wiredInUSA January 2020

First page Table of contents 1 Next page Last page

Americaˊs online magazine for wire and cable

Issue No. 103 - January 2020

www.wiredInUSA.com

America’s online magazine for wire and cable

wiredIn USA

Merger will focus on US and Japan Page 9

New ground for rebar. Page 11

Magnet generator research. Page 23

JV to supply local Egyptian market. Page 29

RAYEX S XT • Precision measurement for wall thickness, eccentricity and diameter • Easy and quick set up for new products • Added longevity due to high-quality X-ray source Wall Thickness Measurement Made Easy

30.03. – 03.04.2020 Düsseldorf, DE Hall 11/ Booth D41

www.zumbach.com • sales@zumbach.ch

EDITOR

The steel industry seems to be thriving with the opening of a new $400 million steel rebar manufacturing plant in Sedalia, west central Missouri. The plant is one of the largest projects Missouri has secured in the past decade.

More than 2,500 people have applied for 250 roles at the site. The full story can be found on page 11.

Also spending money is Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), which has announced plans for a $20 million upgrade to its electric transmission network in Grant county, Indiana. The investment will improve reliability for the area and strengthen the electric grid to support the region’s economic growth. The improvements, which include 34.5kV power lines being increased to 69kV standards, as well as some sections of the line being rebuilt and other sections being re-routed, are expected to be complete by the summer of 2022. Full details on page 16.

David Bell Editor

wiredInUSA January 2020

January 2020 Issue No.103 CONTENTS

06 PAGE

Show Diary 2020

09 PAGE

Making the News Industry news from the USA

22 PAGE

Europe news The latest news from Europe

28 PAGE

Asia & Africa News The latest news from Asia & Africa

34 PAGE

Products, Machines & Technology The latest news from machine industries

wiredInUSA January 2020

wiredIn USA

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 Karen Low karen@intras.co.uk

wiredInUSA January 2020

Diary Shows & Events 2020

March 3-5 March 2020 Cables 2020 Düsseldorf, Germany www.ami.international April 20-24 April 2020 Mach Birmingham, UK www.machexhibition.com

June 2-4 June 2020 Wire Expo Uncasville, Connecticut, USA www.wireexpo20.com March 30 March - 3 April 2020 wire Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany www.wire.de

JUNE 11-13 June 2020

June 17-20 June 2020 Korea Metal Week 2020 Seoul, South Korea www.korea-metal.com

The 21 st China International Spring Industry Exhibition Guangzhou, China www.springexpo.com.cn

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

wiredInUSA January 2020

Merger will focus on US and Japan M A K I N G T H E NEWS

The cloud communications provider Ribbon Communications has entered into an agreement to acquire the software-defined networking (SDN), network functions virtualization (NFV) and packet-optical transport provider ECI Telecom Group. The transaction, via merger, is said to be worth 32.5 million shares of Ribbon common stock and $324 million in cash. ECI stockholders will also receive around $31 million from the sale of real estate assets. The merger is designed to help the companies create a single leading- edge solutions provider with an anticipated combined annual revenue of over $900 million. The combination will expand the company’s product portfolio to include data applications and optical networking. The merged companies will focus on North America and Japan, and serving the 5Gmarket.

Daryl Raiford, chief financial officer at Ribbon, said: “Ribbon has long- standing, deep customer relationships in North America and Japan, which will provide immediate access to ECI solutions into these substantial markets. We believe this combination will … provide our customers and partners with a broader solutions portfolio, and generate significant long-term value for our stockholders.” President and chief executive officer ECI Darryl Edwards added: “Both companies enjoy a distinguished operating history and are trusted suppliers to the world’s leading telecommunication service providers and enterprises. We aim to create a powerhouse company that offers world-class products for an enhanced customer experience.”

The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.

wiredInUSA January 2020

New ground for rebar

North Carolina-based Nucor is building a $400 million steel rebar manufacturing plant in Sedalia, west-central Missouri. Rob Dixon, director of Missouri’s State Department of Economic Development, said the new plant was scheduled to open in late December 2019. The rebar plant is among the largest projects Missouri has secured in the past decade.

Sedalia-Pettis economic development executive director, Jessica Craig, said that about 2,500 people have applied for 250 available jobs, primarily steelworker positions. County’s

Clinton High Frequency Spark Tester

NEW!

Auto calibration with Clinton STCAL system Pinhole and bare wire di erentiation Detachable display can be located 25’ away Flexible front panel password security Optional Ethernet/IP, PROFINET, PROFIBUS Modbus TCP and Analog communications Easy connection to most PLCs Voltage Watchdog

HF-15B Spark Tester

(860) 669-7548 www.clintoninstrument.com

When the result matters…

For Drawing, Compacting & Tube Ø1.2mm to Ø120.0mm +

Quality UP. Costs DOWN. Nano-die® Performs: very low friction & extreme hardness better Copper and Aluminium utilization +0 tolerance for full die life better surface quality No die polishing/no re-cutting required

Applications include compacting & stranding; wire & tube drawing; rod breakdown. Materials include aluminium & alloys, copper, brass, welding alloys, low carbon & stainless steel. Trial and take advantage of the benefits of Nano-Die® from Nano-Diamond America. (Nano-Die® is a registered trademark. Product distribution is exclusive through select NDA Distributorships) Nano-Diamond America, Inc. 2025 Woodbrook Court, Tel: +1 (434) 220-0435 visit www.nano-die.com/press Charlottesville, VA 22901 Fax: +1 (804) 980-7770 or e-mail admin@nano-die.com

Sizing up nanotube production

Researchers from Swansea University and Rice University have developed a method for growing single-walled carbon nanotubes on newspaper. Carbon nanotubes are the minute molecules with physical properties appropriate for applications such as flexible electronics, conductive films for touchscreen displays, 5G network antennas and fabrics that generate energy.

could help solve the challenge of large- scale nanotube manufacture.

