William,
I worked on a contract building flight simulators for the military that were about the same dimension you gave for your equipment. Currently, I work in a DoD R&D environment where the requirements are constantly changing. 
 
Those assemblies and subassemblies that are least affected by change are the best candidates for optimizing your build process by utilizing automated production capabilities. We outsource some assemblies that are low risk and better suited for the automated process. If you decide to do this, your drawings must be flawless and vendors should be thoroughly evaluated in advance.
 
Most of our work is done by hand or semi-automated. We build critical assemblies in house. All performance testing and final assembly is performed in-house. 
 
I suggest developing a technology roadmap for your group that identifies equipment suitable for your operation. In terms of cabling there are plenty of excellent options for capital improvements. I assume your PCB's are SMT. There are wonderful pick and place machines that are easy to set up and handle high mix / complex assemblies.
 
See you at NEPCON
 
Eva J
Quality Engineer
Instructor
General Dynamics

________________________________

From: TechNet on behalf of Mengers, William D.
Sent: Tue 2/28/2006 4:10 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN]



To All,

Maybe somebody can help me out here.  I am a Manufacturing Engineer in a
shop where we build military radar test sets.  These test sets are about
the size of a refrigerator or sometimes twice as wide and a little
taller.  We do quite a bit of cable building too to run between test
sets and the radars being tested.  We also build these 10" x 20" x 15"
boxes that are full of wire runs and PC boards.  These attach to the
fronts of the test sets depending what radar system is being tested.
All of this is hand built product, with some small bits and pieces using
automatic equipment, i.e. crimpers, solder fountain for some thru-hole
components on the boards, cable stripping, etc.  We build maybe two or
three of something before the design changes and then we build something
new.  I am being asked to come up with ideas about where new technology
is driving us for future equipment and manufacturing needs.  Do any of
you guys (or girls) do anything similar to this?  Do you have better
ways of doing it?  Thanks for any help you can give.

Bill Mengers

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