Hitaltech, the connecting technologies and enclosures specialist, is celebrating 25 years of board-to-board, wire-to-board and enclosure innovation. But the products it develops are only one part of the success story. Just as important to the company’s longevity has been its ability to ensure customers get exactly the components they need to make their products a success.
Customised connectors
Browse Hitaltech’s ranges of flexible and rigid wire-to-board and board-to-board interconnect systems and you’d be forgiven for thinking that no possible option has been omitted. Yet each time the company attends Southern Manufacturing & Electronics in Farnborough (as it will again on 8-10 February 2022) there’s a new addition to showcase.
This year it will be the vast range of Conex-it rigid board to board connectors which join an already comprehensive selection of flexible connectors. “Our clients need both rigid and flexible connectors,” Matt Hughes, Hitaltech sales manager, explains. “For PCBs that are manufactured in panels and whose end applications may be a somewhat obscure, flexibility is often essential. However, if PCBs are stacked on top of one another or at right angles, a rigid system may often be the natural choice. By launching a rigid system to complement the flexible, we’re enabling manufacturers to enjoy the best of both worlds.”
Despite the breadth of product range, Matt is keen to stress that customers can still customise their connectors: “Our customers can choose customised pin lengths, special platings and insulators. It’s all about giving our customers products that match their application needs, and protecting and developing the relationships we’ve built with them.”
Customised enclosures
It’s a similar story with the company’s large range of enclosures. Despite the breadth of off the shelf options, Hitaltech are always ready to add bespoke elements, as Open System Solutions (OSS), a trusted manufacturer of building controls and underfloor heating and cooling systems, discovered when it wanted a control unit housing for its premium underfloor heating system.
“There was a plastic housing wall unit that we had been looking at,” says Patrick Murphy, sales director at OSS, “but frankly, it didn’t look at all pleasing to the eye and was too small for our electronic PCB board. This product will be used widely across central London and the UK, so it has to be right aesthetically as well as functionally.”
Patrick contacted Jack Walker, Hitaltech’s Sales Engineer for the South to explore options. Jack sent numerous samples and discussed customisation options. There were plenty to choose from, all part of a range of Value Added Services that include machining, mould tool modifications, packaging and more. Patrick settled on the custom printing option for a Thermo 80mm x 80mm wall enclosure with an integrated dial.
“It was important for us to have the right quality laser etching on the housing, so it became identifiably one of our range,” he adds.
Happy with product and price, OSS ordered 500 units. The potential remains for thousands more.
The success of the project has opened more doors for Hitaltech with OSS. “We’re now asking them to provide dials and the stems for some other thermostats we’re looking to put together,” says Patrick. “And we’re also looking at designing a new range of I/O electronic boards which will use a new type of housing – a Hitaltech housing.”
25 years of delivering bespoke without the bespoke price tag
Jack Walker says Patrick’s experience reflects the typical Hitaltech customer. “We have a vast and continually growing range of enclosures and connectors available off the shelf. That gives our customers a great starting point for their product development. But what has proved really valuable for our customers has been the knowledge that they can use our off the shelf products as the launch pad for innovation. We can add cut-outs for inputs, outputs or LEDs, new inserts, custom printed logos or wiring legends – all things that help manufacturers create bespoke products. Yet by using the off-the-shelf product as the starting point, their components don’t come with a bespoke price tag.”
“There are a number of factors that have led to Hitaltech’s success over the past quarter century,” says Hitaltech MD Andy Fitzer. “Technical expertise, product quality, competitive pricing and range are certainly major parts of that. But our value added elements – that ability to customise a component so it’s exactly right rather than merely a ‘best fit’, or the capacity to make our customers’ production processes more efficient – really have set Hitaltech apart. We’re not just the people to buy from. We’re the experts to collaborate with throughout product development.”
To explore how Hitaltech can adapt its products to your specifications, call 01253 899910 or email uksales@hitaltech.co.uk
