When three becomes one

Connector companies are now keenly aware of their business obligations to satisfy environmental demands by helping reduce the overall weight of the aircraft. An increasing trend to move away from traditional mechanical components towards sophisticated embedded electronics to manage the whole gamut of fluctuations through the aircraft's power management systems means the role of the humble connector has gone far beyond merely plugging in and transmitting signal.

As a leading supplier of application-specific, high-reliability electrical interconnect solutions from highly integrated assemblies to microminiature connectors and spring probe contacts, Smiths Connectors' connector product portfolio comprises the Hypertac, IDI and Sabritec brands, which are synonymous with exceptional performance when critical applications require a technologically advanced, high quality, multi-pin electrical connection to ensure reliability and safety.

Hypertac initiated a comprehensive re-branding exercise back in 2013 to help position the company, along with its two sister companies of Sabritec and IDI under the Smiths Connectors banner. The three previously independent brands have now forged a supportive working relationship based upon the natural synergies that exist between their respective technologies and business models.

Sum of the parts

The company believes that the single branding model simplifies the relationship among the brands. In addition to extending its global presence through the combined brands, the re-branding also increases the focus on delivering the most comprehensive solutions available to its worldwide customer base. Clearly, the combination of the three is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Smiths Connectors provides engineered solutions for the civil and military aviation industries with technology that is well-suited to addressing both the reliability required for flight critical systems, as well as environmental concerns such as shock, vibration, and extreme temperature ranges. And mindful of burgeoning environmental demands for lower CO2 emissions, Smiths Connectors delivers lightweight interconnect standard and custom solutions, featuring high density, high power, EMI/EMP protection, RF and high speed capabilities in line with the next generation of cockpit avionics, communication equipment, navigation systems and various other airframe applications.

“We don't tend to have many commodity product platforms,” begins Smiths Connectors' vice-president sales EMEA, Giuseppe Lancella. “Instead we have product platforms that are proprietary and can be customised according to customer requirements. Our approach is to work very closely with the customer; we are good listeners and this is one of our best characteristics. Our intention is to always understand their requirements in order to offer them the lowest cost of system ownership.”

I'm interested to learn about some of the background behind the consolidation of the three connector product families. Lancella feels Smiths Connectors has made substantial progress in the last two years from one that used to be quite fragmented into a more unified business proposition.

“Our entity was very regional and sometimes national, particularly in Europe. Very often our European-based factories created value added benefits for the customers because they had people dedicated to regional customers, speaking the same language and located very close to them. However, we realised that we were not leveraging on all the possible technology and expertise available within the group.

“Two years ago, Smiths Connectors performed a large investigation into changing the organisation, creating global functions and developing a strategy in order to assemble all the technology and capabilities available within the group and reorganise our European, North American and Asian regions. This opportunity gave us the chance to channel all our technology and provide our engineering capabilities around the world to the customers, at the same time strengthening the local points of contact with global knowledge and support.”

New look and feel

The global feel, local presence (GLOCAL) philosophy springs to mind here, but according to Lancella, customers are looking to consolidate their supplier base in order to maintain critical mass in terms of having more control over their suppliers.

“A consolidated supplier base helps customers reduce costs, administration, and improves material utilisation and BoM rationalisation too. Customers want a partner like Smiths Connectors to have more products and technology available. Before, they were more comfortable working with local suppliers. However, the civil and defence industries have become increasingly more global, and they are now happy to source products from anywhere.”

“To have a supplier that is prepared to listen to what we call ‘the voice of the customer', which for us has become a fundamental activity of our sales people and for them means to come back with a substantial and solid solution - irrespective of the region – translates into the fact that the geography then becomes irrelevant because the customers we have in these regions recognise us as being responsible for all the products, wherever they are sourced from.”

Clearly, there are changes ahead for the connector, but it's what's inside that counts. Despite the latest technological advances, the simple need to keep hold of your competitive advantage means that whatever is happening outside the connector also counts for a lot as well.

“Smiths Connectors targets the defence, civil and space avionics segments and we are very satisfied in terms of our penetration in the leading aircraft programmes,” Lancella concludes. “We have the largest share of connectors inside the Eurofighter, and we recently developed connector products for the F-35 JSF and Airbus A400M, too. However, there is continuous scrutiny in terms of the amount of money any country is prepared to spend on its defence budget. Although the defence sector is under the threat of budget constraints, we firmly believe the market continues to drive advances in technology which can also apply to other applications, such as those in civil aviation.”

www.smithsconnectors.com