Top Cable Companies: Part II

WIRE JOURNAL FEBRUARY 2009

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L w w w. w i r e n e t . o r g

Top Cable Companies:

Part 2

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WIRE JOURNAL

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I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

CONTENTS

Volume 42 | Number 2 | February 2009

F EATURES

Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Industry News . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Asian Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Fiber Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Compounds and colorants . . . . .38

Fastener Update . . . . . . . . . 28

Suppliers of compounds and colorants discuss a range of the technology that they offer to the wire and cable industry.

WAI News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Top Cable Companies: Part 2 . . 52

Chapter Corner . . . . . . . . . . 34

This feature, done as a co-venture with U.K.-based Integer Research, looks at some of the world’s top cable companies, and more.

Perspectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

T ECHNICAL P APERS

Technical Papers . . . . . . . 70-84 Products/Media . . . . . . . . . . 86 Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Career Opportunities . . . . . . 91 Advertisers’ Index . . . . . . . . 94

Performance of nanoclay in a flame-retardant jacket compound Sergio Castañeda, Octavio Parra, Eduardo Ramírez and Saúl Sánchez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Rapid tensile test elongation study for measuring the annealability of copper rod Jose Luis Magaña Leon and Elias Fernández Godinez . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76 Center bursts - a review of criteria Roger N. Wright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Cover: U.K.-based Integer Research and WJI have teamed up again to present a look at some of the world’s top cable companies. See p. 52. Design and photos by Bill Branch.

FEBRUARY 2009 | 3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE CONTENTS

P ERSONALITIES . . . . . . . . . .24 This picture is the final page in a book created in 2007 by employees of Quirk Wire Company for retiring President Harrison “Hoddy� Quirk, who had sold them the West Brookfield, Massachusetts, business. Inside, Quirk shares his thoughts about his improbable success over a three-decade stretch, explaining what made it possible and his belief that it is still possible for others to follow his path.

4 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

B OOK R EVIEW . . . . . . . . . .90 John A. Roebling has icon status in the steel industry for both his pioneer work in helical wire rope and bridge construction design, but there was more to the man than the legend, as these memoirs by his son show. The results, edited by WAI historian Don Sayenga, are both memorable and disturbing.

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EDITORIAL WIRE JOURNAL

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EDITORIAL

I N T E R N A T I O N A L

Government intervention: help or hindrance?

Publisher | Steven J. Fetteroll Editor-in-Chief | Mark Marselli

There is something unnerving about the headlines indicating billions of dollars are needed to keep the U.S. economy from worsening, while at the same time the banks are indicating the initial infusion was not sufficient. It sounds like the logic that has allowed the casino industry to flourish, even during down cycles.

I recognize that economists with years and years of education are providing the best advice they can during these challenging times, but I worry about government increasing its influence on supply and demand with key economic drivers such as automobiles and infrastructure.

If Washington had intervened in the U.S. steel industry in a similar manner, the dynamics for real change would have been slow in arriving and the efficiencies of today’s steel operation may not have been realized. The industry has managed to cut the man-hours needed to produce a ton of steel by 90 percent over the past quarter century. An equally important factor is today’s efficient steel industry was able to adjust production more quickly to the downturn in demand and leave itself in a better position when demand rebounds.

On the opposite side of the spectrum is the wire and cable industry in China, where government involvement has resulted in intolerable capacity utilization rates during the peak consumption periods and much less today. As a result, it will take years of growth before the China cable market is properly aligned to entice competition and reward innovation.

Regardless of how difficult the wire and cable industry is across the globe, I am always encouraged after visiting members during good times and bad. My recent trips to Rea Magnet, Phifer Wire and Southwire show the diversity of the industry and while the economic concerns have placed a cloud over the industry, I see companies filled with passionate professionals, committed to quality, process improvements and product evolution.

The downturn will never be too short and certainly there are companies that have already shuttered, but the wire and cable business will rebound. Hopefully, Washington’s good intentions will not backfire.

Steve Fetteroll WAI Executive Director

Editor | Barbara Douglas Senior Graphic Designer | Bill Branch Director of Sales | Robert Xeller Advertising Sales | Anna Bzowski Director of Marketing Services | Janice E. Swindells Graphic Artist | Adrienne E. Simpson Proofreader | Livia Jacobs Circulation Manager | Jan Valois Publications Advisory Board Antonio Ayala | J.J. Lowe, Mexico Ferruccio Bellina | TKT Group/President ACIMAF, Italy Anand Bhagwat | Wire and Cable Services, India Malcom Michael | AWAI, Australia Don Schollin | Q-S Technologies, USA Ken Scott | UK Ralph Skalleberg | Skaltek USA Dave Stackpole | Nutmeg Wire, USA Giulio Properzi | Continuus Properzi, Italy Robert Wild | Niehoff Endex North America, USA WAI Executive Committee Liaison Dane Armendariz | Henkel Corporation Technical Advisors John Drummond | Scotia Group R. M. Shemenski | RMS Consulting, Inc.

WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL (ISSN-0277-4275) published monthly by The Wire Journal, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Wire Association International, Inc., which is located at 1570 Boston Post Road, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA, and can be contacted at tel.

203-453-2777; fax 203-453-8384; Internet wirenet.org; e-mail mmarselli@wirenet.org. Address all correspondence concerning advertising production, editorial and circulation to the above address. WJI is printed in USA. Subscription rates: $110 per year, USA; $120 per year, Canada and Mexico; other countries, $140 per year (includes air mail). Back copies: $10 WAI members, $15 non-members. Periodicals postage paid at Guilford, CT 06437, USA, and at additional offices.

Wire Journal International grants photocopy permission to libraries and others registered with Copyright Clearance Center (CCC), 21 Congress St., Salem, MA 01970, USA, for a fee of $0.50 per article. Payments should be sent directly to the CCC. Requests for bulk orders or reprints should be sent to the Wire Journal International, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA. © 2009 by Wire Journal, Inc. All rights reserved. The Publisher of WJI assumes no responsibility for the validity of manufacturers’ claims made herein. Back issues of WJI are on microfilm and available from University Microfilm, 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106, USA. Phone: 313761-4700.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Wire Journal International, P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578, USA.

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CALENDAR

CALENDAR March 2-4, 2009: Cables 2009 Cologne, Germany. To be held at the Maritim Hotel.

Contact: Applied Market Information Ltd., tel. 44-117924-9442; info@amiplastics.com; www.amiplastics.com.

April 25-30, 2009: Interwire 2009 Cleveland, Ohio, USA. To be held at the International Exposition Center (I-X Center), Interwire incorporates the Interwire Trade Exposition, the technical program and the WAI’s 79th Annual Convention. It addresses ferrous and nonferrous manufacturing, and electrical/data/voice segments as well as wire forming and related wire and wire products. Contact: WAI, www.wirenet.org.

May 12-15, 2009: wire Moscow Moscow, Russia. To be held at the Expo Centre Krasnya.

Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312781-5180; fax 312-781-5188; info@mdna.com; www.mdna.com.

8 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

June 22-26, 2009: NPE 2009 Chicago, Illinois, USA. NPE 2009, organized by The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI), NPE 2009 will take place at Chicago’s McCormick Place.

Contact: NPE 2009, www.npe.org.

October 13-15, 2009: Wire Southeast Asia Bangkok, Thailand. To be held at the BITEC Exhibition Centre in Bangkok, this event, formerly known as wire Singapore, is organized by Messe Düsseldorf Asia Pte Ltd., Singapore. Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180; fax 312-781-5188; info@mdna.com; www.mdna.com.

October 24-27, 2009: Exhibition & Conference for Wire & Cable New Delhi, India. The 9th International Exhibition & Conference for Wire & Cable will present wire and cable, fasteners and springs and more at the Pragati Maidan.

Contact: www.intechtradefairs.com.

Nov. 8-11, 2009: 58th IWCS Conference™ Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. To be held at the Charlotte Convention Center. Contact: IWCS, www.iwcs.org;phudak@iwcs.org; tel 732-389-0990.

April 12-16, 2010: wire Düsseldorf Düsseldorf, Germany. To be held at the Messe fairgrounds. Contact: Messe Düsseldorf North America, tel. 312-781-5180; info@mdna.com.

May 11-12, 2010: Wire Expo 2010 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. To be held at the Midwest Airlines Center, this event includes the WAI’s 80th Annual Convention, trade show and technical program.

It will be co-located with The National Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo. ■

WIRE ASSOCIATION I NT ’L EVENTS For more information, contact the WAI, USA. Tel. 001-203453-2777; fax 001-203-453-8384; Internet www.wirenet.org.

March 3-5, 2009: Modern technologies and modelling of drawing and manufacturing processes of metal products Zakapone, Poland. Members of the WAI’s Poland Chapter are among the organizers of this event, which will present theoretical and practical research results. Contact: Dr. Sylwia Wiewiórowska, wiewior@mim. pcz.czest.pl; www.konferencja.mim.pcz.czest.pl.

April 25-30, 2009: Interwire 2009 Cleveland, Ohio, USA. See main listing.

Nov. 2, 2009: New Technology for Global Markets Istanbul, Turkey. This biennial conference is jointly organized by the IWMA, CET, ACIMAF and the WAI. Prior conferences have been held in Bologna, Italy (2007), Prague, The Czech Republic (2005), and Stresa, Italy (2003). Contact:WAI, www.wirenet.org.

NEW FIRST CLASS MACHINES available around mid 2009 • QUEINS high speed bow twister for 1+6 bobbins ø 630 mm (24,8”), 1400 min-1, 2 complete lines • QUEINS high speed bow stranders for 1+4 or 1+5 reels ø 1600 or 2000 mm (63” / 79”), section of individual conductors up to 240 mm² each, 500 resp. 400 min-1, complete lines • QUEINS heavy duty rotating belt type caterpillar capstans, 3 tons pull, 4900 mm (193”) contact length, specially designed for big armouring drumtwisters • QUEINS kombi-extrusion line for XLPE (SILAN processed), PVC, PE, TPR 3 extruders 65 mm (2,55”), 150 mm (6”), 90 mm (3,5”) all L/D = 25, incl. pay-off / take-up 2500 mm (98”), 2 caterpillar capstans, PLASTICOLOR mixing stations, SIKORA laser measuring heads, MEDEK & SCHÖRNER hot stamping marking device • Further machines such as rod drawing machines for copper and aluminium / alloy wires, incl. double spoolers, steel taping heads, all type of pay-offs / take-ups, caterpillar belt capstans For contacts in USA:

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FEBRUARY 2009 | 9

CALENDAR

Nov. 2, 2009: New Technology for Global Markets Istanbul, Turkey. This biennial conference is jointly organized by the IWMA, CET, ACIMAF and the WAI. Prior conferences have been held in Bologna, Italy (2007), Prague, The Czech Republic (2005), and Stresa, Italy (2003). Contact:WAI, www.wirenet.org.

INDUSTRY NEWS

INDUSTRY NEWS Garphyttan Wire acquired for approximately US$102 million Japan’s Suzuki Metal Industry Co., Ltd., announced that it has acquired the Garphyttan Wire Division, a manufacturer of valve springs, from its Swedish parent company, Haldex AB, for approximately US$102 million. The deal is expected to close by this June.

A press release explained that Suzuki Metal had arranged financing for the deal through Nippon Steel, and that the deal will see it becoming a consolidated subsidiary of Nippon Steel. “By acquiring Garphyttan …

Suzuki Metal expects to realize profit growth by expanding its global business, improving technology and obtaining competitiveness as the world’s largest valve spring wire producer,” it said.

At its website, Garphyttan Wire notes that it has production facilities in Garphyttan, Sweden; South Bend, Indiana, USA; and Suzhou, China. As of September 30, 2008, Garphyttan Wire had 471 employees. At the Haldex AB website, it notes that its Garphyttan Wire Division has about a third of the global market for oil-tempered valve spring wire.

Suzuki Metal manufactures a range of special wire products, with an emphasis on valve spring wire for automotives. It also makes hard steel wires, plating wires, oiltempered steel wires, prestressed concrete (PC) wires, stainless wires, titanium wires and other related products for construction materials, communication equipment and musical instrument, among others, it said.

