wiredInUSA October 2017

Bending U-bolts

Higher fiber production

Videx has introduced a new bending system concept

Furukawa Electric Company is planning to nearly double its fiber manufacturing capacity by 2019, and increase its capacity for optical fiber cable. Between 2014 and 2016, Furukawa Electric increased its fiber production capacity by 20 percent and planned to achieve another capacity increase of 20 percent by 2018. However, in order to meet strong customer demand for optical fiber and optical fiber cable, the Furukawa Electric board has approved capital spending of $150 million for further expansion in production, primarily in the US and Europe through its wholly owned subsidiary OFS. “The proliferation of hyper-scale and edge data centers, 5G wireless, and fiber-to-the- home, along with the greater digitization of communications in business, [is] creating the need for fiber in the network around the world,” said Timothy F Murray, head of the global optical fiber and cable business of Furukawa Electric and CEO of OFS. “Furukawa Electric is responding with greater capacity as we foresee this demand continuing into the next decade, with communication traffic estimated to increase during this period.”

Israel’s Videx has introducedanewbending system concept, using a slide bending die and integral stripper mechanism. Using the new line of VAS-DBQ machines, manufacturers will no longer need to make bending dies for each part. Videx Machine Engineering develops and builds machines for manufacturing U-bolts and other bent parts, working directly from wire coil. The new machines work with a floating bending die that covers the entire range of round and square bottom U-bolts, enabling the producer to make new sizes in minutes. VAS-DBQ types are equipped with a positive stripper system that allows running the machines at the fastest possible speed without the risk of parts jamming. The VAS line of machines pull wire from a coil, straighten, cut to length, chamfer and thread both ends, and then bend to shape. They can also perform cold forming operations, such as heading and extrusion, and material removing operations such as drilling and pointing.

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wiredInUSA - October 2017