Why it Makes Sense to Work with an American Manufacturer of Wiring Harnesses

Custom cable wire harness manufacturer

In order to minimize expenses and maximize profits, many companies resort to “offshoring.” Offshoring is when a business, like a wiring harness manufacturer, moves some or all of its operations overseas, to locations where labor and other expenses are much lower than they are in the U.S. This is to the company’s advantage, but of course it hurts American workers by decreasing their job opportunities.

In some cases, these companies will later do what is called “reshoring,” or in other words, they bring their operations back to our country. However, according to studies cited by Forbes, U.S. manufacturers are not reshoring to any great degree, so a tremendous amount of manufacturing continues to happen in developing countries. 

Rapport Produces Wiring Harnesses in the U.S.

At Rapport, we produce our wiring harnesses in the U.S. Not all cable harness manufacturers can say that, but we feel keeping our operations here (specifically in the Denver, Colorado area) is important for a few reasons. One is that staffing and maintaining a U.S.-based manufacturing operation is good for the local economy. Every person we employ takes the money they earn and “reinvests” it in other Colorado businesses—everything from the restaurants where they eat to the service providers that help them maintain their homes and automobiles. Send jobs overseas and all of those businesses suffer.

Another reason we produce our wiring harnesses locally is that we can be far more flexible and responsive to our customers. As one of the industry’s leading cable harness manufacturers, we strive to provide attentive service to our long list of loyal customers. Companies who work with manufacturers whose operations are overseas have to contend with both the time zone differences and the significant physical distance. 

From our fairly centralized location in Colorado, we can easily get parts to the West Coast in 2-3 days and to the East Coast in 4-5 days. And, of course, we can provide expedited shipping if needed, and greatly reduce even those short timeframes. 

Product coming in from other countries is another story. It can take four weeks or more to get a shipment via ocean transport. Yes, expedited shipping via air transport is an option, but for most companies it is prohibitively expensive. Plus, there can be added costs and delays associated with getting wiring harnesses and other products through customs. 

Offshoring vs. Outsourcing in the Production of Wiring Harnesses

In the interest of full transparency, we should note that some of the parts we use in making wiring harnesses, battery packs, and other items are imported from overseas. However, that practice, which is called outsourcing, is different than offshoring, and it does not have the negative effects that offshoring does. 

We find that incorporating imported parts in our manufacturing processes creates the right balance of timeliness and cost-effectiveness for our customers. We maintain enough parts to ensure we can meet our standing requests and any surges that may occur, but they are parts obtained at a lower price, which helps us and our customers control our costs. 

And, while some parts and products produced overseas have a reputation for unpredictable quality, we only work with providers who have proven to us that their parts are consistently of the highest caliber. Plus, we have among the most rigorous testing standards of any cable harness manufacturer to ensure that every finished part that goes out the door meets our requirements as well as client expectations. 

Manufacturing Products in America for 40 Years

One more reason to work with Rapport is that we are one of few cable harness manufacturers that can say that they have been in this business for 40 years. We know what it takes to obtain high-quality components, produce exceptional wiring harnesses, and get them where they are needed in a timely manner because we’ve been doing exactly that for four decades!

Our full-service facility outside of Denver can take wiring harnesses from prototype to final packaging, quickly and cost-effectively. Contact Rapport, Inc. today to get answers to all of your questions about our wiring harnesses and other products!

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