The parent company of Garphyttan Wire explained that the sale was part of its plans to focus on its core businesses. “We are very happy with this agreement. With the divestment of Garphyttan Wire, we have taken a further step to optimize the Group structure and create a more focused Haldex Group. … Suzuki Metal’s acquisition of Garphyttan Wire entails industrial synergies which cannot be achieved within the Haldex Group,” Haldex CEO Joakim Olsson said in a press release.

Hibernia submarine cable network said to be first from Ireland to U.S. Hibernia Atlantic announced that it has been chosen to deploy a new cable network for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment (DETI) for Northern Ireland and the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources (DCENR) for the Republic of Ireland as part of Project Kelvin.

The project calls for the connection of a new submarine cable to the Hibernia North Transatlantic cable located 22 miles off Northern Ireland’s north coast. The new cable

will come ashore in the Portrush area and then on to a location where it can interconnect with the province’s existing telecoms infrastructure at a number of locations including Armagh, Ballymena, Belfast, Coleraine, Londonderry, Omagh, Portadown and Strabane in the north, it said.

Hibernia will connect to its existing network by installing a branching unit (BU) in their northern transAtlantic cable, thus providing two secure routes, one

Chart showing the path of the proposed addition to the Hibernia Atlantic cable network. Chart courtesy of Hibernia Atlantic. from Northern Ireland to Canada and the U.S. and another from Northern Ireland into the U.K., the release said.

The project is slated to be completed by March 2010, with Hibernia Atlantic operating it until December 2018, the release said, adding that the network will provide direct links with the U.S. and improved communication connections to Europe. The company did not disclose the names of the cable suppliers, but said that the services to be offered on the system will range 2Mb/s to 10Gb/s. The Hibernia System, it said, itself will be capable of providing up to 1.92Tb/s from Northern Ireland to North America and up to UK 7.68Tb/s from Northern Ireland to the U.K. “This build marks another key milestone in Hibernia Atlantic’s history, as the communications company is the first to deploy a cable from North America to this region,” the release said. The project will provide “a new wealth of capacity and the ability to directly and securely connect to Canada, U.S., U.K. and mainland Europe,” it said, noting that Hibernia’s Irish network will carry bandwidth with speed and accuracy directly to North America, avoiding the common and congested routes around

Does your company have news that belongs here? E-mail it to the WJI at editorial@wirenet.org.

10 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

INDUSTRY NEWS

London and New York waterways.

Asked about the viability of the project given the current economic outlook, a company spokesperson insisted that it was still practical. “We believe that while the general economy is slowing down, the focus on cost control might benefit regions like Northern Ireland disproportionally as the region offers substantial cost benefits in many respects. Therefore, our conclusion has been that even in today’s climate the project is one that we are excited about being part of.” (continued on p. 12)

EDITOR’S NOTE The below letter was sent in response to the “Perspectives” piece by CCCA Executive Director Frank Peri about sub-standard offshore cables being sold in the U.S. through distributors that appeared in the December 2008 WJI. Under it is a response from Mr. Peri.

More than words are needed to stop distribution of bad cables I read Mr. Peri’s comments with great interest. The article stopped just short, whether intentional or not, of providing a decisive solution to counterfeiting and outright fraud by unscrupulous benefactors. The CCCA must publish names of the culprits and they in turn must be degraded by the industry. Identifying “bad cable” and not revealing the source publicly makes it impossible to purge the problem from our midst. We do not need government regulation for a problem the CCCA has already identified, but rather we are the experts and self-regulation is the remedy. James D Stanton, president, SE Specialty Wire & Cable, LLC. We recognize that our mission is not yet complete.

We have not let up (our efforts) to bring this issue to a successful resolution. I can assure you and others who, in addition to our member companies, want to see effective action, that our findings (and recommendations) … are being pursued via in-depth discussions with UL and Intertek (ETL). We expect those discussions to lead to a real and tangible “decisive solution” that will be effective in stopping, or at least significantly reducing, the entry of sub-standard product coming into the North American market. The process is underway to upgrade the quality assurance and product certification programs we have relied on for so long, and we are working vigorously to move it along as fast as possible. Frank Peri, executive director, CCCA. FEBRUARY 2009 | 11

INDUSTRY NEWS

TOUGH CUSTOMER

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Columbia Ventures Corporation, Hibernia Atlantic is a privately held, U.S.owned, TransAtlantic submarine and terrestrial cable network, with over 55 redundant network Points of Presence throughout Canada, U.S., U.K. and Europe. Project Kelvin is a joint initiative between DETI and DCENR.

European Commission to charge duties on Chinese wire rod Responding to complaints of dumping steel wire rod in Europe, the European Commission (EC) will place 25% duties on steel wire rod coming from China as well as 4% duties on wire rod from Moldova.

Dow Jones Newswire reported that the EC intends to place the temporary wire rod duties while it investigates the matter to determine if permanent duties are necessary. To be permanent, the European Union’s executive branch would need to get an okay from the 27 E.U. national governments, it said.

The steel wire rod in question is mainly used for construction purposes, it said. The article said that the complaint was pressed by the European Confederation of Iron and Steel Industries (Eurofer), which includes major steel companies such as ArcelorMittal and Thyssen Krupp AG. In a later published story, the duty was described by an unnamed Shanghai exporter as being harsh to the point where it “... may be a fatal blow to Chinese wire rod exports.” The person noted that Chinese exporters already have to pay a 15% tax to export wire rod.

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Nexans reports that it has been awarded a contract from a repeat customer for more than US$56 million to supply subsea umbilicals for the Usan oilfield in Nigeria.

The contract, from EMC B.V, a subsidiary of Saipem SpA, calls for Nexans to provide the necessary umbilicals and associated equipment for the subsea development of Usan deepwater oilfield, off the coast of Nigeria, a press release said. The contract, it noted, represents one of the largest A view of Nexans’s subsea umbilical orders ever umbilicals that it will supply to received by Nexans.

EMC B.V. for use in a deepwater The Usan oilfield is oilfield. located around 100 km south of the Nigerian coast, in water depths ranging from 750 to 850 meters, the release said. Usan is expected to come on line in early 2012 and to provide production of 180,000 barrels of oil per day, with logistics including 23 producer wells and 19 water and gas injector wells tied back to an FPSO (floating, produc-

INDUSTRY NEWS

tion, storage and offloading) unit with a storage capacity of 2 million barrels of oil.

The Nexans’s specialist umbilical facility in Halden, Norway, will produce 30 individual lengths of umbilical for the Usan project, to be delivered on 17 reels, the release said.

The umbilicals, it said, will supply vital control functions and chemicals for the subsea systems, and connect the wells and the FPSO. Delivery, it added, should start in the second half of this year.

Patrick Barth, managing director of Nexans’ HV and accessories business group, said that the company has been a supplier to Saipem for previous projects, “and we believe that this track record, combined with our good working relationship and a high level of cooperation, were the key factors that enabled us to win this latest contract.”

The release added that Nexans recently delivered similar umbilicals to EMC B.V for the Akpo field in the same area.

Prysmian nixes India venture Prysmian Spa reports that it has terminated a prior agreement with Indian Nicco Corporation, for transferring Nicco Corporation’s cables division to a new JV company in which Prysmian would have owned a majority stake (60%).

The termination, a press release said, occurred in accordance with specific provisions contained in the above mentioned agreement. The news did not state the reasons for the change.

Leoni AG reports 5-year contract for wire harnesses from truck maker Germany’s Leoni AG reports that it has received a large order from DAF Trucks N.V., to equip two of the manufacturer’s truck series and its premium engine Paccar MX with wiring systems.

A press release said that Leoni has a five-year contract

Leoni AG will supply wiring harnesses for DAF Trucks, including for its new premium engine.

FEBRUARY 2009 | 13

INDUSTRY NEWS

to supply overfoamed harnesses for DAF engines, including its premium Paccar MX 12.9-liter 6-cylinder engine, which was introduced in 2006. Leoni will deliver its harnesses to DAF’s European headquarters in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, where the Paccar MX engine is produced, it said.

The contract also calls for Leoni to continue supplying conventional harnesses for all DAF XF 105 and DAF CF series trucks, which are produced in Westerlo, Belgium, the release said.

DAF Trucks N.V. is a subsidiary of PACCAR Inc., one of the world’s largest producers of heavy trucks whose brands include two well-known American trucks, Peterbilt and Kenworth.

Lubrizol Corp. buys Dow’s TPU business U.S.-based Lubrizol Corporation announced that it has acquired the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) business of The Dow Chemical Company, a deal that it said will expand Lubrizol’s Estane® Engineered Polymers business.

No price was disclosed for the deal, which includes all commercial, production and R&D assets of the Dow TPU business, a press release said, noting that Lubrizol will take on some 40 full-time employees. All Dow TPU products will be transitioned immediately to Lubrizol and the Dow brand names will be retained and unified under the Estane Engineered Polymers business.

Dow’s Texas-based TPU business, which had 2007 revenues of approximately $85 million, “spans the continuum between elastomeric and rigid TPU properties,” the release said. Dow’s PELLETHANE™ Thermoplastic Polyurethane Elastomers, part of the deal, are used for industrial/engineering applications as well as automotive, film, footwear, medical tubing and industrial/engineering applications; and ISOPLAST™ Engineering Thermoplastic Polyurethane Resins are used for specialty applications that require high-end engineering plastic properties. The release noted that Lubrizol’s thermoplastic elastomers, marketed under the Estane TPU brand name, are used for a wide range of applica-

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INDUSTRY NEWS

tions that include wire and cable production. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are excited to be adding Dowâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TPU capabilities and products to our existing Estane Engineered Polymers business,â&#x20AC;? said Mike Vaughn, Lubrizol Vice President, Estane Engineered Polymers. â&#x20AC;&#x153;I am sure our business and our customers will be in good hands,â&#x20AC;? said George Biltz, Dow Corporate Vice President, Strategic Development and Planning.

Bankrupt wire company agrees to pay $1.5 million fine, faces sentencing Atlantic Wire Co., which ceased operations last year at its plant in Branford, Connecticut, USA, has agreed to pay the state $1.5 million in penalties and spend nearly $900,000 to clean up its site stemming from its improper handling of chemicals to manufacture steel wire.

According to press releases and published reports, the bankrupt company had been charged with discharging toxic wastewater into the Branford River 21 times from December 2005 to January 2008. It also faces sentencing on March 20 for violating the federal Clean Water Act and lying about it in reports to the state Department of Environmental Protection. It was unclear at press time who specifically would be held responsible for the transgressions, but sentencing could include terms of probation and up to $500,000 for each of three counts, one report noted.

The agreement between Atlantic Wire and the state resolves a lawsuit brought in January 2008 by Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and a civil action brought by the Connecticut Fund for the Environment. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our goal was never to put this company out of business, but it wrongly regarded pollution as part of its cost of doing business,â&#x20AC;? said Connecticut State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

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TELE-Fonika subsidiary to supply power cables to Russian company Polandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s TELE-Fonika reports that UAB TELE-Fonika Baltic, its Lithuanian subsidiary, has signed a contract to supply high voltage cable lines to Russia, based on cable types A2XS(FL)2Y 110 kV and 220 kV. The cables, for Russian energy company OAO Energoprojekt, are to be used for Ivanovskaya GRES, a turn-key project in Oblast Moskovskaya, a press release said. It noted that the work was scheduled to already have begun.

In addition to supplying the cables and cable equipment, the TELE-Fonika subsidiary will also supervise assembly of the line, it said, noting that the entity is well experienced high-voltage cable lines, having been a supplier for four large energy projects in Latvia and in Estonia in 2008.

Two industry chemical giants, LyondellBasell and DuPont, are among those that have undergone major changes to their operations, which include products for the wire and cable industry.

LyondellBasell, which is based in The Netherlands, reports that its U.S. operations and one of its European holding companies have voluntarily filed to reorganize under Chapter 11. “During the past two quarters, we have seen a dramatic softening in demand for our products and unprecedented volatility in raw materials costs,” said CEO Volker Trautz. December was particularly difficult, as many of our customers postponed orders to reduce their inventories. Though we currently anticipate this situation to be short-term and expect customers to increase their purchasing in 2009, we made the decision to file Chapter 11 in order to provide the company with the time and resources necessary to facilitate an orderly restructuring and position the business for the long term.

