wiredinUSA July 2018

Issue No. 85 - July 2018

www.wiredInUSA.com

America’s online magazine for wire and cable

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Regulation hurdles for $2bn transmission project Page 9

California coast plans. Page 10

First turn for new carousel. Page 27

Island cable causes protest. Page 33

EDITOR

Following on from its purchase of General Cable, the Italian power transmission and telecommunication cables manufacturer Prysmian is relaunching itself. The new group will employ around 30,000 people at 112 plants and 25 research centers in more than 50 countries. With its global headquarters in Milan, Italy, around a third of the group’s sales will now come from North America, with a head office in Kentucky and 23 plants located throughout the region. Full details are on page 11. Good news on the jobs front with Southwire due to open a fourth facility in Villa Rica, Georgia. The new distribution center will employ 60 workers, bringing the total number to 380. CEO Rich Stinson is hoping the number in the Villa Rica area will rise to 500 within the next two years. The company is expanding into new product lines, and anticipates growth from $5 billion sales in 2017 to more than $7.5 billion by 2022. Turn to page 12 for the full story. A copper rod mill, designed to run up to 315,000 tons per year,manufactured inPrimetals’Worcester,Massachusetts, facility will be sent to China for the production of tough pitch copper. The mill is to be installed for Jiangsu ZGR New Material Co, and is expected to be in operation in 2019. More details on page 17.

David Bell Editor

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

July 2018 Issue No.85 CONTENTS

06 PAGE

Show Diary 2018/2019

09 PAGE

Making the News Industry news from the USA

26 PAGE

Europe news The latest news from Europe

32 PAGE

Asia & Africa News The latest news from Asia & Africa

38 PAGE

Products, Machines & Technology The latest news from machine industries

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INTRAS INTRAS LIMITED

© 2018 Intras Limited UK ISSN 2046 - 9497 Publishers of EuroWire and Wire & Cable ASIA magazines

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USA: Danbury Corporate Center, 107 Mill Plain Road, Danbury, CT 06811, USA Tel: +1 203 794 0444 Email: doug@intras.co.uk News Editor David Bell david@wiredinusa.com Features Editor (USA) Dorothy Fabian Features Editor (Europe) Gill Watson Publisher Caroline Sullens

Sales & Marketing (International) Sales Manager Jason Smith jason@wiredinusa.com +44 1926 834 684 Accounts Manager Julie Case juliecase@intras.co.uk

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

Diary Shows & Events 2018/2019

October 23-26 October 2018 EuroBLECH Hanover, Germany www.euroblech.com September 26-29 September 2018 wire China 2018 Shanghai, China www.wirechina.net february 28 February to 2 March 2019 Istanbul TEL Fair Istanbul, Turkey www.tel-fair.com

november 27-29 November 2018 wire India Mumbai, India www.wire-india.com march 5-7 March 2019 Cables 2019 Düsseldorf, Germany www.ami-international october 14-17 October 2018 IWCS 2018 Rhode Island, USA www.iwcs.org

For more info visit: www.wiredinusa.com/showinfo.php

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Regulation hurdles for $2bn transmission project M A K I N G T H E NEWS

The developers of a $2 billion transmission project between New Mexico, Arizona and the southwest are pursuing regulatory approvals. The proposed two single-circuit 500kV transmission lines will cross about 520 miles of state, federal and private land in the two states. SunZia made application in March for approval of locations and right- of-way widths for the massive power lines, and the route is now under scrutiny by a New Mexico public regulation commission. The project has been controversial due to its proximity to a US military installation, and environmentalists’ concerns about effects on wildlife.

Developers stated in their application to the commission that they expect final approval from the US Bureau of Land Management to proceed with construction later this year, and that a right-of-way permit from the New Mexico State Land Office is expected shortly. SunZia is also pursuing easement agreements with over 80 private landowners in New Mexico. Right-of-way corridors for both lines may be up to 1,000 feet, depending on terrain conditions, with a typical right-of-way width of 200 feet per 500kV circuit.

