wiredinUSA May 2019

Issue No. 95 - May 2019

www.wiredInUSA.com

America’s online magazine for wire and cable

wiredIn USA

Education partnership Page 9

Caribbean boost. Page 10

Offshore power for oil platforms. Page 27

Increasing cable capacity. Page 33

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EDITOR

One of the largest investments in the state of Kentucky has been announced, with steel producer Nucor Corporation spending $1.35 billion to build a steel plate mill at Brandenburg in Meade County. Governor Matt Bevin said the move, which will create around 400 jobs, ranks among the state’s largest ever single investments. The build means that the North Carolina- based company is currently investing more than $2 billion in its Kentucky operations. The full story can be found on page 11. Expansion is also on the horizon for First Quantum Minerals, which has laid out its plans to grow its Cobre Panama copper development project by 15 million tonnes per year at a cost of some $327 million. It involves the development of the Colina pit at the site, and the addition of a ninth mill, expandedminingequipment fleet, additional conveyors, an in-pit crusher and other infrastructure related to accessing Colina. Turn to page 15 for more details.

David Bell Editor

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May 2019 Issue No.95 CONTENTS

06 PAGE

Show Diary 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

Interwire 2019 and The WAI’s 89 th Annual Convention

82 PAGE

Products, Machines & Technology The latest news from machine industries

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wiredIn USA

© 2019 Intras Limited UK ISSN 2046 - 9497 Publishers of EuroWire and Wire & Cable ASIA magazines

INTRAS OFFICES Europe: 46 Holly Walk, Leamington Spa Warwickshire CV32 4HY, UK

Tel: +44 1926 334137 Fax: +44 1926 314755

Email: read@wiredinusa.com Website: www.wiredinusa.com

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 and Europe) Gill Watson Publisher Caroline Sullens

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

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Diary Shows & Events 2019

jUNE 11-12 June 2019

may 13-16 May 2019 Interwire Trade Exposition Atlanta, Georgia, USA www.wirenet.org

CRU Wire & Cable Conference 2019

Brussels, Belgium www.wireandcableconference.com

june 13-15 June 2019 Guangzhou Guangzhou, China www.julang.com.cn

june 18-20 June 2019 wire Russia Moscow, Russia www.wire-russia.com

September 18-20 September 2019 wire Southeast Asia Bangkok, Thailand www.wire-southeastasia.com

september 29 September - 2 October 2019 IWCS 2019 Cable & Connectivity Symposium Charlotte, North Carolina, USA www.iwcs.org

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

wiredInUSA - May 2019

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Education partnership M A K I N G T H E NEWS

Tufts University and JDR Cables Systems Inc, part of the TFKable Group, are establishing an engineering co-op student office on the Tufts University campus in Medford, Massachusetts. Recent activities by the US and Massachusetts governments are accelerating the development of offshore wind energy off the Massachusetts coast, driving a transformation of the energy grid. There is growing federal support for research and development, and action on designating ocean areas in which development of offshore wind farms will have the highest priority. To supply the industry with engineering professionals Tufts University has established a program around offshore power system design, to be taught in collaboration with JDR. Also in collaboration with JDR, the university has established an undergraduate engineering cooperative education office for Tufts University students who

are in their junior or senior year and wish to pursue a career in the offshore wind industry. The office will connect student engineers with mentors and work experience at JDR project sites around the world, including internships at JDR UK and TFKable’s Polish factories, gaining exposure to the engineering, development, manufacturing, assembly and testing of subsea cable products. David Nemetz, director for the Americas at JDR, said: “Our cooperation is a great opportunity to increase the potential of the region by preparing appropriate, highly qualified staff…who will enter the market not only with a large scope of theoretical knowledge, but also practical knowledge, resulting from the experience of working with JDR and TFKable.” Cover: Tufts University and JDR Cables Systems Inc are establishing an engineering co-op student office. Photograph courtesy of JDR

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Photo by Daniel Hjalmarsson on Unsplash

Caribbean boost

Infinera has boosted Orange’s Kanawa subsea cable capacity to 10Tbps. Kanawa, launched in January 2019 to link French Guiana with Martinique and Guadeloupe in theCaribbean, isa1,746kmfibercablesystem built, owned and operated by Orange, and comprising two pairs of subsea fiber. “French Guiana is experiencing rapid growth in digital technology,” said Jean-Luc Vuillemin, executive vice president of Orange International networks infrastructure and services, adding: “We needed to ensure the region keeps pace with the rest of the world, and Kanawa was our solution. Infinera’s cutting-edge technology enables Orange to increase capacity on demand and delivers the high performance we expected. Choosing to deploy Infinera’s technology is

a significant benefit to us and our customers, providing us with an agile, scalable network.”