LyondellBasell, described as the world’s third-largest independent chemical company, at its website notes that it operates more than 60 manufacturing sites in 19 countries, supplies many sectors, including wire and cable. It

notes that, “From the wires inside of your computer to the cable that connects your computer to the Internet, we offer a host of wire and cable resins and compounds, including Alathon and Petrothene high density polyethylene, Microthene and Petrothene linear and low density polyethylene and Flexathene and Petrothene polypropylene products.”

DuPont, which at its website notes that it has some 60,000 employees worldwide and operations in more than 70 countries, including more than 40 R&D and customer service labs in the U.S. alone, announced it would cut its workforce. That would include thousands of independent contractors.

The company supplies a range of products for wire and cable insulation for applications from medium- and highvoltage cables to halogen-free and flame-retardant (HFFR) cables.

NKT Cables opens Dubai office Taiwan’s NKT Cables reports that it has opened an office in Dubai, a half hour from the city center in the Jebel Ali Free trade zone.

“The new NKT cables facility has been built on the existing success of CCC Berlin GmbH, who has had an office in the region since 2006,” an announcement at the

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INDUSTRY NEWS

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INDUSTRY NEWS

company’s website notes. It said that the enlarged office, with a staff of eight, will provide sales, engineering and other support to customers in the Middle East. The main focus the activities will be in the UAE and Qatar, but it will also include sales and marketing for both NKT and CCC in North Africa, India and Thailand, it said.

A part of NKT Holding A/S, NKT Cables notes that it has some 3,200 manufacturing and sales employees in Denmark, Germany, Norway, the Czech Republic, Poland and China. It is part of NKT Holding A/S.

The contact number for its new office is tel. +971 (4) 8865828.

Canadian spring manufacturer closed, equipment to be auctioned Dominion Spring Industries Corp., a Canadian manufacturer that specialized in springs for the auto industry, has filed for bankruptcy and closed.

A message from an administrator for the bankruptcy process reported that the bankruptcy was filed December 15, 2008. According to WAI’s 2008 Reference Guide, Dominion Spring, located in Mississauga, Ontario, was founded in 1980 and had about 100 employees.

A wide range of equipment at the plant had been scheduled to be auctioned off by Corporate Assets Inc. For more details, call tel. 416-9629600.

CTC reports Chinese core order U.S.-based Composite Technology Corporation reports that its subsidiary, CTC Cable, has been awarded an order from Far East Composite Technology Company to provide a single core with associated hardware to be used on a 240 kilometer transmission line in Hubei province in China.

CTC produces composite rod for use in its patented ACCC (Aluminum Conductor Composite Core) conductors, which are used in electrical transmission grids. The core is delivered to licensed qualified conductor manufacturers for ACCC. The core, a press release said, will be stranded by Far East, a subsidiary of Jiangsu New Far East Cable, which was described as “one of China’s leading manufacturers of electrical transmission and distribution cable, which it sells to China’s regional power

18 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

2009 Charles D. Scott award winners to be honored at dinner on April 18 The Wire & Cable Manufacturers’ Alliance (WCMA) will honor the eight recipients of its 2009 Charles D. Scott Distinguished Career Award at its 25th Annual Awards Dinner and Investiture Ceremony at the Hartford/Windsor Marriott Airport Hotel on April 18.

A press release said that the recipients are: David Ferraro, vice president of sales/marketing, Carris Reels, Inc.; Robert Kenny, vice president and general manager, General Cable; Mark Lee, vice president sales, Whitmor/Wirenetics; John Netta, senior technical service specialist, DuPont; Edwin Rubadue, president (retired), Rubadue Wire; Don Shaw, sales & business director,

Daikin America; Edward Walton, general manager/fire protection products, Draka USA; and Bobette Zweizig, purchasing manager, Draka Cableteq USA. WCMA notes that it continues the tradition of recognizing industry professionals that was started in 1985 by the late Dick and Harriet Callahan, founders of the Wire & Cable Clubs of America.

Recipients are chosen by a selection committee comprised of more than 100 prior award winners.

WCMA, which was established in 2004 as the successor organization to the Wire & Cable Clubs of America, is a corporate membership organization for manufacturers of conductor, insulated wire, cables, fiber optic cables, and connectivity products with an established manufacturing base in North America, as well as industry suppliers and service providers.

For more information about WCMA or the Distinguished Career Award, contact Debbie Mathiasen, executive director, at tel. 860-873-2311, mrcdm@snet.net or www.wcmainc.org. ■

FEBRUARY 2009 | 19

INDUSTRY NEWS

grids through 200 local distributors.”

The release said that the 220KV line will support the expansion of the Ezhou power plant. The line is planned for installation late in the first quarter of 2009, it said.

It described the contract as significant “as it signals the resumption of order flow for new projects in China.” It noted that there had been a slowdown due to impact of the Summer Olympics in China and the subsequent holidays.

ASIAN FOCUS

ASIAN FOCUS Global economic slowdown may have mixed impact for Asian countries The entire world has felt in differing degrees the effects of the dismal economy, but China and India may prove to be more resilient than most countries.

The World Bank predicts that global trade would drop by about 2% in 2009, the first drop since 1975, but Goldman Sachs Global Economist Jim O’Neill—who previously predicted that the four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) had the potential to become the four most dominant economies by the year 2050—continues to be a believer, especially in China and India. Asked in a Jan. 9 interview with David Oakley, Financial Times, whether the economy woes have dashed those dreams, his reponse was, “Not in the slightest.”

O’Neill explained that nobody should have expected to see stock markets go up every year, yet even with the recent activity, he said, those markets have still shown 12% overall gains over the last seven years compared to the U.S.’s S&P dropping 25% for the same period. As demand for exports has dropped, it of course has had an affect, most notably on exportfocused China, but overall the BRIC countries are positioned to withstand this downturn, he said.

“I don’t think of BRICs as an emerging market. I see them as a linchpin of the modern global economy,” O’Neill said.

He feels the outlook, from an investment and a growth perspective, remains good for the BRIC countries. He expects the stock markets to reflect that, which would help confidence. “This time last year, there weren’t many cautious people (in the stock markets). Now, everybody and me, all over the world (is) paranoid and scared.”

That very tone, he explained, makes him believes the last quarter of 2008 may indeed prove to have been the worst. Of the four BRIC nations, the one he said could be the weak link is Russia.

A recent report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) agrees that developing Asia should be able to withstand the current conditions, but notes that the region “will be tested by a market for exports and a sharp drop in available capital.” The report projects that economic growth in emerging East Asia, defined as the 10 Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) plus “the People’s Republic of China (PRC); Hong Kong, China; Taipei, China; and the Republic of Korea, will slow to 5.7% in 2009 down from 6.9% in

2008 and 9% in 2007.”

“2009 is likely to be a difficult year for developing Asia but it will be manageable if countries respond decisively and collectively,” said Jong-Wha Lee, Head of ADB’s Office of Regional Economic Integration (OREI), in a press release at ADB’s website. The information, it noted, is in the December issue of Asia Economic Monitor (AEM) .

While China’s exports dropped about 2% in November and December 2008 over the prior year, its imports dropped at a far greater rate: 17.9% in November and 21.3% in December, reports The Wall Street Journal.

As demand for Chinese exports has declined, Chinese leaders are hoping that the country’s US$583 billion economic stimulus package—equivalent to nearly 78% of last year’s national fiscal revenue and to be invested in the next two years—will boost domestic demand. Xinhua reports that the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of China’s manufacturing sector was 41.2% in December, the fifth time the PMI fell below 50% in 2008. The 50% figure is important as a reading below it warns of an economic slowdown.

In India, economist C. Rangarajan projects that the country’s economy, despite current conditions, will grow at a moderate level of around 7% in the current and the next fiscal, but return to higher levels in 2010-11 “depending on the global scenario," according to wire reports.

The outlook for industrial growth in India, 2.4 percent in November after a negative 0.3 percent in the previous month, is likely to come in at about 5 percent for 2009, Rangarajan said. India’s fiscal stimulus packages are adequate for the current fiscal situation and due to the liquidity injection into the system by the RBI, the banking system has enough fund, he said.

There are also anecdotal signs that it will not be business as usual. One report notes that as of the end of 2008, more than 25% of the Grade A offices in Shanghai’s Lujiazui Finance & Trade Zone were empty. Demand for such space had been high earlier in the year, which saw the addition of some 10,000,000 sq ft of such office space in Shanghai; its tallest office building is more than half empty, it said.

And in a fitting sign that all is not well, even in the oil-rich countries such as the United Arab Emerites (UAE), stateowned builder Nakheel has halted construction in Dubai of the Nakheel Harbour & Tower, which when finished would stand nearly two-thirds of a mile tall or more, making it the tallest building in the world.

Have news that belongs here? If so, e-mail it to editorial@wirenet.org.

20 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

ASIAN FOCUS

ASIAN NEWS BRIEFS Furukawa establishes subsidiary in Vietnam Japan’s Furukawa Automotive Systems Inc. announced that it has created a subsidiary in Vietnam called Furukawa Automotive Systems Vietnam Inc. (FASV), to manufacture wire harnesses for automobiles in the Ben Tre Province. At its website, Furukawa notes that it has established FASV as its second subsidiary in Vietnam, with production set to start in late 2009.

FASV is based in the Mekong Delta region, about 90 km south of Ho Chi Minh City, it reported. FASV, it said, will be a base for exports to Japan and other regions. The investment in the company, located in the Giao Long Industrial Zone, is about US$16 million, and the projected annual sales are US$66 million by 2011, it said.

China now world’s largest broadband market The world’s largest producer of steel, cement, gold and carbon emissions has a new lead position: broadband. In a year’s period ending September 2008, some 64 million broadband lines were added, some 19%, to a total of just under 400 million, states a report at Point Topic, citing the World Broadband Statistics Report: Q3 2008 and from the Global Broadband Statistics service. “China is now the largest broadband country in the world, with 81 million subscribers ... is accelerating away from the newly deposed USA now in second place,” it said.

Mergers to create huge Chinese steel makers Three Chinese steel companies (Tangshan Iron and Steel Co., Handan Iron and Steel Group and Chengde Xinin Vanadium and Titanium Co.) have agreed to merge and create an entity that would become the country’s biggest listed steel manufacturer.

China’s Xinhua reports that the three companies, whose products include wire rod, are all listed under Hebei Iron and Steel Group. The new entity will be the only listed company of the group after the merger, it said, noting that annual production of raw steel will be about 32 mmt, more than Baosteel’s 30 mmt.

India company celebrates 40th anniversary, reports new addition to its representation line Kay Pee Dies & Tools of Ghaziabad, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, reports that it is now the exclusive agents and distributors of Italy’s Pan Chemicals SpA, manufacturers of wiredrawing lubricants and surface coatings, for India and the SAARC countries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan).

Contact: Asim Jindal, Kay Pee Dies & Tools, tel. 01203297194, fax 0120-4167194; kaypeedies@hotmail.com, www.kaypeedies.com. ■

FEBRUARY 2009 | 21

PEOPLE

PEOPLE TAK Enterprises has promoted Sherwood Griffing to vice president/business development. He joined TAK Enterprises three years ago as product development manager, and has 28 years’ experience in the wire and strip metal forming and fabricating industry. He will now be responsible for the identification of new markets for existing products, and the development of new products and markets for TAK Enterprises. Patricia Gianatti was promoted to vice presiSherwood Griffing dent/ executive manager.

Gianatti began with TAK Enterprises as an accounting manager eight years ago, and has 15 years experience in human resource, financial and business management. Based in Bristol, Connecticut, USA, TAK Patricia Giamatti Enterprises is a supplier of precision wire and strip processing components and systems.

Nordson Corporation has added four new customer service representatives to its powder coating systems group. Jim Gierke, Mike Hobart and Mark Ross have joined Nordson as powder customer service representatives, responsible for standard system service and sales with existing customers in their respective territories.

