In our latest Electronic Specifier Insights podcast, we spoke to Sam Bennett, NPI Project Manager at Harwin about his career at the Portsmouth based company and the introduction of Harwin's, Kona family of power connectors
Electronic Specifier Insights speaks to Sam Bennett, NPI Project Manager at Harwin
Electronic Specifier
Hello and welcome to this latest podcast from electronic specifi insights a very Happy New Year to all our listeners. Today we'll be talking to Sam Bennett, new product introduction manager at horween, who will be discussing his career at the Portsmouth based company and the introduction of high winds, Kona family of power connectors. So, first of all, Sam, welcome to electronic specifier insights podcast. Hello, I think To start off, Sam, could you perhaps give a little bit of background and history about yourself and how you came to be working with Harman?
Yes, so first of all, I'm from Southampton working in Portsmouth based company. It throws up some conflicts at times, but it's all light hearted banter. So I started when I was a 16 year old, wanting to work in design. So I did my work experience with Harman and was offered an apprenticeship as a result. So I was left with the choice of a levels or going down the apprenticeship route. So I chose the apprenticeship side of things, because I could see the angle of finishing the degree. Either way, which thankfully, that's where I'm at. Now, I've I've qualified as an engineer, with a degree, starting at the bottom, with engineering really going from level two, three to level three, and level four HMC before completing my honours degree in engineering management, achieving first class honours. And fantastic it was all sponsored by Harlan as well. So yeah, a huge benefit to going down the apprenticeship route was that it was all education paid for whilst learning on the job as well. See, as mentioned, I wanted to do design, I started off as a product design engineer, and gradually worked my way into project management, and naturally through the design engineering role. And whilst also now I'm the manager of the design team as well. So that's the position I find myself in now.
And just for our listeners, how old are you now? Sam?
I'm 26. Now. So I've been with Holland 10 years.
Right. Okay. And you mentioned that the cutting through the apprenticeship route there, we cover a lot on electronic specify about the skills gaps with within engineering, I think apprenticeships can sometimes be overlooked in favour of university degrees, etc. So can you perhaps talk about some of the reasons why you you took you opted for the the apprenticeship route and some of the advantages over over, you know, an alternative route to that career?
Yeah, definitely. So yeah, when I left school, as I mentioned, I wanted to work in design. And at that time, I wasn't entirely sure if it would be graphical product design, I had exposure, thankfully to do product design with Holland, with work experience. And if I chose the apprenticeship route, it meant I could get get in the door straightaway and start working in an area that I want to be working in. And of course, it may not be the area that you want to work in long term. But short term definitely was what I wanted. And the qualifications were there there in front of me, I could see the pathway. And lead in from, as I said, that level two qualification all the way up to the degree Level qualification, which was ultimately my aim, once leaving school is to achieve a degree in which field at that point I didn't know. And that path naturally took me down the engineering route. So yeah, I think it's advantageous because you can get on job experience, which you can't really put a price on. And yeah, I was able to start working straightaway as well. And I've enjoyed it.
Indeed. And, again, that we cover a lot around the the skills gap in in STEM and the amount of young people going into engineering and the electronics sector, particularly the the dearth of young girls going into the into the industry. But so from your point of view, what would you say would be the benefits of having a career in the electronics industry, for anybody out there and young people who will be considering something similar? I
think it's always exciting and ever changing. It's an area of industry that is always developing. There's new technologies, new changes in the world, which revolve around electronics and engineering as a whole. See, as the industry is ever adapting and ever changing, so there will always be a field and narrow of interest somewhere for almost everyone. And do you think that there's a particular perception of engineering and electronics that amongst young people that potentially puts them off? And it's, you know,
not, you know, their perception is is something different to the reality? Yeah, I
think the biggest thing is, when you're a young person at school, especially, you have little to no exposure at all to engineering. I myself had none until I joined our entity work experience. And that was only because I wanted to design it was no interest at that point to do engineering. So I think there's quite a bit. There's very little awareness at that young age of what there is in the engineering field and what is capable to achieve. within that field. You only really appreciate it once you actually have a foot in that area.
