Lentz most recently served as a materials manager at Manufactured Assemblies Corporation (MAC) in Richmond, Indiana. His broad-based experience in automotive, telephone and power management businesses provides a deep technical background in design and support of wire, cable, cord sets and surge protection devices.

In addition to earning an A.S. in Electrical Engineering Technology and B.S. in Business Administration, Lentz holds three U.S. Patents:

• U.S. Patent 5567181 – low profile electrical plug
• U.S. Patent D354941 – lower profile housing for an electrical plug
• U.S. Patent D355890 – rotatable, multiple electrical outlet power stake

“We are excited to welcome Mark to our team,” said Rick Bromm, ALTEX president. “His extensive background in materials management and operations, paired with a deep commitment to customer service, make a valuable addition to the organization.”

Manufacturers and employees across the country now look to Congress, where the White House is expected to submit USMCA this fall for a congressional vote. If the divided Congress doesn’t act quickly, the United States risks major supply chain disruptions that would burden small businesses across the country.

Failing to move forward on USMCA and breaking down decades of North American trade relationships would spell chaos for manufacturers, suppliers, employees on both sides of the border and especially small businesses.

Take, for example, Indiana-based Altex, a manufacturer of wiring assemblies that form the neural networks used in dozens of products from train brakes to wheelchair-accessible vans, ambulances and medical devices. Altex designs, engineers and sources most of its raw materials from the U.S, manufacturing the wiring assemblies in Indiana and Mexico, later shipping its finished goods to customers in the U.S. and beyond. Without USMCA, well-paying engineering and management jobs in Indiana would be at risk, and dozens of vital products would be made more expensive for U.S. consumers.

Altex is just one of the thousands of American businesses that rely on trade with Mexico to thrive in today’s globally connected economy. Their business operations highlight the unique dynamics that define North American trade.

Read the full article from the Indianapolis Business Journal.

(WESTFIELD, IN – April 2, 2019) ALTEX, a Westfield-headquartered custom wire harness and cable assembly manufacturer, experienced an annual revenue increase of over 15 percent in their manufacturing sector for 2018 and anticipates even higher double-digit growth in 2019. The privately-held company also recently added to its many quality credentials by achieving UL ZPFW2 certification from Underwriters Laboratories.

ALTEX pursued UL certification at its Mexico facility to assure customers that it maintains the highest safety standards and strictest quality procedures to mitigate the risk of counterfeit materials and components in its end products.

“Counterfeit components are a growing concern for the industry. Tracability becomes very important to combat the issue of using misrepresented raw material,” says ALTEX President Rick Bromm. “Fraudulent materials are a quality risk and could likely result in reduced performance and safety of the harness systems we produce.”

As an industry thought leader and chairman of the Wire Harness Manufacturer’s Association, Bromm has worked with the ALTEX team to build the company’s reputation for quality while also setting industry standards for process innovation.

“Having the systems in place to ensure product quality and also validate compliance of materials used in UL certified products is a key step to getting safe products with high integrity to market,” Bromm says. “It’s important to us and vital for our customers.”

To accommodate continued customer demand, the Mexico ALTEX plant recently added 32,000 square feet to its footprint for a total of 42,000sf.  ALTEX currently has 125 employees across North America and expects to increase staffing by nearly 40% in 2019.

ABOUT ALTEX

As a strategic supplier to its partners, ALTEX offers the services and expertise to manufacture even the most complex wire harness, box build and electromechanical assemblies for leading edge companies in the industrial manufacturing, medical, hybrid vehicle, clean energy and other emerging technology markets. For more information, visit altexwireandcable.com.

About the Conference

Wire harness designers and manufacturers are on the front line of addressing technical challenges in today’s electronics industry marketplace. These products play a significant role in the integration of electronic systems within automotive, aerospace, and industrial applications. At this conference, industry experts will focus on new methods, processes and designs that are being utilized to improve product quality and field reliability.

Speakers will touch on topics such as 3D printed wiring, aluminum wire for automotive applications, next generation wire and cabling bundling, cross-process traceability, anti-counterfeiting measures and more.

Another notable session will cover the latest updates on IPC/WHMA-A-620C standard, the only global wire harness and cable assembly workmanship standard. A-620 creates a universal language between OEMs and manufacturers, facilitating better communication regarding unique build specifications and quality management.

Find out more about the upcoming Innovation Conference, including the event schedule and list of speakers.

About IPC

IPC is a global industry association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 4000+ member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $2 trillion global electronics industry.

