IPC/WHMA A-620D Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies

The standard “IPC/WHMA A-620D Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies”, jointly developed by the Institute of Printed Circuits (IPC) and the Wire Harness Manufacturers Association (WHMA), is the only industry consensus standard for requirements and acceptance of cable and wire harness assemblies. This standard describes materials, methods, tests, and acceptance criteria for producing crimped, mechanically fastened, and soldered interconnects and related assembly activities associated with cable and wire harness assemblies.

In brief, this standard covers practices and requirements for the manufacture of cable, wire, and harness assemblies. This standard does not provide criteria for sectional or X-ray evaluation. The drawings included in this standard depict specific points identified in the headings of each section. Each drawing is followed by a brief explanation. The development committee recognizes that different segments of the industry have different definitions for some of the terms used herein. For the purposes of this document, the terms cable and harness are used interchangeably.

The IPC/WHMA-A-620 standard can be used as a standalone document for purchasing products, but does not specify the frequency of in-process inspections or the frequency of final product inspections. There is no limit on the number of process indicators or the number of defect repairs/rework allowed. Such information should be developed with a statistical process control plan.

The purpose of this document is to rely on process control methodology to ensure consistent quality levels during the production of products.

Any method that produces an assembly that complies with the acceptability requirements described in this standard may be used. The standards may be updated at any time, including by use of amendments. Use of an amendment or a newer revision is not automatically required.

The use of this standard requires agreement on the class to which the product belongs. The user is ultimately responsible for determining the class in which the assembly is evaluated. If the user does not establish and document the acceptance class, the manufacturer may do so. The criteria defined in this standard reflect three product classes as follows:

• Class 1 General electronic products: Includes products suitable for applications where the main requirement is the function of the completed assembly, such as household consumer appliances.
• Class 2 Special service electronic products: Includes products where sustained performance and extended life are required and uninterrupted service is desired but not critical. Generally, the end-use environment will not cause failures. For example, televisions, gaming systems, home computers, and telephones.
• Class 3 High performance/harsh environment electronic products: Includes products where continuous performance or on-demand performance is critical, equipment downtime cannot be tolerated, the end-use environment may be unusually harsh, and the equipment must operate as needed, such as life support systems and other critical systems. For example, medical devices, military, and anywhere high performance is required.

For the purpose of verifying dimensions, actual measurements, e.g. specific solder fillet dimensions, determination of damage and wrap percentages, are not required except for referee purposes, unless specifically specified by this standard.

The latest update of this standard contains over 700 full color illustrations and drawings. Also included in this latest version are criteria for safety wires and preparation, requirements for individual wire seals, soldering to terminals, crimping of stamped and formed contacts and machined contacts, insulation displacement connectors, ultrasonic welding, splicing, connectors, molding, marking, coaxial cables, conduits, ferrules, shielding, assembly, molding of flexible flat ribbon and wire wrap terminations.

In short, this standard establishes the expectations of what is considered acceptable quality workmanship for cables and cable harnesses among Wire Harness Manufacturers Association members and customers.

Among the numerous testing, measurement, analysis and evaluation studies that our organization has provided for businesses in various sectors, it also provides testing services defined in the “IPC/WHMA A-620D Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Bundle Assemblies” standard with its trained and expert staff and advanced technological equipment.