, PVC, PP, PE).
• Systematic approach to problem solving (PDCA, Poka-Yoke, Root Cause Analysis).
• Understanding of process variation and effective implementation of Quality improvement tools.
• Customer oriented for Technical Support.
• Experience with CAD, Solid Works, Pro-E and other design software.
• Application of Lean manufacturing initiatives in order to impact the bottom line metrics (setup, scrap, rate).
• Knowledge of UL/CSA regulatory agencies as they apply to cable assemblies, wire & cable.
• Excellent interpersonal skills with co-workers, operators and managers in order to implement effectively every necessary project.
• Position works on product development projects, has access to customer specifications, and cost/quoting information.

How to Apply:

Forward resume with job reference to: Danielle Nelson; Northwire; 800-468-1516 or 715-294-2121 humanresources@northwire.com

Download our Job Application

Northwire Benefits:

Northwire produces quality, custom wire and cable products. The key to our success is meeting customer needs through problem-solving, solution-oriented engineering. This is how we keep growing when other companies are laying off.

And since you have a life outside work, the area is alive with activities—hunting, fishing, canoeing and even music in the park. You get the best of both worlds. Small-town charm with big-city opportunity. And we’re just 45 minutes
from Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Give us a call and earn a living where the standard of living is high.

Our Employees Enjoy:

1. COMPETITIVE WAGES - Qualified applicants for our Extrusion Technology Certificate can earn $30,000.00+ in their first year
2. SECURITY & A CHANCE FOR ADVANCEMENT - No layoff company
3. MONTHLY INCENTIVE COMPENSATION - Based on company performance
4. GREAT BENEFITS - Company contributions to Health Savings Accounts, medical insurance, long term disability & 401(k) plan
5. EXCELLENT WORKING CONDITIONS – Air conditioned Production floor and floor to ceiling windows
6. EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT- including professional training, tuition reimbursement, and health fairs.

Equal Opportunity Employer

OSCEOLA, Wis.- June 10- Northwire, Inc. has introduced a new cable assembly product line—Endurance. The new product line includes cable assemblies for vision system applications.  Endurance cable assemblies are engineered with top-quality connectors and Northwire’s advanced, industrial-grade cables. These rugged assemblies provide ultra-reliable interconnectivity in motion and vision system applications. Endurance products for vision system applications include CCXC Analog Video, MVC-800 FireWire, GEV-1000™ GigE Vision™ and Camera Link® cable assemblies.

Northwire has been producing industrial-grade cables of the highest quality for well-known industrial-sensor manufacturers for many years. As a result of this experience, Northwire has set the standard of difference between Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS)-grade cables and cables that must withstand the rigors of an industrial environment. This same standard of quality goes into developing and producing the most rugged assemblies for vision system applications.

“For more than 35 years, Northwire has designed and manufactured rugged, high-quality, made-to-order and standard industrial-grade cable. Utilizing this superior cable, Northwire is now designing, manufacturing and providing cable assemblies for vision system applications,” says Bud Brown, director of new business development at Northwire, Inc. “We’re so certain that these technologically advanced assemblies exceed what is currently available that we provide a lifetime guarantee on them.”

Northwire ensures the integrity of signal transmission by controlling aspects of the process, from cable design and development through cable production, plus advanced connector design, termination, overmolding and testing.

"Stock vision cable assemblies can be purchased online from NorthwireDirect," adds Tom Collen, director of marketing at Northwire.  "Endurance cable assemblies are shipped fast, direct from the factory with no minimum quantity."

Endurance CCXC Analog Camera cable assemblies meet industry standards for analog CCD (charge-couple device) cameras and are RoHS-compliant.  The cable has surpassed 15 million flex cycles of testing.
Endurance MVC-800 FireWire cable assemblies are available in standard length of 4.5 meters/14.8 feet and extended distance/extended life (type MVC-800EL) as long as 7 meters/23 feet.  MVC-800EL has surpassed 11 million flex cycles of rigorous bending, rolling and torsional tests.

Endurance GEV-1000 GigE Vision cable assemblies are designed to meet GigE Vision requirements with high flexibility for industrial applications. The cable exceeds 12 million flex cycles, including Northwire’s standardized tick-tock test.  Assemblies are available with traditional latching, horizontal and vertical screw locking configurations.  All designs permit easy viewing of LEDs on the camera connector.

Northwire produced the world’s first high-flex-life Camera Link cable and offers the only Camera Link cable to surpass 19 million flex cycles of testing.

Endurance Camera Link cable assemblies are designed for industrial-grade applications with camera and frame grabbers.  EnduroFLEX TPE jacketing material makes this cable suitable for rugged industrial and outdoor environments.

Camera Link cable assemblies are available in standard and Power Over Camera Link (PoCL)—a Camera Link cable with power transmission capabilities.  PoCL is available for Camera Link and Mini Camera Link (MiniCL) assemblies.  MiniCL uses a smaller connector than traditional Camera Link but incorporates the same hardware and software protocols.

Endurance standard and PoCL Camera Link cables feature 28 AWG conductors and meet the requirements of appendix D and appendix E of the Camera Link specification.  Assemblies using 30AWG and 32 AWG conductors also are available.  Endurance right-angle Camera Link assemblies have a very low profile (approximately 1.72 centimeters).

All premium-grade cable used in Endurance assemblies is constructed with an industrial-strength outer jacket, which is highly resistant to oil, abrasion, welding flash and water, and is suitable for outdoor use.  Temperature ratings are +80°C.  The cables have dual-shielded construction with 100 percent foil and tinned copper braid shield for noisy factory environments.  The cables are UL-recognized, CSA-approved, FT-1 flame rated and RoHS-compliant.

For information about Northwire products, including Endurance vision cable assemblies, visit www.northwire.com/assemblies or call 1-877-210-9950 or +1-715-294-2121.

Northwire, Inc., based in Osceola, Wis., is an industry leader in the design and manufacture of industrial-grade technical cable and vision assemblies.  Custom design choices include paired, non-paired, triads, various shielding and grounding options, special insulation options, plus a large variety of conductor and jacket colors. Northwire is a member of the AIA (Automated Imaging Association), EMVA (European Machine Vision Association), Fieldbus Foundation, ODVA (Open DeviceNet Vendors’ Association), PTO (Profibus Trade Organization), RIA (Robotics Industry Association), JIIA (Japan Industrial Imaging Association), CMES (China Mechanical Engineering Society), among others.