Enhanced assembly facilities and a redesigned product line up help ITT Interconnect Solutions better support the military and aerospace market
Major investment at its Basingstoke, UK facility will enable global connector manufacturer and supplier, ITT Interconnect Solutions, to deliver market-competitive lead times and pricing on its assembled MIL-DTL-38999 connectors. The move is part of a wider initiative to support the military and aerospace market, which has also seen the company redesign its QPL-approved MIL-DTL-38999 product line-up to simplify manufacturing and reduce costs.
Valued at £500,000, the investment in Basingstoke is designed to support the local European market for a wide range of MIL-DTL-38999 products as well as other styles of connector. This gives ITT the ability to fulfil volume orders for OEM customers and service value-add distributor partners who operate in the fast-turnaround small volume sector.
Streamlined assembly
In order to streamline manufacture and assembly, ITT has reduced the number of internal parts and simplified the connector construction, making final assembly simpler and quicker.
Product manager, Robert Pulman, commented: “The military and aerospace market, along with other high reliability sectors, is very important to ITT. As well as this product redesign and investment in the local European assembly facility, we have recently been awarded silver status in the ADS SC21 programme, which raises the performance of companies active in the aerospace, defence and security sectors. To achieve such a high level of performance, ITT was sponsored by two major defence primes and is the only connector company to be awarded this status.”
The Basingstoke facility is qualified to ISO9001-2008 and ISO 14001-2004 and includes an in-house plating line. In addition to QPL-qualified cadmium olive-drab and silver nickel platings, ITT also offers RoHS-compliant platings specifically for the European market.
Markets targeted
Other military and aerospace products that are assembled at the plant include MIL-DTL-26482, missile and ‘Nemesis’ connectors that target future soldier systems, as well as high-current PowerLock, electric vehicle J1772, RF and high-density micro connectors. Harnesses for all ITT product types are also designed and produced at the facility.
With its full range of connectors and interconnects targeted not only at the military and aerospace industries, but also at industrial, oil and gas, medical and transportation markets, ITT Interconnect Solutions supplies a wide variety of connector types. Options include circular, rectangular, fibre optic, RF, power and high voltage, audio, PCMCIA, compact flash card, cable assemblies, and application specific custom solutions. The Interconnect Solutions portfolio includes the brands Cannon, VEAM and BIW.