Selective Gold Plating Cuts Contact Cost for an Automotive Tier-1

An automotive Tier-1 brought us an L-shaped contact that cost more than the assembly it went into. The design welded a separately gold-plated contact button onto a nickel-plated stainless terminal: two plating runs, one weld station, and gold volume spread over the whole button.

We redesigned the contact feature — no change to fit, form, or function. The welded button became a formed round dimple, gold-plated only on the contact area, and the strip goes to us nickel under-coated on coil. One stamping stage replaces the weld plus a second plating pass.

Outcome

• Gold usage cut to the dimple footprint only; precious-metal cost per part dropped to a fraction of the welded design
• Production back to a single progressive stage on a 45 T high-speed press, 500,000–1,000,000 pieces annually
• Angular tolerance 0.5° across the L bend
• Same electrical interface verified on customer harness tests before PPAP sign-off

Specifications

SUS301 0.8 mm 3/4 hard · nickel underplate on coil + selective gold · blank progression 85.7 mm × 14.2 mm · MOQ 10,000