EuroWire January 2015

Happy new year! Barcelona, Spain, was the setting for the 50 th anniversary celebrations of die manufacturer Esteves. The company invited a number of guests to a night of football and food at the Camp Nou, and enjoyed the spectacle as Barcelona beat Seville 5-1 with Messi netting a hat-trick to break the Spanish Primera League scoring record. You can read the full story on page 10. American reel manufacturer Reelex is continuing its anti-counterfeit measures to protect its products and licensees. Full details can be found on page 12. It’s full steam ahead for Prysmian after being awarded a €26m contract to supply signalling cables to the Swiss Federal Railways company. Head to page 17 to read the story. In our technology section, Zumbach has launched a new generation of spark testers, ensuring that quality standards are maintained during the extruding or rewinding process. Full details of this can be found on page 30. And you can also catch up with news of a new liquid-based quench technology from US company Thermcraft that can replace the existing hazardous technologies of molten lead, molten salts and sand-based uidised beds. Full details are on page 33. Also keep an eye out for the March issue of EuroWire, which will feature details of the TEL fair in Istanbul, Turkey; and Interwire, the largest wire and cable trade exhibition in the USA, which is held every two years. Don’t forget to send in your editorial by 19 th January, and our advertising deadline closes on 3 rd February. Half a century milestone for Esteves

* US$33 purchase only Front cover: Zumbach AG See page 76 for further details

E DITOR : ....................................... David Bell F EATURES E DITOR (USA) : .........Dorothy Fabian E DITORIAL ASSISTANT : .................Christian Bradley D ESIGN /P RODUCTION : ................Julie Tomlin P RODUCTION : ..............................Lisa Wright S ALES & M ARKETING : ................Jason Smith ( I NTERNATIONAL ) UK & ROW sales

Giuliana Benedetto Italian speaking sales Hendrike Morriss German speaking sales Linda Li Chinese speaking sales

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January 2015

Regulars

29

8 Diary of events

10 Corporate News

24 Transatlantic Cable

29 Technology News

Copyright -Esteves Group

76 Editorial Index

8

76 Advertisers’ Index

41

Deutsch Inhalt 45 Neuigkeiten 76 Inserentenverzeichnis

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Technical Articles

Next Issue

41

Water lubricating application in wire and coaxial cable drawing process with nano-dies By ZhangWenhua, Guo Songshou, Zhang Zhiming and Shen Hesheng, Shanghai Jiaoyou Diamond Coating Co Ltd, and Shen Bin, Sun Fanghong and Wang Xinchang, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China Anwendungsmöglichkeiten der Wasserschmierung bei Draht- und Koaxialkabelziehverfahren durch Ziehsteine mit nanokristalliner Diamantschicht Von Zhang Wenhua, Guo Songshou, Zhang Zhiming und Shen Hesheng, Shanghai Jiaoyou Diamond Coating Co Ltd, und Shen Bin, Sun Fanghong und Wang Xinchang, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China Application de la lubri cation à l’eau au processus de tré lage des câbles coaxiaux avec les lières revêtues de diamant nanocristallin Par ZhangWenhua, Guo Songshou, Zhang Zhiming et Shen Hesheng, Shanghai Jiaoyou Diamond Coating Co Ltd, et Shen Bin, Sun Fanghong et Wang Xinchang, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Chine Applicazione della lubri cazione ad acqua nel processo di tra latura di li e cavi coassiali con liere rivestite di diamante nanocristallino A cura di Zhang Wenhua, Guo Songshou, Zhang Zhiming e Shen Hesheng, Shanghai Jiaoyou Diamond Coating Co Ltd, e Shen Bin, Sun Fanghong e Wang Xinchang, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Cina - Zhang Wenhua, Guo Songshou, Zhang Zhiming Shen Hesheng, «Shanghai Jiaoyou Diamond Coating Co Ltd», Shen Bin, Sun Fanghong Wang Xinchang Shanghai Jiaotong University, Lubricación con agua aplicada al tre lado de alambre y de cable coaxial con hileras de diamante nanocristalino Por Zhang Wenhua, Guo Songshou, Zhang Zhiming y Shen Hesheng, Shanghai Jiaoyou Diamond Coating Co Ltd, y Shen Bin, Sun Fanghong y Wang Xinchang, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China

Getting Technical: Long-term cable reliability design criteria Feature Interwire Show issue

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Indice Español 70 Noticias de Mercado 76 Indice de Anunciadore s 7

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Indice Italiano 64 Notizie del Mercato 76 Indice degli Inserzionisti

dates for your diary . . .

Interwire

2015

27-30 april: Interwire – trade exhibition – atlanta, USa Organisers : Wire association international Fax : +1 203 453 8384

May

12-15 May: wire Russia – trade exhibition – Moscow, russia Organisers : Messe düsseldorf and VniiKP Fax : +7 499 246 9277 Email : info@wire-russia.com Website : www.wire-russia.com

Email : sales@wirenet.org Website : www.wirenet.org

June

16-18 June: 16 th Guangzhou Tube andWire Fair –

trade exhibition – Guangzhou, China Organisers :

Julang Exhibition Co ltd Fax : +86 203 862 0790

Email : meiwen@julang.com.cn Website : www.julang.com.cn

September

16-18 September: wire Southeast Asia –

trade exhibition – Bangkok, Thailand Organisers : Messe düsseldorf asia Pte ltd Fax : +65 6337 4633 Email : wire@mda.com.sg Website : www.wire-southeastasia.com

October

6-8 October: wire South America –

trade exhibition – São Paulo, Brazil Organisers :

Messe düsseldorf GmbH Fax : +49 211 45 60 668 Email : info@wire-south-america.com Website : www.wire-south-america.com

November

TBa October: IWCS – technical symposium – atlanta, USa Organisers : iWCS Tel : +1 717 993 9500 Email : phudak@iwcs.org Website : www.iwcs.org

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January 2015

Image courtesy of www.bigstockphoto.com “Centennial-olympic Park” Atlanta, USA Photographer Sean Pauone

Messe Düsseldorf entrance • Photographer – Rory McBride

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Corporatenews

▲ ▲ Esteves CEO Mr Jos Holthaus, centre, talks with guests during the anniversary celebrations

Esteves on the ball for 50 th anniversary celebrations!