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

Image: Damian Gadel / Flickr

California coast plans

German Baden- WuerttembergAG (EnBW) has announced a joint venture with Trident Winds Inc to develop an up to 1GW floating wind project off the central coast of California. The newly established subsidiary, EnBW North America, has joined forces with Seattle-based Trident Winds to work on the Morro Bay project, which is expected to have a capacity of between 650MW and 1,000MW. The venture will seek to secure the site lease from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management along with a grid-connection agreement. This is EnBW’s first foray into US offshore wind. The country has its first offshore wind park, the 30MW Block Island plant off Rhode Island, generating power, but utility Energie

activities are focused mainly on the East Coast. EnBW plans to concentrate on the West Coast. Dirk Guesewell, head of generation portfolio development at EnBW, commented that offshore wind development on the West Coast is still at an early stage and the company wants to be actively involved from the start. local knowledge, close interaction with stakeholders, detailed knowledge of permitting requirements, and extensive experience in offshore wind project design, construction and operation. The newly created joint venture brings all these elements together,” said Alla Weinstein, founder and CEO of Trident Winds. “Successful projects require

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Integration demands reorganization

a North American head office located in Highland Heights, Kentucky, and 23 plants located throughout the region. Battista commented: “We are proud to have established our second home region in the United States, contributing to the development of the country’s economy with our best technologies and expertise; integrating the two companies’ cultures, business segments, geographical markets, production facilities and staff functions.” Prysmian CEO Valerio

Italian and telecommunication cables manufacturer Prysmian Group is relaunching itself after combining with the Kentucky-based General Cable. The new groupwill employ around 30,000 people at 112 plants and 25 research centers in over 50 countries. The integration with General Cable enables further expansion of its technology range and product portfolio. Prysmian has its global headquarters in Milan. North America will now account for around a third of the group’s sales, with power transmission

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Rich Stinson

City expansion

Southwire plans to open a fourth facility in Villa Rica, Georgia. The new distribution center will employ 60 workers, bringing the total employees in the city to 380. Southwire’s president and CEO, Rich Stinson, said: “We can’t make enough product for what is going on in the utility space, industrial space, commercial construction space and residential [sectors] today. “We should employ more than 500 people in the Villa Rica area within the next year to two years.”

According to company information, Southwire did $5 billion in business in 2017 and expects to exceed $7.5 billion by 2022. That growth, Stinson said, will be partially fueled by the company’s continued expansion into new economic sectors that touch on its core wire and cable manufacturing. The company is expanding into new product lines and moving into other specialized sectors that reflect a shift toward alternative and ecologically friendly sources of energy.

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Operations underway at Brampton Engineering

Davis-Standard acquires Brampton

Gary Hughes, CEO of Brampton Engineering, said on teaming with Davis-Standard: “Davis- Standard is a global leader in plastic extrusion technology and we are proud to join their team. Davis-Standard brings resources and support to our business to better serve our customers worldwide and we are excited about the solutions we can present together.” Mr Murphy added: “We are very enthusiastic about working with Gary and the Brampton Engineering team and are excited about our future together.”

Davis-Standard, LLC has acquired Brampton Engineering of Brampton, Ontario, Canada. Brampton Engineering, LLC is a provider of multi-layer AeroFrost ® air-blown and AquaFrost ® water-quenched film systems, film winding and many other film production solutions. “We are pleased to welcome Brampton Engineering with their globally recognised blown film technology to our team,” said Jim Murphy, Davis-Standard president and CEO. “Brampton Engineering’s focus on customer support, technology and its employees align well with the values of Davis-Standard.”

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Copper mill contract

with ZGR. Primetals will provide engineering, equipment and installation supervision for the rolling mill equipment, which includes a 13-stand Morgan No-Twist mill, a 24-inch entry shear, intermediate shear and other related systems.

A copper rod mill manufactured in Primetals’ Worcester, Massachusetts, facility will be sent to China for the production of tough pitch copper. The mill will be installed in the Jiangsu province of China for Jiangsu ZGR New Material Co, a company based in the city of Yixing, and is expected to be in operation in 2019. The SCR-7000 copper rod mill will be installed by Georgia wire and cable producer Southwire Co, which signed the contract

The mill is designed to run 48 metric tons per hour and up to 315,000 tons per year.

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

Photo by Nicolas Jehly on Unsplash

New speeds for New York

will be able to deliver the latest technologies, applications, products and services quickly, and reliably, to our customers and ensure they have access to the ultra-broadband speeds and capacity they require now and in the future.” Federico Guillen, president of Nokia Fixed Networks business group, said: “As demand for Gigabit and symmetrical services grows, next-generation fiber technologies like XGS- PON play a critical role in delivering and supporting the enhanced ultra-broadband services customers require today and in the future.”

