Q-tie – The Practical “Turbo”-Cable Tie
HellermannTyton is the world’s leading manufacturer of cable ties. The company is strengthening its market position with proven products and their further development, while continuously extending the product portfolio through innovation. As the leading German newspaper Die Welt writes: every three days a new product.
The range of ties developed and manufactured by HellermannTyton excels through diverse practical, physical and visual characteristics. This year, due to its special characteristics, one of the company’s innovations in particular has become an important focal point of corporate communications at trade fairs: the Q-tie.
This is the reason why we would like to take a closer look at the advantages of the ‘turbo tie’ in the recently launched HellermannTyton GmbH corporate blog.
German trade fair visitors have already had the opportunity to put the Q-tie through its paces at eltefa, the largest german fair for the electronics industry, held in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Aircraft Interiors Expo, the world’s largest trade fair event for the design of aircraft interiors, held in Hamburg, Germany. It soon became apparent that fastening with the Q-tie could be achieved much faster and more easily than with conventional ties. During a series of customer tests, HellermannTyton was not only able to demonstrate how easy and fast it felt to tie cables using the Q-tie, we were able to prove this objectively in tests conducted with the independent monitoring of DEKRA, one of the world’s leading expert inspection organisations.
Installers from a range of trades and industries were invited to HellermannTyton in Tornesch, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Under the strict supervision of DEKRA, participants ran through a realistic and demanding test course under similar conditions to those experienced each day on the job. This included tying overhead without being able to see the cable, along with the additional pressure of time – all under the watchful eye of the DEKRA. The seven participants were required to run through the test five times, fastening cable by hand each time with 13 ties at marked points along the cable route.
The results were impressive: Q-ties allowed time savings of more than 25%. The table with the individual times for each run through can be found on the DEKRA certificate.
These clear and very impressive savings in time can be attributed to two characteristics of the cable tie. One of these is the innovative open-head design which allows particularly fast and easy installation. There is no need to thread the strap — the narrow end of the strap is simply inserted from above into the open head. This brings enormous advantages especially when gloves are worn during installation or when the installer is working in a confined space. What’s more, the large, fluted surface of the strap end allows safe and ergonomic assembly.
The second innovation stemming from the open-head design is a pre-lock function. From the Q30 Q-tie upwards, installers also have the option of being able to bundle cables temporarily. Up until now, all cable ties on the market have had to be either open or closed — they were not designed for reopening.
Using Q-ties an installer can insert the narrow end of the strap into the open head from above and pre-lock the tie, later reopening the tie should more cable be needed. Once all the required cable has been laid, the installer can close the Q-tie permanently simply by pulling it tight.
Due to the amount of time saved in comparison with conventional cable ties, but also because of greater ease in handling, Q-tie is finding its devoted fans right across industry and the trades – whether an installation is being performed with gloves or without, whether it is overhead or in areas where the angle of access is extremely limited. HellermannTyton sees Q-tie as the focal point of the complete range of the Q-series. Other products help to round off this innovative series. These include the Q-Mount mounting base, which has been fine-tuned for optimal use with Q-tie, and Q-tag identification tags.
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