Brazilian die manufacturer Esteves celebrated its 50 th anniversary in spectacular fashion, inviting guests to a celebratory meal at the world-renowned Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain, and to watch the home side best Sevilla 5-1 in the Spanish Primera football league match. The company invited 125 guests to the event, including machine suppliers from Niehoff, SAMP, Frigerio, Caballé, Lamnea Bruk, Maillefer, Rosendahl and Erocarb. Also attending were customers from Bekaert, Sandvik, Er-Bakir, Leoni, Prysmian, El Sewedy and General Cable, among others. Esteves, which has manufacturing plants worldwide in Barcelona, Poland, USA, Mexico, China and Brazil, arranged for the meal and tickets to watch the game, in which Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to become the all-time record goalscorer in the Spanish football league. Brazilian superstar Neymar added one and Rakitic was also on the scoresheet for the home side. There were also cheerleaders, freestyle footballing displays and drinks to ensure the day was a memorable one for everyone who attended. Speeches were made by Jos Holthaus, Esteves group chief executive, and Jordi Roger, sales manager for the EMEA area.

Esteves Group – Brazil

Website : www.estevesgroup.com

▲ ▲ Cheerleaders join in the celebrations at the Camp Nou

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News Corporate

Reelex pursues anti-counterfeit measures

against patent offenders, restrictions on importation of patent or trademark- infringing products, and more. To help educate genuine Reelex licensees, installers, purchase agents and sales teams, the company has studied and catalogued some of the more visible differences between genuine and counterfeit packages, which can be viewed at www.reelex.com/counterfeit “Counterfeit boxes do not use the same technology as our licensees use. They look the same to the installer, but knockoff packages are likely to tangle, knot and damage the product compared to genuine Reelex packaging,” added Mr Copp. The best way for an installer to know they are using genuine Reelex technology is to look for the trademark printed on the box. “The contract with our licensees says that the Reelex mark is required to be printed on all boxes utilising Reelex technology,” added Mr Copp. Reelex – USA Website : www.reelex.com

“These products are not only potentially dangerous, but also cause significant consumer confusion. Beyond the education initiatives and other actions being pushed by the Communications Cable and Connectivity Association (CCCA) and UL, Reelex is pursuing its own campaign against counterfeit and non-compliant cables, as these products are often packaged in knockoff Reelex box packages. These measures include legal action In this case, the diameters range from 0.2 to 6mm. ASAP also has the ability to deliver coloured wire from 0.2 to 0.6mm, in annealed quality for weaving and braiding applications. Other markets the company supply include electric cable solutions such as braiding and armouring wires and the agricultural market. ASAP Srl – Italy Website : www.asapasap.it

Reelex Packaging Solutions is continuing to expand its on-going anti-counterfeit measures aimed at protecting its licensees’ investments in genuine patented and trademarked Reelex® packaging technology. “Counterfeit and substandard LAN and other low-voltage cables are an on-going issue in the industry receiving attention from industry groups and installers alike,” says Timothy Copp, vice president of business development at Reelex. ASAP operates in the European market and imports and exports stainless steel and galvanised wires. The range of imported products varies from stainless steel, with ferritic and martensitic qualities, and diameters range from 0.1 to 6mm. For special applications ASAP can also supply ultrafine wire. Other wires the company distribute are steel with low and medium carbon, with hot deep zinc coated protection. Targeting Europe

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News Corporate

New standards for wire straightening

Eurobend operates through a new state-of the-art production facility and headquarters, and offices and service centres located throughout the world. The wire processing equipment lines include a complete range of high-output programmable wire straightening and cutting machines (type “MELC”) designed for heavy-duty continuous operation within the wire industry. The straightening method based on the rotor straightening principle using hyperbolically profiled rollers was invented and introduced by Eurobend engineers in the early 1980s, setting a standard for the wire producing and processing industries. All conventional straightening and cutting machines operate using two different principles: Both systems have advantages and disadvantages. The Eurobend method is based on the rotor straightening system but instead of dies, hyperbolically profiled steel rollers are used. These rollers execute the two fundamental operations of straightening and feeding simultaneously. This is achieved by positioning the rollers at an angle to the wire axis and rotating around it, thereby achieving feeding and straightening at the same time. The placement of the rollers at an angle to the wire axis results in line contact with the wire surface and not in point contact as in conventional rotors with dies. • Two-plane roller configuration at 90° to each other • Conventional rotor straightening with dies