Greenlight Networks will deploy Nokia’s latest fiber technology to enhance its fiber network capacity and reliability. Said to provide symmetrical broadband speeds of up to 10Gbps, the XGS-PON1 deployment is a first for New York and enables Greenlight Networks to bring some of the fastest broadband speeds to the region. Mark Murphy, CEO at Greenlight Networks, said: “We pride ourselves on offering the fastest Internet speeds available in the markets we serve, and Nokia’s XGS-PON technology will play a critical part in our ability to deliver these services to our customers. With Nokia’s next-generation PON fiber solution we

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Weak outlook, despite growth

While the Massachusetts-based company said its grid business grew by more than 20 percent in fiscal 2017, for the third consecutive year, and expects continued gains in the coming year, its fiscal first-quarter outlook of $11 million to $13 million fell belowWall Street’s $16.25 million consensus.

Shares of American Superconductor Corp (AMSC) fell sharply after the company delivered mixed fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and guidance that missed Wall Street’s expectations. AMSC, the maker of grid tech solutions, showed a narrower net loss of $0.25 in the period ending December 2017, compared with a net loss of $0.51 a year earlier, on revenue of $13.5 million versus $16.2 million a year ago. Analysts expected, on average, a loss of $0.31 on sales of $14.5 million.

Shares dropped by about 10 percent as a result.

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Micro mill for US market

The Beta LaserMike brand has been faithfully serving the wire and cable industry for over 50 years and we have thousands of satisfied customers that rely on our measurement systems every day to improve quality, increase productivity and deliver manufacturing savings. We are committed to your success. Precision Measurement & Control Solutions feeding product for the downstream rebar fabricating industry. CMC’s spooled rebar will be available in sizes #3 to #6 (10mm to 19mm) and in 1.5-ton to 4.8-ton spools. CMC Steel Oklahoma is claimed to be the first endless casting rolling micro mill in the world to produce spooled bars in coils. CMC operates two Danieli micro mills. The first was commissioned in Mesa, Arizona in 2009, and the latest is in Durant, Oklahoma.

High quality spooled bars in coil “made in the USA, for the US market” are now available from Commercial Metals Company’s (CMC) newmicro mill, CMC Steel Oklahoma, located in Durant, Oklahoma. CMC held a dedication ceremony in April for the new mill, supplied by Danieli. Danieli K-Spool technology allows the production of hot-rolled, high quality, perfectly shaped compact coils. These twist- free spooling, high-filling factor, easy-to- handle coils are a preferred added-value

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Ryerson Holding Corporation has announced its entry into a definitive merger agreement to acquire Central Steel and Wire Company, a metal service center with six locations across the central and eastern USA. Central Steel andWire has a history andbrand spanning over 100 years, with a commercial portfolio centered on bar, tube, plate and sheet products. The company will continue to operate under its current brand name following the closing of the transaction. Eddie Lehner, Ryerson’s president and CEO, said: “Since 1909, Central Steel and Wire has cultivated a loyal customer following as an industry standard-bearer of customer service. Ryerson’s acquisition of Central Steel into the Ryerson family of highly valued industrial metal distribution and processing companies takes Ryerson’s ability to provide great customer experiences to another level. We are excited to elevate the best of Central Steel and Wire while leveraging Ryerson’s intelligently networked service centers. “By supporting and further developing the Central Steel and Wire brand in the marketplace to existing and new customers, Ryerson continues along a smart growth trajectory thatweexpect toaddmeaningfully to shareholder value in the years to come.” Completion of the transaction has been approved by the board of directors of both companies. The parties expect to close the transaction during the third quarter of 2018.

Steel merger

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Newcomb Spring Corp is adding custom wire bending to its range of manufacturing capabilities. As a manufacturer of custom springs, wire forms and metal stampings, Newcomb Spring has invested in CNC manufacturing technology and advanced quality control systems for wire bending. CNC automation gives Newcomb Spring the capability to bend wire with repeatable accuracy, using materials ranging from standard steels to premium exotic alloys, in shapes ranging from round to rectangular and custom. “Maintaining accurate geometries is critical in precision wire bending projects, so parts transition smoothly to final assemblies,” explained Robert Jacobson, president of Newcomb Spring. “Our investment in this CNC technology allows us to address customers’ demands for precise wire components that meet design specifications with repeatable accuracy, from prototype through [to] large production runs.” Newcomb Spring will continue to invest in wire bending manufacturing to address the needs of companies across markets such as transportation and automotive, agriculture, appliances and housewares, medical and veterinary accessories.

