Using the heat shrink does provide a nice end solution however it sounds as if the amount of labor required to assemble these just doesn't really make economic sense. Have you looked into having the ribbon cable inserted directly into a break-apart 1x10 plastic housing that is slightly extended and just silkscreening the labels onto it? It would drastically reduce the assembly costs since the wires do not need to be separated and less chance of an accidental mis-label. Heck, you might be able to find a shop to produce an inexpensive mold that has the labels embossed right into the ends... maybe even nice round ends with simple strain reliefs. I would gladly pay $10-15 for a cable set if it would last and was made of good material.
[quote author="EmbeddedCreations"]Great idea, I wasn't aware of those parts. Prices seem to be about $0.50-$1.00 each at least from the one distributor I could find with pricing, is that about right from your experience?[/quote]
That seems a little on the high side (I paid around $0.20/ea for prototype qty when I did them). Since your going to Shenzhen... you can find them for around $0.01/ea or less in qty. They are often referred to as "PCB nut"s (can't post links as the forum says they are "too spamy for a new user", otherwise I would). I only mentioned the Mac8 line since they are precision, had cad diagrams for illustrating the part, and include the pick-n-place support (didn't know your production scale) but if hand soldering is available to you, a big bag for like $5 should last you a little while.
One approach that I have used in the past is to do reverse mounting, where you fasten the board from the reverse side. Using a PCB threaded insert (such as the TH series inserts from Mac8), all you would need to find is enough space for 1-2 screws since 2 or more modules connected together will each help support the modules next to it. It's higher cost (due to the extra parts), however it does meet your need and does not require extra distance between the PCB and the display (plus the Mac8 parts are pick-and-place compatible).
