How much does it cost · wire harness
Short answer: a harness is priced mostly in labour time: cutting, stripping, crimping, inserting each pin, taping, testing. At a harness maker quoted by ASSEMBLY, labour is about 30% of the harness assembly cost; most of the rest comes from wire, terminals and connectors.
By the RFQdecoder team · updated 27 September 2026
The number of crimps and pins is the first driver: count it on the wiring drawing. A harness with 40 wire ends does not take the same time whether terminals are crimped by hand or on an automatic crimper.
| Operation | Published time or rate |
|---|---|
| Manual crimping | 80 to 120 per hour |
| Crimping on an automatic machine | 400 to 600 per hour |
| Connector insertion, skilled operator | 5 to 7 s per pin |
| Connector insertion, new operator | 9 to 14 s per pin |
| Sealed connector (seal fitting) | 10 to 15 s extra per terminal |
Source for times: Hooha Harness. Labour share: ASSEMBLY, where a wire gauge changeover on a machine went from 20 minutes to just over 7 minutes.
Example values: 40 crimps, 40 pins inserted at 6 s each, hourly rate of €40/h. We compare manual crimping at 100 per hour with automatic crimping at 500 per hour.
| Crimping | Total time | Labour (crimping and insertion) |
|---|---|---|
| Manual, 100 per hour | 28.0 min | €18.67 |
| Automatic, 500 per hour | 8.8 min | €5.87 |
Calculated with the example values above, excluding wire, terminals, connectors, taping and test. Automatic crimping cuts the time by three here.
Add material (wire, terminals, connectors) and labour time. At a harness maker quoted by ASSEMBLY, labour is about 30% of the harness assembly cost.
Hooha Harness gives 80 to 120 crimps per hour by hand and 400 to 600 per hour on an automatic crimper.
Hooha Harness gives 5 to 7 seconds per pin for a skilled operator and 9 to 14 seconds for a new operator.
Because crimping is done by hand and the harness board and test are prepared for each part number, whatever the quantity.
By reducing the number of wire ends, standardising gauges and terminals, and ordering enough to move to automatic crimping.
Upload your wiring drawing: material, crimps, insertion, test and cost of each step, with every assumption shown.