CNC investment

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EUROPE NEWS

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The newly built carousel at DOC-Swan Hunter’s storage and cable spooling yard in Vlissingen, Netherlands. Photograph courtesy of DOC-Swan Hunter BV

First turn for new carousel

DOC-Swan Hunter’s storage and cable spooling yard in Vlissingen, Netherlands, has completed export cable load-in operations for a Belgian offshorewind project, including spooling approximately 28km of 261mm export cable.

He described the achievement as the result of “tremendous effort by our personnel in combination with designers, engineers, subcontractors and suppliers over recent months. “The support from the local supply chain has been immense. The cable is now covered with UV cable-protection materials until load-out operations.”

The cable will be stored in DOC-Swan Hunter’s newly built 23m basket carousel.

“These operations saw the first use of our newly built carousel in combination with our new loading tower. “We are very proud of reaching the tremendous milestone of building this new equipment in time and soon afterwards finalizing the spooling operations,” said Swan Hunter director Gerard Kroese.

Swan Hunter said that the cable load-out is expected in the third quarter of this year.

DOC-Swan Hunter is a joint venture between Swan Hunter and Dutch Offshore Contractors, established to provide a complete service package solution to the offshore energy industry.

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

Subsea cables keep watch

DC link complete Historic HVDC Maritime Link commissioned in Canada —

Labrador

The world’s first bipolarVSCHVDC system

Additional renewables willhelp reduce theuse of fossil fuelsand CO 2 emissions, improve gridstability andboost powerexchange

Enabling exchange ofcleanpower from Newfoundlandand Labrador toNova Scotiaand the NorthAmericangrid Enabling exchange ofcleanpo er fro Ne foundlandand Labrador toNova Scotiaand the NorthA ericangrid

500MWcapacity. Enough electricity tosupplyup to 350,000homes

ABB has completed a 500MW high voltage direct current link in Canada. The Maritime Link will be operated by Emera, headquartered in eastern Canada, and will carry renewables-generated electricity from Newfoundland and Labrador to the North American grid in Nova Scotia. The link made history in December when it conducted the first exchange of electricity between the islands of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and went into service in January. It has now been officially handed over to Emera. The HVDC Light ® technology used in the design of the Maritime Link is the first bipolar configurationof its kindusing voltage source converters. ABB said this solution enhances system availability, reduces losses and increases grid reliability as power continues to flow even if one conductor or converter is out of use. The converter stations are equipped with the ABB Ability™-based advanced MACH™ control and protection system that monitors, controls and protects the technology in the stations and manages thousands of operations to ensure power reliability. Its advanced fault registration and remote control functions also help protect the link from unexpected disruptions, such as lightning strikes.

Photo by Austin Schmid on Unsplash

Subsea cables could give early warning of devastating tsunamis after what researchers describe as a “serendipitous” combination of techniques. Researchers at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory and the National Institute of Metrological Research in Italy have combined their knowledge of metrology with seismology to successfully detect underwater earthquakes. The developed technique involves sending lasers along existing fiber optic cables. Most earthquake monitoring stations are on land because of the expense of seafloor installation. As a result, many underwater seismic movements are not detected, limiting scientists’ ability to study the Earth’s interior. Collaborating with the British Geological Survey and the University of Malta, the researchers used telecommunications cables as acoustic sensors. Earthquake vibrations cause “infinitesimal changes” in the cables’ length, allowing the team to monitor them in real time.

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Aluminum at sea

Upgrade for wire rod mill

Verifying the conditions of the terminations by thermography

Kroman Celik (Yucel Boru Group) contracted Danieli for the modernization of its high speed wire rod mill, originally supplied by Danieli in 2006. The upgrade project includes the addition of a TMB-twin module block and a newly designed HSS high speed shear before the sizing block. The new systems will guarantee a size tolerance of ± 0.1mm, and 60 percent out- of-roundness on 4.5mm diameter wire rod produced at 115m per second. Kroman Celik’s new technology will expand its wire rod range from the current 5.5mm-20mm diameter to 4.5mm-26mm diameter, and also widen steel grade production to premium grades. The Danieli plant performs thermo- mechanical rolling (low temperature rolling down to 750°C and normalizing rolling), featuring a single-pass family in the pre- finishing and upstream mill, and increasing rolling mill availability by minimizing size- change downtime. The modernized mill be in operation by summer 2019. In addition, a 1,400-ton cutting force scrap shear and a baler will be installed, to produce bales weighing over 1,000kg in a variable bale length up to 1m.

