Skip to content
PlanetISO
IPC and J-STD electronics assemblyShort courseFoundation

IPC/WHMA-A-620 Essentials: Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies

Build and inspect harnesses that pass source inspection and survive the aircraft

Duration
3 hours
Modules
6
Final exam
70% to pass
Certificate
No expiry
$99
  • Lifetime access to the course and your certificate
  • Verifiable Certificate of Completion. Certificate does not expire.
  • 3 exam attempts
  • Progress saved to your account on every slide
Buying for a team? Volume pricing from 5 seats
1 to 4 seatsList price
5 to 10 seats15% off
11 to 20 seats25% off
21 or more seats35% off

$420.75

5 × $84.15 · save $74.25

Each seat is a single-use code. Send one to each learner; they sign in with their own account and earn their own certificate. Track progress on your Team page.

About this course

IPC/WHMA-A-620 is the standard aerospace and defense customers name when they buy cable and wire harness assemblies. It is the shared language between the drawing, the assembler, the inspector and the customer source inspector. This course teaches that language at the level a harness shop uses it every day: what the three product classes mean, how target, acceptable, process indicator and defect are decided, and why the drawing and the contract always come first.

You will work through the harness in build order. Wire preparation: stripping without damaging strands, when to tin and when tinning is forbidden, insulation damage and marking. Crimped terminations: the principle of the gas-tight crimp, tooling calibration and pull tests, conductor and insulation crimps, bellmouth and extrusion, contacts, insertion and retention. Soldered terminations and splices: cups, hooks, splice types, heat shrink and sealing, strain relief and stress loops. Harness assembly: routing, bend radius, lacing and tying, sleeving, labels, shielding, backshells and clamps. Testing and inspection: continuity and hipot, test records, common defects and causes, writing a nonconformance, first article and sampling, and what a source inspector checks.

The course is for assemblers, leads, inspectors, test technicians, quality staff and supplier quality engineers at aerospace, defense, medical and industrial electronics suppliers, and for anyone whose customer flow-downs ask for training on IPC/WHMA-A-620. It teaches the concepts and the reasoning in plain words. It does not reproduce the standard's criteria, tables or figures, and it is not an IPC certification; formal IPC certification is available only through IPC-licensed training centers.

The course closes with a 20-question examination drawn from a bank of 30. On passing you receive a PlanetISO Certificate of Completion with lifetime access to the course content. The certificate does not expire.

What you will be able to do

  • Explain the scope of IPC/WHMA-A-620, the three product classes and the acceptability categories, and state the order of precedence between contract, drawing and standard.
  • Prepare wire for termination without strand or insulation damage, and state when tinning is required and when it is prohibited.
  • Describe what makes a crimp reliable, the tooling, calibration and pull test controls that prove it, and the inspection points on a crimped contact.
  • Recognise acceptable soldered terminations, splice types, heat shrink and sealing, and the strain relief that keeps joints alive under vibration.
  • Apply routing, bend radius, bundling, sleeving, shielding and backshell principles to a harness build.
  • Explain what continuity, dielectric withstand and insulation resistance tests prove and do not prove, and keep test records that trace to the drawing revision.
  • Write a nonconformance that describes condition, requirement and containment, and prepare the evidence a customer source inspector will ask for.

Course outline

  1. 1

    What IPC/WHMA-A-620 covers

    The scope of the cable and harness standard, the three product classes, the acceptability categories, how the drawing and the customer drive everything, the space and military addendum, and where ESD and FOD fit.

    About 30 minutes, then a module quiz

  2. 2

    Wire preparation

    Stripping without damaging strands, what strand damage means for the termination, tinning and when not to tin, insulation damage, and identifying and marking wires and cables so the harness can be built, tested and maintained.

    About 30 minutes, then a module quiz

  3. 3

    Crimped terminations

    What makes a crimp a reliable joint, tooling calibration and pull testing, the conductor crimp and the insulation crimp, bellmouth and extrusion, contacts and connectors, and insertion and retention.

    About 35 minutes, then a module quiz

  4. 4

    Soldered terminations and splices

    Cup and hook terminals, what a good solder termination looks like, the splice types the standard recognises, heat shrink and sealing, and strain relief and stress loops that keep the joint alive under vibration.

    About 30 minutes, then a module quiz

  5. 5

    Harness assembly

    Routing and bend radius, lacing and tying, sleeving and braiding, labels, shielding and grounding, and connector backshells and clamps: the work that turns terminated wires into a harness that survives the aircraft.

    About 35 minutes, then a module quiz

  6. 6

    Testing and inspection

    Continuity and hipot concepts, test records, common defects and their causes, writing a nonconformance that leads somewhere, first article and sampling, and what a customer source inspector checks.

    About 35 minutes, then a module quiz

  7. Final examination and certificate

    20 questions drawn from the course bank. Score 70% or higher to receive your Certificate of Completion.

More IPC and J-STD electronics assembly training