Innovative Industrial Connectivity Streamlines OEM Installations

Whether you are an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) aiming to optimize your equipment design or seeking new connectivity solutions to speed up production and installation, the Molex Brad product portfolio delivers the powerful combination you need: quality, affordability and engineering innovation. These industrial connectivity solutions are engineered to help reduce installation complexity and improve uptime across industries like food and beverage, material handling and data centers.

The Molex Brad portfolio includes the BradPower connector family, designed to support OEMs with application-specific engineering and customizable solutions that simplify power distribution challenges on the factory floor. Molex experts weighed in on what to consider when you want to “connectorize” your workflow with off-the-shelf or custom solutions that fit OEM manufacturing and service needs.

What Can Industrial Connectivity Solutions Do for My Equipment?

For OEMs, integrating Molex BradPower connectivity means transforming how your equipment is built, installed and serviced. By incorporating these industrial connectivity solutions early in the design phase, you can improve product reliability, reduce installation complexity and accelerate time to market.

Simplify assembly and reduce build time
Pre-terminated connectors help OEMs reduce wiring errors, speed assembly lines and lower overall labor costs.

Enhance equipment modularity
Plug-and-play connectors make it easier to customize equipment variants for different customers or applications without redesigning internal wiring.

Facilitate faster field service and maintenance
When cables, sensors or motors fail, your technicians can quickly swap out components without specialized tools or electricians, reducing equipment downtime and warranty exposure.

Meet stringent compliance and durability standards
Molex connectors are designed for harsh industrial environments and meet IP67 ratings, ensuring OEM equipment performs reliably in vibration, dust and moisture-prone settings.

Key Considerations for OEMs Designing Connectivity Solutions

OEMs face unique challenges in balancing design flexibility, manufacturability and end-user serviceability. Consider the following when selecting your connectivity approach:

Compliance with space constraints
Compact connector designs, like the M12 L-code, enable OEMs to reduce equipment footprint without sacrificing power or signal capacity.

Environmental robustness
Ensure connectors meet IP67 or higher to handle the vibration, temperature swings and mechanical shocks typical in industrial machine operation.

Power and signal needs
Cater to a range of control voltages (24 V DC, 120/240 V AC) and three-phase power requirements for motors and actuators.

Scalable solutions
Choose connectivity that supports future upgrades or expansions in machine capability without extensive rewiring.

Why Are Molex BradPower Connectors Important for OEMs?

Before BradPower connectors, OEMs and electricians manually pulled wires through conduit, terminated them in junction boxes and laboriously wired power circuits on the factory floor.

BradPower connectors are flexible, circular, molded components designed for three-phase power distribution. Standardized connectors with plug-and-play capability reduce on-machine wire complexity, miswiring risks, and warranty claims and simplify equipment assembly. To further reduce field labor, OEM machines can be shipped with pre-wired power cables.  As machine configurations evolve, BradPower connectors allow for easy future scalability.

This streamlined approach is especially beneficial for OEMs in industries experiencing rapid growth driven by e-commerce, such as material handling and logistics.

Harsh I/O Modules Designed for OEM Industrial Equipment

OEMs designing machines for harsh industrial environments must ensure connectivity can withstand vibration, mechanical shock, temperature fluctuations, exposure to dust and water, and multiple power and signal types. Meet these application demands with IP67-rated industrial connectors and cables that can handle 24 V DC control signals, AC power, three-phase motor power and Ethernet communication seamlessly. Brad I/O modules act as rugged junction boxes, consolidating wiring from sensors and actuators to controllers, reducing field wiring complexity and improving OEM equipment serviceability.

Mini-Change Versus M12 L-Code Connectors

OEM machine designers are increasingly favoring M12 L-code connectors because they deliver higher current ratings (up to 16 A) and support 63 V AC/DC power, offer a smaller 12 mm diameter form factor for space-constrained designs, and provide a modern, standardized solution that supports both power and signal in a compact footprint. This enables OEMs to build smaller, more efficient machines without sacrificing reliability.

How Can OEMs Choose the Best Industrial Connectivity Solution?

Molex and Wesco provide a comprehensive portfolio of Brad solutions, support for different cable types, glands and cord grips, and engineering assistance to customize solutions that reduce time to market and optimize manufacturing costs.

Choosing the right industrial connectivity solution is a critical step for OEMs aiming to boost efficiency, reduce costs and future-proof equipment designs. The Molex Brad portfolio, including next-generation BradPower connectors and rugged I/O modules, offers scalable, reliable and space-saving options tailored to the demanding requirements of modern industrial applications. By adopting these innovative solutions early in the design process, OEMs can streamline assembly, accelerate time to market and deliver superior performance, while meeting rigorous environmental standards. Embrace Brad connectivity to power your OEM equipment with speed, reliability and innovation.