DNV GL has developed the first type approval scheme for the use of aluminum cables and connectors onboard vessels. “This type approval represents another first for the DNV GL rule set, and demonstrates our commitment to moving classification forward to help our customers,” said Geir Dugstad, senior vice president, director of ship classification and technical director at DNV GL Maritime. The new type approvals will allow copper to be replaced with aluminum. The cost savings can be significant, with the price of aluminum in 2018 at approximately one third that of copper. Aluminum’s lower conductivity means that a thicker cable is required, but this is compensated for by an overall lower weight. For example, a typical offshore support vessel may have 60 tons of copper cables installed. If these were replaced with aluminum, the weight would fall to 30 tons. Even with the price of special terminations factored in, the overall estimated saving from switching to aluminum from copper is 50 percent. In addition, a vessel with aluminum cables is lighter and more fuel efficient – resulting in lower operational costs.

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Market conditions forcing change

Wind plans

Photo by Shaun Dakin on Unsplash

Van Oord Offshore Wind BV has awarded Prysmian Group with a contract for the development of a submarine inter-array cable system for Borssele III and IV offshore wind farms. Prysmian will be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply and testing of about 175km of a variety of 66kV three-core cables with XLPE insulation. The wind farms are part of the Borssele Wind Farm Zone, located near the southern border of the Dutch Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) approximately 25km from the shore, andwill have a total installed capacity of 731.5MW. The project will provide sustainable electricity to over 800,000 households in the Netherlands and is part of a wider plan to achieve 16 percent of total generated electricity from renewable energy by 2023. The cables will be produced in Prysmian’s center of excellence in Pikkala, Finland, and are due for delivery in early 2020.

SMS group GmbH has announced reductions in personnel as a result of difficult conditions within the metallurgical plant and machinery construction market. Steel producers remain challenged by over-capacities, leading to continued low investment in new metallurgical plants. This is causing fierce competition and price pressure among plant constructors bidding for individual projects. Due to this situation SMS group is being forced to cut costs by optimizing internal processes and procedures. A reduction in the number of employees is therefore unavoidable. The managing board is currently informing the workforce at the Mönchengladbach, Hilchenbach, Düsseldorf and Witten locations. The company aims to reduce its Germany-based workforce by 570 employees by 2020. the measures are underway with the workers’ representation bodies. As in 2016, the managing board will make every effort, in cooperation with the works councils and labor union, to achieve most of the cutbacks with pre-retirement reductions in hours and individual agreements, but redundancies appear unavoidable. Negotiations on implementing

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Planning progress

New chair for HSE team

Orsted has cleared the initial planning hurdle for its 2.4GW Hornsea 3 offshore wind farm in the North Sea, off the east coast of England. The UK Planning Inspectorate has formally accepted the project application for examination, with hearings and representations to follow. Based in Denmark, Orsted is planning to build up to 300 turbines at the Hornsea 3 site, which will also feature up to six export cables. Orsted is currently building the 1.2GW Hornsea 1 and has a contract in place for the 1.4GW Hornsea 2, which is due online between 2022 and 2024. Orsted has cleared the initial planning hurdle for its Horn- sea 3 offshore wind farm in the North Sea, UK. Photograph courtesy of Orsted-Hornsea 1

Sophie Barbeau

Sophie Barbeau has been appointed chairwoman of the Europacable health, safety and environmental (HSE) team, and a member of the Europacable executive board. She takes over the leadership of the team from Antonio Traversi of Prysmian Group. Mrs Barbeau joined the Europacable HSE team in 2011 and currently chairs the product and legislation group. Based in Lyon, France, Barbeau leads Nexans’ sustainable development technical team covering environmental standardization, product compliance, and the deployment of life cycle approach and ecodesign within Nexans. She has a degree and a PhD in polymers and composite materials. In addition to Europacable’s executive board there are six working teams currently operating within Europacable: the communication team chaired by Mr Kristoffer Gleberg (NKT Cables); a digital team chaired by Mr Philippe Vanhille (Prysmian Group); an energy team chaired by Mr Raul Gil (Prysmian Group); the HSE team now chaired by Mrs Sophie Barbeau (Nexans); the industry team chaired by Mr Benjamin Fitoussi (Nexans); and a technical management team chaired by Mr Friedrich Müller (Nexans).