▲ ▲ The MELC polyline series from Eurobend

When the rotor is spinning and the rollers are feeding the wire through, there is no sliding friction, but only rolling friction, and thus the wire surface is not damaged. The Eurobend straightening method ensures an optimal straightening quality and consistency without continuous wear of dies or conventional rollers. MELC straightening and cutting machines provide users with a number of advantages: • Machine downtime is minimised as continuous straightening mechanism adjustments are not needed • Straightening of high tensile steel (up to 1,800N/mm 2 UTS) has been achieved without the implementation of additional apparatus • Mechanical simplicity of machine construction due to simultaneous feeding and straightening results in a machine with stable, constant, efficient and reliable operation • Cutting of the required length is achieved with flying shear cutter, while the wire is fed without having to start and stop or to slow down the speed of the fed wire • The simplicity of the design allows construction of multi-line machines depending on the productivity requirements and the diameter ranges to be processed. Each line works independently from the others and any combination or all of them can work together. In addition, each line has a dedicated collecting bin and can cut the same or different lengths • By designing the right hyperbolic profile (curvature) of the roller, combined with the proper surface treatment of the roller and more rarely the proper coating, the machines can achieve the desired surface finish on the straightening wire surface • The different rotor sizes that are available cover diameter ranges from 4 to 50mm of regular wire, deformed, recessed or rebar, of any grade (high tensile or stainless steel) Eurobend SA – Greece Website : www.eurobend.com Stainless steel bars price hike Ugitech and Deutsche Edelstahlwerke, subsidiaries of Schmolz and Bickenbach Group, have announced a price increase on their stainless steel bars, wire rod and drawn wire products. Price increases range up to €50 per tonne and became effective as of January 2015. Ugitech – Germany Website : www.ugitech.com Deutsche Edelstahlwerke – Germany Website : www.dew-stahl.com

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News Corporate

Newweb presence for Leibinger

JET3 and JET2neo models as well as the likewise expanded amount of information about software and accessories. Numerous application images and the ability to quickly find your individual contact person using the ‘direct contact’ function are just a few further developments that make each visit to the new website even more efficient. Paul Leibinger GmbH& Co KG – Germany Website : www.leibinger-group.com

Paul Leibinger is now providing its customers with added value on its new, completely revised website. After being relaunched it is complete with a fresh, new design and clearly focuses on being able to quickly find more information about Paul Leibinger and the company’s variety of products. Easy entrance into the Leibinger product world is possible as of now by the new, clearly structured homepage of the Germany-based specialist for industrial marking and coding systems and verification solutions. With just a click you can get detailed information about continuous inkjet printers, camera verification systems and numbering machines as well as access the ‘news’ area with all of the press releases, news and current trade show appearances. To make searching for new information even easier for new visitors, the marking requirements and solutions for many different industrial areas are explained under the ‘Industries’ menu item, eg, the automotive, plastic, wood or pharmaceutical industry. The Leibinger website relaunch was focused on creating an easy-to-read, user-friendly structure and a fresh, up-to-date design that reflects the innovative technologies of the family-owned company and the modern corporate culture. Visitors are provided with added value by the extensive service and support options, the greatly expanded product range with a detailed presentation of all $15m expansion Nexans North America is growing, and investing $15m into the expansion of its low voltage facility in Fergus, Ontario, Canada. As part of this expansion, Nexans has divested of its Milton, Ontario, distribution facility and is expanding the Fergus plant to allow it to streamline its logistics. Nexans is also making significant investments into new equipment to increase its capacity in the manufacturing of low voltage residential, commercial and industrial cables. The expanded area will be 13,000m 2 with several upgrades to Nexans’ logistical technology and manufacturing processes. Nexans – France Website : www.nexans.com

▲ ▲ The new Leibinger website with an up-to-date design and more product information

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News Corporate

Oil-resistant crosslinkable halogen-free fire-retardant compound

Fainplast compound HFX 521 has been developed to meet the demand of products for cables with high operating temperatures (-40°C, +90°C). Oil resistant, it is especially designed for applications in aggressive environments such as shipboards, railways and oil platforms. HFX 521 can be processed on normal production lines for thermoplastic compounds and complies with IEC 60092-359, type SHF2 (sheathing materials for shipboard power and telecommunication cables) and with EN 50264-1, type EI 101-104 and EM 101-104 (railway rolling stock power and control cables). HFX 521 moisture cures in a short time by adding a specific catalyst, thanks to the Sioplas method. The crosslinked product offers excellent oil resistance, as required by relevant standards. The product is halogen free according to EN 50267-2-1 (HCl <0.1%, HBr <0.1%, HF <0.1%). In burning tests according to EN 61034-1, smoke allows a light transmittance higher than 90 per cent. The particular simplicity and cost effectiveness of the Sioplas method allows most cable producers to use HFX 521. Fainplast has also developed a specific catalyst for external applications that helps HFX 521 to pass the xenon ageing test required by UL 1581 standard (Sunlight resistance – Xenon Arc Test – wavelength 340nm). Fainplast Srl – Italy Website : www.fainplast.com North Sea connection UK manufacturer JDR has won a contract for the design and manufacture of a hybrid power steel umbilical from Wintershall Noordzee BV. The umbilical will be deployed to the Ravn field development in the North Sea. JDR will deliver an 18.2km umbilical to provide power and control between a new platform and an existing platform. The composite umbilical will comprise hydraulic hoses, super duplex steel tubes, MV power cores and fibre optic cables. JDR – UK Website : www.jdrglobal.com ▲ ▲ HFX 521 has been developed to meet the demand of cable products with high operating temperatures

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News Corporate

Corporate

• Electrolytic plating • Candojet hot water cleaning • Electrolytic & Ultrasonic degreasing • Welding wire cleaning and copper coating • Pickling & phosphating www.candorsweden.com