Kanawa is powered by Infinera’s fourth generation Infinite Capacity engine-based (ICE4-based) XTS 3600 platform and Infinera Instant Bandwidth. With Infinera’s solutions Orange can increase capacity as needed, within minutes, without requiring any additional work on its subsea network. “Orange’s selection of Infinera’s ICE4-based platform and instant bandwidth underscores the significant benefits of operating a cognitive network,” said Bob Jandro, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Infinera. “We are delighted to work with Orange on this major deployment.”

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Rural steel mill

Steel producer Nucor Corporation is to build a $1.35 billion manufacturing mill in a rural Kentucky county, creating several hundred new jobs. Governor Matt Bevin said the steel plate mill, to be built at Brandenburg in Meade County, ranks among the state’s largest ever single investments.

at the site, 45 miles (70km) southwest of Louisville. With the Brandenburg project, Ferriola added, the North Carolina-based company is currently investing over $2 billion in its Kentucky operations.

Nucor CEO and president John Ferriola said the project will create about 400 jobs

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Upgrades and modernization

Dunkirk a manufacturer of semi-finished and finished steel products, has unveiled several upgrades at its facility in Dunkirk, New York. The renovations are the result of a $10 million capital investment from parent company Universal Stainless and Alloy Products Inc, and contributions from the county of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency, City of Dunkirk Department of Development, and NYS Empire State Development. Specialty Steel LLC,

The facility has installed a new $10 million bar turn and burnish line, as well as a new General Electric phased array non-destructive testing system. Further equipment from Germany and Japan is said to make the Dunkirk finishing cell the most advanced in the US.

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Copper proposal

First Quantum Minerals has released a technical report that lays out the company’s plans for expanding its Cobre Panama copper development project by 15 million tonnes per year. The company has made slow but steady progress at the Central American facility, with the first introduction of ore to the project’s processing plant in February. However, as First Quantum continues to increase efforts it is also looking to the future with new expansion plans.

At an estimated cost of $327 million, the proposed expansion will involve an earlier development of the Colina pit, one of the project’s three main zones alongside Botijla and Valle Grande. It will also follow the addition of a ninth mill, an expanded mining equipment fleet, additional conveyors, an in-pit crusher and other infrastructure related to accessing Colina.

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wiredInUSA - May 2019

Smart funding

The recently established Smart City Infrastructure Fund is making its first investment in the rollout of a fiber optic network in Fullerton, California. The fund, set up to provide long-term funding for “smart city” infrastructure projects, is investing over $75million to help SiFi Networks establish its largest privately funded FiberCity TM network.

facilitate smart city solutions for services such as traffic control, street lighting and emergency services, and to provide a platform for the future expansion of 5G mobile and Internet of Things networks. The investment is part of a broader partnership with SiFi, which is planning similar rollouts for other US cities that have expressed an interest in similar digital infrastructure.

The new network will increase Internet speeds in the city, and is also designed to

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Power to the web

Amazon.com its involvement in three new renewable energy projects as part of its long-term goal to power all Amazon Web Services (AWS) global infrastructurewith renewable energy. The wind power projects, in Donegal, Ireland; Bäckhammar, Sweden; and Tehachapi, California, will deliver over 229MW with expected generation of over 670,000MWh per year. AWS’s combined renewable energy projects are expected to generate over 2,700,000MWh every year. has announced

“Each of these projects brings us closer to our long-term commitment to use 100 percent renewable energy to power our global AWS infrastructure,” said Peter DeSantis, vice president of global infrastructure and customer support, Amazon Web Services. “We expect more projects in 2019 as we continue toward our goal of powering all AWS global infrastructure with renewable energy.”

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wiredInUSA - May 2019

Chile’s first floating solar farm. Photograph courtesy of Lenergie

Floating PV ticks several boxes

Chile has its first floating solar farm installed and on a new type of site – a tailings pond, owned by the mining company AngloAmerican. Located at Los Bronces mines, north of Santiago, the 84kWp pilot project was developed by Lenergie, using island and anchoring systems designed and supplied by Ciel & Terre. The Chilean project is described as a “perfect mix” of technology and innovation to produce energy while protecting the environment. The Los Bronces floating PV plant will generate 153MWh of electricity for the company, with direct benefits in terms of carbon emissions and evaporation reduction.

space is substantial. Chile experiences severe levels of evaporation, adding a challenge in the company’s mining processes. Floating solar helps to manage evaporation. Minister for mines Baldo Prokurica said: “I believe this a great initiative and… that other companies should have such installations installed. As a minister, I feel much concerned by the tailings dam issue, obviously for safety reasons and for reconversion, but also to optimize the use of these water bodies in mining areas.” Floating PV projects are now regularly implemented on a self-consumption basis for commercial, industrial and utility-type users worldwide.