About WHMA

The Wiring Harness Manufacturer’s Association® (WHMA) was established in 1993. WHMA® is the ONLY organization exclusively serving American manufacturers of wiring harnesses, electronic cable assemblies, and cord sets, along with their suppliers and distributors. WHMA® members have banded together as a not-for-profit association in the spirit of volunteerism and mutual benefit to provide the only industry forum through which member companies can aggressively solve both their specific problems and also address pressing industry problems. The WHMA is dedicated to providing our members the technical support, access to leading edge technology, benchmarking and the ability to network with the leaders in wire processing equipment, services and manufacturing.

Training the next generation of STEM professionals requires cooperative efforts between schools and local employers. Though today’s classrooms are more dynamic than ever, internships offer a real-world look into advanced manufacturing careers, encouraging students to find their passion and future direction.

STEM Summer Experience at ALTEX

We’re thrilled to welcome four interns from Westfield High School to be part of the ALTEX team this summer. They’ll be gaining hands-on experience, developing their skills and seeing what it’s like to work in the manufacturing industry.

Possibly unlike other fields, engineering internships are much more exciting than days spent taking coffee orders. Our interns will work closely with Brian Cline, ALTEX quality engineer, and their summer will be filled with:

• Learning basic metrology
• Performing gauge repeatability and reproducibility studies
• Performing capability studies on the ALTEX process
• Implementation of a new preventative maintenance tracking system
• Cycle time analysis
• Work instruction and visualization development

The more opportunities we give students to truly try their hands at working on innovative projects and solving real-world problems, the more future leaders, inventors and visionaries will opt for careers in STEM.

Hear from Our Interns

We asked our interns to introduce themselves, tell us what drew them to an internship at ALTEX, and what they believe their future holds.

Meet Corey

My name Corey Phillips. I am a senior at Westfield High School where I run cross-country and track. Some of my interests include running, traveling, engineering and photography. During this summer, I am looking to further explore the field of engineering and gain some experience while on the job.

To me, ALTEX is the perfect place to explore engineering and manufacturing, learning concepts that a high school can’t teach.

After high school, I am looking to continue my education at the University of Cincinnati, Trine University or Purdue University. In the future, I am hoping to pursue a career in civil engineering.

Meet Matthew

My name is Matthew Vaughn, not the famous director, and I play a host of roles around my community. For starters, I am a drum major, which entails a lot of late nights out on the practice field long after the sun goes down. I also volunteer frequently and will be on the student board for my school’s National Honor Society.

I applied to ALTEX because I want the opportunity to prove myself – my leadership, my determination, and my skills. I want to demonstrate my character in a workplace setting. And in just one day, this internship has already been a blast. I know that this will be a great experience and I am eager for what the future holds.

I do plan on using this as a springboard for my future studies. I either plan to study nuclear engineering along with civil (or architectural) engineering, so I can conceptualize, test and develop methods for new, clean energy production, or study propulsion and aerospace engineering so I might help connect a global community to new resources within the cosmos or even as a humble designer for innovative transportation.

Meet Charlie

My name is Charlie Degnan and I will be a senior at Westfield High School next year. I’m the oldest in my family with three crazy little brothers. I play high school soccer as well as club soccer for Indy Fire Juniors once the high school season ends.

I love to learn, and I’m very interested in engineering, which is one of the main reasons why I am so excited for this opportunity. I hope to see and find out for the first time what engineering in the real world is all about.

After high school I plan to attend college, and as of right now Purdue University is a main frontrunner. I’m sure my plan will change a million times between now and then but, in terms of engineering, I plan to study either chemical or aerospace engineering.

Meet Will

My name is Will Vance and I’m 16. I have two younger brothers and a younger sister. I am a straight-A student and plan on a rigorous schedule with numerous AP courses in my next two high school years. So far I have most enjoyed my physics related courses (Honors Physics and Intro to Engineering) and my computer courses (AP CS, Game Prog I, Game Prog II). In my time outside of school, I help tutor kids at Carey Ridge on Wednesdays, help in Sunday school every other week, and help at Nora fun Saturdays, which are every third Saturday.

In this job, I hope to gain valuable work experience and knowledge as well as possible insight into my future career. I will most likely be an engineer or a computer programmer, but I haven’t narrowed it down yet.

Interested in learning more about our work at ALTEX? Check out our case studies.

TEConomy, a global leader in research and analytics, will be conducting the research this spring. The organization helps provide companies with the tools necessary to compete in an economy that is “increasingly global, knowledge-based, and driven by innovation.”

As an innovator and leader in strategic contract manufacturing, ALTEX was invited to share their insights. Brian Cline, ALTEX quality engineer, will participate in the study.

Conexus Indiana and its parent organization, Central Indiana Corporate Partnership (CICP), are working with TEConomy Partners to sponsor the research study. These organizations serve to champion Indiana as a leader in advanced manufacturing and logistics. The research will allow CICP, Conexus, and TEConomy to gain a deeper understanding of the backdrop and assets needed to better position companies like ALTEX for future global success.

