Modern manufacture of wire harnesses is often performed through a sequence of steps, rather than as a single operation from a collection of basic components. For example, the manufacture of a wire harness can include components, such as connectors, wires, tapes and tubes, or the like, which can be variously manufactured into one or more sub-assemblies. These sub-assemblies can then be combined together, sometimes along with additional components, to form additional sub-assemblies. This process of sub-assembly construction from other sub-assemblies and/or components can continue until a wire harness has been built. In order to identify this sequence of manufacturing steps during the design phase, some design tools can decompose harness designs into a Structured Bill of Materials (SBOM) that describes the sequential manufacturing process in a hierarchical manner.
Since the sequential manufacturing process is broken down into multiple discrete steps, many manufacturers distribute the construction of sub-assemblies, for example, in different portions of a factory or in different factories altogether. In order to keep track of the different sub-assemblies, the design tools can generate unique or distinctive part numbers to the various sub-assemblies utilized in the sequential manufacturing process, which can be incorporated into the SBOM. For example, the design tool can compute the part numbers based on a description of the sub-assembly structure as well as the process utilized to manufacture the sub-assembly. While the design tool can utilize a harness design to generate an SBOM with sub-assemblies specific to the wire harness described in the harness design, practically speaking, the manufacture of these sub-assemblies can be highly-customized—rendering the resulting wire harness costly and inefficient to produce.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds