At the factory there are a few people that prepare all the wire harnesses. These are custom made for each project. Crimping, soldering, inserting in plugs. Chassis are then tested, then after the shells are installed they tested again. Then I come over for a unit by unit inspection which includes testing again. But one test we don't perform is to check if the PROG/RUN switch is operating. I only check a few models for this, and that's just to make sure they switch is in the right orientation. It's rare that they don't work. I focus more on the obvious features, lights, pickups, antenna. Those are most critical to good operation. The more features, the more wires, the greater the opportunity for something to come loose. Shipping doesn't help either. it's a catch 22.
But, the facotry does a pretty darn good job overall. The SDs were the most trouble free production in a long time. Nothing is 100%, but we were pretty close. And I am really glad we are not making things where someone's life depends on it, like in Aerospace.
To make the wiring more neat we have created a front light cluster circuit board, where all the Number Board, Marker Light, Head and Mars Lights are preinstalled in a circuit board which is then screwed into the shell, with a multi pin plug and tether that goes back to the main board. This should make changing LEDs a snap in our E89 and ALCO PAs. We try to make incremental improvements to make sure we are not introducing more unintended errors into production. The factory and management are all for it.
Thanks for all your feedback and support. And HAPPY HOLIDAYS from all of us at Sunset Models.