Mining is an energy-intensive industry, and AngloAmerican’s available reservoir

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QAD Inc, a provider of flexible, cloud-based enterprise software and services for global manufacturing companies, has announced that WireCo WorldGroup will standardize enterprise resource planning in its steel division using QAD ERP solutions. WireCo’s growth through acquisition has led to a host of legacy ERP systems, including older versions of QAD, within the steel division. WireCo’s Mexico and Poland wire and rope mills have been operating on separate QAD installations since 1998. In total, 17 WireCo sites throughout the US, Mexico and Europe are to implement the latest version of QAD. WireCo World Group’s CIO, Todd Rumsey, said: “After comparing IT operating costs in our existing QAD environments to our other ERP platforms, we concluded that QAD offered significant savings. QAD leadership then aligned to help us understand the full benefit of standardizing on QAD throughout our steel operations.”

Standardizing software

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Renewable energy developer NextEra Energy Inc plans to build “the largest solar- powered battery in the world”. The 409MW battery will be added to an existing 74.5MW solar plant on the west coast of Florida. “As the price of battery and solar technology continue to fall, and as we learn how to optimize this technology in multiple ways to best serve our customers, we are going to be seeing more battery technology throughout our system,” said NextEra spokeswoman Alys Daly. NextEra’s project, scheduled for operation in 2021, will replace 1,638MW of natural gas-fired generation at the site that will be retired once the battery system is in service. The company said the solar farm cost $100 million, but declined to give an estimate for the battery portion of its project. The next-largest battery in operation is a 100MW storage project in Australia, but, with the average cost of lithium-ion battery packs down by 85 percent, more projects are being developed around the world. Saudi Arabia, partnered with SoftBank Group Corporation, proposed a 200GW photovoltaic panel project, backed by a storage system, in March 2018. More recently, in Texas, IP Juno has outlined plans for a 495MW storage system to be built in tandem with a solar farm of the same size, and Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners is looking to install 690MW of solar with up to 200MW of batteries on federal land about 25 miles (40km) from Las Vegas.

Battery farms

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Image: Makai

Help for the subsea installer

Facebook’s submarine cable group, in a joint effort with software developer Makai, has identified two areas where new automated tools can aid human operators with repetitive tasks during subsea cable laying. The first is an automatic rule checker, to assist planners during the route engineering process, and the second is an auto-position tool to help installers during cable installation. Route planning is a time-consuming process where planners need to make route adjustments to satisfy many competing constraints, whether they be drawn from industry or manufacturer standards, or installation limitations. Within the automatic rule checker, planners create rules based on the relevant constraints. The rule checker will run continuously in the background and will alert the planner if an established rule is violated during the route engineering process.

The auto-position tool uses Makai’s cable model to predict the response of the cable to changes in ship maneuvers, and automatically calculate the correct waypoints for the vessel to achieve correct placement of the cable on the seafloor. The underlying algorithm also understands the dynamic behavior of the cable and can calculate the necessary waypoints to negotiate the combined alter-courses with minimal slowing of the vessel. Ian Griffiths, survey systems manager, Global Marine Group, said of the auto- position tool: “Its true value will be fully appreciated when deviations are necessary from the original installation plan because of at-sea events. Changes to the alter-course strategy can be computed much faster with this new tool and, consequently, the risk to the cable installation… will be mitigated to a large degree.”

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Photo by Alexander Kunze on Unsplash

Cuban collaboration

“We are creating a working group which is comprised of engineers from Google and ETECSA who would work together to analyze ways to implement the direct Internet connection,” said Google’s chief in Cuba, Brett Perlmutter. Mobile Internet has been available on the island since December, and nearly two million of ETECSA’s five million customers have already subscribed to the 3G service. FormostCubans, however, Internet access is still only available in internet cafes or via outdoor Wi-Fi hotspots. and Washington have cooled under President Donald Trump after a diplomatic thaw under his predecessor Barack Obama briefly raised hopes of lifting the 1962 trade embargo. Relations between Havana

Despite diplomatic tensions between Washington and Havana, Google has signed a deal with Cuban operator ETECSA to explore ways of boosting Internet service in Cuba. The companies’ memorandum of understanding is aimed at speeding up connectivity to help “bring communications on the island into the 21 st Century”, a key policy of president Miguel Diaz-Canel. Cuba’s Internet provider is currently dependent on a submarine fiber optic cable link to Venezuela, but service is often overloaded and slow. The island would benefit from connection to submarine cables between the US and Latin America, so engineers from the two companies will work together to achieve a faster, direct Internet connection.

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EUROPE NEWS

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Image: Equinor - Hywind Tampen floating wind farm

Offshore power for oil platforms

DNV GL is to carry out a verification study of Equinor’s proposed Hywind Tampen floating offshore wind farm. Hywind Tampen is expected to be the world’s first floating offshore wind farm to provide energy for an oil platform. Equinor is planning to build an 88MW project in the North Sea, 200km west of Florø, Norway. DNV GL’s independent verification study will ensure that the floating wind turbines comply with the applicable codes and standards for floating offshore wind, and will focus on the review and verification of the design of the substructure, tower and

mooring system as well as critical load conditions and global design parameters.