Frank Van Horn joins Nordson’s powder service organization after 11 years with the company’s liquid systems group. In addition, current powder customer service representatives Robert Paige and Phil Moore will now be responsible for new territories. These representatives will service and sell finishing spray equipment and troubleshoot hardware issues. Based in Westlake, Ohio, Nordson Corporation produces precision dispensing equipment Amaral Automation Associates has named Brian Benoit as its new business development manager. He has more than 20 years of experience with plastic extrusion/injection molding processing equipment, most recently as area sales manager for Absolute Machinery.

Prior to that, he was at Cincinnati Milacron and Automated Assemblies. Based in Cumberland, Rhode Island, USA, Amaral Automation Associates manufac(Continued on p. 25)

22 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Personalities: Retired industry veteran recalls novice path to success made over 90 cold calls. Small orders trickled in.

“Our first order was for $63 and was never paid. I In an industry where experience has long been highly framed this order and hung it on the wall as a lesson valued, Harrison “Hoddy” Quirk – a man who entered the learned,” Quirk said. field some 30 years ago with zero cable background and a For product pricing, Quirk turned to a friend in an business plan for a down-and-out (and closed) cable comaligned field who sought quotes for insulated wire. The pany – was a most unlikely success story. final challenge was the suppliers. At first, some suppliers Today, Quirk, the retired president of Quirk Wire Co., a insisted that they get paid up-front: the first shipment of U.S. producer of high-temperature silver-plated wire, which cost $12,000, insulated wire and cable, can look was COD. Quirk recalled that when back at a career that stretched his busithe shipment arrived, Dee, who had ness plan, especially the early days, expected to see two semi-trucks filled when creative means, good employees with wire, was shocked to find just and a little luck helped him learn how one skid with eight small spools. to survive and thrive in the wire and In his first six months in business cable industry.

(May-December 1978), Quirk realized Quirk launched his career as a plant no profit, calling it a “period of getting engineer at a small paper mill. In his organized.” The employees, he said, 25 years, he climbed the ranks to vice were the ultimate key to success. president, and then to president and Quirk ran the show without foreprimary owner. He set out for a new men, since “my prior experience with challenge, and after researching more two union plants taught me that foreHarrison Quirk and his wife, Diane. men were not necessary.” Quirk and than 60 business interests, Quirk and his wife, Dee, chose Wirecraft his team operated two 12-hour shifts, Products in West Brookfield, Massachusetts. It had been six days a week for 30 years, without foremen. Each founded by Walter Poti in 1955, who sold to two brothers worker was given a plant key and permitted a flexible in 1974. The result was bankruptcy in May 1977. work schedule, one that offered opportunities for overtime.

As Quirk saw it, he faced five critical Quirk Wire maintained a large problems: He lacked industry knowledge; inventory to service buyers faster than had no employees; had no customers; did “Our first order was distributors and competitors. Orders not know how to price his product; and were shipped in two to three days. for $63 and was Wirecraft had gone under with $135,000 Credit was issued within 24 hours, if never paid. I framed in unpaid bills. He did not let these possible, and clients could reach live aspects scare him. “I have always felt representatives by phone around the this order and hung that a business is pretty basic with the clock. Managed by Dee, finances it on the wall as a exception of the technical aspects of were watched closely. Quirk projectlesson learned,” making a product,” he said. ed 4-8% growth each year based on Learning the field was a matter of talkhis five-year forecast. He kept conser— Harrison Quirk ing to those who knew it. Quirk said vative goals to boost employee many industry people he met were symmorale. pathetic to his novice status and did not view him as a Above all, Quirk stuck to his niche, never aiming to threat to their business, so he was able to go on tours of compete with the big companies. One policy was that no Brand-Rex in Connecticut and Supernant in customer represent more than 10% of revenues, and in Massachusetts.

1989, he dropped General Electric as a client after it To build a workforce for the business, which had been exceeded that limit. G.E. adjusted its orders and later closed for 18 months, Quirk turned to the original owner. returned as a regular client.

Poti met him and agreed to help. He gave him a list of key Growth remained steady. Quirk hired and trained new former employees, and Quirk visited them in their homes. employees, bought additional equipment and expanded his He told them about his vision, showed his business plan base to over 800 accounts. In the 30 years since its start, and asked them to join him and Dee. He proved to be perQuirk Wire Co., has enjoyed double-digit growth every suasive and four former employees returned. year, with the exception of 2003. The company had 38 To find customers, Quirk targeted strategic areas in New employees on its roster when Quirk retired.

England. In a single month, he drove 8,000 miles and Quick remains a staunch optimist who believes that

PEOPLE

By Kyle Swartz

24 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

PEOPLE

despite today’s economical upheaval, it is still possible to achieve similar business success. “A business is a business is a business. Only the products are different. One needs to be diligent in your homework and spend time on the business plan. I feel that to run any business you need to be enthusiastic, optimistic and show a lot of concern for your employees and customers. Some companies fail when they lose sight of these attitudes.”

Quirk never lost sight of those who made his company a success. Years before he retired, he hand-picked his successor, David Thibodeau, and groomed him to take over.

He also completed a years-long process of selling the business to his employees via an ESOP to make sure they too profited from their efforts. One of his cherished memories is the commemorative hard-cover book (The History of Quirk Wire Co. - 1978 to 2007) the employees created to thank him and Dee for all they had done.

“I loved my 30 years of running the company and would do it all again if I was 20 years younger,” he said.

Know someone who should be profiled in “Personalities”? Send details to editorial@wirenet.org.

People

(continued from p. 22)

tures and distributes wire and plastic equipment, variable speed drives, servos, and motor and process controls.

Simufact Engineering GmbH has named Stefan Zimmer global sales manager channel, responsible for most resellers and distributors activities within Germany and throughout North and South America. He will be headquartered in Simufact’s new office in Marburg, Germany. Based in Hamburg, Germany, Simufact Engineering GmbH is a provider of industry software and services.

Allied Wire & Cable has named Dana Eaton as a sales representative in the Southwestern part of the U.S. He has more than 20 years of experience in the wire and cable industry. His background includes experience with military cable, appliance lead wire, tubing, connectors, wire harnesses, and cable assemblies. Based in Dallas, Texas, USA, Allied Wire & Cable supplies the aerospace, medical, automotive, transportation, computer, telecommunications and shipbuilding industries.

Sherex Fastening Solutions has promoted Lindsay Giardina to inside sales representative for the West Coast. She will be the inside sales contact for the current West Coast regional sales manager, Greg Whiteside.

Giardina started at Sherex in 2006 in logistics, scheduling customer orders and truck shipments. In 2008, she was promoted to sales support. Based in Tonawanda, New York, USA, Sherex Fastening Solutions manufactures and distributes blind rivet nuts, brass inserts and other specialty fastening products. ■ FEBRUARY 2009 |25

FIBER WATCH

FIBERWATCH Prysmian first in fiber connectivity Italy-based Prysmian Cables & Systems reports that its latest contract with Andorra Telecom will make the Principality of Andorra the first country in the world to provide a direct optical fiber link to its 35,000 homes and businesses.

Using Prysmian’s VertiCasa™ cable system, Jaume Salvat, CEO of Andorra Telecom, estimates that by 2010, Andorra will be entirely connected by fiber, providing high speed broadband services.

The system includes high-rise and multiple dwelling units. It comprises a main riser cable of up to 48 fibers, which can be branched directly to individual subscribers on different floors of an MDU, without the need for splicing of the fiber within the riser of the building.

“It demonstrates the commitment of Andorra Telecom to providing the best possible information infrastructure across the country and with the support of Prysmian and the VertiCasa™ system, we will soon have all our citizens provided with a direct fiber link,” Salvat said.

Director of Prysmian’s global telecoms cable and optical fiber business, Giovanni B. Scotti, added, “The VertiCasa™ system was designed with the MDU environment in mind and is proving to be ideally suited to the infrastructure requirements here in Andorra.”

Prysmian has been involved in other FTTH projects around the world including Europe, Middle East, Russia and China.

Fusion splicer meets demand for larger optical fibers Japan-based Furukawa Electric announced the release of the S177LDF fusion splicer for large diameter optical fibers up to 400 µm. While optical fibers for telecommunications use are 125 µm in diameter, optical fibers with larger diameters are increasing in demand for non-telecommunications applications such as the high-power and medical lasers, accompanied by a growing demand for fusion splicers for the large diameter fibers, a press release said.

Furukawa’s splicer offers ease of use due to its compact size and low weight, the release noted. All the components and mechanisms needed for splicing of large diameter fibers are accommodated in the same body size as for the S177A optical fiber fusion splicer platform, thereby achieving compact size and lightweight. No extra space for equipment installation is needed, it said.

A graphic user interface (GUI) equivalent to those for standard fusion splicers has been equipped with the splicer, realizing the same level of operability as for mobile phones thanks to its display using simple function keys and eyefriendly icons, the release explained. It features applicable cladding diameters of optical fibers range from 125 µm for telecommunications applications to 400 µm. Splicing of different-diameter fibers between 125 µm and 400 µm is also

26 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

possible with the unit, Furukawa noted. Splicing of 400 µm fiber is automatically completed in only 26 seconds after fiber setting on the splicer, it said. Contact: Furukawa Electric., www.fujikura.co.jp.

Burlington targets municipal network Many cities have run into problems when they enter the telecommunications market, whether wired or wireless. But a city department in Burlington, Vermont, USA, seems to be making it work.

Information Weeks reported that Burlington Telecom 10 years ago slowly started to deploy a municipal fiber network, which is up and running and beginning to provide triple-play services of voice, data, and video. It also hopes to eventually provide a hefty profit for the city and wireless services, www.informationweek.com said.

While many other municipalities have “Burlington once jumped head first into races to build faced massively growtheir own networks ing telecommunica—most of them wireless— tions expenditures. It Burlington Telecom now views the gradually cobbled together pieces of its telecommunications network, starting sector as an imporwith fiber.

“We are going to tant source of new build a wireless netrevenues,” work,” said — Christopher Mitchell Burlington Telecom Director Tim Nulty.

“But the best way to build wireless is to build fiber first. That way we already have backhaul [capability] and every telephone pole is a potential antenna site.”

Like many municipalities seeking to deploy their own networks, the challenges in Burlington, the largest city in Vermont with 39,000 residents, were daunting. It had to convince state and city politicians and the town’s voters that the network was a good idea, as well as fend off criticism from established telecom providers, Information Weeks reported.

Burlington Telecomdeveloped a city-owned network that will supply Burlington citizens with low-cost triple-play broadband and, when its debt is retired in 15 years, should provide the city with 20% of its general fund.

“BT will be able to pay down its debt very quickly,” said Christopher Mitchell, of the Minneapolis-based Institute for Local Self Reliance. “On the cost side of the equation, Burlington once faced massively growing telecommunications expenditures. It now views the telecommunications sector as an important source of new revenues.” ■

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FASTENER UPDATE

FASTENER UPDATE China launches probe into fasteners China’s Ministry of Commerce is forging ahead with an anti-dumping investigation into carbon steel fasteners imported from the European Union, the country’s latest response to the latter’s proposed high anti-dumping duties on Chinese fastener exports, China Daily reported.

An application for an investigation was filed on Dec. 1 by the fastener branch of the China General Machine Components Industry Association on behalf of Chinese fastener producers, the ministry said.

The move came after the European Commission voted to adopt anti-dumping duties of 63 to 87 percent on Chinamade fasteners over the next five years. The vote must be approved by all trade ministers of the 27-nation bloc.

EU trade experts have complained that an increase of Chinese fastener imports hurt the European manufacturers.

Chinese exporters rebutted the accusation, saying the profitability of the European manufacturers increased 110 percent in the period between 2003 and 2007.

The EU accounted for about a third of China’s total fastener exports, China Daily reported. It imported around US$805 million in fasteners from China in 2007, according to Zhang Feng, a fastener guild official at the Jiaxing City of eastern China’s Zhejiang province.

Meanwhile, China’s annual fastener imports from the EU totaled US$180 million, said Feng Jinyao, director of the CMCA’s fastener industry association, it said.