All aboard for Prysmian cables Walter Kueng is leading Tenova Mining & Minerals, Mauro Medici is at Tenova Pomini & I2S, Roberto Pancaldi is head of Tenova Thermprocesses and Andrea Rocca leads Tenova Steel Making & Strip Processing. Tenova Group – Italy Website : www.tenovagroup.com Changes at the top at Tenova Alberto Iperti has stepped down as chief executive of Tenova. He will remain on the board and assist during a transition phase that will see four new managing directors at the helm of different divisions within the company. “I thank Alberto Iperti very much for his personal commitment and valuable contribution over the past two years,” said Gianfelice Rocca, executive chairman. “Reviewing the strategy, he quickly and successfully reshaped the organisation towards a focused and profitable growth and thus created a sustainable platform for our new leadership structure.” Under Mr Rocca’s governance as executive chairman, since 1 st October Tenova has been managed by a team of four managing directors leading the company’s business areas around the respective industry competencies within the Tenova portfolio.

Copperjet - High speed copper coating on welding wire

CANDOR Sweden AB Tel: +46 11 21 75 00 Fax: +46 11 12 63 12 Email: info@candorsweden.com

▲ ▲ €26m contract win for Prysmian from the Swiss Federal Railways company

most viable solutions to their needs,” said John Chrupcala, director of BU Industrial at Prysmian Group. With 31,000 employees, 3,175 route kilometres, more than 1 million passengers per day and 195,000 tonnes per day of freight transported every year, the Swiss Federal Railways is the largest travel and transport company in Switzerland. This new project confirms Prysmian’s technology and market leadership role in the sector of cables for the railway industry, where the group can rely on a number of projects completed or currently on-going with the main national railways companies in Italy (Trenitalia), Germany (DB), Spain (RENFE) and Turkey (TCDD). Prysmian Group – Italy Website : www.prysmiangroup.com

Prysmian Group has been awarded a new contract for a frame agreement worth approximately €26 million by SBB CFF FFS, the Swiss Federal Railways company. The contract includes the supply of a total of approximately 2,800km of signalling cables for the upgrade of the Swiss railways infrastructure. The contract management will be coordinated by Prysmian Group’s team in Switzerland. The cables will be manufactured in Berlin, Germany, and delivered on a call-off basis over a period of five years from October 2014 to the end of 2019. “This award reflects customers’ trust in Prysmian’s capabilities to meet the increasing demand for the development of new infrastructures and to act as a single-stop shop where players from different industry segments can find the

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News Corporate

Using steel fibres for building

Tecnofil is an international player in low and medium carbon steel wire production and in the design and realisation of machines for wire and wireband production. Recently, thanks to the new SF25 line, the company has extended its production to include steel fibres for the building sector. Tecnofil fibres improve the resistance of concrete to impacts and mechanical strains when the flexural and shear stress is very high. For example, they are commonly used in industrial floors, airport runways, parking lots, roads, highways, coating tunnels, hydraulic works, earthquake-proof constructions and precast elements. The SF25 line is a turnkey solution developed by Tecnofil to manufacture reinforcing glued steel fibres that grant higher production speeds and better design consistency. Moreover, Tecnofil states that end users prefer them as they are very easy to handle and have faster mixing times in concrete: with the use of soluble adhesives, steel fibres get immediately

loose and homogeneously scattered in the concrete. Tecnofil’s SF25 line starts from round steel wires and transforms them into steel fibres in strips, ready to be used. In detail, round steel wires are glued together in a band with a special water-soluble adhesive that fades in concrete. ▲ ▲ Tecnofil uses all its experience in the production of fibres

The band is then dried and fed into the press which cuts and stamps the finished fibre strips. The whole process is fully integrated and automatic to ensure the highest productivity. The line has been designed exploiting Tecnofil’s 20 years’ experience in this sector.

Tecnofil SpA – Italy Website : www.tecnofil.net

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News Corporate

First meeting for new project

on an environmental sustainable path in industrial production through an effective communication strategy.” The technical aspects of RadiciGroup’s contribution to the LIFE-Inno.Pro.Wire project were illustrated by Erico Spini, marketing and application development director of the RadiciGroup plastics business area. lower environmental impact alternative to PVC as material for use in extruded steel wire coating. The excellent technical characteristics of this material has allowed us to set ambitious objectives for the LIFE-Inno.Pro.Wire challenge, such as a 20 per cent reduction in wire coating thickness and a 30-50 per cent increase in the service life of the final product, the metal gabion. “Among the advantages of using polyamide are a reduction of about 20 per cent in wire weight for a coating of equal thickness and improved resistance to mechanical damage during the installation and servicing of the gabions.” LIFE-Inno.Pro.Wire – Italy “Polyamide is a viable

Officine Maccaferri to develop a new and innovative production process in which the zinc coating process is minimised. Polyamide 6 plays a central role in this project, because, compared to PVC, it ensures better technical and environmental performance. “We expect many benefits from this project,” stressed Claudio Colibri, corporate R&D manager of Officine Maccaferri, in his presentation, “from the development of a replicable methodology for the eco-sustainable production of steel wire coated with polymeric material using new materials and new processes, to the set-up of a demonstration production line to show the savings in materials and energy by properly documenting process yield and product performance. But that is not all. “We also expect to contribute to the application of the experimental PEF methodology for the environmental evaluation of processes and products, to promote wider acceptance of the environmental factor as a parameter in public bidding for road construction and maintenance and, last but not least, to raise awareness of the advantages of embarking