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 The team’s findings were published in MDPI’s Journal of Carbon Research. During the study, the researchers concluded that newspaper offered a stackable 2D surface for growing the nanotubes, but that not all newspaper is suitable. Apparently only newspaper manufactured with sizing produced from kaolin will encourage the growth of the carbon nanotubes.

The method, which appears to be both inexpensive and environmentally friendly,

In-Process Gauging Off-Line Inspection Quality Cable Testing

Get more from Beta LaserMike.

See us at Wire Southeast Asia, Booth H35

Making Light Work

www.betalasermike.com

Cable system branching out

SubCom and MainOne have announced two new branches of the MainOne cable system. The branches, extending from the MainOne omnibus cable between Seixal in Portugal, and Accra, Ghana, have landing stations in Dakar, Senegal, and Ivory Coast, and are connected to MainOne’s 7,000km cable system between Portugal and Nigeria. The branches use SubCom’s SL17-A1 cable, SubCom’s undersea WSS ROADM technology and a spectrum-sharing

solution on the omnibus fiber pairs to achieve wavelength distribution. The use of the WSS ROADM technology is the world’s first to be put into service in a system. The WSS ROADM, when applied along with the terrestrial ROADM functionality in Ghana, provides MainOne with direct transmission between the new landings and all of the previous landings, including Lagos, Nigeria. The system has a diverse terrestrial route with automatic protection switching between the cable landing station (CLS) and the PoP in the Ivory Coast.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Curie cable

Construction of the main trunk of Google’s Curie subsea cable between Los Angeles and Valparaíso is complete, and Google has said it will add a branch that will land in Panama. It will be the first branch on the cable, and will boost overall connectivity and bandwidth to central America while helping Google connect its global cloud platform to more networks in the region. Since starting work on Curie, Google has announced construction of two more wholly owned private submarine cables

set to begin operations in 2020: Dunant, to carry data between the US and France; and Equiano, which will run between South Africa and Portugal. Curie carries four 18Tbps fiber optic pairs, providing 72Tbps total bandwidth. According to Google, Curie is the first subsea cable to land in Chile for 19 years.

DeWAL PTFE Films and Tapes New solutions for challenging applications

DeWAL designs and manufactures a broad assortment of skived, unsintered and low density PTFE films and tapes. Our specialty laminates combine PTFE with porous substrates and films to withstand abrasion, harsh chemicals, hostile environments and irregular surfaces. For cost-effective film and tape solutions for masking, insulating, shielding, conducting and coating, call DeWAL today.

15 Ray Trainor Drive Narragansett, RI 02882

www.dewal.com usa1@rogerscorporation.com 800-366-8356 (International: 001-401-789-9736)

For details and specs, go to www.dewal.com.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Hoosier state upgrade

Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) has announcedplans for a $20million upgrade to its electric transmission network in Grant county, Indiana. The Western Marion area improvements project investment will improve reliability for the area and strengthen the electric grid to support the region’s economic growth.

increased to 69kV standards, and some sections of the line will be rebuilt. Other sections may be re-routed. In preparation for the project’s summer 2021 start date, I&M arranged consultations with residents and landowners during December 2019. While the project itself will go ahead, local input could dictate the final route.

Improvements will span about a five-mile region, where 34.5kV power lines will be

The project is expected to be finished by summer 2022.

ECC offers a broad portfolio of customized elastomeric or polyolefin based compounds utilized for medium/high voltage as well as certain low voltage flame retardant applications including: • EPR and Polyolefin Compounds • Elastomeric, Crosslinkable, and Thermoplastic Compounds • Flame Retardant and Halogen Free Compounds • Moisture Crosslinkabe Compounds • Specialty/Custom/FR Masterbatches • Insulation, Jacketing, and Bedding Compounds • ISO 9001 certified manufacturing process ensures quality, efficiency and ultimately customer satisfaction. • Non-carbon black product lines produce super-clean, elastomeric high voltage cable compounds. • Personalized customer service and support to customers worldwide. Wire & Cable Customized Compounds

108 Rado Drive, Naugatuck, CT 06770 USA Tel: +1 203-723-2590 www.ElectricCableCompounds.com

wiredInUSA January 2020

Peru is likely to be the first country in Latin America to see the Loon Internet-via-balloon service in operation. Photograph courtesy of Loon

Internet reaches new heights?

