Connecting the world Prysmian Group

CONNECTING THE WORLD

The Prysmian Group is the world leader in the energy and telecom cable systems industry. The company is pro-active in every aspect of power transmission and telecommunications technologies. Its latest inter-array cable systems have secured offshore wind projects worth in excess of 700 million euros in 2018 alone. Philip Yorke reports.

With around 140 years of experience and sales exceeding €11 billion, more than 30,000 employees and 112 plants worldwide, the Prysmian Group is strongly positioned in the world’s hightech markets. It offers the widest portfolio of products and specialist services anywhere on the market. Prysmian operates in the businesses of underground and submarine technologies and cable systems for power transmission and distribution, also of special cables for applications in a broad variety of industries and of medium and low voltage cables for the construction and infrastructure sectors.

For the telecommunications industry, the group manufactures cables for voice, video and data transmission, offering a comprehensive range of optical fibres, optical and copper cables and connectivity systems. Prysmian is a publicly owned company that is listed on the Italian Stock Exchange in the FTSE MIB index.

unique cable solutions

With its strong focus on innovation and sustainability, Prysmian has taken another step forward in connecting homes and businesses to the world and has also launched its unique Karona Overblow System. This new, innovative solution enables the installation of high density optical-fibre cables into pre-existing sub-ducted routes, containing the existing legacy cable.

Now more than ever, data transmission is an essential part of modern life, which means that it is vital that reliable digital infrastructure is securely established in place. Existing networks are already congested with legacy cabling, but installing more ducts can be expensive and time consuming. Prysmian has developed a solution to this global problem, offering a new way to install additional amounts of fibre cable using the existing duct network.

The new Karona Overblowing System comprises overblow cables, installation equipment, connectivity and comprehensive training.

Additional cables can be installed, using existing Point-to-Point methods that achieve distances of up to 1km and further still when using Prysmian’s Centre Blowing Techniques. The unique overblow cable range contains from 12 to 432 fibres, which are matched with a range of special joint closures.

Focus on core products

The Prysmian Group was the supplier of choice when it came to the supply of high-tech inter-array cables for the UK’s 1.4GW offshore wind farm, located at Orsted off the east coast of England. This latest wind farm project will see the company deliver over 300km of cabling, as well as a further 900km of cable cores. All of this will be manufactured at the company’s state-of-the-art plant in Wrexham, UK.

Prysmian Group offshore wind sales team manager Alessandro Panico said, “We are proud to support Orsted in providing the UK market with the highest quality, locally manufactured cables for the next generation of offshore wind farms. Alongside this we have launched an important investment plan to increase our submarine cables production capacity in order to meet the growing demand from this sector.”

Panico added, “This key investment in our Wrexham facility is a sign of the growth in the UK offshore wind supply chain, and our strategic ambitions in the renewables industry.”

meeting new challenges

Of all the advanced, high-tech industrial sectors, none is seeing a more radical transition than that of the automotive sector. The latest challenge is the change in the certification of Quality Management Systems from ISO/TS 16949 standards to IATF 16949. Upon expiry of the existing standard, which remains in force to date, all companies involved in the supply of components and materials to the automotive industry should ‘migrate’ to IATF 16949, in order to be compliant with the new Quality Management System certification that is specific for the automotive market.

Prysmian is a Tier 2 supplier to the automotive sector and is therefore strongly involved in this transition process for all factories within the group that are dedicated to the manufacture of automotive cables in order to meet this new challenge.

Following a stringent three-day audit, Prysmian has achieved the successful certification of the facility dedicated to the manufacturing of automotive cables in its Suzhou plant in China, thus proving that it is fully certified to supply the international automotive industry. In order to obtain IATF 16949 certification status, it required the Prysmian team involved to highlight its fully integrated processes, evidence-based decision-making and culture of continuous improvement, and demonstrate customer satisfaction improvement.

“The key benefits highlighted by the ability to implement the transition to IATF 16949 are multiple. IATF 1649 certification is compulsory for most automotive stakeholders. The successful implementation of the transition shows Prysmian’s maturity in facing automotive stakes and demands and contributes to strengthen Prysmian’s reputation,” said Gianluca Mazzantini, Prysmian automotive BU VP. n

For more details of the Prysmian Group’s latest innovative cable products and services visit: www.prysmiangroup.com