The first official meeting for the LIFE-Inno. Pro.Wire project was held at the Officine Maccaferri SpA headquarters in Bologna, Italy, in October. The project stems from a partnership between two major Italian multinationals: Maccaferri Industrial Group (through its companies Officine Maccaferri SpA and SAMP SpA) and RadiciGroup (through Radici Novacips SpA). The objective of LIFE-Inno.Pro.Wire is to design an innovative process with lower environmental impact for producing extruded steel wire to be used in making metal net protection and containment structures. The sustainability aspect of the project is the use of polyamide 6 (PA6 engineering plastics) as a viable alternative to PVC for coating the steel wire. Tests will be conducted not only on conventional PA6 but also on PA6.10 engineering plastics produced using 64 per cent biopolymer manufactured from sebacic acid. The traditional process for producing extruded steel wire, in which steel wire is plated with a very thick zinc coating layer and then PVC coated, is an energy hog. Hence, the idea put forth by Revamp for feeding system Ori Martin is revamping the first European Consteel, installed in Brescia, Italy, in 1998, and which is still operating today. After 16 years of continuous and successful operation, the feeding system for the EAF will be substituted for a new Consteel Evolution® that will increase flexibility, improve quality and reduce consumption. The new Consteel Evolution will be combined with a Tenova iRecovery system, which is able to recover the thermal energy present in the dirty fumes coming from the electrical arc furnace and generate steam. The Tenova iRecovery system will deliver thermal energy to the Italian city of Brescia’s heat district grid during winter and will feed an ORC turbo-generator to produce electric energy for Ori Martin’s internal use. The steel plant will have a saving on fuel consumption with a consequent reduction in CO 2 emissions of approximately 10,000 t/y. The implementation of service by new the system is planned for 2015-16. Tenova SpA – Italy Website : www.tenovagroup.com

Accurate cut length

▲ ▲ 1,400psi material straightened and cut on Videx VC-35-HR

The parts are positively gripped while chamfering, assuring a smooth cut face with no vibrations as well as longer life of the chamfer carbide tips. It also allows chamfering on one side only, if needed. The chamfer length is accurate due to a positioning device that locates the bars prior to chamfering. Videx Machine Engineering Ltd – Israel Website : www.videx.co.il

Videx manufactures straightening and cut lines for large diameter and high -tensile wires. The Videx MS line will cut short parts up to 1m at speeds of up to 400 PPM, as well as long parts. The VC-HR is more effective for hot-rolled and very high-tensile wires. All models are equipped with positive stop, for accurate cut length. Both models are offered with integral chamfer cutting station, which cut the chamfers dry.

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Going more international

Besides attending wire and Tube düsseldorf, the best-known exhibitions in the field, the portal’s team has moved in recent years from China to the USa, from india to russia to cover the leading specialised events in the world. Expometals.net is an independent project, open to collaborations with trade shows, magazines, institutions and associations. Expometals.net – Italy Website : www.expometals.net

of their communication on the internet – or at least find in Expometals.net a team of web professionals at their service. Expometals is useful for visitors too, not only when searching for semi-finished and finished products, but also for those who are looking for machines, tools, lubricants and equipment. in addition, there are news, technical articles, updates on events and interesting exhibitions.

FOrMEd ten years ago in lecco, italy, Expometals.net – an online portal for the wire and cable industry – has now presented a russian language site to accompany the English, German, French, Spanish and italian. Expometals was founded in 2001 as a start-up by a group of web experts and advertising people. Expometals.net has proved an effective tool in helping businesses in their internationalisation process and in searching for customers, partners and suppliers, through the internet. This is the reason why the circulation in multiple languages is an important aspect, because it enables companies featured on Expometals.net to reach a wider audience. More than 15,000 visitors each month testify to the effectiveness of Expometals. This data is certified by Google analytics, and continues to grow. There are more than 250 companies around the world that are now actively using it for their corporate communication. The interaction with search engines and social networks, and the support of the portal’s staff in copywriting, translations and web marketing enable MSMEs to delegate part

Shaping the future Seven royal academy of Engineering research Fellowships have been awarded to engineering researchers whose projects have the potential to bring radical innovation to their fields. The fellowships provide outstanding researchers with financial support and mentoring for five years to enable them to establish independent careers in research. The new research Fellows are dr Emmanouil Benetos of City University london; dr Ben Britton and dr Osório de Castro Pimenta, of imperial College london; dr alexander Stephen dickinson of the University of Southampton; dr Martin P J lavery of the University of Glasgow; dr Thomas Okell of the University of Oxford; and dr antoniu Pop of the University of Manchester. The Royal Academy of Engineering – UK Website : www.raeng.org.uk

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News Corporate

A trusted tool…

Refractron’s Izory® rolls and rings are a trusted tool for drawing non-ferrous wire. Izory is Refractron’s magnesia partially stabilised zirconia (MgPSZ). This may also be described as transformation toughened zirconia (TTZ). The proprietary formula, powder processing expertise and unique firing cycle creates outstanding mechanical properties that differentiate Izory. Izory has exceptional fracture toughness, which is durable enough for the machining and polishing required for manufacturing engineered parts. While Izory® is renowned for its fracture toughness, it is the combination of toughness, hardness, strength and corrosion resistance that makes it a choice for wire drawing parts. Izory has a proven track record as a long lasting material for manufacturing premium wire. It is specified for all multi-wire machines made by SAMP and is proven on machines made by major OEMs. Refractron’s speciality is manufacturing Izory rolls and rings for breaking down rod and drawing non-ferrous wire. Izory is also specified for annealer pins, spooler guides, buncher eyelets and air wipes. Industries served by Refractron in addition to wire manufacturing include mineral processing, waste water and oil and gas. Refractron Inc – USA Website : www.refractron.com