“Our team is excited to be a part of such an important research project,” said Rick Bromm, ALTEX president. “The efforts of Conexus and CICP have already helped ALTEX be sought out by several high profile international organizations in the sustainable energy industry. We can’t wait to see where else this innovative research will steer us next.”

Distributer Turned Harness Shop

While assembling brewing equipment may be novel and fun, most of ALTEX’s business is more traditional harness assembly. Bromm estimates that railroad equipment manufacturers and vehicle modification companies are the two biggest markets for ALTEX, which has facilities in Westfield, IN, and Nogales, Mexico. In the rail industry, ALTEX’s harnesses are used in such products as end-of-train units, which replaced cabooses; positive traction control in braking systems; and safety-crossing equipment. For vehicle modification companies, ALTEX assembles products like body harnesses, lift harnesses and battery-cable harnesses.
ALTEX also has customers in such industries as automotive, security, medical, agricultural, refrigeration and power generation. “We do business with Fortune 150 companies like Caterpillar, United Technologies and Delta Faucet…all the way down to smaller, medium-sized OEMs,” he says.
Products range from simple, two-wire assemblies with a connector to harnesses that are 40 feet in length. “Not a lot of companies build to that breadth consistently,” Bromm notes. “Most of them either choose small or choose big.”
Founded in 1981, ALTEX started as a component distributer. “We weren’t a normal distributer,” recalls Bromm, who joined ALTEX in 1986 as a field sales representative and quickly became vice president of business development. “Our business model was to work with the engineering community to help them choose the best part for their design.”
That spawned opportunities for some assembly work. “[We did] simple things at first, like putting a connector on a cable,” says Bromm, who became an ALTEX partner in 1995 and its president in 2015.
As the Internet developed, engineers found it a lot easier to locate and select parts on their own, so they no longer needed to rely on distributers like ALTEX. “But we noticed they would still talk to us about manufacturing processes and secondary processes,” Bromm says.
By the late 1990s, ALTEX invested in the right equipment and hired employees with the right skill sets to focus on wire-harness assembly.
The next critical step was strengthening its engineering capability. “While our customers could design a harness, there were better ways to do it sometimes from a manufacturability, cost and quality perspective,” he explains. “So we saw quickly the need to help them design the harness piece to fit into whatever their application and product were going to be.”

Strategic Partner

ALTEX focuses on customers for which wire harness assembly is not a core competency. Typically, these are companies that cannot justify investing in equipment to automate harness assembly to the extent that ALTEX does.
Manufacturers in rural areas, for example, might discover that they are unable to attract enough new employees as demand for their products grows. “So they have to redeploy that workforce,” Bromm says, explaining that manufacturers will question what they should and should not do in house. “[Harness assembly] is usually down on the list because there is so much variation to it.”
Because Bromm views ALTEX as being an extension of its customers’ manufacturing operations, he does not describe ALTEX as a contract manufacturer. “I use strategic partner,” he says, insisting that ALTEX’s customer relationships are deeper than those of a contract manufacturer.
Part of that deeper commitment is offering design assistance to customers, which ALTEX provides with an in-house team of seven mechanical, electrical, industrial and process engineers. “What we do is try to take that time drain off [a customer’s] engineering team,” Bromm explains. “They’ve designed a system or a product. They have an electrical parameter that they have to meet, and they have a physical parameter and an environmental parameter. We can take those parameters and then…suggest a good way to [make the harness.]”
One example of how ALTEX improved a product through design assistance is a process-control monitoring system it assembles for injection-molding machines. “When [the customer] sent it to us, it was completely different. It was a big, rectangular, industrial-looking box,” Bromm recalls. “They said, ‘We need it smaller, and we need it to be networkable.’ ”
ALTEX’s engineers redesigned the monitoring system based on the customer’s parameters.

Poka-Yoke Is No Joke

To ensure the quality of its products, ALTEX employs poka-yoke, or mistake-proofing, concepts throughout its assembly plant. For example, solenoid-based fixtures on assembly-and-test boards physically prevent assemblers from moving defective harnesses along in the assembly process. When a connector is snapped into the solenoid, the connector cannot be removed unless it tests 100 percent for continuity and functionality. “The only way to release [a faulty harness] from the board is for the cell supervisor to unlock the solenoid fixture,” Bromm explains. “[The harness] will be isolated until it tests as a good product.”
This poka-yoke approach even extends to less intricate products, like a wire with two connectors.
“We won’t build anything if we don’t feel 100 percent confident that we can make it…defect-free,” Bromm says, noting that ALTEX has turned customers and products away when it did not believe it could create fixturing to make the assemblies as mistake-proof as possible while balancing cost.