Peru is likely to be the first country in Latin America to see the Loon Internet-via- balloon service in operation. Loon and Internet para Todos Perú (IpT) have reached an agreement to use high-altitude balloons to expand mobile Internet access to some areas of the Peruvian Amazonia. The companies aim toprovide service to Telefónicacustomers in Peru in 2020. Loon, which is a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, uses a network of high-altitude balloons operating 20km above sea level, well above air traffic, wildlife and weather events. Loon provides a full network service, with the balloons acting as floating cell towers, transmitting a provider’s service directly to a subscriber’s 4G/LTE device below.

owned by Telefónica, Facebook, IDB Invest and CAF. It aims to help bridge the digital divide, bringing mobile internet to remote populations, where conventional telecom infrastructure deployment is not yet economically feasible. Launched in May 2019, Internet para Todos Perú is a neutral-host rural mobile infrastructure operator. Focused on offering mobile Internet connectivity in rural areas, the service is available to any mobile network operator (MNO) on a wholesale basis. Loon and Telefónica started collaborating in Peru in 2014, when early tests of Loon’s technology began. In 2017, when the El Niño floods devastated parts of northern Peru, Loon worked with Telefónica to provide Internet connectivity to an area over 40,000km² in size.

IpT Perú is an open access wholesale rural mobile infrastructure operator

wiredInUSA January 2020

Encore has acknowledged the final affirmative vote of the US International Trade Commission (ITC) in the ongoing antidumping and countervailing duty investigations into aluminum wire and cable from China. “We are pleased that the ITC has unanimously confirmed our claims that imports of aluminum wire from China were being illegally subsidized and dumped into the US market, and were undermining our investments in aluminum wire production which is an important complement to our copper building wire business. This final vote marks the successful completion of a case that the US government initiated in October 2018,” said Daniel Jones, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of Encore Wire Corporation. Asa result of the ITC’saffirmativedecision, US importers of aluminum wire and cable from China will be required to pay antidumping duties at rates ranging from 47.83 percent to 52.79 percent, plus countervailing duties at rates ranging from 33.44 percent to 165.63 percent, depending upon the Chinese exporter/supplier. The Trump administration has stepped up enforcement of US trade law, focusing on alleged subsidized imports from China. By October 2019 it had launched 184 new antidumping and countervailing duty investigations since US president Donald Trump took office, an increase of 235 percent over the same period in the previous administration. Wire Corporation

Countervailing measures have industry approval

wiredInUSA January 2020

Photo by Handy Wicaksono on Unsplash

Short order cable service

Balluff has shortened its delivery times for custom cables and connectivity products. Most of the company’s sensor cable portfolio is nowavailablewithin fivedays; this includes nearly all the single- and double- ended M8 and M12 sensor cable range, plus cables, connectors and splitters. The expedited delivery is due, in part, to the establishment of a Florence, Kentucky ,connectivitycell whichallows thecompany to better meet customers’ changing cable needs.

Moving production to the Kentucky location, versus shipping all cable products from an overseas Balluff production site, allows the company to provide faster delivery to customers who rely on quick turnaround times to minimize downtime and maximize efficiencies. Balluff’scableportfolio is tailored for avariety of industries and applications, including welding, stamping, food and beverage, and general automation.

wiredInUSA January 2020

EUROPE NEWS

wiredInUSA January 2020

Image: GreenSpur

Magnet generator research

Rare-earth-free magnet generators (PMG) for offshore wind turbines are undergoing trials at the UK Offshore Renewable Energy (ORE) Catapult facility. A 250kW version of the axial-flux design being developed by GreenSpur Wind, which uses ferrites for its magnets, would be part of a four-module 1MW unit that could be scaleable to a power rating roughly twice that of the biggest PMGs in service. “It was our intention from the outset to design a generator that could be scaled for the next generation of offshore wind turbines,” said Hugh-Peter Kelly, GreenSpur’s head of technology. “The feedback we’ve received is that current designs have known limitations, and new concepts will be needed to deliver next generation 20MW offshore wind turbines.” permanent

ORE Catapult’s test and validation director, Tony Quinn, added: “Our facilities [in Blyth, in northern England] have provided the perfect testbed for GreenSpur to further develop their innovative generator technology. It is a great example of how [we are] supporting UK SMEs to develop technologies that have the potential to be an integral part of the next generation of offshore wind farms.” GreenSpur is now modelling for “significantly bigger, multi-megawatt generators,” with the target of designing a 12MW concept for offshore turbines by stacking three 4MW units in parallel. GreenSpur believes that replacing expensive rare earth materials with ferrites could reduce the cost of PMG magnets from $50/kg to around $1.30/kg.

wiredInUSA January 2020

A floating solar first

Umbilical contract

Image: Vattenfall

Image: oneSubSea

OneSubsea ® has ordered two 120km power umbilicals from Nexans, destined for a subsea multiphase compression system. The system will help extend the production life of Norway’s second-largest gas field, the Ormen Lange, that currently supplies 20 percent of the UK’s gas needs. Located in the Norwegian Sea, the Ormen Lange gas field produces about 70 million cubic meters of gas a day that is piped to the onshore Nyhamna processing plant. It is then purified and transported to the UK through a 1,200km pipeline. The OneSubsea multiphase compression system is a new technology developed to boost gas pressure. Nexans’ power umbilicals will integrate all the 52kV electrical power, hydraulic and fiber optic elements required to power and control two compressor stations, also under construction. The Ormen Lange umbilicals will be designed and manufactured by Nexans’ Halden facility, with delivery and installation scheduled for 2023.