Most EU-exported fasteners were used on high-end products such as vehicles and electrical appliances, while a large increase in supply and price cuts by the EU producers had squeezed China-made fasteners and forced them to low-end markets, said Feng.

The anti-dumping probe includes carbon steel fasteners used in making products like cars, electronic and electrical equipment and machinery, said the ministry.

The investigation could take until June, 2010, China Daily reported.

Atlantic Fasteners cinches contracts U.S.-based fastener supplier Atlantic Fasteners announced that its aerospace division has been awarded two-year contract totaling $940,000 by Lockheed Martin.

The two contracts are the largest to date in the aerospace division’s history, Atlantic Fasteners reported. A press release noted that the contracts’ combined value is nearly five times higher than the division’s previous two-year contract with Lockheed Martin.

Atlantic Fastener’s aerospace division has been an authorized Lockheed Martin supplier since 2000, the press release said. Under the two-year contract bids, through December 2010, Atlantic Fasteners will supply hundreds of fastener varieties to Lockheed Martin’s business units around the country. Lockheed Martin has 1,000 facilities in 46 states and in 75 international locations, it said, adding that 28 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Lockheed Martin is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.

Boeing schedules Dreamliner flight Boeing Commercial Airplanes announced an updated schedule for its new 787 Dreamliner program that moves the commercial jet’s first flight into the second quarter of 2009 and first delivery into the first quarter of 2010.

The new schedule reflects the disruption caused by the recent machinists’ strike, along with the requirement to replace certain fasteners in early production airplanes, a press release said. Prior to the strike that The 787 Dreamliner has caused some halted much of the sleepless nights for Boeing company’s comCommercial Airplanes. mercial airplane work from early September into November 2008, the 787 Dreamliner was to make its first flight late in the fourth quarter of 2008. First delivery was slated for the third quarter of 2009, it said.

Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson reported that the company has made progress with structural testing, systems hardware qualification and production, but was pressed to adjust its schedule in the wake of the unexpected disruptions.

AirBoss closes $6 million sale U.S.-based AirBoss of America Corp., has sold its Missouri-based railway track fastener business to Amsted Rail Co. for US$6 million in cash, OilWeek reported.

AirBoss said that the rail-hardware business, which provided five percent of its sales and a slightly lower proportion of profits, will continue to operate under the trade name AirBoss Railway Products.

The deal includes a provision for a further payment to AirBoss if profits increase over the next two years, OilWeek reported.

The Kansas City-based unit “was not core to the AirBoss main polymer products businesses,” the Ontario-based rubber products company stated, adding that Amsted “is a leader in the rail products industry and is in a position to more fully exploit the intellectual property developed,” OilWeek said.

AirBoss said it will use the proceeds from the sale to reduce operating debt.

China Steel Corp. announced a resolution to reduce steel sales prices in its domestic market by 22.5% in Q1.

Steel plate has the least decrease at NT$4,550/ton, wire rods NT$7,000/ton, hot rolled steel NT$7,840/ton, cold rolled steel NT$7,510/ton, galvanizing of steel strip and magnetic steel strip NT$8,000/ton, hot-dip galvanizing of steel strip NT$7,680/ton, all the wholesale price of steel products will be reduced NT$7,000 in average, and the average overall dip will be 22.58%, CSC reported.

The global economy has encountered large-scale losses influenced by the sub-prime mortgage and the substantial price decline of petroleum, which has led to a chaotic quote mechanism for global steel prices, according to a report from Fastener World Inc. The price of hot rolled steel remained at US$730 to $800 a ton, and the domestic price of blast furnace in Japan reached US$950 a ton, while international steel price remained high.

The domestic price of hot rolled products by China’s Baosteel shrunk to US$710 a ton in December 2008, which is close to the production costs of international plants around US$670. According to statistics from World Steel Association, the global output of crude steel was only 100 million metric tons in October 2008, which decreased 12.4% versus the same period in 2007, and decreased 6.9% versus the period of September 2008.

M. H. Chen, director of the CSC’s operation sales division, said that CSC has “reduced price in pain,” Fastener World Inc. reported. CSC reported its first loss in 29 years, but said it will work to adjust quality and quantity to help overcome the current economic slump. Regarding the fastener market, the cost of entire finished wire rods should be kept under 25% to yield the best profits, Chen said.

Alcoa fastener workers may be safe Alcoa Aluminum recently announced aggressive plans to cut more than 13,500 employees, about 13 percent of its worldwide workforce by the end of 2009, but for now, anyway, full-time employees of its Huck fastener business are not on the hit list.

The Waco Tribune-Herald cited an official at Huck International, part of Alcoa Fastening Systems, as saying that no layoffs were scheduled for the business at this time. “We don't have any reductions planned at the moment, but we are looking at it very carefully because the economy is very volatile,” said Steve Mallery, a Huck human resources manager. The company, he noted, has about 450 employees at its Waco plant, which had some positions trimmed in 2008.

In the article, Alcoa spokesman Kevin Lowery said that the business will feel the effects of the economy, and Mallery noted that Huck has let go of all its temporary employees and, like the rest of the company, has frozen salaries. In addition to those actions, the company is likely to cut back in terms of capital expenditures in the coming year, “unless something has a really good payback,” he said.

Headquartered in Torrance, California, Alcoa Fastening Systems as a whole has some 6,600 employees, and operates at 26 locations in nine countries.

SPS develops new line of bolts U.S.-based SPS Technologies announced the development of a line of 12-point bolts that are available in a variety of materials and finishes.

A press release said that the bolts range in size from #6 to 1-3/4” diameters and may be manufactured from more than 10 different materials including AEREX® 350, MP35N®, MP159®, titanium, Alloy 718, WASPALOY, alloy steels, CRES materials, AERMET®, H-11 and A286. Available finishes include cadmium, nickel-cadmium, no-finish, silver and passivated, it said.

Bolts in this configuration exhibit strengths of up to 260KSI ultimate tensile strength, with shear bolts exhibiting strengths up to 160KSI. Locking features are available to assist in product design and material selection, it said.

Ukraine to host trade show The Ukrainian Welding Society announced that Wires & Fasteners Ukraine 2009, an international show of equipment and tools for wire, steel ropes and fasteners manufacturing and wire products, will be held June 10-12 at the KyivExpoPlaza exhibition center, Kyiv, Ukraine.

A press release noted that the show’s organizers include the Ministry of the Industrial Policy of Ukraine, UkrTruboProm Associon, UkrZvetMet Concern, Mechanical and Technologists Association of Ukraine, Ukrainian Welding Society and TDS-Expo Ltd. Alongside the exhibition will be held the International Forum “Anticor Ukraine 2009,” it said.

Interested exhibitors should contact Intras Ltd., tel. +441926-334137, intras@intras.co.uk.

Solon expands website U.S.-based Solon Manufacturing Company, the oldest manufacturer of Belleville Springs in the U.S., announces the launch of its new, expanded website.

The site features an enhanced search engine, such as searching by washer type (belleville spring, flange washer and disc spring), material type, bolt type (inch and metric) and washer size, a press release said.

The site offers easy navigation, including technical documents such as FAQ’s and white papers written by Solon Chief Engineer George P. Davet. A “quick quote” section offers users the ability to send quotes quickly and directly to the quote department, it said.

A literature request form allows for an easy way to request literature and technical documents. Solon Belleville product information and features are offered along with material specifications. The events section keeps users informed of past and current industrial trade shows in which Solon participates. ■

FEBRUARY 2009 | 29

FASTENER UPDATE

CSC reduces steel products prices

NEWS

WAI NEWS

WAI

The Interwire 2009 literature is offered in seven different languages—English, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian shown here.

Interwire 2009 introduced in multi-lingual literature WAI’s flagship Interwire 2009 show is on the horizon and with the first-time support of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Buyer Program (IBP)— an anticipated addition to the event for both visitors and exhibitors—WAI spreads the word about the comprehensive marketplace.

To introduce Interwire to the wire and cable industry audience, an overview of the event is available on WAI’s website: www.wirenet.org, where links are offered to descriptions in English, Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

“WAI customarily promotes Interwire to industry professionals around the world through advertising, public relations, direct mail, and electronic media,” said Janice Swindells, WAI’s marketing services director.

“Many of those marketing materials are translated—often with the help of WAI’s dedicated members—according to the medium’s audience.

“This year, because WAI has the support of the DOC we have further reach in terms of promotional resources.

The Interwire 2009 literature was compiled into a sevenlanguage brochure that will be circulated to representatives at U.S. embassies and consulates worldwide who will be working to help promote the show.”

30 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

The IBP promotes U.S. exports by attracting international buyers to leading U.S. trade events and helping them connect with U.S. exhibitors before, during, and after the show.

The program will help identify qualified attendees from outside the U.S.; invite them to attend Interwire, both singly and in large groups; make sure travel arrangements run smoothly; and set up appointments for them at the show with exhibitors in an effort to help them meet their purchasing and representation goals. It also offers services such as export counseling to exhibitors.

“This year, because WAI has the support of the DOC we have further reach in terms of promotional resources.”

— Janice E. Swindells, Marketing Services Director WAI’s involvement with the International Buyers Program has prompted a plan for an International Business Center (IBC) at Interwire, which will be continued on p. 33

Join WAI so that one day your day will be unified

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You’re stretched thin with a ping-pong schedule and overlapping commitments.

We can relate. And we think you will identify with the thousands of world-wise wire and cable industry professionals who value the Wire Association International’s (WAI’s) membership program for its career-sustaining resources. WAI’s membership offers a daily means to help you unite with colleagues and streamline even your most ambitious agenda.

Find contacts, vendors, and customers through WAI’s dynamic website. Join an online chat or catch a free educational webinar. Take print or online delivery of the industry’s leading publication — Wire Journal International. Get a year’s worth of networking at Interwire and Wire Expo trade shows and receive discounts at the same time. Technical workshops, mentorship, committee work; all are part of the business-building groups in WAI’s global community. And all help give WAI members their competitive edge.

Whether you’re online, on the road, in the plant, or at the office — WAI has a practical solution to help simplify your day. So join today. Tomorrow is looking better already.

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WIRE & CABLE MANUFACTURING 10 ❏ Aluminum & Aluminum Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both ) 20 ❏ Copper & Copper Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 30 ❏ Steel & Steel Alloys (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 40 ❏ Other Metal (Rod/Bar, Bare Wire, Both) 50 ❏ Electrical Wire & Cable (Insulated Wire) 53 ❏ Communications Wire & Cable (Insulated Wire) 55 ❏ Fiber Optics

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February 09 International Technical

Conference Proceedings

WAI NEWS

staffed with translators and IBP representatives. The center will be located along the promenade area of the I-X Center, adjacent to the exhibits.

Educational sessions, organized by the DOC, will be offered at the center. Exhibitors and visitors with an interest in exporting are encouraged to visit the IBC at the event.

For more details about Interwire 2009—which will run concurrently with IFE April 25-30 at the I-X Center in Cleveland, Ohio, USA—and to register online, go to www.wirenet.org.

Tech program elements and more can be found online at www.wirenet.org At press time the WAI was putting the final touches on the technical program that will be presented at Interwire 2009, but by the time you get this issue the details should be available at the Association’s website.

Instructor Tom Black discusses the fine points during his extrusion workshop presentation at Wire Expo 2008.

The program will include an assortment of technical papers in electrical, nonferrous, ferrous and general categories. Fundamentals of Wire Manufacturing, a two-day instructional program, will be offered on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26, with a ferrous track and a nonferrous track. A day-long Innovation in Wire Workshop will be held Wednesday, April 29.

Call for Runners: fast speed is not a must spec for this industry challenge The WAI is seeking participants for its fifth annual 5K Industry Run, which will be held during Interwire on Tuesday, April 28.