“Reducing the use of gas for power generation, by using floating offshore wind turbines to supply power to oil platforms, is a challenging: …project with far-reaching benefits to both the oil and gas and renewables industries,” said Prajeev Rasiah, executive vice president, northern Europe, Middle East and Africa, DNV GL Energy. Hywind Tampen is expected to be capable of meeting 35 percent of the annual power demand of the Snorre andGullfaks oil fields.

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Calling a halt on wind development

Repairs contract

The cable laying vessel Willem de Vlamingh Photograph courtesy of Jan De Nul

Photo by Bence Balla-Schottner on Unsplash

Dutch and German transmission system operator TenneT has signed a 24-month agreement with Jan De Nul Group to carry out repairs on high voltage offshore cables in the German Bight area. Under the contract Jan De Nul will conduct repairs to TenneT’s existing HVAC and HVDC cable systems, and to any future connections commissioned during the life of the contract. In the event of a failure, Jan De Nul will utilise its cable laying vessels, Isaac Newton and Willem de Vlamingh . In 2018 the Willem de Vlamingh installed cables to connect the Trianel Windpark Borkum and Borkum Riffgrund II wind farms to TenneT’s DolWin Gamma and Alpha offshore convertor stations. These cables are among those covered by the agreement.

The Estonian government has refused, on national security grounds, to issue a building permit to the developer of a 600MW offshore wind farm in the Estonian Baltic Sea. The 600MW Saaremaa offshore wind farm is being developed by Saare Wind Energy OU. The company proposes to erect 100 turbines off the west coast of the Saaremaa Island. The project was initially valued at around €1.7 billion, but has now been lowered to €1.3 billion due to advances in technology and lower construction costs. In February 2019, Estonia’s minister of justice, Urmas Reinsalu, announced the government’s decision to refuse the building permit for the project: “Because, according to the internal security service, the offshore farm may bring with it a risk for Estonia’s security.” The developer is expected to challenge the government’s decision in court.

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Welder upgrade

HVDC review

Image: Danieli

ResearchAndMarkets.com has published its “Global HVDC transmission market analysis and trends — industry forecast to 2027” report, anticipating strong growth in the market for the forecast period 2017 to 2027. Key developments in the market include the increasing number of interconnections worldwide, a reduction in use of fossil fuel in energy transmission, and the emerging hybrid high voltage direct current (HVDC) circuit breaker. The report analyzes market estimates and forecasts of a range of industry segments at both global and regional levels, and provides historical market data for 2015 and 2016, revenue estimations for 2017, and revenue forecasts for 2018 to 2027. The study focuses on market trends, leading players, supply chain trends, technological innovations, key developments, and future strategies. With comprehensive market assessment across major geographies such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East, Latin America and the rest of theworld, the report couldprovea valuable asset for existing players, new entrants and future investors. More details of the report, and how to access it, can be found on the ResearchAndMarkets website.

SN Seixal, part of the Megasa Group, is modernizing its rolling mill with a new K-welder and intermediate and finishing stands from Danieli. The EWR welding machine will feed the existing bar/spooler lines with square billets of 140mm, 150mm and 160mm at a rate of 210 tons per hour. The latest K-Weld generation features a ‘spark killer’ system to reduce the amount of material spread along the welding run, collecting over 70 percent of spatter material generated during the flashing and welding cycle. The upgraded intermediate and finishing mill, with 11 new housingless stands and four crop shears, will serve all modern Danieli finishing lines for bar, spooler and wire rod production. With the installation of the new welder, SN Seixal will be able to customize the weight of wire rod and spooled bars in coils. The project, on a turnkey basis for the technological part and including civil works, installation and start-up activities, will be completed during the 2020 summer shutdown. The upgrade is expected to improve mill utilization and product quality while reducing operational expenditure.

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In-house exhibition

Easy upgrading?

Exhibition time for Wafios

Image: Nokia

Wafios will hold its 12 th in-house exhibition from 8 th to 11 th May at its Wuppertal, Germany premises. Wafios AG and Wafios Umformtechnik, Wafios Tube Automation GmbH, Witels- Albert GmbH and E W Menn GmbH & Co KG will be presenting their own products and services, together with a number of invited co-exhibitors from the wire and tube forming industry. A program of lectures on new spring, wire and tube forming technologies will be complemented by presentations on current topics such as the Wafios Smart Factory (Industry 4.0) or E-Mobility, and a guest speaker from the metal forming faculty of the University of Siegen will complete the range with a lecture entitled “Cyber Set-Up 4.0 — expert to go”. There will be several world firsts among the exhibited machines, including the flexible BM36 wire-bending machine for producing large quantities, and the G660 spring end grinding machine for large wire diameters up to 12mm.