A-620B Spoken Here

In addition to relying on poka-yoke fixturing, ALTEX adheres to a workmanship standard that the majority of its customers cannot build to. ALTEX trains its assemblers to adhere to Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies. Currently in its B revision, the standard is a joint venture of IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries and the Wiring Harness Manufacturer’s Association (WHMA). The 400-page document has more than 680 full-color illustrations.
While ALTEX’s customers specify workmanship criteria for their harnesses, the industry standard addresses any holes in those specifications. Also known as the IPC/WHMA-A-620B standard, the document “tells you what is good and what isn’t,” explains Bromm, who chairs WHMA’s board of directors.
Noting that the C revision of the IPC/WHMA standards is scheduled to be issued in early 2017, Bromm recalls that before the standards were developed, it was not unusual for manufacturers and suppliers to have different opinions on what constituted quality in wire harnesses. “There was no referee,” he says.
WHMA partnered with IPC on the standards because IPC could provide training metrics and training facilities.
Both of ALTEX’s facilities have certified trainers who receive extensive training off site from IPC and then return to train fellow ALTEX employees. As they train their co-workers, the certified trainers issue serialized certificates to verify that the employees have been trained to meet the IPC/WHMA-A-620B standard. To ensure better adherence long term, ALTEX prefers using employees as trainers rather than bringing in external trainers.
Adhering to workmanship standards is a major aspect of ALTEX’s culture, regardless of whether employees are in manufacturing, engineering, accounting, customer service or purchasing. “Our culture is: Everyone is accountable,” Bromm stresses. “Basically, we want a nucleus of critical thinkers.”

Common Ground

For Bromm, chairing WHMA’s board has similarities to serving as ALTEX’s president. “From the high-level perspective, I have to understand what we are trying to be,” he says, noting that both WHMA and ALTEX need to have a vision, develop and execute plans, and measure results. “It would be great if you could go down a straight line, but we are going to zig and zag. …You’ve got to adjust based on what is going on in the economy and any number of things.”
WHMA’s Executive Director Jim Manke, CAE, describes Bromm is a consummate professional. “[He is] a very solid, strategic thinker with an eye to the future,” Manke says. “He commands respect with the board of directors. …They look to Rick for future initiative.”
One of the biggest challenges Bromm says he faces with the WHMA board is getting to know its members in the limited time afforded by their meetings. In contrast, he works with ALTEX’s employees on a day-to-day basis, so he has much more time to get to know their personalities.
Additionally, while everyone at ALTEX is playing on the same team, the WHMA board is made up of competitors. “We all compete at some level, but it is really quite friendly,” Bromm points out. “We all do different things: Some are military-oriented. Some are medicine-oriented. Some have added capabilities.”

Expanding for the Future

To remain competitive, ALTEX is expanding its facilities. In 2016, ALTEX spent $250,000 to remodel its facility in Westfield, which increased the plant’s capacity by approximately 25 percent by taking advantage of extra space in its existing footprint. That additional space has already been designated for a new project that begins in early 2017.
Noting that ALTEX is on a “pretty rapid growth curve,” Bromm predicts that the company will experience at least 60 percent growth by the end of 2017. To further increase capacity, ALTEX is looking at expanding its 20,000-square-foot operation in Westfield by 50 percent, and it is exploring adding 20,000 square feet to its facility in Nogales, which currently has 10,000 square feet.
ALTEX’s 56 employees in Westfield and its 54 in Nogales have the same skill sets, Bromm notes, adding that the average length of employment at ALTEX is more than eight years.
Where ALTEX assembles a product often depends on which of its facilities is closer to the customer. “Some customers want their product closer to their facilities than others,” he says, adding that the cost of shipping cable and other materials to Mexico and paying tariffs can make assembling products in Nogales more expensive than doing so in Westfield.
ALTEX encourages its customers to visit its Westfield and Nogales plants. “I’m a little hesitant to do business with a company that doesn’t want to come see what we are doing,” he says. “It scares me about their attitude toward quality.”
ALTEX, in turn, visits its customers, in part to glean “tribal knowledge” about how the customers have been assembling the products they are outsourcing to ALTEX. “That helps us understand how we might have to do things to support them,” Bromm says. “That might lead us to buy something we don’t currently have.”
With ALTEX as their strategic partner, customers expect more than just material, labor and overhead, Bromm insists. Customers also expect ALTEX to deliver quality products on time and at competitive pricing. They expect superb customer service, and they expect ALTEX to act like an extension of their manufacturing operations.
“You’re going to get good execution, market pricing, superb customer service and the highest quality,” Bromm promises customers in an ALTEX video. “So as I like to say, you can put your head on your pillow and sleep well at night.”
Click here to view the article on assemblymag.com.