The first floating solar farm to be developed by Vattenfall will be built in the Netherlands. With a completed capacity of 1.2MW, construction was scheduled to begin in late December 2019. The Netherlands is short of building space for solar farms so floating solar farms, using the ponds and pools that form as the result of sand and gravel extraction, could help bring sustainable generation in line with the demand for power. An additional benefit is that the water naturally cools the panels, increasing their efficiency compared to land-based solar panels. At the site in Gendringen, where Netterden, Vattenfalls partner in the project, has been extracting sand and gravel for 25 years, an electric pump powers the associated sorting and processing equipment. The pump consumes around 2,500,000kW hours per year. The extraction activities have created a pond, on which the island for the solar panels will be built. The solar island is expected to be operational by May 2020 and will meet half of the site’s power demand.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Scottish wind farm

Green power supply

Image: Prysmian Group

Image: NKT

EDF Renewables has awarded a contract to Prysmian Group for the development of submarine and land power cable systems to connect the Neart na Gaoithe (NnG) offshore wind farm to the Scottish mainland power grid. The NnG offshore wind farm, located 15.5km off the Fife coast, will generate 450MW of energy. Prysmian will provide design, supply, installation and commissioning services for two HVAC 220kV three-core extruded export submarine cables with single- wire armoring, which will reach land at Thorntonloch beach in East Lothian, Scotland. Prysmian will also provide two 220kV extruded land cable circuits that will link the landfall area to the substation at Crystal Rig, and two 400kV extruded land cable circuits to link the Crystal Rig substation to Scottish Power’s substation. The project will cover a submarine cable route of 38km and an underground cables route of around 12km. Submarine cables will be produced in Pikkala (Finland) and installed in 2021. The land cables will be manufactured in Gron (France) and installed during 2020 and 2021.

NKT factories making low emission, high voltage power cable inCologne, Germany, and Karlskrona, Sweden, are now solely powered by renewable electricity. Alexander Kara, president and CEO of NKT, commented: “This step is a milestone in our ambition to reduce the carbon footprint of our power cable solutions, and I am pleased that both [of] our high voltage manufacturing sites now run on green power. The move enables us to minimize our environmental impact and offer high voltage power cable solutions with one of the lowest carbon footprints in the market.” The change in energy supply was made possible by entering an agreement with the local utility that the power supply originates solely from renewable energy. The move to green power in Cologne alone is said to reduce NKT’s companywide carbon footprint from electricity by 10 percent.

wiredInUSA January 2020

New bus conforms to ASi-5

Fiber acquisition

image: LeoniAG

Altice Europe’s French fiber venture, SFR FTTH, plans to acquire the infrastructure operator Covage. The one billion euro deal has been agreed with the private equity firm Partners Group and Cube Infrastructure Fund, the operator’s twomain shareholders. Allianz Capital Partners (ACP), AXA Investment Managers and Canadian investment firm Omers Infrastructure, who own a combined 49.99 percent stake in SFR FTTH, will fund the deal with a cash equity contribution. The same amount will come from Altice, and a remaining €70 million will be raised from debt. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2020. Altice said that Covage plans to reach an FTTP footprint of 2.4 million French premises in the coming years, including the 800,000 homes and businesses already covered by the operator’s infrastructure. In comparison, SFR FTTH has so far passed 1.7 million premises, committing to a footprint of 5.4 million overall. The merger with Covage will bring this total to eight million over the next three to four years, including the 2.5 million already built.

Leoni aims to meet demand for smooth data and energy transfer with its latest bus series for fieldbus ethernet, conforming to ASi-5 standards. With two wires, but only one cable, the actuator sensor interface system transfers data and energy at the same time, connecting actuators and lower-level sensors to the higher-level ethernet-based layer. At the same time, the profiled design of the ASi-5 allows easy and flexible installation, with no polarity reversal. The freely selectable topology simplifies system expansion with full backward compatibility. Transmission quality can be checked at any time via the integrated IO-Link diagnostic channel, which transmits diagnostic data in parallel to the process data. To conform to the new ASi-5 standards, the shuttle bus of up to 96 users can be used at the same time, providing 96 x 16 safe inputs and outputs. A data width of 16 bits is transferred to four times shorter cycle times of 1.2ms. The ASi-5 requires no plug-in connection for data and energy transfer, because piercing technology allows components to be easily exchanged or moved without effort and without complex calculations. Installation is flexible and lowers engineering costs.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Cable laying improvements

Estonian contract

AS Merko Infra, part of the AS Merko Ehitus group, and AS Connecto Eesti have entered into a contract with Elering AS to replace three 110kV electric power lines in Tallinn, Estonia, with ground cables. The contract includes the replacement of a 110kV electric power line with ground cable between Kadaka and Veskimetsa substations in Tallinn. Sections of Harku- Veskimetsa’s and Harku-Kadaka’s 110kV power lines will also be replaced with ground cables. Construction is scheduled to be complete at the end of 2020.

Image: NKT

NKT’s cable laying vessel, NKT Victoria , has been fitted with a custom-made cable laying monitoring system. The system promotes safe installation of power cables with minimal risk of compromising the cable integrity, even in the most challenging site conditions such as high seas, strong current or low visibility. Claes Westerlind, executive vice president and head of HV Solutions Karlskrona, said: “The new system provides real-time monitoring and data collection during cable lay, ensuring optimal layback tension, departure angle and touchdown position without any physical contact with the cable. With the new system we are … minimizing the risk of over-bending or stretching the cable during installation. The system increases the level of digitalization and integration of the survey system, improving the cable laying performance and reliability.”

wiredInUSA January 2020

ASIA & AFRICA NEWS

wiredInUSA January 2020

JV to supply local Egyptian market

LS Cable & System (LS C&S) has announced a joint venture with MAN International Contracting, an Egyptian cable constructor, to install power cabling in Egypt. The joint venture will be called LS MAN Cable, and it plans to construct a plant near Cairo to manufacture overhead transmission wires. The production lines will have the capacity to produce 2,500km of overhead wires per year. A source for LS C&S commented: “Overhead wires, which are installed on steel towers between a power plant and a substation, have lower construction costs than subterranean lines. That is why overhead wires are in rapidly increasing demand in the Middle East and Africa.” Africa has experienced huge leaps in energy demand, year on year, due to rapid economic development and population

increase in the continent. As the region’s current electricity supply chain remains poor, many countries in Africa, including Egypt, are pursuing the construction of highly stable power networks as a national priority. “Globally, trade barriers are getting higher ascountries reinforcetheprotectivepolicies for domestic wire manufacturers,” said LS C&S president Myung Roe-hyun. “We are strengthening our competitiveness with the greenfield strategy, which is investing directly in major hub countries.” Photo: LS Cable & System signed a contract to establish a JV with MAN in Cairo. From right: LS C&S CFO Sang-ho Lee, LS C&S President & CEO Roe-hyun Myung, the Korean Ambassador to Egypt Yeo-cheol Yoon, Egypt Power Transmission Agency President Sabah Mashali, MAN President (Mohamed Ali Abdellah), MAN CEO Nan Tawfik

wiredInUSA January 2020

Saudi solar first

Adding to the mix

Image: Acwa Power

Jordan is incorporating more renewables into its grid in a move to reduce its energy import bill. Siemens Gamesa has signed an agreement with Jordanian state-backed Al Samra Power Company to operate an 80MW wind station. The power plant is located in the Ma’an wind farm, a $148 million scheme funded by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development. Jordan, which imports over 94 percent of its energy needs, is looking to diversify its grid by incorporating solar and wind. Around 285MW of wind and 771MW of wind and solar power capacity was integrated into its grid during 2018, and the kingdom aims to raise its renewable capacity to 2.7GW by 2021. Al Samra Power Company operates 1.24GW power capacity, the equivalent of 40 percent of electricity consumed in Jordan. Jordan has also considered building a nuclear reactor as part of the country’s energy mix.

Saudi Arabia has connected its first solar power project to the grid. The 300MW Sakaka solar photovoltaic power project, under development by Acwa Power in the northern Al Jouf region, was expected to be in full commercial operation before the beginning of 2020. Saudi Arabia is moving away from burning crude oil to generate power, switching first to gas-fired plants and now moving towards wind and solar schemes, as it seeks to release its crude oil for the export market. The kingdom recently revised its renewable energy target to 27.3GW to be achieved by 2024, up from the previous 9.5GW target.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Rebar to resist corrosion

Efforts to get fiber underway

Image: Pultron Composites Saudi Aramco has signed an agreement with New Zealand-based Pultron Composites and its subsidiary company, Mateenbar in Dubai. Mateenbar is a manufacturer of glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) rebar. The product is corrosion-free and lightweight, and is said toprovidea longer lifespan andminimal life cycle costs when compared to traditional steel rebar. Saudi Aramco believes GFRP rebar is qualified to replace around 10 percent of its total steel demand, and has specified GFRP rebar be included in its engineering standards for reinforced concrete structures in corrosion-risk and aggressive environments. The agreement with Pultron aligns with Saudi Aramco’s approach to managing corrosion in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East. Mateenbar is the principal supplier of GFRP rebar in the 21km-long Jizan flood mitigation channel in Saudi Arabia -— the largest project in the world to be entirely reinforced using GFRP rebar. Mateenbar was also used as reinforcement for the Grand Paris Metro tunnel, the Burj Al Arab, and the F1 race track in Abu Dhabi.

Israel’s communications ministry is prepared to ease demands on Bezeq Israel Telecom to rescue its plans for a nationwide fiber optic network. Bezeq, Israel’s main fixed-line operator, has said it is unable to shoulder the costs of laying fiber optics to some rural areas, stalling plans for a national network in a country that views itself as a center for technology development. Under the new proposals, instead of requiring Bezeq to build a fiber optic network across the whole country, the regulator will allow the company to choose its network areas. In regions where Bezeq does not build a network, smaller rivals will be able to bid for the business; a fund using cash raised from the revenues of telecom firms would support the rollout in those places. The ministry hopes that the regulations will encourage “a wide and nationwide deployment of an advanced communications infrastructure that will enable a variety of consumer products and contribute to Israel’s economy”.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Specialized harness for the mining sector

African network

Image: Orange

Orange is set to construct a new terrestrial fiber optic network in West Africa. The infrastructure will be coupled with submarine cables and will be centrally managed, with the commercial launch planned for mid-2020. Orange says the multi-regional West African network will connect to the rest of the world through various submarine cables, and will link the main capital cities in the region including Dakar, Bamako, Abidjan, Accra and Lagos. The network will be in addition to Orange’s recent investment in the MainOne submarine cable between Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire to Europe. The new network is designed to provide large-scale, international capacity and will help meet business needs and develop a digitalecosysteminWestAfrica. Itwill support a range of international connectivity services, including international private line and ethernet private line services with bandwidths of up to 100G ps.

Image: NAI

NAI in Suzhou, China, has begun the development and manufacture of highly complex cable harnesses for installation within large, explosion-proof enclosures. The cabinets are placed within mines for the operation and control of variable frequency drives and inverters that power conveyor belts, water and oil pumps, cooling fans, tape winding devices and brakes inside the mines. They also provide alerts and notifications for transformers, motors, cables and other components when they are not operating within set parameters such as temperature or voltage range. The operational drives use NAI interconnect solutions for the transmission of control signals. Ten different cable harnesses have been designed for data communications and control, some with shielding for protection against EMI. A typical data/control harness has over 100 terminations, with the largest harness needing more than 900 terminations. New harnesses carrying power are in the planning and design stages.

wiredInUSA January 2020

Desert sun

New telecommunications corridor

EWEC CEO Othman Al-Ali

Bids have been received to cover the financing, construction, operation and maintenance of possibly the world’s biggest solar power plant project. The 2GW project in the Al Dhafra region of Abu Dhabi is being built by Emirates Water and Electricity Company (EWEC) and will cover 20km 2 of desert. “EWEC has already delivered the world’s current largest single-site solar PV project, Noor Abu Dhabi, on time and on budget,” said EWEC CEO Othman Al-Ali. “This new plant is integral to our strategic plan to deliver on the clean energy mix outlined by the UAE Energy Strategy 2050.” It will be almost double the size of the 1.2GW Noor Abu Dhabi solar plant. Once operational, the plant will raise Abu Dhabi’s solar power capacity to around 3.2GW.

In late November 2019 Kazakh Prime Minister, Askar Mamin and Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov officially launched the construction of a subsea fiber optic link between the two countries. The cable will stretch beneath the Caspian Sea. PM Mamin told Prime Minister Asadov: “It will allow you [Azerbaijan] to reach a higher level of development of high-speed and secure data transmission infrastructure, join the leading Europe-Asia trunk routes, and take your rightful place in world data transit.” The project is designed to be transcontinental and will create up to 400km of digital telecommunications corridor between Europe and Asia. Kazakhstan’s Transtelecom and KazTransCom, and Azerbaijani telecom operator AzerTelecom, will lay the cable, which is expected to be in operation by late 2021. It will allow the transmission of data with a capacity of at least 4Tb per second. Investment in the project is estimated at $60 million. The final fiber optic route will connect China, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey and Germany. Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin and Prime Minister of Azerbaijan Ali Asadov attended the launch ceremony

wiredInUSA January 2020

Products, Machines & Technology

wiredInUSA January 2020

Ethernet trial Juniper Networks has delivered 400Gbps ethernet live traffic over 2,092km (1,300 miles) in a trial conducted in conjunction with SCinet, the Supercomputing 2019 conference’s high-capacity network. SCinet used Juniper’s PTX10003 packet transport router to deliver traffic between Denver and Chicago. The 400GbE link was part of the 4.22Tb of connectivity provided to the conference by SCinet. It wasmadeavailable to researchers working on projects in high-energy physics, radio astronomy and human genome research. In coming years many research and education networks will be upgrading their backbones to 400GbE, positioning them to meet the bandwidth demands of Big Science. Juniper also supplied SC19 with additional networking infrastructure, including MX2019 and MX960 routers, QFX switches and SRX4600 firewalls, to build SCinet. All the infrastructure ran the Junos operating system, optimized for the modularity, openness and programmability required of the new cloud era in networking.

400GbE’s high capacity, next generation networks.…Weare laying the foundation for the fastest, and most advanced, networks in the world,” said Andy Athreya, chief development officer at Juniper Networks. Eroder will be gone, but not forgotten The UK’s A&M EDM has decommissioned its first wire erosion machine after 17 years of hard work. Company bosses estimate the machine has used over 30,000 miles of wire during its time in service, averaging 4,000 hours per year. The Sodick A325 CNC wire eroder was A&M EDM’s first purchase when the company was established in 2002. Arthur Watts, co-founder of A&M, recalled the first time he used the machine to wire jigs and fixtures for a manual hole burner: “Decommissioning the A325 is a milestone for A&M; it’s been an incredible workhorse and it feels like a close colleague is leaving. This machine produced a consistently high standard up until its retirement, helping us grow to our current capacity of 29 EDM spark and wire machines, sales of over £6 million, and 70 employees.”

“This field trial represents a significant milestone in realizing the promise of

Chris Hellyer, sales director at Sodi‑Tech EDM, the UK distributor of Sodick machines,

wiredInUSA January 2020

said: “Over a 17-year partnership we’ve supplied 40 EDMs to A&M, who consistently invest in the latest technology. …This wire eroder, being productive for so long, is a testament to its build quality.”

environments, andnewstadiumtechnology deployments such as 5G and IoT, all require more fiber connections. These fiber connections need to be supported, while also ensuring easy access to patch cords and trunk cables for quick maintenance, moves, additions and changes. Belden’s new DCX ODF helps integrators, consultants, installers and end-users achieve successful cable management while handling high amounts of fiber connections. Said to offer the highest fiber per square foot termination density available, each small- footprint DCX ODF cabinet can support 4,608 terminations (2,304 ports). The product range includes the DCX cabinet, 4U housings, adapter frames, pre- terminated cassettes and splice cassettes. The system’s compact terminationcassettes fit many different applications and many fiber termination methods. The DCX ODF also allows for migration from base-12 to base-8, base-16 and even base-24 connectivity in the future without requiring infrastructure changes, further reducing capital expenses without losing density.

