Sensor packages: adding value for OEMs

There is a new kind of relationship between parts suppliers and OEMs. In the past, most parts suppliers only designed and developed the various parts and components that were needed for their OEM customers. In today’s competitive markets, that is not enough.

Parts manufacturers need to do more; indeed, wherever possible a vendor should be looking to work in partnership with its OEM customers - working with them from the initial design process to final delivery.

Providing not just the sensor but a complete sensor interface is one way in which technology providers can help OEMS to slash production cycle time and gain competitive advantage. By working closely with design engineers, it is possible, for example, to provide a plug-and-play assembly that will smoothly integrate with customers’ designs without requiring additional engineering.

Providing the needed application and engineering support reduces customer design time and eliminates the need to hire additional engineering staff for specific projects or to contract with outside engineering experts.

Working closely with a single vendor who can supply a wide range of component variants makes the procurement and design process more efficient. Working with a variety of different suppliers - each with their own ordering/supply protocols - can be complicated.

Often, OEMs need to get a specific component from one supplier before they can then specify the associated components from another. Procuring from a single source, customers can be confident that various components will work together and not require additional testing, re-engineering and re-certification.

Using a single suppler also improves reliability by reducing failure points. A single supplier can provide a tested and warranted sub-assembly which can eliminate much of the engineering work and the effort required to integrate components from various suppliers. In addition, using a single supplier and single part number for purchasing, manufacturing and tracking greatly simplifies the product qualification and manufacturing process.

By way of an example, for temperature and humidity sensing applications, Honeywell supplies a special HumidIcon module that combines two different sensors in a single package, providing a smaller size and eliminating the need for designing-in the components required for processing the signals between the two sensors. All the additional intelligence is already included in the module package.

By working with the OEM’s design engineers, Honeywell develops custom sensor modules that facilitate the implementation and interaction of the sensor into the OEM's product. This removes the burden of integration and re-design, and provides a product that fits the OEM's established technical requirements. This can include special, non-standard electrical termination in a sensor, such as adding wiring or connectors to existing leads.

Working with technology providers that focus on the ‘value-added approach’ has helped many OEM customers streamline their products. For example, the implementation of a differential pressure and airflow sensor into a single package greatly eases the development of a redundant flow sensing product for medical respiratory devices, while also helping to minimise the overall assembly size.

In order to reduce costs and improve product design efficiency, OEM manufacturers should look for sensor suppliers that do more than just provide components.

A design collaboration – where the component supplier is able to provide technical expertise to the OEM’s design engineers as well as to develop and supply customised modules that provide a wide range of performance, size and I/O options – has evolved as the new best practice for medical and industrial device development and manufacturing.

Alex Geddes is with Honeywell Sensing and Control