Nokia, in partnership with the Polish service provider Netia, has conducted a field trial of its Photonic Service Engine 3 (PSE-3) over a live production network. Netia’s wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) backbone, based on the Nokia 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS), is designed to enable seamless upgrade to high baud rate wavelengths, allowing the carrier to significantly increase data rates for links of any distance. The companies say that deployment of the Nokia PSE-3 powered line cards will improve fiber capacity while lowering costs and simplifying operations. Netia has over 50,000kmof fiber connecting office buildings throughout Poland. In the trial, wavelengths driven by the PSE-3 and operating at 62–68Gbd, traveled across the provider’s flex-grid infrastructure in 75GHz channels. Network paths currently supporting 100G and 200G wavelengths were shown to support greater than 300G and 500G respectively, more than doubling network capacity. The Nokia PSE-3 utilizes probabilistic constellation shaping (PCS), a signal processing technique developed by Nokia Bell Labs, that finely adjusts the optical signal to maximize the data-carrying capacity of DWDM optical wavelengths over any distance.

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Power in the field

Danish delay

Photo by Chris Barbalis on Unsplash

Image: NKT

Construction of two offshore wind farms, Vesterhav Syd and Nord, has been postponed to 2023 from2020. Themovewas confirmed by the project’s turbine supplier, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy SA, in a regulatory filing. Siemens Gamesa was informed by the client, two special purpose companies owned by the Swedish state-owned utility Vattenfall AB. However, the agreement for the supply, operation and maintenance of the 41 offshore wind turbines is still in place. In late 2018 Vattenfall said it would wait for the result of an appeal process at theDanish energy board of appeals before taking the final investment decision for Vesterhav Syd and Vesterhav Nord. This February, the energy board of appeal canceled and withdrew the part of Vesterhav Syd’s construction license that concerns the environmental impact assessment (EIA). The board’s decision means that a new EIA process will need to be initiated.

Working on behalf of Subsea 7, NKT has handed over its 163km, 145kV high voltage cable system to carry power from the onshore substation at Kollsnes, north of Bergen, to the Martin Linge oil and gas field. The cable is believed to be the world’s longest installed submarine HVAC cable. NKT designed, engineered, manufactured and installed the connection, comprising a 145kV three-core XLPE HVAC submarine cable and fiber optic links, with a 55MW capacity. A 3.5km-long, 17.5kV infield cable was also installed, including 500m of specially engineered dynamic cable to connect the platform to a floating storage and offloading vessel. The field is operated by Equinor, who say that a “comprehensive hook-up and completion job is currently underway”, involving around 650 people at work offshore at any time. Activities in the field will be powered from the onshore power grid, instead of from offshore/onsite generators, and are scheduled to come on-stream in the first quarter of 2020.

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ASIA & AFRICA NEWS

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Image: LS Cable and System

Increasing cable capacity

LS Cable and System is to invest $35.2 million in an additional cable manufacturing plant in Donghae, Gangwon province, South Korea. Construction will begin later this year. “The second cable plant will be built right next to our [existing] submarine cable manufacturing plant,” a spokesman said, adding that the plant will be completed by early 2021. At the new plant, LS Cable and System will manufacture extra-high voltage cables, including high voltage direct current cables. “With the new plant the cable manufacturing capabilities of the Donghae plant will be increased by 250 percent,” the company said.

high voltage cables from Europe and Asia, the firm has been considering adding new facilities to its overseas plants in Poland or Vietnam. But we decided to invest in the local community to create more jobs here. The administrative support offered by Donghae city and Gangwon province also helped us make this decision,” the firm said. “We will try to make the Donghae plant a hub of inter-Korean economic cooperation in Gangwon province,” commented Myung Roe-hyun, CEO of LS Cable and System. Gangwon province’s governor, Choi Moon-soon, expressed his gratitude for the investment plan. “While more companies are investing overseas, LS Cable and System’s decision to invest in the local community means much more,” he said.

“To meet the growing demand for extra-

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Malaysian venture

Counterfeit cables

Image: Ta Win Holdings Bhd

Photo by Mikko Jarvenpaa on Unsplash

A multi-agency team working against illicit trade in Kenya has announced that electric cables remain the most counterfeited product inamarket that includes cigarettes, alcohol and petrol. Team coordinator Wanyama Musiambo, said: “Our biggest challenge has been the cables, despite increased operations including destruction of the goods. We will continue with the fight until we wipe them out.” High demand for electric cables has been driven by ongoing electrification projects, the Last Mile connectivity project, and the newly introduced Kenya National Electrification Strategy for those rural areas without transformers and mini-grids.

