"The Best Little Cable House in Texas"
Article by Mike Sherman, President and Ralph Lazarine, Vice President, Sherman Assembly Systems Cables.

People use them in just about everything, but they're awfully hard to automate. At Sherman Assembly Systems, cable assemblies are our specialty. We do many variations of cable assemblies, but all have one common denomination: copper wire or glass fiber. There are other companies that are great at stuffing boards and bending metal. We are great at making harnesses and cable assemblies.

Both our people and machines are specialists. we use machines to do as much of the work as possible and our people manage the machines and perform the operations that the machines can't.

Our Systems keep our information and data current; this way, our people can make an accurate quote to our customer and we can efficiently manufacture product to meet delivery requirements with rejection-free shipments.

Automation Plus People

While automation is important, people are the real key to carrying out our business philosophy. Our location is specially good in several ways: we are blessed in our city to have quality people with experience - and everyone really enjoys living here. San Antonio is a great place to live and our cost of living is lower than it is in markets we serve. This makes us very competitive.

Wires for harnesses are assembled on SAS custom layout and test boards.

Our commitment to automation is total. Every operation is automated as much as possible. All our equipment is new and represents the latest available technology. We use a Shinmaywa TRD111 for all our high-run discrete wire cut/strip/terminate jobs. Wires that are used in harnesses are then assembled on SAS custom layout and test boards and tie-wrapped with Panduit automatic equipment.

Our line of AMP G-Presses - along with a large collection of different AMP applicators - does all of our short-to-medium runs. These wires or cables are then cut and stripped by one of our Komax, Eubanks or Schleuniger machines. We also use Panduit, Molex, and other automatic equipment. The multiconductor cables are handled by our AMP stripper-crimpers.

We are constantly automating to lower costs, and we buy the equipment we need to provide our customers with new cable types and designs they must have to stay competitive in their world.

All of our quality policies and procedures are well-documented in our Quality Control Manual. These procedures include the document control and management that are ISO 9000-compliant. This manual is open for inspection by any interested potential customer - once we determine that there is a possible match of customer needs with our capabilities. Our quality inspection is 100 percent. We use Cirrus microprocessor testers, custom SAS test boards and visual guides. Our statistics: an average 99.927 percent on-time delivery and a .0137 percent rejection rate.

Our inventory, purchases, bill of materials, and work orders are controlled by MRP software on our Local Area Network (LAN). The accounting interfaces with an in-house IBM mini computer for invoicing and shipping. We know the status of every order at all times. All our quotations are generated by a database of material costs, labor rates and overhead percentages. Most quotations are turned around within 24 hours.

Order which need expediting are handled with a separate color-coded system that allows special handling and attention at every step. We have been able to turn a problematical situation into a smooth-running operation all the way to our customer's dock.

Sherman Assembly Systems has a knowledgeable staff working to achieve a high level of success. The personnel work to assure prompt and expert handling from quotes to order entry and throughout production.