Watts added: “When we bought the A325 it was a top-of-the-range wire eroder that could hold its own against any competition. We’ve now replaced it with a new Sodick ALC600G, which we hope will give us the same incredible service.” S S The picture speaks a thousand words as A&M EDM say farewell to the eroder

Small footprint, high density

Belden has launched its new DCX optical distribution frame (ODF), a high-density cross-connect solution designed to optimize return on investment in fiber infrastructure.

Benoit Chevarie, global product manager for connectivity at Belden, said: “The more

Increasing data center bandwidth requirements, IP migration in broadcast

wiredInUSA January 2020

fiber you bring in, the more vital it is to properly manage it. The new DCX optical distribution frame makes it much faster and easier to manage nearly unlimited numbers of fiber connections, while offering the lowest total cost of ownership per square foot for fiber cross connects.” Wire rope lubrication Metalube has launched a new wire rope build lubricant, fully biodegradable and non-toxic to aquatic organisms. Rope- Tek™ PBL3700 Eco is Eco-label certified, fully Vessel General Permit (VGP) compliant, and is designed to work in conjunction with the Rope-Tek™ range of lubricants that protect steel wire ropes and umbilical cables in marine environments. Metalube commercial director Douglas Hunt said: “At Metalube we have always been committed to sustainability and the environmental impact of our products. This high-performance lubricant is specifically formulated from a combination of bio-based, renewable materials complementedwithperformanceadditives that are proven to be non-toxic to aquatic organisms. Protecting our oceans is now more important than ever, and this latest eco-lubricant is certified to the EU Eco-label scheme and is, therefore, fully compliant with the USA EPA Vessel General Permit.”

wire rope using equipment intended for standard hot melt compounds.

PBL3700 Eco allows application at temperatures down to 50°C, but delivers an operating temperature range of up to 110°C. Highly resistant to moisture, the lubricant protects against corrosion- induced failure and provides high inherent lubricity to minimize wear of wires and strands. Fasteners all at sea Bumax, a Swedish manufacturer of stainless steel fasteners, has received a major order for corrosion-resistant and maintenance- free studs to be used for a wind farm off the Belgian coast. The order will supply stainless studs, nuts and washers for the 219MW Northwester 2 offshore wind power plant, where ability to withstand the extremely challenging North Sea conditions is essential.

The order was placed by Danish steel contractor Bladt Industries, a company

S S Bumax has received a major order for corrosion-resistant and maintenance-free studs to be used for a wind farm off the Belgian coast

Rope-Tek™ PBL3700 Eco is designed for application during the manufacture of

wiredInUSA January 2020

crosswires simultaneously to the linewires, at speeds of 220 crosswires per minute.

that specializes in large-scale and highly complex steel structures including offshore substations and offshore foundations.

Standard resistance welding techniques are used in the process.

The wind farm is owned and operated by Belgian company Parkwind.

The machine line has an enhanced linear pullout system as standard, moving the mesh from the welding portal and into the mesh coiler. The mesh exits the linear pullout into the fully automated coiler, which rolls, cuts and ejects the completed welded mesh. The coiler then automatically threads the new incoming mesh into the mandrel, ready to roll the new coil. The coiler has a unique accumulation system, which stores welded mesh while the cutting and ejecting sequence is running, so ensuring that production is uninterrupted when unloading the mesh rolls. Rebar production gets an upgrade Yunnan Qujing Chenggang Steel Products has ordered a new high-speed bar mill from Danieli. The mill can produce 1.2 metric tonnes per year of 8mm to 40mm diameter rebar and round bar, in grades HRBF 400E to 500E. Production can run at up to 200 tonnes

Development of Northwester 2 is ongoing, and the wind farm is expected to be in operation in the first half of 2020. The selected product for the project is Bumax SDX 109, a high-strength super- duplex fastener with resistance to general crevice, pitting and stress corrosion in aggressive environments. Faster mesh welding Clifford’s new FMW fully automatic mesh welding range needs only a single operator, and features dual crosswire inserters, dual linear pullout and a fully automatic coiler for mesh rolls with fixed pitches. The mesh welding line has both off- coil linewire and crosswire payoffs. The crosswires are fed from an overhead payoff coil and are straightened in two sets of seven-roll straighteners, mounted at 90º to each other to give dual-plane straightening. Crosswires are then cut to length with automatic shears. Dual servo-actuated fingers hold the crosswires in place and under tension, enabling the dual weld tips to weld the two

wiredInUSA January 2020

The Qinghai ultra-high voltage demonstration plant is the first ground-mounted utility project in the world to install JinkoSolar’s Tiger panels, designed for 20.4 percent module efficiency. JinkoSolar’s Tiger series features a specially designed tiling ribbon that is said to improve reliability and efficiency, and outperform conventional panel yield in real-world conditions such as partial shade or elevated temperatures. JinkoSolar’s CEO, Kangping Chen, said: “We are constantly innovating and improving [our] products and I am proud to have the opportunity to demonstrate their effectiveness by installing them for the first time on a ground-mounted utility project. Our … tiling ribbon technology removes any gaps between the cells, improving reliability and efficiency.”

per hour, starting with 165mm billet with a weight of 2,500kg.

Themain equipment to be installed includes four SHS housingless stands followed by two six-pass wire rod blocks and, for larger sizes, two additional SHS stands. Through an advanced multi-strand slit- rolling system, rebars from 8mm to 22mmwill be rolled on two strands at finishing speeds of up to 45m per second.