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ASIA & AFRICA NEWS

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Island cable causes protest

Moscow’s steadfast refusal to return the Kuril Islands to Japanese control has stopped both countries from signing a post-war peace treaty. Maintaining control of the islands ensures Russia’s Vladivostok-based fleet has access to the Pacific Ocean through a strait that does not freeze in winter. In 2016 the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed to discuss joint economic projects on the disputed islands, but without any progress to date.

Control of the Kuril Islands has been disputed by Japan and Russia since the end of the Second World War. Tokyo is now protesting against Russian plans to lay an undersea fiber optic cable to the islands. The cable is planned to stretch between the Russian Far East and the Russian- controlled Kuril Islands that Japan also claims as its Northern Territories. “It’s extremely regrettable, as such a project is proceeding under the Russian occupation that has no legal basis,” said Japanese government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga. Tokyo has also complained to China over the involvement of the Chinese multinational Huawei Technologies in the project. Russia lost the islands after it was defeated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). Soviet troops recaptured them towards the end of World War II, forcing some 17,000 Japanese residents to flee to the nearby Japanese island of Hokkaido.

The disputed region where Russia plans to lay an undersea fiber optic cable. Photograph courtesy of dw.com

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Cable joint venture

Australia to fund Solomons connection

LS Cable and System Ltd will establish a 50-50 joint venture with Indonesian conglomerate Artha Graha Group (AG Group) to access the Southeast Asian electric wire market. Under the agreement, signed at the embassy of Indonesia in Yeouido, Seoul, LS Cable and AG Group will invest a total $40 million to build a power cable factory on a 64,000m 2 location near Jakarta, Indonesia. Work will begin in July 2018, and is expected to be completed in the second half of 2019. LS Cable and System said that the joint facility will produce overhead electric power lines and low and medium voltage cables used in construction and plants, aiming to generate $100 million in sales in 2025. This will be LS Cable’s seventh production entity across Asia, joining facilities in Vietnam, China, India and Myanmar.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Australia has agreed to fund underwater Internet cables and a cybersecurity center for the Solomon Islands, forestalling plans by Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies that could have compromised Australian Internet security. The arrangement was announced in a joint statement from the two governments during a visit to Canberra by Solomons prime minister Rick Houenipwela. Until Australia stepped in, Huawei was to lay the cables for the Solomons which might have given the Chinese company access to a broadband hub in Sydney. Analysts say that would have raised a “red flag” for Australian Internet security. In April, Australia effectively canceled the Huawei plan with a promise to join the Solomons, and neighboring Papua New Guinea, to high speed Internet via an undersea cable to Sydney, setting aside roughly $200 million in its May budget for the task.

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Nigeria’s telecom infrastructure

New cable in action

The SEA cable exchange-1 (SEAX-1) linking Tanah Merah in Singapore to both Batam, Indonesia, and Mersing, Malaysia, is ready for service. The cable, owned by Super Sea Cable Networks Pte Ltd (SEAX), was constructed by Huawei International and Huawei Marine Networks. The new 250km undersea cable comprises large capacity, 24-fiber pairs without repeaters. Once operational SEAX-1 will provide SEAX customers with robust, low latency, high bandwidth connectivity to meet thegrowingdemandfor e-commerce and Internet-based services throughout the ASEAN region. Construction on the project started in September 2016, with an original completion date of late 2017. Works were carried out by SEAX in collaboration with local partners PT Super Sistem Ultima, in Indonesia, and SACOFA Sdn Bhd in Malaysia.

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria have installed around 52,000km of fiber optic cable to bridge access gaps in the country, and deployed 33,000 2G, 29,000 3G and 4,000 4G LTE sites. Nigeria currently has five international submarine cable and landing station services operators, with telecommunications investment said to be over $70 billion. The new infrastructure has helped to increase the number of telephone lines from 400,000 NITEL lines in 2001 to over 150 million active mobile phone users, about 100 million Internet users, and a teledensity of 114 percent as at April 2018. However, some 33millionNigerians in 200 communities across the country are yet to have access to basic telephony services. Danbatta, represented by Edoyemi Ogo, the assistant director, technical standards, NCC, said all efforts must be channeled to improve the level of infrastructure in the sector, and in the country as a whole. The commission is committed to improve Nigeria’s broadband penetration to 30 percent by the end of the year, from the current 22 percent.

