EoW January 2014

12 / 108

News
Corporate
January 2014 10
William Hughes continues to find new
ways to meet its customers’ requirements
for precision wire assemblies with
the introduction of an overmoulding
capability for wire parts.
The new process dispenses with the need
for metal retaining clips in assemblies
such as car seats – providing an
assembly that is both strong and fast to
manufacture.
The new process can be applied to a wide
range of wire assemblies and requires the
wire parts to be manufactured to a high
accuracy.
The components are brought together
using special tooling designed by
William Hughes, and two vertical
injection moulding machines perform
the moulding process to complete the
assembly.
The overmoulding process allows for
variations in the finished assembly
– for example, in car seat assemblies
retaining bars for the seat cloth can
be included or where heated seats
are required, connectors and cabling
can be incorporated so that heating
elements can be simply plugged into the
encapsulated boots.
“Our expertise is in the design and
manufacture of a wide range of bent
wire components to high accuracy and
this is critical for the manufacture of
overmoulded assemblies,” said Emma
Burgon, engineering director.
“This means that the overmoulding
process can be applied to a wide range
of assemblies across many industries,
providing benefits to our customers in
terms of strength, versatility and speed of
manufacture.”
Any 2D or 3D wire form that involves
twists, turns, spirals, protrusions,
indentations – or just plain bends – can
be accommodated and the William
Hughes team of application engineers can
help customers solve their engineering
problems by offering a rapid design and
prototyping service. This is particularly
suited to the high volume sectors such as
automotive.
William Hughes has more than 200
years’ experience in producing bent wire
components and wire form assemblies.
Today it is one of the most advanced
producers in Europe, with high-tech
manufacturing facilities in Dorset, UK, and
Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
William Hughes Ltd – UK
Website:
Meeting customer demand
▲ ▲ The William Hughes overmoulding capability
demonstrated with this precision car seat assembly
Price rise
Ugitech – Schmolz + Bickenbach Group
– announced a price increase on its
stainless steel bars, wire rod and drawn
wire products, effective 2 nd October.
Schmolz + Bickenbach Group – Germany
Website: