Industrial Automation

How We Make Custom Connectivity Solutions

Felix Dressler

Working with a partner that owns its research, development and manufacturing processes has many advantages: better communication, the ability to react to the market quickly, rapid testing and lower overall costs.

 

One of the most obvious benefits, however, is knowing they can create solutions that align with whatever you need for your automotive, building automation, food and beverage, machine building, and robotics applications.

 

That’s exactly what our Customer Innovation Centers (CICs) are designed to do; these centers are completely unique to Belden and the way we conduct business. Here, we listen to what you hope to achieve, study your existing networks to recommend opportunities for enhancement, showcase examples of how our products can be used or tailored, explain options to address challenges and walk through the benefits you can expect when working with Belden.

 

This collaborative environment lets you co-innovate with our expert advisors (sales professionals, technologists, application experts and product engineers) to develop, test, document and deploy solutions that make your efficiency, security and productivity goals attainable. You get to see how the solutions we design will work in your environment before they go live.

 

If your project involves custom connectivity, then you’ll also get to work with Belden’s Connectivity Center. It brings three powerful brands together (Belden, Lumberg Automation and Hirschmann) to create intelligent solutions—from electronic fieldbus components to complete wiring concepts.

 

With nine people dedicated to the Connectivity Center, our team completes around 1,000 projects each year. If you need a solution that doesn’t currently exist within our connectivity portfolio, we can make it happen. Whether it’s adding a simple label or connecting a specific cable from a different supplier to one of Belden’s connectors, we’ll find a way to produce what your application needs.

 

The Connectivity Center’s areas of specialization include:

 

  • Cable development and production
  • Interface management
  • Miniaturization
  • Modern bus/ethernet technologies
  • Robust/pluggable connections
  • Synthetic materials/plastics and processing
  • Tool construction and modification

 

Even though the solutions we create are custom, they still incorporate all the qualities that Belden is known for: a compact footprint, designs that stand up to harsh environments, compliance with standards and excellent mechanical and electrical properties.

 

When you decide to work with our Connectivity Center, you’ll follow a process similar to this:

 

  1. You discover a need for a connectivity solution not currently available in Belden’s portfolio and contact your account manager.
  2. You meet with our Customer Innovation Center to share your vision.
  3. The Belden Connectivity Center gets involved to design and create the connectivity solutions involved in your project. We bring our top experts and resources together to conduct internal verification and make sure we can produce what you require.
  4. Our R&D department finalizes the project for large projects if needed.
  5. We let the customer know within five days about the status of the project.
  6. We begin work on your custom connectivity solution, along with prototyping and extensive in-house testing.
  7. Depending on the size and complexity of your project, the customization is completed within two weeks to 12 weeks.

 

In addition to getting what you need for upcoming projects, the Connectivity Center also lets you create alongside Belden, with unique opportunities for both parties to brainstorm and learn together. It also helps build buy-in and trust: You get to follow every step of our process. If something goes wrong, we’ll be there to see it and improve upon it.

 

In our Connectivity Center, you’ll find experts who have decades of technical knowledge. These specialists either started in operations and machine handling, working their way up to product-focused positions, or began their Belden careers in roles that deal with products directly. From there, they developed expertise in customized connectivity solutions that they now put to work for you every day.

 

Have a connectivity solution you need some help with? Reach out to your account manager or contact us here. We’ll show you what might be possible!