Copper wire and rod manufacturer Ta Win Holdings Bhd is to be part of a Malaysia- based joint venture to develop cable manufacturing using electron beam technology. Ta Win Holdings has entered an agreement with two individuals, Justin Wong Chee Feeng and Wong Ah Piaw, and with Latitude Technology Sdn Bhd, to create a company to establish and operate the new enterprise. Latitude Technology provides consultancy services relating to electron beam irradiation technology. The firm will produce and commercialize irradiation cross-linked wire and cable products for local automotive and home appliance manufacturers. The company aims to achieve a high profit margin through its implementation of electron beam technology, while also expanding its position in the automotive cable market in Asian countries. Both Justin and Ah Piaw are involved in the wire and cable business in Malaysia. In particular, Wong is experienced in the sales and marketing of copper wire and cables, while Ah Piaw worked with the Malaysian nuclear agency to commercialize electron beam irradiation technology in wire and cable manufacturing. Ta Win will maintain an 80 percent stake in the new firm.

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Connecting Indonesia

New infrastructure project

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Photo by Gede Suhendra on Unsplash

The Jordanian operator Umniah, a subsidiary of the Batelco Group, will establish a new company with the Jordan Electric Power Company (Jepco). The new venture will create the infrastructure needed for a large scale fiber optic network servicing Jepco’s area of operation. The network will deliver wholesale high bandwidth Internet services to telecom companies and service providers, eventually reaching over 1.4 million homes and businesses. The new fiber network will serve subscribers of both companies, in addition to offering wholesale services to other service providers.

FiberStar Indonesia and Huawei will expand their existing partnership with the construction of a high speed 1Tb/s backbone DWDM network to connect Jakarta to Surabaya. Submarine and terrestrial cables will form a ring network with a total length of over 3,000km. At some sites, the length of a single span will exceed 350km. The announcement was made at the 2019 Pan Asia-Pacific ISP summit in Bali, and will see FiberStar continue to work with Huawei on fixed networks and data centers to promote the digital transformation of Indonesia. Thomas Dragono, co-founder and director of FiberStar, commented: “We will leverage the advanced DWDM and MPLS technology to expand the coverage of networks in Indonesia, and further facilitate the growth of the digital economy in Indonesia.”

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wiredInUSA - May 2019

Finance appointment

DARE to connect

Meshal Al-Naqbi

Image: Google maps

Djibouti Telecom, Somtel and SubComhave announced that the marine survey for the Djibouti Africa Regional Express 1 (DARE1) submarine cable system is complete. The cable route has been finalized with an additional landing station in Bosaso, Somalia. Bosaso is a port city in Puntland, and is the region’s commercial capital. The two fiber- pair repeatered Bosaso segment of the DARE1 cable is 108km and will be equipped with a switched wavelength management unit. The Bosaso branch represents one branch off the cable system’s three fiber- pair trunk, where each pair has a capacity of 40 channels at 300Gbps. The DARE1 cable system is the first step in a planned expansion into eastern Africa to connect Djibouti, Bosaso, Mogadishu (Somalia) and Mombasa (Kenya). With a finalized route length of 4,747km, DARE1 will deliver up to 36Tbps of capacity to East Africa. Manufacturing of the undersea cables and repeaters began in April 2019 and the system is expected to be ready for commercial traffic in June 2020.

Ducab has appointed Mr Meshal Al-Naqbi to the position of chief financial officer, to take responsibility for the management of the company’s global finance operations. Al-Naqbi has served as deputy CFO at Ducab since 2016. Dr Ahmad Bin Hassan Al Shaikh, Ducab chairman, said of the appointment: “Ducab [is] committed to continuous career development for all employees, and promotion from within. The Ducab board have closely followed Meshal’s career since he joined Ducab in 2016 as part of the company’s active development of Emirati professionals. We are delighted to be able to recognize his experience and development with this promotion to CFO.” Dr Al Shaikh also paid tribute to Mr Arif Choksy, the outgoing CFO: “Arif has been Ducab CFO since 2001, and …I am pleased that he will be staying in Ducab to continue his work developing our future strategy, and guiding the company’s continued expansion into new industries and global markets.”

wiredInUSA - May 2019

36

Desert wind

Seeking an Australian first

Image: Wood Mackenzie’s Sohaib Malik

The Australian government has granted an exploration license for what could be the country’s first offshore wind farm. The co-developers, Australian Offshore Energy and Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners, can now assess the wind resources and seabed conditions at the potential site, 8km offshore. The Australian environment department said the developers will be able to determine whether the planned Star of the South project, first proposed in 2012, is technically feasible. The developers are looking to generate up to 2GW per year. The Maritime Union of Australia has previously accused the government of being slow in granting the license, due to an “ideological hatred of renewable energy”. However, in announcing the grant of the exploration licence, the environment department said the government had considered the proposal carefully, “As this offshore wind farm exploration is an Australian-first.” Star of the South would consist of 250 turbines installed in a 574km 2 area off the Gippsland, Victoria coast. The site of what could be Australia’s first offshore wind farm at Gippsland, Victoria Photograph courtesy of visitmelbourne.com

Saudi Arabia has set itself the target of becoming the Middle East’s leading market for wind power within the next ten years. As part of the plan, Saudi Arabia will establish 6.2GW of wind capacity by 2028 - 46 percent of the region’s total wind capacity. Power and renewables analyst Sohaib Malik of Wood Mackenzie suggests that “the integration of renewables in Vision 2030’s objectives underlines strong political commitmentwithinSaudiArabia.”However, a recent report suggests the Kingdom will “fall short” of its 2030 vision for renewable energy, regardless of growth forecasts.

