Cableteque Wins Best Enterprise Tech Innovation at OCTANE Awards

On September 25, Cableteque won Best Enterprise or B2B Technology Innovation at the 2026 OCTANE High Tech Awards in Irvine.

The award recognizes a company whose B2B product is innovative and shows real growth. For a team building software for an industry most people never think about, that means a lot.

Why this one matters

Almost every car, aircraft, medical device, and defense system runs on wire harnesses. The people who build them are some of the most skilled manufacturers in the world. But the way they quote, source, and plan work has barely changed in decades.

I know, because I lived it. I spent more than 35 years in wire harness manufacturing, including running El-Com Systems until we sold it to Aptiv in 2021. I watched good estimators spend days on a single RFQ. Reading drawings. Chasing missing information. Rebuilding the same data in spreadsheet after spreadsheet. Losing bids not because they couldn't build the part, but because they couldn't answer fast enough.

Cableteque exists because I didn't believe it had to stay that way.

In 2023, I wrote a letter imagining Cableteque from the vantage point of 2027. The core idea was simple: bring engineering and supply chain together on one platform, so manufacturers could make informed decisions, streamline procurement, and manage inventory with confidence. We're not in 2027 yet. But accepting this award, it felt like that vision is becoming real.

How we got here

We built Cableteque to connect engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing on one platform.

It starts with the RFQ. Cableteque analyzes the RFQ package, interprets the drawings, and flags what's missing before it becomes a problem. It automatically builds BOMs and wire lists, costs material and labor, and carries that data to the manufacturing floor.

Our customers see the difference. Quote turnaround is 70% faster. Quote capacity is five times higher.

We also built for manufacturers with the strictest requirements. CabletequeGov is now FedRAMP Ready, giving defense and aerospace manufacturers a secure path to modernize without compromising on compliance.

What it means

Awards are nice. What matters more is what this one says about our industry. Wire harness manufacturers are ready for modern tools. They have been for a while. They just needed something built by people who understand the work.

This recognition belongs to our team, who built something new in a space that badly needed it. Our core values are Pioneering, Insightful, and Agile, and this award reflects all three. It also belongs to our customers, who trusted us early, pushed us hard, and made the product better every week.

Thank you to OCTANE and the High Tech Awards judges. Being recognized here in Orange County, where Cableteque calls home, makes it even more meaningful.

Help shape what comes next

We're expanding into Europe, deepening our integrations, and pushing AI further into every step of the wire harness workflow. But real progress in this industry can't come from one company. It starts with an honest picture of where manufacturers are losing time.

That's why, as co-chair of the WHMA Innovation Advisory Team, I'm asking every wire harness manufacturer to take the 2026 Wire Harness Industry Survey. It takes about seven minutes.

Last year's benchmark found that 74% of manufacturers describe their quoting as manual and too slow, and 83% encounter customer design errors. This year's survey measures what has changed and goes deeper into customer data quality, RFQ handoff, quoting efficiency, and AI adoption. You can opt in to receive the summarized findings.

Take the 2026 WHMA Wire Harness Industry Survey