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IoT keeps track

Investment in record solar

China’s Silk Road Fund Co is investing in what is believed to be the world’s largest solar thermal plant. The 700MW project is being built by Riyadh-based Acwa Power International and Shanghai Electric Group Co Ltd at a cost of $3.9 billion. “They are investing as one of the shareholders in one of the CSP [concentrated solar project] projects in Dubai,” said Thamer Al Sharhan, managing director at Acwa. The financing gives credibility to Acwa’s ambitions to build one of the world’s leading solar power plants at what was a record low cost when the project won the contract last year. Acwa Power won a tender for the project with a bid to sell power at 7.3 cents per kilowatt-hour, which at the time was a record low for solar. The plant is expected to be commissioned in several stages, beginning in the fourth quarter of 2020. Photo by American Public Power Association on Unsplash

LS Cable and System is believed to be the first in the cable industry to use an inventory management system using Internet of Things (IoT) technology. The system installs communication sensors in products and materials to transmit location and inventory data in real time over the Internet. The information can be accessed using a smartphone. This project, which has undergone a three- year incubation process, was subject to a six-month verification test at LS Cable’s Donghae plant in Gangwon-do, South Korea. LS Cable is planning to market the system to other cable makers, shipbuilding yards, and automotive parts makers, and will also apply the technology to export- bound cable drums, which are highly likely to be stolen during shipment. “As [the system] can track products from factory release until delivery to customers, we are looking forward to expanding the business to global manufacturers and logistics,” said Roe-Hyun Myung, CEO of LS Cable and System.

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Offshore China cable

New head for subsea company

Photo by Bruno Vieira on Unsplash

Jiangsu Hengtong High Voltage Submarine Cable, a subsidiary of Hengtong-Optic Electric, has won a contract to provide 220kV submarine power cables for the Yangjiang Nanpeng Island wind farm located offshore Guangdong province, China. China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN) is developing the 400MW wind farm in the South China Sea. The wind farm will comprise wind turbines with a capacity of 5MW or higher, which will be operated and maintained from the city of Jieyang. The project also includes a 220kV offshore booster station, a 35kV collector cable system, a 220kV submarine cable system and an onshore control center. CGN broke ground on the onshore integrated control center for the wind farm in early May. The wind farm is expected to deliver its first power in 2020. The project is part of a cooperation agreement between CGN and Jieyang municipal government to jointly develop 3GW of offshore wind capacity.

Simon Hibberd

Simon Hibberd has been appointed managing director of SB Submarine Systems (SBSS), a Chinese provider of subsea cable installation and maintenance services. Mr Hibberd, who began his role on 4 th May 2018, brings wide industry experience having worked for SBSS’ parent company, Global Marine, since 1988. Mr Hibberd initially worked on board Global Marine’s cable ships, rising to the rank of commander, where he completed the installation of landmark fiber optic and power cableprojects, including theBrazilian Festoon, PC1, TAT14, EAC and Estlink. In 2007 he moved ashore and has subsequently held a number of senior posts at the company’s UK head office including director [of] fleet and operational support then director, global technical sales, and most recently focusing on business development opportunities in Asia.

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Products, Machines & Technology

wiredInUSA - July 2018

38

Bespoke for Norway’s market During the last 12 months Reka Cables has invested heavily in developing new cable products, especially within the installation cable segment. The company has now launched a 300/500V installation cable, designed especially for its home Norwegian market. In a customer survey conducted at the Eliaden trade fair, the newly introduced cable received excellent ratings in all areas. “New products that are designed to meet local market requirements are important, making us more interesting as suppliers for our distribution partners and end-users, as well as enabling growth of both our net sales and market share,” said Niklas Enkvist, export sales director of Reka Cables. The Eliaden trade fair, held biannually in Lillestrøm near Oslo, is among the biggest events in the electricity industry in the Nordic countries. This year the trade fair attracted nearly 20,000 visitors. On Reka Cables’ stand more than 300 electricians and electricity experts tested the new cable and participated in the product survey.