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wiredInUSA - May 2019

Image courtesy of Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Interwire 2019 and The WAI’s 89 th Annual Convention Convention: May 13-16, 2019 | Exhibits: May 14-16, 2019 The largest wire and cable exhibition in the Americas opens this month, Interwire hosts exhibitors and visitors alike from around the world. An eye on the future is called for, with the theme being the ‘Next Generation’ for the exhibition, being staged from 13 th to 16 th May at the Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, USA. There is a new conference format that features an impressive line- up of speakers from the industry’s most influential companies. There is change and choice ahead and visitors will be able to see and hear what manufacturers around the world are talking about and doing. Interwire includes the Wire Association International’s 89 th annual convention, a full exposition in Hall A, and a collection of exhibitors at the International Fastener Manufacturing Exposition (IFME). This is the ideal opportunity to come face-to-face with the people, topics and technology that affect what companies do in the global market. The keynote speaker during the show will be the best-selling author and global futurist Dr Shawn G DuBravac. His presentation, entitled ‘The future of wires and cables in a connected world’, is open to all conference registrants. Additional speakers, conference sessions and workshops are offered in an inspiring new format. Exhibiting companies and booth descriptions can be found on the following pages.

WAI’s 89 th Annual Convention: May 13-16. Exhibits: May 14-16. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Company

Booth Company

Booth

Accuracy Technical Services LLC

1365

Boockmann Engineering GmbH

859 241

Ace Metal Inc

851

Cable Consultants Corp Calmec Precision Limited

ACIMAF

1011, 1013

1549 1140 1323 1700

ADVARIS GmbH

1158

Canterbury/Genca Div Milacron

Aeroel Srl AESA SA

323

Carris Reels Inc Cavallero Plastics

1458

AIM Inc

111

CBC Metals Processing

330

Air Control Industries Inc

1059 1719

Cemanco LC CERSA-MCI Chase/NEPTCO

1503

AITMAC Inc Amacoil Inc

216

812 850

1001

American & Efird, LLC

Chemetall

310

American Kuhne

1357 1065 1608

Cheng I Wire Machinery Co Ltd Chengdu Centran Industrial Co Ltd

1164

Amexstra Inc

501

Appleton Mfg, A Double E Company

Cimteq

1607 1611

Arkema Inc.

555 816 140

Clayton Industries

Asaclean – Sun Plastech Inc

Clifford North America Clinton Instrument Co

431 500 854

ATE Applicazioni Termo Elettroniche Srl

Aversion Technologies, Inc AW Machinery LLC Aztech Lubricants LLC B & Z Galvanized Wire Ind

1656 1623 1363

CM Furnaces Inc

CMEC International Exhibition Ltd

1219, 1319

Commission Brokers Inc

801

242

Condat

1351

Balloffet Die Corp

1702

Confex Technology Ltd Conneaut Industries Inc

717 705

Bartell Machinery Systems/ Ceeco Bartell Products

723

Conoptica A/S

1265

Bechem Lubrication Technology LLC Beijing Orient Pengsheng Tech Co Ltd

1267

Copper-Lines K Sarl

658 759

765 800

CTS – Cincinnati Thermal Spray Inc

Bergandi Machinery Co

Dalian

1711 1101

Beta LaserMike

Die Quip Corp Dino-Lite Scopes

(An NDC Technologies Brand)

1031

755

Blachford Corp

505

Domeks Makine Ltd Sti

1123

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40

Company

Booth Company

Booth

Drawing Technology Inc

217

Häfner & Krullmann GmbH Hangzhou JR Exhibition Co Ltd

570

Dynamex Corp

1807

1309, 1311

E-Beam Services Inc Ebner Furnaces Inc Eddytech Systems Inc

131

Heany Industries Inc

818 719

1507 1706

Heatbath/DuBois Chemicals

H-I-S Coatings

1614

Electron Beam Technologies Inc

212 802 223 301

Honta Inc

811

Enercon Industries Enkotec Co Inc

Houghton International Inc

1509 1241

Howar Equipment Inc

ERA Wire Inc

Huestis Industrial

641

Esteves Group USA Eurobend GmbH EuroWire Magazine

1004 1173

Ideal Welding Systems

1251 1566 1606

iiM AG measurement + engineering

222

InnoVites

EVG Inc

1159 1651 1508

International Wire Group, Inc

341 331 701

Evolution Products

IWM International

Fabritex Inc Facts Inc Fenn LLC Fil-Tec Inc Filtertech Inc

IWMA

230 711

Joe Snee Assoc/PWM

1358 1727

Joe Tools

1301 1150

Jouhsen – Bundgens Inc

232

Kablosan Turkey – FBC Yayincilik Ltd sti

1843

Fine International Corp

233

Kabmak Muh Ve Mak San

831 651 700

Flymca & Flyro FMS USA Inc

1340 1305 1610 1331

Kalmark Intergrated Systems Ltd

Keir Manufacturing Inc

Foerster Instruments Inc Fort Wayne Wire Die Inc Fuhr GmbH & Co Kg Gem Gravure Co Inc George Evans Corp GMP Slovakia sro Granite Falls Furnace Guill Tool & Engineering Co