Runners of all speeds are invited to take part in this event. Even if three-time winner Michael Crowle, QED Wire Lines Inc., is there, everyone will still be a winner as all the entry fees ($20) go to charity and registrants will get a T-shirt. The focus, as ever, is on fun. You can register via the Interwire registration form or just show up at the designated time and place, which will be presented in the March WJI preshow issue. ■ FEBRUARY 2009 | 33

CHAPTER CORNER

CHAPTER CORNER Scholarship applications sought Three Wire Association International chapters, under the auspices of the Wire Foundation, are seeking applications from the children of chapter members in good standing for their 2009 Scholarship awards. The New England, Midwest and Southeast Chapters will be sending letters to their respective members in mid-February inviting applications, with a deadline for submissions to be postmarked no later than Friday, March 20, 2009.

The chapter scholarship program got its start in the New England chapter in 2006, and the Midwest and Southeast chapter scholarships were offered for the first time last year.

The Wire Foundation assumed administration of the scholarship funds in 2008, and donations made to support the chapter scholarship funds are tax deductible. For both the New England and Midwest chapter scholarships, eligible candidates for the awards must be graduating high school seniors who will be continuing their education in college. The Southeast Chapter scholarship also allows continuing college students to apply.

34 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Each chapter’s scholarship committee will review the applications and recommend two award recipients. The recommendations will be reviewed by the Wire Foundation board at its meeting during Interwire 2009.

Once this process is complete, the recipients that are chosen will be notified by mail that they have been awarded the scholarship.

“These scholarship programs are a tangible way in which the chapters can provide a return to their members, while investing in the future generation,” said WAI Director of Membership Chip Marsh. “The chapters donate the proceeds of their golf tournaments and other activities to build scholarship funds to ensure that the programs continue to grow.”

Non-members of WAI who have students who would be eligible to apply for the scholarships are welcome to join WAI and their respective chapter. First year chapter dues are free for new members.

For more information about the scholarship programs or WAI membership, contact Marsh at tel. 001-203-4531748 or cmarsh@wirenet.org. ■

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PERSPECTIVES

PERSPECTIVES Quality: further thoughts on why culture (mindset) sets manufacturers apart This article is a follow-up by Thomas W. Tyl , whose original Perspectives piece ran in the January 2008 WJI.

It seems ages ago that WJI ran the opinion piece I wrote on quality in manufacturing, focusing on the steel tire cord industry, but I continue to hear from readers who are most willing to provide their reaction – both positive and not-sopositive.

My article basically compared two types of manufacturers that may be similar in resources in terms of capital investment, equipment and employees but have drastically different production results. I categorized them as Type-1 versus Type2 manufacturers, the former able to operate at significantly higher profit levels and provide a more uniform, higher quality product at lower conversion costs than Type-2 manufacturers. Neither the age of a plant nor its location is a determining factor. For that matter, even the type of government I got more than does not matter as 50 responses, from the difference between the two questioning and has everything to supportive to snide do with the manufacturing culture. and smart-ass.

Type-1 manufacturers encourage a long-term culture based on continuous improvement and change, a team atmosphere with responsibility driven to the lowest level leading to constantly improving quality and regularly decreasing conversion costs. Type-2 manufacturers are usually ruled by the production department and promote a short-term culture of easy profit, top down management and tons of steel tire cord shipped regardless of quality.

Sounds simple enough? Well, I never expected the range of response that followed publication of the article. Some tire manufacturing organizations wanted to reproduce the article; several equipment manufacturers said they had experienced the same situation; a few steel tire cord manufacturers asked

if I had been talking about their company; and I heard from consultants who wanted to tell me that they specialize in the role of culture in manufacturing (who knew?). I got more than 50 responses, from questioning and supportive to snide and smart-ass. By far, there were two common questions: “How do I know if my company is a Type-1 manufacturer?” and “How do I know that my supplier is a Type-1 manufacturer?”

I thought my prior piece made the distinction clear, but based on the response I’ve had, I decided to expand it by providing a check list that should work. If you’re a fan of comedian Jeff Foxworthy, think of his voice as you read the list on the opposite page.

First, for readers who don’t know me, I’ve been involved in manufacturing for more than 20 years for industries ranging from shipbuilding and coal mining to nautical engineering and steel tire cord manufacturing. My “home” is now permanently in steel tire cord, so my examples will reference manufacturers in that field.

I also want to note that a well-established, languid Type-2 manufacturer can be converted to a very healthy, Thomas W. Tyl dynamic Type-1 manufacturer. But if MBAs (I hold an MBA) and consultants (I am also a consultant) are solely relied on for this metamorphosis, the result may be no cultural change, bankruptcy, sale/closing of some or most plants and divisions and a lower-valued company. Truly, cultural change has to come from within.

The point is that tools used to become or maintain a Type-1 manufacturing facility are many and diverse. I’ve been

Perspectives is an occasional section that presents commentary/analysis from individuals on different industry topics.

36 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Thomas W. Tyl is the principal for Tire Wire Technology, LLC (TWT), a U.S.-based consulting firm that notes it works exclusively with Type-1 wire, steel tire cord and equipment companies to help produce a consistent quality product at low conversion costs. Tyl can be contacted by telephone (cell) at 919-413-0623; e-mail tom_tyl@yahoo. com; www.tirewiretechnology.com.

Editor’s note: the original story referenced above can be found by going to www.wirenet.org, clicking on “Wire Journal,” then “Wire Journal Extra,” then “Tom Tyl Perspective.” The author notes that he welcomes comments, be they positive or not-so-positive. ■

You could be a Type-1 steel cord manufacturer if: • After reading the original opinion piece you feel that your company may be a Type-1 manufacturer.

• You can easily locate detailed manufacturing data for the past five years.

• Located data contain quality information, like breaks per ton twisted, kilograms of wire drawn per die, and other quality indicators.

• The data contain customer performance information, like calendar performance, adhesion, tip rise and other performance indicators.

• The data were originally summarized by month, day and year.

• The data were originally analyzed statistically, using a tool like X-bar R charting.

• The data show an improvement in manufacturing areas over time.

• The data display introduction of different cable constructions.

• The data reveal introduction of higher strength cable.

• The data confirm a statistical improvement in all quality items over time.

• The data demonstrate a statistical improvement over time in quality items even with introduction of higher strength material or new cable constructions.

• The data illustrate a statistical reduction in labor costs over time, even as salaries and health care costs increased.

• The data demonstrate a statistical reduction in conversion costs over time even with higher energy and raw material costs.

• Operators are making changes for quality.

• Engineering teammates seek advice from the Operations Team, including operators, before starting a project.

• Operations teammates seek advice from the Engineering Team before starting a project.

• Your company will undertake a capital project with a payback of over seven years because it’s the right thing to do to remain competitive.

• Your company will actively work to keep their talented staff by offering non-monetary incentives (transfers, training, relocations, etc.) rather than letting them leave your employ.

• Your company does not treat every employee alike, because they are not alike.

• And last but not least, your company chooses to make difficult right decisions over easy wrong decisions.

Also, to the employees of the “European Ideal” company referenced in my original article about Type-1 and Type-2 manufacturers, yes, I was writing about your company. And best regards to you too!

FEBRUARY 2009 | 37

PERSPECTIVES

trained in SPC, Quality Circles, Kaizen, Total Productive Manufacturing, The Hertzberg Approach, Enabling the Workforce, The Five Minute Manager, Managing for Success, Manufacturing and the Introduction of Change, Union Free Manufacturing and several more tools, the names of which do not come to mind. They can make one very smart or they can make one too smart for his/her own One cannot copy good. One needs an GE by filling your understanding of the fundamentals, and company with black the signs of success belts, super black can be misleading. belts, super-duper When you copy a Type-1 company champion black you generally copy belts ... tools, not culture.

There are many relatively simple tools that can be used to mark and help assure continued success, but the key is developing a culture (OK, “mindset”) that promotes Type-1 manufacturing activities. One cannot copy GE by filling your company with black belts, super black belts, super-duper champion black belts, or in the immortal words about belts from Sensei Keisuke Miyagi (the late actor Pat Morita, 1932–2005, of The Karate Kid movies), “Ha, ha, use to hold up pants, JCPenney $2.98.” Focusing on belt(s) as an end unto itself is like dressing yourself up like an ancient Anasazi and telling folks that you have resurrected a culture that disappeared in the 12th and 13th centuries!

It is far easier to begin manufacturing with a Type-1 culture (this is a strong hint to folks considering building a new steel tire cord plant) than it is to change a manufacturing Type-2 culture into a Type-1 culture (this is a strong hint to folks considering purchasing an existing steel tire cord plant).

Further, Type-1 manufacturers are not stagnant. They continue to become leaner, more productive and more flexible, so the goals are moving targets.

So what are the characteristics that matter? The check list in the next column is intended for steel tire cord, but it may well apply to other wire and cable niches.

FEATURE

T

he wire and cable industry as a whole is inherently caught up in the effects of the gloomy global economy, and for suppliers of compounds and colorants, it is vital

to offer products and service that make a difference. In this story, companies discuss how the technology they offer can help cable manufacturers remain competitive.

Borealis Compounds, LLC/U.S. Borealisâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; position in the high-voltage cable market calls for innovative research and development, backed by knowledge and experience. Based on our patented SupercureTM technology, Borealis has designed LS4201S as an XLPE insulation for high-voltage applications.

LS4201S delivers a lower degassing burden and improved scorch performance while maintaining the high level of cleanliness associated with our former industry benchmark grade, LE4201S. These properties translate into faster cable processing, longer production run times, improved cable quality, and greater cable reliability in installation and service life.

High-voltage cables must be degassed before completion at the cable manufacturer due to potential fire hazards during installation or in service arising from residual decomposition products during cross linking. These residual products also can mask defects during routine cable testing, thus seriously compromising the reliability of the 38 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

installed cables. The reduced degassing burden of LS4201S can be used for optimizing the production cycle as well as reducing the temperature load on the cable

William Fajardo, with Christine Eng, of Borealis Compounds, LLC.

Breen Color Concentrates/U.S. Breen’s research and development efforts focus on creating innovative solutions that add value to our customers’ businesses. Customers are always looking for ways to take cost out of their operations so part of Breen’s R&D has been focused on providing products that allow customers to run their lines more efficiently with greater productivity. We have developed products that reduce the amount of time required to transition from one color to another on the wire line. This leads to

WJI: Looking forward, what do you expect will be the biggest challenge you face in the next five years?

Borealis Compounds, LLC/U.S. Satisfying the evolving market for high-voltage XLPE cables will continue to be a key focus. These demands include a faster pace for replacement of overhead with underground cables, increased cable length, emerging DC HV cables, and more demanding requirements for offshore HV cables.

Cable Components Group/U.S. The biggest challenge CCG, or any other North American manufacturer faces, is to make sure the company continues to lead by innovation and not fall back to imitation of the rest of the world’s manufacturing base. “We need to capitalize on the explosive potential of technology advancement in areas such as the information superhighway, alternative energy generation, transit system upgrades, medical diagnostics, among others that are evolving right now,” said Managing Director Charles Glew. “Cable makers can be a part of the evolution.”

Chromatics Inc./U.S. The biggest challenge for Chromatics within the next five years will be one of capacity expansion.

Our commitment to the growth needs of the wire and cable market means that we will need to undertake another expansion of the Bethel, Connecticut, USA facility. While we are confident that the current economic environment will improve, the timing of that recovery remains elusive and will impact the timing of this next expansion.

Dow Wire & Cable/U.S.

Thomas Taylor, Lori Parent and Howard DeMonte of Breen Color Concentrates.

Defining and delivering what the market will accept as sustainable solutions will be a significant global challenge in the coming years. The industry as a whole will need to define what’s required and what can be achieved as we work to create safer cables with the lowest impact on society. There will be a balance of adherence to regulations, good performance and competitive cost that will drive technology solutions.

Fiberline/U.S. lower scrap levels and more production time on the lines.

We have developed proprietary foaming agents for lowand high-temperature applications that allow customers to reduce weight, maintain physical and electrical performance and reduce cost. Another focus has been products that comply with regulatory statutes such as

As is the case for many U.S. manufacturers, one of the biggest challenges we will face in the next five years is one that is already happening: global competition. While we may not be able to compete on labor rates, our competitive advantage will come from technology. Whether it is on improved

FEBRUARY 2009 | 39

FEATURE

cores during the degassing process. LS4201S gives the cable manufacturer the option to reduce the degassing time and lower the degassing temperature in order to speed up the production process when degassing is a bottleneck. This can lower the working capital tied up in production and save on energy costs.