S S The signing of the agreement between Yunnan Qujing Chenggang Steel Products and Danieli

The plant is complete with an on-line water- cooling system, double HTC (high-speed twin channel) system, and a 120m x 14m cooling bed.

Solar modules gain demo opportunity JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd has supplied 300MW of its high energy density Tiger panels for a demonstration plant in Qinghai province in China.

wiredInUSA January 2020

EDITORIAL Index

A&M EDM

35 30 30 26 18 27 27 26 21 36 31 37 18 38 26 25 27 33 20 18 23 18 16 18 38 9

Juniper Networks

35 26 18 29 29 29 31 27 37 32 24 11 26 24 32 25 31 31 26 30 14 18 9

Acwa Power

Leoni AG

Al Samra Power Company Allianz Capital Partners

Loon

LS Cable & System

Alphabet

LS MAN Cable

AS Connecto Eesti

MAN International Contracting

AS Merko Ehitus group

Mateenbar Merko Infra Metalube

AXA Investment Managers

Balluff Belden

NAI

Bezeq Israel Telecom

Nexans

Bumax

NKT

25, 27

CAF

Nucor

Clifford Covage

Omers Infrastructure

OneSubsea

ECI Telecom Group EDF Renewables

Orange

Prysmian Group

Elering AS

Pultron Composites

Emirates Water and Electricity Company

Ribbon Communications

Encore Wire Corporation

Saudi Aramco

Facebook

SFR FTTH

Google

15, 18

Siemens Gamesa Renewable

GreenSpur Wind

SubCom

IDB Invest

Telefónica Vattenfall

Indiana Michigan Power Internet para Todos Perú JinkoSolar Holding Co Ltd

24 Yunnan Qujing Chenggang Steel Products 38

wiredInUSA January 2020

ADVERTISING Index

AIM Inc

10 13 11 15 16 14

Beta LaserMike (An NDC Technologies Brand)

Clinton Instrument Company

DeWAL

Electrical Cable Compounds Inc

Madem

Messe Düsseldorf

Nano-Diamond America Inc

12 19

Paramount Die

Sikora

Windak Group

Zumbach Electronic

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

The Professional Publishers Association Member

wiredInUSA January 2020

America’s online magazine for wire and cable

wiredIn USA

wiredinUSA, EuroWire and Wire & Cable ASIA... The leading magazines for the wire and cable industries Download your 2020 media packs today and benefit from an international coverage

wiredIn USA Digital . Networking . Monthly .

www.read-wca.com

www.read-tpt.com Published in English and Chinese languages www.read-eurowire

America’s online magazin

nternational magazine for the wire & cable industries

The magazine Wire & Cable ASIA is published six times each year in both English and Chinese languages. A leading magazine in the Asian market for the wire and cable industries, Wire & Cable ASIA is available in print, CD ROM and online, and its circulation is closely controlled to ensure maximum exposure to professionals within the industry. Distribution With its bilingual issues, Wire & Cable ASIA has a unique and increasing wiredIn USA

The magazine A leading international magazine for the wire and cable industries, EuroWire is printed six times per year and is the only magazine published in six different languages including German, Russian, French, Italian and Spanish.The latest corporate news, technology stories, and regular features covering the production and processing of wire, cable, fibre optics, springs, fasteners and precision parts, all form the mainstay of this highly respected magazine. Distribution EuroWire has an increasing and unrivalled distribution across Europe and the Americas and is THE most important source of information in our industry. Total global distribution: over 18,000 per issue. 2020 EDITORIAL FEATURES JANUARY ■ wire Düsseldorf 2020 – show preview MARCH

20 ITORIAL FEATURES

UARY

distribution across Asia and the rest of the world. Total global distribution: over 16,500 per issue.

ire Düsseldorf 2020 – show preview

Asia (including China) – 41%

Europe – 40%

Asia (including China) – 24% ■ wire Düsseldorf 2020 – show issue

Rest of the World – 3%

RCH

Americas – 16%

*Typicaldistribution

Europe – 46%

*Typicaldistribution

Rest of the World – 3%

(Comprisesprinteddistributionandelectronicdistributionplusbonuscirculationat international tradeshows.Pass-along readership isnot included) Website statistics Based upon a 12-month period (1 August 2018 to 31 July 2019): Total sessions served (unique visitors) 122,419

wire Düsseldorf 2020 – show issue

Americas – 27%

Wire Expo – show issue ■ Compounds, colourants, masterbatches and additives

Total hits 545,806

Total hits 549,615

UsageanalysisprovidedbyMatrixStats

JULY

■ Armouring and reinforcing of cables ■ Cutting and weldin

ADVERT MATERIAL & PRODUCTION Liz Hughes

■ What’s new in wire and cable machinery ■ Wire drawing and machinery

ADVERT MATERIAL & PRODUCTION Liz Hughes

Email: liz@intras.co.uk Tel: +44 1926 334137

SEPTEMBER

SALES www.read-wca.com

SEPTEMBER www.read-eurowire.com ■ IWCS – show issue SALES

www.wiredinusa.com

UK, ROW, USA, CANADA & S. AMERICA, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND Jason Smith Email: jason@intras.co.uk | Tel: +44 1926 834684 wiredInUSA – the brightest F ezin

■ wire China – show issue

UK, ROW, USA, CANADA & S. AMERICA, GERMANY, AUSTRIA, SWITZERLAND Jason Smith k | Tel: +44 1926 834684 pools and winding

re China – show issue

Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42

Made with FlippingBook Annual report