King Steel Corp Kinrei of America Lämneå Bruk AB

1515

523 522

559 805 810 671

LaserLinc Inc

1835 1151

Leggett & Platt Wire Group

Leoni Wire Inc

451 965

1562 1511

LLFlex

Lloyd & Bouvier Inc

1517

41

wiredInUSA - May 2019

Company

Booth Company

Booth

M & M Industries Co Ltd

151 316

OMSA Srl

1468

M Holland

P & R Specialty Inc

551

Mac Bee Engineering Corporation Madem-Moorecraft Reels USA

1504

P/A Industries

1617 1616 1539 1053

950 459 405 113 823 311 553 231 211

Pan Chemicals Americas

Madison Steel Inc

Paramount Die Co Parkway-Kew Corp

Magnetic Technologies Ltd Magnus Engineered Equipment

Pentre Group Ltd - Hearl Heaton

504 650

Maillefer Extrusion Oy

Phifer Wire Inc

Mathiasen Machinery Inc

1827

Plas-Ties Co

1302

Metal Link Inc

Pratto SA

351 401 210 141 228 450 741

Metal Resource Solutions Inc

Precision Die Technologies Inc

Metal Solutions LLC

Premier Wire Die

Metalloid Corp

PrintSafe

1839

MFL Group

1211 1240 1512

Process Control Corp

The MGS Group Micro Products Co

Progress Maschinen & Automation AG

Promostar Srl

Microdia USA Mid-South Wire

417 853

Properzi International Inc

PWM

1358

Mikrotek Machines Ltd Morgan-Koch Corp Mossberg Associates Inc Mossberg Industries Inc

1710 1451 1364

Q8Oils

771

QED Wire Lines Inc

1361 1051

Rad-Con Inc Radyne Corp

858

814

Movacolor/

Rainbow Rubber & Plastics

1556

KN Manufacturing Solutions

430

Rautomead Ltd

432

Nexeo Solutions

1505

Reel Options by Vandor Corp Reel Power Wire & Cable Refractron Technologies Corp

1154 1023 1510

Niehoff Endex North America Inc Nitta Corporation of America

841 150

Oden Technologies Inc Oklahoma Steel & Wire

1829

RichardsApex Inc

541

864

Roblon US Inc

1350 1531

OMCG Inc

1542

Rosendahl Nextrom

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42

Company

Booth Company

Booth

Roteq Machinery Inc SACO AEI Polymers Saint-Gobain Ceramics

1631

Tensor Machinery Ltd Traxit North America LLC Troester GmbH & Co

959 550

423

1817 1227

1457

SAMP USA Inc

Ulbrich Specialty Wire Products

213 400 652

Sanxin Wire Die Inc –

United Wire Co Inc

Nano-Die America

1500, 1501

Upcast OY US Extruders

Schlatter North America

1530 1819 1615

1806 1747

Schnell SpA

Varibelt Inc Mekosan USA

Shanghai Anchors Mold Trading Co Ltd Shanghai HOSN Machinery Co Ltd

Vinston US Corp

317 753

951

W Gillies Technologies LLC WAFIOS Machinery Corp Weber & Scher Mfg Co Inc

Shanghai Pudong

1005 1242 1641

International Exhibition Co

611 730 411 205 751 531

Sikora International Corp

Windak Inc

Simpacks

Wire & Cable Technology International

240

Sivaco Wire Group Sjogren Industries Inc

Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp

1131

wire 2020/

Sonoco

Messe Düsseldorf North America

1100

Star Materials Co Ltd Steel Cable Reels

1707

Wire Lab Co

605

332

Wire Machine Systems Inc

1540 1300

Stolberger Inc DBA Wardwell Braiding

1306 1005 1452

Witels Albert USA Ltd

Strecker USA

Woodburn Diamond Die Inc

804 455

Sweed Machinery Inc

WTM Srl

Takikawa Engineering Co Ltd

355

Yield Management Corp Zumbach Electronic Corp

1849 1341

Tapeformers Ltd

1000

Taubensee Steel & Wire Co Taymer International Inc

441

1360 1469 1259

TECVIL

Teknikor

Teknor Apex

305 333

Tektapes

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wiredInUSA - May 2019