In addition to the cross-linking process, the formation of scorch—prematurely cross-linked material within the extruders and the head—must be considered. Scorch formed here might enter the insulation and form defects that potentially reduce the reliability of the cable. These types of defects are not easily detected by established quality control tests.

LS4201S can be used to permit longer runs or use higher melt temperatures. Some cable manufacturers have reported that they can run up to 20% longer with LS4201S before they have to stop for cleaning, compared to a standard XLPE compound. Contact: William Fajardo, william.fajardo@borealisgroup.com, www.borealisgroup.com.

FEATURE

REACH, RoHS, and ELV. Breen has been active in the creation of colorant and additive concentrates for zerohalogen applications. Ultralor EF products, for example, are designed for use with PPE compounds used in automotive wire and cable and other technically demanding applications. They are halogen-free and provide high strength and excellent thermal stability and dispersion properties for use in thin and ultra-thin constructions.

One of the challenges we and the industry at large face will be the availability and cost of raw materials. The supplier base for resin and pigment has contracted over the past few years and the current economic environment will result in further contraction/consolidation. Associated with this is concern over whether the supplier base will be able to sustain investment in new products and materials.

Regulations will present another challenge. We anticipate tighter regulation of chemicals over the next five years. In many cases, regulations create opportunities that allow innovative companies to gain market share but they also create challenges that can affect one’s ability to create compliant products that still meet customer and industry requirements.

Contact: Paul Legnetti, plegnetti@breencolor.com, or Howard DeMonte, hdemonte@breencolor.com.

fluoropolymers (FEP, PFA, MFA, ECTFE, and ETFE) and engineered materials (including LS0H and others) in both solid and foam, and supplies components made from virgin, recycled, or reprocessed materials, all RoHS compliant.

In 2008, CCG introduced its new FluoroFoam ™ product lines. FluoroFoam fluoropolymer cable components are made using a patent-pending, chemical foaming technology to provide further enhanced fire and smoke safety, electrical performance, and better cost/weight reduction values that cable makers seek for all market segments, including datacom and industrial. “CCG sees an emerging trend towards having foaming capability,” said Glew.

CCG also introduces its new FluoroSpun ™ products this year. These cable-filling yarns, made from ultra-fine, extruded fluoropolymer filaments, can be used to fill cable interstices or act as a strength members while also offering better fire and smoke safety (up to 250º C), electrical performance, and physical properties. CCG’s new FluoroSpun products also take the company into other diversified markets such as the medical, filtration, and green energy segments. Contact: Charlie Glew, cglew@cablecomponents.com, www.cablecomponents.com.

Cable Components Group/U.S.

Chromatics Inc./U.S.

Currently, Cable Components Group has the capability to extrude tapes, tubes, mono and multi-filaments, and crosswebs. According to Managing Director Charles Glew, each day at CCG is devoted to R&D and new

As the wire and cable community continues to build more sophisticated performance into their products, material technology must expand to enable the wire and cable producer to achieve this performance and move in new directions. The focus at Chromatics continues to revolve around not only improvement of our existing products,

Charles Glew of Cable Components Group.

product development, whether it is for the company’s own products or for customers developing their own proprietary cable designs.

CCG is a specialist in crossweb fillers for data cables (Cat. 6, 6e, and 6A). The company holds eight patents for cable fillers (three of which were awarded in 2008) for high-speed data transmission cables. CCG specializes in

40 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Denise Coyle of Chromatics Inc. but the creation of new ones that are in step with the development needs of our customers. We take our R&D cues directly from emerging needs that require improved technology.

For a color concentrate supplier, there is arguably no

Dow Wire & Cable/U.S. One major area of technology focus has been the development of new products that meet and exceed increasingly stringent global environmental regulations.

Our goal is to commercialize the safest cables possible for all users, from cable manufacturers to installers to

SWELLCOAT products, nano-particles or something else, we need to keep ahead by investing in technology.

Halopolymer/Russia In the next five years, our company will face the same challenges as other fluoropolymer manufacturers: to assure sustainable growth of production against the backdrop of the financial crisis and reduced consumption by end-users. We believe that competitive pricing combined with quality, local contacts and distribution, well-grounded on the reduction of production costs, upgrade of production facilities and focus on the needs of our clients, will help us follow growth opportunities within different market segments, including the wire and cable industry.

King Industries/U.S. Though the economic climate relevant to the industries we supply has become clouded lately, sticking to our fundamentals and core competencies as a successful specialty chemical company will keep us on a path of growth in the near future and long term. We must maintain our current level of product quality, environmental responsibility, and safety and health of our employees, all of which are the most important aspects that attest to the success of a small specialty chemical company.

PVC Compounders/U.S. I believe we have to navigate through the most significant challenge the majority of us will have to face in our professioal lifetime. Adjusting to the economic minefield in manufacturing and administration during 2009 will be the single most important factor as to who will emerge on the other side. Avoiding customer bankruptcies, purchasing from financially soluble suppliers, right-sizing workforce and inventories while maintaining acceptable service will be keys to surviving the present recession and beyond.

Teknor Apex/U.S. Dr. Yimsan Gau of Dow Wire & Cable. final consumers. Low toxicity and low corrosivity when exposed to a flame are among the leading properties important in these cables, as well as performance and cost efficiencies.

In the manufacture of standard LS0H compounds, the historically preferred base resins have been EVA copolymers. In an effort to provide the industry with new options and continuous improvement, Dow Wire & Cable experts drew from their expertise in polymer

We anticipate growth in demand for halogen-free flame retardant (HFFR) compounds in electronics applications such as data systems, computer interconnects, and central telephone offices. While the demand is particularly strong in Europe and Japan, manufacturers serving global marketsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as electronics OEMs Dell, IBM, or Hewlett-Packardâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;require HFFR wire and cable products no matter where they operate plants. While HFFR compounds are based on polyolefin polymers rather than PVC, our Vinyl Division is developing HFFR formulations as a natural outgrowth of our long experience in the wire and cable industry.

FEBRUARY 2009 | 41

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single variable more important than pigment dispersion.

It has a major bearing on electrical properties, process efficiency, and scrap rates at our customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; facilities.

To this end, we have been working to optimize the screw designs used in our compounding units. We now have a complete suite of designs, each specially adapted for selected resin and pigment combinations to provide the best blending for each offering in our portfolio of colors and compounds.

Foamed FEP applications are growing in the fluoropolymer processing community. The inclusion of foamed FEP in many constructions allows for weight reduction and cost reduction, as well as enhanced electrical properties.

Chromatics has supplied FEP foam concentrates to the wire and cable industry for many years. Over these years our R&D efforts have centered on finding the best nucleation promoting additives. Our testing and development efforts in this area have delivered a complete line of offerings that provide cell uniformity, consistent levels of nucleation and good economics. Contact: Ralph Marcario, ralph.marcario@chromusa.com, www.colorantchromatics.com.

FEATURE

resins combined with our broad portfolio of resins, filler systems, coupling agents and stabilization systems to deliver DFDA-1648 NT/BK EXP1.

Through extensive research, the company developed a formulation which gives a good balance of physical and processing properties, flame resistance and surface smoothness. Several patents on these solutions are pending. Moreover, benchmarking work against one of our own compounds and a number of competitive compounds has shown that the DFDA-1648 NT/BK EXP1 fares equally well or better than the competition, including the LS0H compounds formulated with EVA base resins.

Contact:Dalin Clark, dalinclark@writer-strategist.com, or Dr. Yimsan Gau, gauy@dow.com, www.dow.com/wire.

Dyneon LLC, a 3M Company/U.S. Dyneon is a manufacturer of fluorinated plastics for wire insulation and jacketing, and has developed Dyneon™ ADONA™ Emulsifier—which eliminates the use of ammonium perfluorooctanoate, a salt derived from perfluorooctanoic acid—completely from its production of fluoropolymers. With the development of its new emulsifier technology, Dyneon is on track to be the first fluoropolymer manufacturer to achieve the goal of eliminating the use of PFOA, seven years ahead of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2010/15

Fiberline/U.S. Fiber-Line’s R&D focus in 2009 will be to improve our SWELLCOAT™ technology. SWELLCOAT products are engineered to be the last line of defense against the damaging effect of water in cable applications. Our SWELLCOAT coating can be applied to ripcords, flexible strength members (both glass and aramid), binders and central strength members (GRP).

In the search to make the optimal cable, our customers are focusing a lot of their attention on dry/dry cable designs.

These designs replace the traditional gel with SWELLCOAT products. That Robert Thompson, left, and Uffe means that these Pederson, of Fiberline. products need to be engineered to be used in places where they were never used before, such as inside the buffer tube. With these new opportunities come new challenges. Water absorption needs to occur fast so that water will not migrate down the cable. The SWELLCOAT coating also needs to be applied to smaller yarns than in the past so that they can fit into the buffer tubes.

Fiberline is able to customize the amount of coating on the products so that the customer has a variety of options to choose from. Depending on what the customer’s needs are, we can apply a level of SWELLCOAT coating that will absorb over 50 times its weight in water or as low as five times. It all depends on the customer. Contact: Robert Thomspon, rdthompson@ fiber-line.com, www.fiberline.com.

Halopolymer/Russia Marc Normandin of Dyneon, LLC, a 3M Company.

Voluntary PFOA Stewardship Program goal.

Dyneon began the phase-out of APFO before the voluntary stewardship program was in place, announcing its phase-out of the production of APFO in 2000. Dyneon has offered to license this technology to other industry companies.

Dyneon was recognized by business research and consulting firm Frost and Sullivan for its innovation in the fluoropolymer market, and the 2008 Green Product Innovation Award was granted to Dyneon. Contact: Marc Normandin, mnormandin@mmm.com, www.3m.com.

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Halopolymer is the world’s fourth biggest producer of fluoropolymers, with an annual output of 14,000 metric tons of fluoroplastics and fluoroelastomers, 45,000 metric tons of refrigerants and more than 400,000 metric tons of inorganic chemistry products. Partly due to Soviet defense industry design, partly due to our own R&D, we have developed environmentally friendly technologies for all commercially-used fluoroplastics (PTFE, PVDF, FEP, ETFE, PFA) and fluoroelastomers (FKM/FPM, FFKM).

Our end users from the wire and cable sector of the industry are looking for materials that provide enhanced fire, smoke and electrical performance together with a wide combination of mechanical strength and flexibility, thermal stability, good chemical resistance and low shrinkage. As a result, our R&D is now focused on further

LyondellBasell/The Netherlands Halopolymer’s Serguey Glazz, left, and Mark Langston. development of melt-processible fluoropolymers—FEP, high temperature ETFE, PVDF, PFA—products that meet the above stringent requirements and are marketed under the trade name Ftorplast™. Contact: Serguey Glazz, s.glazz@halopolymer.com, www.halopolymer.com.

King Industries/U.S. At King Industries, in partnership with D.O.G. Deutsche Oelfabrik, we are focusing on two R&D technology areas: vulcanized vegetable oils (VVOs), and dry silane crosslinkers (DSCs).

VVOs were used decades ago as alternatives to rubber, but today they have changed to specific rubber additives.

Different natural oils are used for VVOs such as rapeseed, soybean, and castor oil. There are several cross-linking technologies and we practice all of them, but the ones that we are focusing on (peroxide and others) lead to white VVOs that have excellent surface feel, reduced shrinkage, high-temperature stability, improved plasticizer absorption and faster processing combined with closer precision tolerance, dynamic cracking resistance, energy savings due to lower temperature and shorter mixing cycle, and reduction of cold flow. One product is called WP, a VVO which has the above performance features. Another is called Deostab, which is a special stabilizer on white VVO designed specifically for extruded sulfur cured EPDM articles that use continuous pressureless vulcanization methods. Deostab stabilizes the negative effects of calcium oxide which is used as a ‘must’ desiccant in these processes and can lead to substantial deterioration of the compression set. Deostab moves the reaction towards the vulcanization of active zinc complexes.