Award reflects environmental benefits PowerWise™ cable and digital building application products from Superior Essex have received top product of the year in the Environmental Leader and Energy Manager Today awards. The annual award recognizes excellence in products and services that provide companies with energy and environmental benefits. One judge said of PowerWise cable and the digital building application: “The Superior Essex product is well thought out and reduces energy while enhancing the user experience. Bonus points for manufacturing in a zero waste-to-landfill plant.” Superior Essex’s PowerWise is a power-over- ethernet cable suite, designed to help customers to optimize, customize, and unify their enterprise space while offering improved energy efficiency, occupant health, safety and productivity. Superior Essex products contribute to all green building standards, including LEED, WELL Building and the Living Building challenge. “We are honored to be recognized by Environmental Leader and Energy Manager Today for the environmental performance of our PowerWise cable and digital building

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

Connection to the ERP system/MES system will leverage smart production.

application products,” said Eric Perry, Superior Essex VP – engineering services and quality. “These technological solutions reflect Superior Essex’s firm belief that the products which interconnect the world must also respect it.” Tim Hermes, publisher of Environmental Leader’s parent company, Business Sector Media, commented: “With a highly respected judging panel and a strict set of judging criteria, entrants faced an extremely high bar for the level of product or project to qualify for an award.” Rosendahl has developed a low-scrap solution for color-changing processes with stripes, skin and layer, especially geared to automotive wire producers. Using only a small volume of melt during color changes results in the shortest scrap length. All bypasses are integrated in Rosendahl’s Rocomat system, with no need for separate units to assemble and disassemble. Roex extrusion technology, with either the Rocomat or the new RX5 crosshead, combined with the Rio line control system makes manufacturing smart, trackable and low in scrap. Small batch manufacturing

The systemcontains hardware and software components that allow the shortest production lengths and smallest batch sizes.

A color-detecting systemcan be integrated into the line.

Operating at a speed of 1,500m per minute, the wire is produced and dried before take- up. S S Rosendahl’s low-scrap solution for color-changing processes with stripes, skin and layer. Photograph courtesy of Rosendahl Nextrom

wiredInUSA - July 2018

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Explore the benefits of Nano-Die® from Nano-Diamond America. Materials: aluminium & alloys, copper, brass, welding alloys, low carbon & stainless steel. Nano-Die® is a registered trademark. Product distribution is exclusive through select NDA Distributorships Quality UP. Costs DOWN. Nano-die® Performs: • very low friction & extreme hardness, better Copper and Aluminium utilization/better surface • +0 tolerance for full die life • no die polishing/no re-cutting required Nano-Diamond America, Inc. 2025 Woodbrook Court, Charlottesville, VA 22901 Tel: +1 (434) 220-0435 Fax: +1 (804) 980-7770 e-mail admin@nano-die.com www.nano-die.com

EDITORIAL Index

ABB

28 36 20 22 21 16 16 29 27 36 10 11 18 37 35 17 29

LS Cable and System Ltd Newcomb Spring Corp

34, 36

Acwa Power International

24 31 16 17 39 40 22 37 36 30 12 35 39 10 9

American Superconductor Corp Central Steel and Wire Company Commercial Metals Company

Orsted

Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Primetals

Brampton Engineering

Prysmian Group

11, 31

Danieli

21, 29

Reka Cables

Davis-Standard, LLC

Rosendahl

DNV GL

Ryerson Holding Corporation

DOC-Swan Hunter Electric Group Co Ltd

SB Submarine Systems

Silk Road Fund Co SMS group GmbH

Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg AG

General Cable

Southwire

Greenlight Networks

SunZia

Hengtong-Optic Electric Huawei Technologies

Super Sea Cable Networks Pte Ltd

Superior Essex

Jiangsu ZGR New Material Co

Trident Winds Inc

Kroman Celik

wiredInUSA - July 2018

42

ADVERTISING Index

AIM Inc

25 21 11 17 20 41 23 13 19 8

Beta LaserMike (An NDC Technologies Brand)

Clinton Instrument Company

DeWAL Madem

Messe Düsseldorf

Nano-Diamond America Inc

Paramount Die

Sikora

Windak Group

Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp

14, 15

Zumbach Electronic

2

Marketing: Contact Jason Smith, wiredInUSA, Tel: +44 (0) 1926 834684 Email: jason@wiredinusa.com News: Contact David Bell, Editor, wiredInUSA, Tel: +44 (0) 1926 334137 Email: david@wiredinusa.com

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wiredInUSA - July 2018

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