▲ ▲ Izory® rolls and rings from Refractron

Cut in debt and rising income In the first nine months of 2014, Repsol posted net income of €1.646 billion, a 27.9 per cent rise from the same period from the previous year. These results reflect Repsol’s financial strength and the good progress of its businesses. Adjusted net income, calculated at current cost of supplies (CCS), rose to €1.337 billion, a 9.6 per cent increase over the first nine months of 2013. These results are especially significant because they have been achieved in a context of falling crude oil prices during the last quarter, a slowdown in global demand and lower production in Libya. The company’s ability to generate revenue has allowed it to make the necessary investments to develop its business while drastically reducing debt. The campaigns carried out in the exploration and production area, in addition to other exploitation activities, have accounted for investments reaching €2.549 billion in the first nine months of the year, a 20.7 per cent rise from the year-earlier period. At the same time, the group reduced its debt by 72 per cent to €1.998 billion. All this enabled Repsol to close September with available liquidity of €10.448 billion, enough to cover its short-term debt maturities 3.6 times. Repsol – Spain Website : www.repsol.com Project developer RWE said that the halt in work was due to a planned five-year DNV GL inspection of the vessel. RWE Innogy GmbH – Germany Website : www.rwe.com Progress at Gwynt y Môr Routine inspection of the Polar Prince cable-laying vessel forced a temporary halt to cabling work at the Gwynt y Môr offshore wind farm off the Welsh coast. Work on the array cabling was suspended in late June, but has now resumed and is nearing completion, with only around 30 cables left to install from a total of over 160.

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News Corporate

More efficiency from Keir Keir Manufacturing is a USA-based manufacturer of high-purity 99.8 per cent alumina ceramic guides, the Frontiersman™ line of air wipes, and composite flyer bows, serving the global wire and cable industry. It is dedicated to making products that enable manufacturing processes to run more efficiently and productively through the application of leading edge materials. Its solutions are focused on continuous process improvement, energy savings and longer operating life. Keir’s patented SureShot and SplitShot air wipes provide an effective drying method that does not depend on high-volume air consumption. The efficient design yields effective drying using a very low volume of compressed air and is claimed to last longer than other brands due to the rugged ceramic insert lining the wire path. This equates to more than a 25 per cent reduction in compressed air usage and an operating life of years versus months. The triaxially braided composite Standard and BackBone™ flyer bow constructions have greater durability than layered/laminated designs allowing them to take more hits and endure higher stress, yielding increased operating life and less machine downtime. The aerodynamic BackBone™ design functions at lower power consumption and higher TPM with improved wire quality and a further reduction in bow breakage. Up to 40 per cent less energy is used, along with a decrease in wire scrapped.

Keir Manufacturing Inc – USA Website : www.keirmfg.com

▲ ▲ The Keir BackBone flyer bow

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Transatlantic Cable

Corporate communications

Automotive

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s modest command of Mandarin raises the bar for Americans eager to do business in China “For ambitious executives, speaking Mandarin could soon be as important on the resume as the ubiquitous MBA.” Reporting on an 22 nd October visit to Beijing by Mark Zuckerberg, in the course of which he answered questions in Mandarin, Reuters columnist Katrina Hamlin noted that the young American CEO of Facebook is far from uent in that tongue. Even so, she wrote, his performance “surprised and delighted his hosts.” And pressure to follow his example is probably being felt by other US corporate chiefs. (“Zuckerberg’s Chinese Chat Leaves CEOs Tongue-Tied,” 24 th October) Right now, not many foreign multinationals have native Chinese speakers at the board level, and Western business leaders lucky or far-sighted enough to have studied Chinese at an early age are few in number. Roger Holterman, principal consultant with the Robert Walters executive search rm in Shanghai, told Ms Hamlin that a scant 15 per cent of the board-level executives he encounters at non-Chinese multinationals have a grasp of Mandarin. It remains to be seen how much Mr Zuckerberg’s linguistic air will help Facebook in the People’s Republic, where censorship has long blocked access to his social networking site. But he clearly has positioned himself among those business leaders willing to put extra e ort into making it in China. According to international recruitment rms, more senior executives all the time are working on their Mandarin. Reuters pointed out that, for companies with big operations in China, a bilingual work force promises such bene ts as a fuller understanding of the business environment and much stronger support from both local sta and clients. Wrote Ms Hamlin, “These people will graduate to the boardroom over time.” † While Mr Zuckerberg’s wife is from a family of Chinese speakers, the Facebook founder had to pick up his Chinese while running a $200 billion business. The message is plain. It may be no easy thing to squeeze language studies into a packed work schedule. But it can be done.

