About S&Y Industries

S&Y Industries is a Winfield, Kansas-based manufacturer specializing in PCB assembly and wire harnesses. Originally a PCB house, they expanded into wire harness manufacturing as a value-added service. That division has since grown substantially, handling everything from complex multi-net harnesses to complete trailer harness assemblies.

The Challenge

Before Cableteque, S&Y Industries was trying to quote wire harnesses using CalcuQuote, a platform designed for PCB manufacturing. While CalcuQuote excelled at PCBs, it wasn't built for wire harnesses.

"It seemed like you were fighting against yourself to do a wire harness quote in CalcuQuote," explained Ben LeClair, Program Manager over the wire harness division. Every quote required hours of manual prep work just to take customer PDFs and format BOMs so the system could understand them. Simple tasks like calculating wire lengths and recognizing wire types became tedious processes.

"I used to spend hours a week just doing quoting," Ben recalled. For someone also handling program management and purchasing, the inefficiency was unsustainable. As the wire harness division continued growing, the team knew something had to change.

The Search for a Solution

S&Y Industries had been searching for a better solution but believed nothing existed that could match CalcuQuote's quality for their specific needs.

That changed at a CalcuQuote Conference when they met Cableteque's founder. "Our minds were blown. We just loved it." During the conversation, every pain point was addressed. The team recognized a solution built specifically for wire harness manufacturers like them.

The deciding factors were:

Direct Cetec integration: S&Y runs on Ctech ERP. Cableteque's direct integration meant no duplicate data entry and automatic recognition of their IPN numbers which was critical for their stocking agreements with suppliers.

Proven results: Ben tested the same harnesses in both systems. The old process: 40 minutes. Cableteque: 10 minutes. "When I told Matt that, he's like, 'Man, we've gotta get it then.'"

The Solution

S&Y Industries onboarded quickly with live training sessions. The platform's intuitive design meant most learning happened through use. Cableteque's support team was "super responsive", answering questions quickly and keeping productivity high throughout the transition.

The key capabilities S&Y loves the most are:

• Intelligent BOM extraction lets them upload a PDF and Cableteque automatically extracts wire types, lengths, colors, and part numbers

• The system remembers everything once a harness is quoted, so similar quotes require just a few clicks.

• Simple Excel-based RFQs

• Native Cetec integration pulls data directly from their ERP

The Results

• Turnaround time cut in half: Total time from receiving a request to sending a quote has been reduced by 50%.

• Same-day supplier responses: RFQ turnaround improved from 2-3 days to same day.

• Hours recovered weekly: Ben no longer spends hours per week on quoting. Now just a little bit each day keeps him caught up.

• Scaled without adding headcount: The wire harness division has nearly doubled production volume while Ben continues managing quoting alongside his other responsibilities.

• Exponential speed on repeat work: For complex 100-150 net harnesses, similar quotes process exponentially faster since the system remembers all specifications.

Testimonial

"The proof is in the pudding. When you actually use it and recognize what it will do, you won't need me to tell you. You'll be able to see it. We thought we heard about what it would do, and we just sat and thought, 'No, it really can't do all that.' And when it could, it blows your mind away.

Before Cableteque, I spent hours a week just doing quoting. Now I can get through and get the stuff done that I need done with just a little bit each day, and that's enough to keep me caught up. We've almost doubled our wire harness production, and I'm still managing with what I have. We don't have to worry about bringing one more staff in here to take care of that because I can still take care of it and do a good job at it with Cableteque."

Benjamin LeClair, Program Manager, S&Y Industries