Yeah, Indeed, indeed. You mentioned that you've now been with high wind for for nearly 10 years. So what? What perhaps you could discuss some of the some of the key highlights of your time working at a higher wind during that during the last decade,
yeah, a lot has changed in the 10 years, that's for sure. change seats quite a few times in the office. But the company itself is ever changing. There's new factories, new equipment, so the company replaces equipment every five years. So always been working with the latest equipment and state of the art facilities, which is an ultimate highlight, because I'm always working with the state of the art technology. So kind of leading on from that, as part of my role A few years ago, I introduced additive manufacturing to the business. So 3d printing, which is now something that we use day to day in the new product development process. So it's quite a highlight to look back on that and seeing where it started to where it is now. We were 3d printing figurines of iron heads in the office to begin with, versus now we're prototyping our new product ranges with that technology.
I see. Is that something that that Holland has been quite pioneering with? Or is it still quite a technology that's still quite in its infancy in that regard?
Yeah, we try to be pioneering with it in terms of using it as much as it's practical. But it can be limited for some of our specific requirements. The technology is quite broad as a whole across the additive manufacturing cycle. And we've always kept up to date since introducing it to the company, on what could we use? When could we use it? So we're always communicating with the providers of the technology to see what we could look into next for ourselves?
I see. I see. And the coner range of power connectors was was launched late last year. Can you talk a little bit about about that new range and what your involvement has been in the production and development process?
Yeah, absolutely. So the conus series is our new high power connector series, we've taken it to market from brief to launch within 11 months, which typically is almost half the time that our major MPI project would take to develop. So my role within that is to project manage, manage the design process, and manage the testing process, and also manage the overall hierarchy project to make sure that we could achieve that desired launch date. And so to do that, we've implemented agile project management techniques. So using cross functional project teams between the design team tooling and production teams, as well as involved in marketing, quality control, so that everyone's aware throughout the business of what's going on when it's needed, and the urgency behind each particular activity. And as part of that, we put a heavy weighting within the conceptual stage of the project. So using the additive technologies, as mentioned, to produce as many concepts and validate as many concepts as possible, and we kind of run that system in parallel. So we're not just working on one particular design working on multiple designs to achieve that end goal. So yes, it's very, very involved for my role, which is great. I love that. And yeah, very pleased that we managed to, to introduce that one with an 11 month timeframe.
Indeed, it is. And is it the first time that one of us such a process in into in the launch of a new product, and it and if so is this is this something that's going to be rolled out across the you know, how in future when product launches?
Yes, something we're using on every new product development cycle now, and it's something that's been building up to over the last few years. So take it on the project management role, changed a few things around with, with how we were introducing projects and how we were managing them. And this, this launch has kind of bed fruits of all of that work. So it's quite nice to look back on this launch and actually see the work that's gone in for the past few years to get to this point.
Sure. And delve down into the sort of the nuts and bolts of the Kona family itself. Can you can you can you talk us through some of the key features of the of the range? Yes, so
the coda series is our new high power Connect series. It's our first venture really into the high power market. So it supersedes our existing data met and Gecko ranges and is capable of carrying the 60 amps of power per contact. And currently, we offer two three and four way connector options and this means in a four way connector option we can carry 240 amps of power. So it's also suitable for high voltage applications as the contacts are individually routed. So design of the connector individually isolates each contact within the housing. So this means it can actually achieve 3000 volts proof before flashover and it puts this Kona series as highest specification connector in our portfolio so far.
I see I see. And so what customer needs do the Kona family meet? Exactly and what what gap does it fill in the market and similar to that Where did the range sit within the rest of the harwin portfolio.
Kona series is our first venture really into the higher power market. So it will take us into new opportunities, where within Evie and robotics though we're, we're really kind of taking a step into this market and seeing what comes out of it. But we already have some, some keen interest from those markets. It's 20 amps higher power per contact in our existing at ranges. And it supersedes the voltage rating by almost double as well. So yeah, it's really pushing into a new area for us as a business.
Sure. Okay. And similarly, how does it How does the current Kona family compared to competitive offerings and what's the USP of the range?
The Kona series is power in a small space and weight ratio. So the maximum metre weight, for example, is 25 grammes of the four way option, which is the same as an A battery. And a battery kind of lends itself perfectly for comparison with the range. The Kona series is also 50 millimetres in length as a maximum on the four way, which provides 40 amps per centimetre. The series as well provides extremely low contact resistance due to the new six finger contact design. So it's a new pioneer contact design that we developed as part of the range. So it's different to anything we have produced previously. But it allows for the higher power and the compact size for the connector, keeping that resistance low.
