Wiring harness production is still considered one of the last highly manual manufacturing processes in the automotive industry. Increasing product diversity, growing technical requirements and rising demands for traceability are pushing existing production concepts to their limits. The goal of the Standardization Initiative Wiring Harness (SILS) is therefore to establish the foundations for automated, modular and interoperable wiring harness production across the entire value chain. DIN 72036 “Automation of wiring harness production” provides the normative framework for this development.

During the SILS Industry Forum on April 30, 2026, organized as part of the Innovation Show of the Transformation Hub Wiring Harness, the latest developments and progress within the SILS working groups were presented and discussed.

The wiring harness remains one of the most complex and highly manual components in modern vehicles. Jürgen Reinert demonstrated why economically viable automation requires technical standardization and highlighted the role of DIN 72036 in this context.

The presentation focused on the benefits of standardized requirements across the entire value chain, ranging from components and processes to digital data structures. Furthermore, it was shown how standardized digital descriptions could enable automated conformity checks and more objective assessments of standard compliance in the future.

DIN 72036 provides the normative framework for the automation of wiring harness production. Carsten Kübler explained how design rules, digital product descriptions and standardized data formats interact to enable automation-friendly wiring harnesses.

The current development status of the standard was also presented. While DIN 72036:2024-06 is already available in German and English, DIN 72036:2026-04 marks the second edition of the standard (currently available only in German; an English translation will follow shortly). Work on Version 3 is already underway, including additional design rules and content related to modular connectors.

To develop wire harnesses and manufacturing systems that can be produced automatically, quantifiable, objective evaluation criteria are needed to assess the compliance of wire harnesses with standards. Lukas Bös presented the Standard Compliance Index (DDA), a practical tool designed to do just that.

The standard compliance index provides a practical basis for measuring compliance with DIN 72036 at all stages of development and evaluates how well a wiring harness design meets the requirements of DIN 72036. These metrics are based on three core processes: blockloading, tape application, and clip application. Mr. Bös demonstrated how the individual metrics are calculated and combined into an overall value.

One of the key objectives of the subproject is the improvement of automated connector processes. Jens Haun presented how new design rules for low-voltage connectors are developed to enhance automation capability, accessibility and process reliability.

The focus was on requirements for reference surfaces, freedom from interfering contours, and automated contact-making processes. In addition, new design guidelines for connector gripping geometries and clearance requirements for cable ties in the vicinity of connectors were presented.

The Core Team Modular Connectors focuses on the standardization of modular connector systems for automation-friendly applications. Markus Knepper presented the fundamental definitions, system architectures and objectives of the new working area.

The presentation focused on new design rules for contact carrier configurations as well as housing and contact carrier orientation. The goal is to establish standardized and cross-vendor compatible solutions for modular connector systems.

With numerous new design rules for high-voltage components and processes, the team subproject 4 makes a significant contribution to the further development of DIN 72036. Helmut Wichmann demonstrated how new content is systematically developed and aligned with other subprojects.

The presentation covered requirements for HV distributors, cable lengths, shielding processes as well as new rules for conductor designs and shielding braid contact surfaces. In addition, updates to the matrix systematics and the chapter on conformity assessment were presented.

Subproject 5 focuses on the integration of radio-frequency-specific requirements into DIN 72036. Sebastian Maier explained the particular challenges of RF wiring systems, which are already highly automated but still strongly influenced by proprietary solutions.

Mr. Maier outlined the steps towards integrating RF applications into the standard. This includes the definition of a dedicated RF application layer, the evaluation of existing design rules regarding RF suitability and initial rules for coaxial cables and component orientations.

The ability to automatically verify design guidelines is a key prerequisite for the consistent application of the standard in practice. This requires a digital representation of the products that includes the relevant information. Johannes Becker demonstrated how requirements from DIN 72036 are converted into machine-readable data models such as KBL and VEC.

The presentation focused on the automated verification of design rules within engineering processes. In addition, it was explained how missing content in existing data formats is identified and proposed extensions are submitted to the responsible committees.