Safety-related vehicle recalls spiked last year in the US, but here’s the surprise: most were for bread-and-butter issues “Clearly we are entering into a di erent environment. The GM recalls [for faulty ignition switches] coming quickly on the heels of the Toyota unintended acceleration issues have amped things up. We are at this intersection of major shifts in technology.” Sean Kane, founder of Safety and Research Strategies, an engineering consulting rm in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, spoke the truth about the recalls. By November of last year, automakers in the US had recalled a record 56 million-plus vehicles – more than three times the number of new cars and trucks Americans would buy in all of 2014. As to the major shifts in technology mentioned by Mr Kane, today’s cars are indeed highly complex mechanisms. The software to run a new model will typically have more than a million lines of code. But Brent Snavely, auto editor of the Detroit Free Press , has discerned a curious pattern. A surprising number of recalls of these engineering marvels involved relatively fundamental equipment. (“Automakers Set Recall Record and Mostly for Basic Issues,” 20 th October). Mr Snavely cited these examples from the month which saw publication of his article: † On 15 th October, Toyota recalled 423,000 vehicles in the US and many more in Japan to x potential fuel leaks † On 16 th October, Chrysler recalled 470,000 vehicles for alternators that might fail and recalled 437,000 Jeep Wranglers because water might get into the electrically controlled side-view mirror † Earlier in October, GM said it would notify owners of about 89,000 Chevrolet Sparks from the previous three model years of a recall “because corrosion can cause the secondary hood latch striker to stick in the open position” † While recalls for relatively small equipment failures show no sign of abating, neither Mr Kane nor Jake Fisher, director of auto testing for Consumer Reports , takes this as a sign of an industry in a quality crisis. Both say that generally cars are far safer and more reliable today than ever before, an assessment in which Renee Stephens, vice president of US automotive at J D Power and Associates, the customer satisfaction researcher, concurs.

Image: www.bigstockphoto.com Photographer Zsolt Ercsel

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Transatlantic cable

Today’s motorists make split-second decisions on the basis of instinct and a limited view of a dangerous situation. Cars that do most or all of the driving will improve on that, but accidents will still happen. Patrick Lin, a professor who directs the ethics and emerging sciences group at California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo), told Mr Pritchard that companies testing driverless cars are not focusing on accidents. Those companies are, in Dr Lin’s view, shirking their duty to the public. He told Phys.org he had discussed the ethics of driverless cars with Google and automakers including Tesla, Nissan and BMW. But, as far as he knows, only BMW has formed an in-house group to study the issue of how a driverless car should perform when things go badly wrong. Dr Lin o ered an example of the complexity of the issue, which can only intensify with the advance of technology. Consider a driverless vehicle with in-car sensors so acute they can distinguish between a motorcyclist wearing a helmet and a companion riding without one. If a collision is inevitable, should the car hit the person with the helmet and a lower risk of injury? That would penalise prudence. Phys.org’s Mr Pritchard noted that the company most aggressively developing self-driving cars is not a carmaker at all but the Internet services giant Google, which has invested heavily in the technology it plans to introduce by 2017. Google drivers, Mr Pritchard wrote, have covered “hundreds of thousands of miles on roads and highways in tricked-out Priuses and Lexus SUVs.” But Google is focused on programming the cars to drive defensively to avoid the instances when an accident is unavoidable. “People are philosophising about [the ethics element],” said Ron Medford, the director of safety for Google’s self-driving car project. “But . . . we really haven’t studied that issue.” † One of the philosophers who is studying that issue is Cal Poly’s Patrick Lin, who believes that decisions related to programming “a machine that can foreseeably lead to someone’s death” are among the most profoundly serious that can be made. Said Dr Lin: “We expect those to be as right as we can be.” Like-minded people can be found at BMW’s group technology o ce, a neighbour of Google’s in Silicon Valley. Uwe Higgen, who heads up the unit, told Mr Pritchard that the German automaker has brought together specialists in technology, ethics, social impact, and the law to discuss a range of issues raised by cars that take over the driving chores from humans. † To some, the fundamental moral area here is not the rare catastrophic accident: it is the obligation to weigh appropriate scepticism of driverless-car technology against its potential to save lives. After all, Mr Pritchard reminded his readers, more than 30,000 people die in tra c accidents each year in the United States. “No one has a good answer for how safe is safe enough,” Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor who has written extensively on self-driving cars, told Phys.org . “[Self- driving cars] are going to crash, and that is something that the companies need to accept and the public needs to accept.”

“I think the industry is a little bit jittery,” Ms Stephens told the Detroit Free Press . “They saw what happened to GM in 2014 and Toyota not too long ago.” As a result, she said, automakers are probably erring on the side of being more cautious than before.

Slow to warm to electric and hybrid vehicles, Americans are eager for cars that drive themselves – if only part-time

Some 55 per cent of American car buyers are very likely to buy a partially autonomous vehicle: one that drives itself on the highway or in tra c jams. 44 per cent would buy a fully autonomous vehicle that does all the driving – and more than 20 per cent of those would pay an extra $4,000 for the feature. These statistics, derived from a canvass of prospective buyers, were provided by a speaker at the Society of Automotive Analysts and Citi Research Automotive Investor Summit, held 9 th October in South eld, Michigan. What they mean, said Xavier Mosquet of Boston Consulting Group, is that if regulations do not push the industry toward self-driving cars, customer demand will. Electric and hybrid vehicles were seen continuing their steady but unspectacular advance. Itay Michaeli of Citi Research told the Detroit-area meeting that EV/hybrids will rise from 3.6 per cent of US vehicle sales in 2015 to nine per cent in 2020. And, provided there is a major reduction in battery cost, Nissan North America product planning director Ken Kcomt said he expects global market share of all-electric cars to triple by 2025. As reported by Detroit Free Press auto critic Mark Phelan, speakers also said they expected electricity and weight reduction techniques to increase as automakers and suppliers gear up to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. (”Analysts Praise Autonomous Vehicles, Fuel Saving Techs,” 10 th October) † A dramatic shift to nine and ten-speed automatic transmissions over the next decade. (Borg Warner director of investor relations Ken Lamb) † Signi cant growth in the use of continuously variable auto- matic transmissions as other automakers adopt the component adopted by Nissan 20 years ago. (Nissan’s Mr Kcomt) † Commercial use of 3D printing to make some vehicles and parts. (Ravindra Kondagunta, CEO of TractionLabs) † Only limited use of carbon bre in volume vehicles until its price falls to $5-$8 from the $10 a pound it commands today. (Ford Motor Co manager of global materials and manufacturing research Matt Zaluzec) A new ethicist The car of the future will have near-perfect perception and react from programmed logic. How will it decide who should be saved? Justin Pritchard, of the Internet-based technology news service Phys.org , acknowledges the relative ease of writing computer code that directs a self-driving car how to respond to an emergency. The hard part, he said, is deciding what the response should be. (“Self-Driving Cars: Safer – but What of Their Morals?” 19 th November) Other major developments projected from the platform include:

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Transatlantic cable

company it also will be the only US pellet producer with the capability and exibility to produce standard blast furnace pellets as well as uxed and direct-reduced grade pellets. Annual production capacity of seven million tons is planned for Nashwauk. Committed customers reportedly include ArcelorMittal USA and Essar Steel Algoma. † The US Department of Commerce on 14 th November con rmed steep duties on imports of carbon and alloy steel wire rod from China after ruling that the products were being sold below cost in the US market and received unfair levels of government subsidies. US importers of goods from companies including Benxi Steel, Rizhao Steel Wire Co, Hunan Valin Xiangtan Iron & Steel Co, and Jiangsu Shagang International Trade Co, a subsidiary of Jiangsu Shagang Group, face anti-dumping duties of up to 110.25 per cent and anti-subsidy duties of up to 193.31 per cent.

Steel

Call it a non-relocation allowance: $30.7 million in grants from Pennsylvania to keep United States Steel in Pittsburgh It seems that the very possibility of losing a prestigious big company is enough to prompt a US state to o er substantial inducements not to move. In October, Governor Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania acknowledged that an award of $30.7 million in grants to secure a commitment from United States Steel Corp to stay put was based on fears – not any clear indications – that USS would exit the state. As reported in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review , USS had never said publicly that it was looking to pull up stakes in Pennsylvania. But there had been speculation about a relocation elsewhere in the region when the lease of its downtown Pittsburgh headquarters complex expires in 2017. “I think they were considering it,” said Mr Corbett. He cited Illinois and Indiana, where USS has its largest mill, as states to which he thought the company might move. Now, grants in hand, USS will go ahead on a $187 million rehabilitation project at its Mon Valley Works plants in West Mi in, Braddock and Clairton. (“With $30.7 Million in State Grants, US Steel Promises to Stay in Pennsylvania,” 3 rd October) Melissa Daniels of the Tribune-Review noted that USS – “a Fortune 500 company somewhat down on its luck” – announced its decision to stay in Pennsylvania on a date designated National Manufacturing Day statewide. “I look at [USS] as partners with Pennsylvania and partners with Pittsburgh,” Mr Corbett said at one of the events. “To me, it would’ve been extremely demoralising if US Steel’s headquarters left Pittsburgh.” The assistance for its capital projects will be welcome to the nation’s second-largest steel producer, which has not turned a pro t in ve years. In April 2013 USS commenced an intensive cost-cutting review of its operations. In September 2014 it scrapped $800 million in expansion projects in the US and led for court protection from creditors of its money-losing Canadian subsidiary. † Steve Kratz, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, said that the USS award was the outcome of some six months of discussions and that the timing of its announcement had nothing to do with Mr Corbett’s re-election campaign. In November, Mr Corbett won a second term as governor anyway. Elsewhere in steel . . . † Essar Steel Minnesota LLC has said that it is on schedule to begin producing iron ore pellets in the second half of 2015. The company closed on a nancing package for the $1.8 billion project on 30 th September, enabling it to complete construction of its open-pit iron ore mine and crushing, concentrating, and pelletising facilities at Nashwauk. As reported by the Hibbing Daily Tribune (25 th October), Essar has said it expects to be the lowest-cost producer of taconite pellets in North America. According to o cials of the

Energy

Is the ‘bit player’ solar power about to shine? Statistics suggest that the US will soon have no reason not to go solar

Tim McDonnell, who has the climate beat at the non-pro t news magazine Mother Jones , recently cited the “startling conclusion” of a Deutsche Bank energy analysis: by 2016, in all but three states of the US solar power will be as cheap as or cheaper than electricity from the conventional grid. Without any changes to existing policy. In other words, wrote Mr McDonnell: “We’re only a few years away from the point where, in most of the United States, there will be no economic reason not to go solar.” (“Here Comes the Sun: America’s Solar Boom,” 7 th November) The process is well under way. Over the past decade, the amount of solar energy produced in the US has leaped 139,000 per cent. Factors fostering the boom include cheaper panels, a raft of local and state incentives, and a federal tax credit that shaves 30 per cent o the cost of upgrading to solar. † Since the mid-2000s the power generated by new solar installations in the US has grown an average 66 per cent a year, far outpacing that from any other energy source. From zero in 2000, the capacity of new solar installations grew to nearly 5,000 megawatts (MW) in 2013. Of the new electrici- ty-generating capacity installed in the US in the rst quarter of 2014, solar accounted for 70 per cent; wind, 20 per cent; natural gas, four per cent; geothermal and other, one per cent each. (Source: SOLAR Energy Industries Association [SEIA]) † Enough sunlight strikes Earth every 104 minutes to power the entire world for a year. The US has sunlight and space enough to meet 100 times its annual power demand with solar. (Source: SEIA) † As well as more power, solar can provide cleaner power. Carbon savings from currently installed US solar panels o set the emissions of 3.5 million cars. (Source: International Energy Agency [IEA]) Mother Jones collected this data on the solar advance:

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