I see. And you touched on some of the some of the application areas of the family. And could you perhaps go into some of the potential applications a bit more salmon? And similarly, where do you see the predominant take up of the of the kind of family?
Yeah, so the really any application which requires high power connectivity, so these can include UAVs drones, especially as the connected series is lightweight, so won't impact the UAE weight restrictions, also three phase motor controllers and AC DC power conversion modules for aircraft platforms, as well as military and aviation power solutions. So it can be used for for vacuum or space use.
Okay. Okay. And it says it's this is the Holland's first foray into this sort of connector zone, did the development of the Kona family throw up any particular challenges? And and if so, how did you guys overcome them,
we took the product to market from brief to market within 11 months, that in itself is a challenge. So the short timeframe. So yeah, to overcome this, we use parallel development of different features in the design. So short, iterative cycles to prove off different areas such as the contacts, the mouldings, and as part of that, one of the main challenges was actually inserting and retaining the contact in the housing. So in order to actually assemble the contact, using our advanced assembly systems at Holland, the force had to be below a specific value. But that also could compromise the retention force in the housing. So that was a challenge in itself. So as part of that, we developed multiple different designs, using our in house turning capabilities, to prove and test different features, and how they would work and the drawbacks and benefits of each. So it was a really good learning cycle in itself, but also a great challenge, because it was almost a non critical function for the customer. But it was critical for ourselves in actually producing the parts.
Okay, I see. I see. And you mentioned earlier that you were heavily involved in in the testing process. What specifically, can you go into a little bit more detail about what that entailed? And because of the timescales involved was this a particularly challenging part of the development process,
we purchase new equipment so that we could test to the required power outages? So as mentioned, it takes us into new areas. So as part of that, we had to also adapt our own equipment and processes in house. But we, as its economic connected family, we're pretty familiar with the actual test cycle. We worked really closely with subcontracted test houses, unfortunately, couldn't visit any in the last year, which, which for a problem in itself, as Usually, it's it's very beneficial to actually go and spend time with the external testing processes. But yeah, we really adapted and, and put a lot of emphasis on on the testing in house as well. And yeah, the team, the team involved with that really understood what was required, what affects any changes on the different designs would have said that were very rapid and actually turning any changes around as part of the test process as well.
Sure, sure. And, Sam, you mentioned it, touched on it briefly there, but obviously we couldn't ever have a chance. without discussing the C word, the COVID-19. How has it impacted the general the general work working practices at Harlan and for us specifically, how did it impact the development of the of the coner range, particularly bearing in mind that has been brought to market so quickly?
Yeah, the company itself has definitely had to adapt, as I'm sure most most have over the last year, which I think is beneficial, because it shows adaptability, and how businesses can respond and keep operating, thankfully, when we've been open and manufacturing, and everything's been running really well, in the last in the last 12 months, or 10 months. So I think that's credit, where credit's due to the business, and everyone involved, fairly pleased with that. And, of course, that obviously, has impacted me and the projects themselves. So all made more difficult with limited attendance on site at times. And we've managed to work effectively and hit all of the product launches last year on time, and which has seven launches in 2020, which include the big launch of Kona. So yeah, it's been a challenge. But I think it's actually been a really good learning curve and enhance my career, adapting and being flexible to unpredictable scenarios. So yeah, I think as as challenging as it's been, it's also been beneficial in some areas.
India, yes. You know, necessity breeds innovation, as they say. So yeah, that's great. So And finally, perhaps without kind of giving too much away, what's next for both you and and harwinton? In 2021?
See, our roadmap is looking pretty healthy for the year. We've got a lot going on. Thankfully, for me and the team in new product development. It hasn't slowed down. We're, we're working on the next thing, rather than what's being affected now. So. So yeah, we've almost been working harder over the last year to make sure that we've got follow up and that our business is is kept, kept moving through the new product launches. So yeah, we've got a very busy 12 months ahead. And yeah, working on some interesting and very exciting projects, which I'll probably leave it at that I won't allude to too much more detail on those.
Indeed, yeah, absolutely. perfectly understandable. Thank you. Thanks very much for that for that Sam will certainly look at looking out for more news from when in 2021. But it was great to find out more about about yourself and your journey ends around the corner range. But that's that's all we've got time for today, but thank you again. Thanks, Joe.
Electronic Specifier