DSCs are based on silanes, which have been used in the rubber industry as coupling agents for white fillers such as silica, clay, ATH, talc, and TiO2. DSCs are made with a special processing technology using polymer wax that encapsulates the very active silane, rendering it a white,

The majority of LyondellBasell Industries’ wire and cable R&D programs fall into two categories: regulatory or environmental compliance products and higher-performance/improved productivity solutions. The remaining R&D efforts consist primarily of proprietary customer projects.

The first category—compliance products—encompasses new requirements imposed by governmental mandates such as RoHS and REACH, changes in performance requirements dictated by regulatory groups like Underwriters Laboratories (UL), and changes resultLyondellBasell’s James Krohn. ing from shifts in consumer sentiment, such as the ongoing environmental/green movement. End-use customer demands for either improved products and/or lower overall costs generate the programs occupying the performance/productivity category.

LyondellBasell’s RoHS-compliant flame retardant products are used in power and telecommunication cables including PE- and PP-based halogenated compounds. Petrothene FR4098 provides RoHS-compliant, PE-based FR formulations used in low-voltage power cables and CMR rated category cables. Other ongoing development activities within the compliance products category focus on expanding LyondellBasell’s existing portfolio of non-halogenated FR compounds.

Various PE-, PP- and TPO-based formulations, which use mineral flame retardants such as aluminum trihydrate,

FEBRUARY 2009 | 43

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free-flowing pellet that is stable from moisture during handling and long-term storage. The pellets also have excellent dispersion, are easy to incorporate without spots, and are dust free. The silanes become active after the wax melts in the mixer; therefore the mixer becomes a reactor as well since a chemical reaction called silanization takes place. One part of the silane links to the hydroxyl group of the filler and the other side links to the elastomer. For the cable market, we developed a Deolink VH for excellent electrical properties and improved mechanical properties. This technology is flexible and can be customized to encapsulate the customer’s silane of choice. Contact: Shenton King, sking@kingindustries.com, www.kingindustries.com.

FEATURE

magnesium hydroxide and intumescent, offer non-halogenated FR alternatives used in automotive, power and communication cables. Using LyondellBasell’s PE- and PP-based Integrate coupling agents can further differentiate product performance of many mineral-filled formulations.

Numerous programs populate LyondellBasell’s performance/productivity category. One example involves reducing attenuation in radio frequency (RF) cables, a highly desired quality for coaxial cables operating at higher frequencies. One effective option for achieving lower attenuation involves using an HDPE insulation resin with improved electrical Petrothene NA217 LDPE resin, our newly developed Alathon M6080RF HDPE exhibits excellent processability, while also lowering attenuation of RF coaxial cables used in mobile telephone networks.

Another performance/productivity project focuses on achieving higher processing speeds in category and telephone cable production. Commercial PP resins used to produce the thin wall insulations of category and telephone cable insulations can encounter eccentricity problems at high-line speeds, thereby limiting output rate capability. Careful tailoring of the molecular architecture allows our developmental PP resin to overcome existing

output limitations by maintaining dimensional stability at higher line speeds. This developmental product also exhibits good electrical properties as well as low temperature and heat-aging performance.

Another performance/productivity project involves speeding the cure rate for moisture cure crosslinkable systems used in low-voltage power cables. Significant reductions in curing times have been demonstrated with our Aquathene AQ120-based moisture cure systems through a combination of resin optimization and catalyst enhancements. Combined, these two advancements can provide up to a 50% reduction in cure time. Contact: James Krohn, james.krohn@lyondellbasell.com, www.lyondellbasell.com.

Inhol BV/The Netherlands Today, Inhol BV is able to respond to the increasing call for homogeneous batches of granulated compound that shows no premature cross-linking (gels) and nonsticking pellets.

During the manufacturing process, the reactive peroxide will only be added to the compound after the blending process has been completely finalized. After mixing the components in the continuous mixer, the extruded pellets are fed straight into the continuous peroxide spraying sec-

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FEATURE

tion. During continuous operation and process control, the heated peroxide is sprayed on the pellets, absorbed, cooled and coated.

New production lines were installed for this proprietary continuous internal mixing and extrusion process. The result Ron Goethals of Inhol BV. is an economically manufactured, homogeneous, gel-free compound coated with an inert material that provides a dust-free, free-flow compound. Contact: office@inhol.com, www.inholl.com.

PVC Compounders/U.S. The market-driven focus and direction of the R&D efforts within PVC Compounders has resulted in activities to support current customer demands, short-term business

46 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

opportunities and longer-term development projects to supplement and enhance our product offerings.

Customer support improvements have centered on providing immediate technical support, product recommendations and answers to customer questions and concerns relative to the successful utilization of our products. We see this area as a key focal point of our R&D effort, as every customer is extremely important and essential to the financial health of our business.

With the difficult business climate facing our nation, our sales team has been challenged to identify and capture solid near-term business opportunities. Often, the opportunities are outside our core competencies of PVC automotive wire and appliance wire applications.

Our R&D team has responded by focusing our resources on the requirements of these opportunities, resulting in new formulations with greater performance with respect to flammability, smoke suppression, lowtemperature brittleness or whatever the customer requires.

In essence, they are enhancing certain characteristics of the base PVC polymer.

Probably the most important aspect of our R&D focus is the identification, development, testing, trial and approval of new and improved products for the future.

FEATURE

The resulting new materials are crucial if our customers are to succeed in continuing to expand their business and market share. In our case, R&D is focusing on this via the use of new developments in additives, plasticizers and polymers outside our traditional PVC base.

Challenges abound in today’s everchanging business Todd Eagan of PVC Compounders. environment and the focus of our R&D group is continuously being adjusted to meet them. Contact: Todd Eagan, todd@pvccompounders.com, www.pvccompounders.com.

Teknor Apex/U.S. Our main R&D thrust in recent years has been to develop non-lead stabilized, RoHS-compliant formulations for our range of wire and cable compounds. We have also pushed on with R&D for one of our flagship product lines: FireGUARD® low-flame, low-smoke plenum compounds. Plenum applications are subject to the most critical flame tests, and Teknor Apex has developed PVCbased alternatives to fluoropolymers for meeting performance requirements.

The latest result of this product development work is that of “indoor/outdoor” compounds for optical fiber cable used in large corporate or institutional systems like plant or campus data networks.

We have formulated new compounds that exhibit the UV resistance and antimicrobial properties required for outdoor exposure while providing the Mike Patel of Teknor Apex’s same physical, electrical, and flame and Vinyl Division. smoke properties of our standard products. This makes it possible for installers to avoid the added time, hardware, and cost for connecting outdoor cable to indoor cable at the point where it enters a building. As a result, there can be large savings in complex installations like university campuses.

Another important project in this vein is our work to replace ammonium octa molybdate (AOM), which has been a primary flame retardant and smoke suppressant for these compounds. In the past four-and-a-half years, the price of AOM has nearly quadrupled.

We have succeeded in developing non-AOM containing formulations that are cost-effective and have the physical and flame and smoke properties requisite for specific cable constructions. Contact: Mike Patel, mpatel@teknorapex.com, www.teknorapex.com.

48 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

FEATURE

Teknor Color Company/U.S. Teknor Color's R&D focus will continue to be marketdriven.

Sometimes the source of an R&D program is an opportunity arising from new trends in the marketplace.

Growing use of high-performance copolyester TPEs as buffers in optical fiber cables, for example, led us to develop color concentrates specifically formulated for use with these elastomers. We introduced these Munsell color concentrates at IWCS last November. They contain no heavy-metal pigments yet provide the same intensity and coloring efficiency as conventional colors for engineering-grade TPEs. Another product-development program at Teknor Color was initiated to help customers meet increasingly stringent regulatory requirements. This led to our introduction of RoHS-compliant Munsell color concentrates for use with Teknor Apex Vinyl Division’s FireGUARD® and other low-smoke PVC plenum compounds. We use the same low-smoke PVC carrier resins as in older concentrates designed for FireGUARD compounds, and there are no appreciable differences in use levels or performance. We are also focused on maintaining our position

50 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

on the proactive edge of global regulatory compliance. Teknor’ Regulatory Group has just rolled out a new Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) format and database which Eric Kalis of Teknor Color Co. full RoHS information as well as the critical REACH Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) data. This allows us to immediately provide every customer with documentation of regulatory compliance at the time a new product or formula is developed, or when an existing productis produced and shipped. Contact: ekalis@teknorcolor.com, www.teknorapex.com. ■

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Top Cable Companies: FEATURE

Part 12

A 2-part report by Integer Research & WJI

T

his feature, the second of a two-part project by U.K.-based Integer Research and WJI, provides

further information on some of the world’s top cable companies.

At this point, it’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the current state of the global economy, but there are good reasons to step back, look at the big picture and plan for the future because there

will be a future. The wire and cable industry is not a trendy sector. It produces a wide range of products that collectively represent the building blocks that make society possible.

The world will continue to need more infrastructure, better communication, a better standard of life, and the companies mentioned in this part and the prior one will be among those that will help provide those essentials.

This segment looks at the BRIC countries and other regional information and includes profiles of nine cable companies: four from Japan, two from South Korea and three from the Middle East.

It also includes a continuation of a Q&A with Integer Research’s Philip Radbourne as well as a look at why he considers the Purchasing Manufacturers Index (PMI) to be a key predicting tool for what is to come.

FEATURE Led by China, cable demand from the BRIC countries has nearly tripled since 2000. Chart courtesy of Integer Research.

BRIC region Not long ago, before the economy took its fourth-quarter nosedive, Goldman Sachs Global Economist Jim O’Neill predicted that the four BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) had the potential to become the four most dominant economies by the year 2050. O’Neill, who coined the term “BRIC” in 2003, said last June that the combined GDP of the BRIC countries could overtake the combined economic might of the G7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, U.K. and U.S.).

There was much reason to believe this could be so as the four countries represent more than 25 percent of the world’s land coverage, account for about 40 percent of the world’s population and, at that time, had a combined GDP (PPP) of US$15.435 trillion. Goldman Sachs saw China and India, respectively, to be the dominant global suppliers of manufactured goods and services while Brazil and Russia would be dominant as suppliers of raw materials to India and China.

Have economy woes dashed those dreams? “Not in the slightest,” O’Neill told David Oakley, Financial Times, in a Jan. 9 interview. He explained that the idea these markets “could go up every year forever was obviously something we never believed.” He noted that, “I don’t think of BRICs as an emerging market. I see them as a linchpin of the modern global economy.” He feels the global outlook is good, particularly for the BRIC countries. If there is a weak link, O’Neill warned, it is Russia, as it needs quicker policy changes or higher oil prices “or it’s going to be a tough year.”

Integer perspective. The Brazilian wire and cable sector has been volatile in recent years, although it has grown through 2006-2008. Historically we can see that the demand for wire and cable has been up and down, and back in 2000 and 2001 there was a boom in investment in the telecom sector. No global player has emerged in Brazil. Ficap was once a significant producer but it was acquired by Madeco, which in turn has been acquired by Nexans.

The leading producers in the region now include Nexans, which as noted above increased its market share in Brazil and the rest of Latin America after its acquisition of the wire and cable operations of Madeco. General Cable also increased its exposure and market share in Latin America after its acquisition of the Phelps Dodge International Corporation wire and cable operations. However, its market share in Brazil is not so high. One of the market leaders has been Prysmian, which has significant wire and cable operations in Sorocaba, and has also set up a new umbilicals factory at Vila Velha, on the coast.

The Russian wire and cable industry had expanded sharply in the last five years, and demand for power cable and building wire increased strongly from 2005-2008. The size of Russia has also meant that there are wire and cable companies spread across the country, with leading players tending to dominate their local region. Leading players include Kamkabel, Irkutskkabel, Electrokabel, Kirskabel and Moskabel. The industry had seen demand fall sharply after the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union, when there had been many producers geared to military

FEBRUARY 2009 | 53

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Brazil has continued to be the major player in Latin America. Integer Research chart.

production that had no commercial basis for their wire and cable production. The market recovered through 1998, but then slowed after the recession back in 1999. It took seven to eight years for demand to increase further, helped by higher oil prices and the increase in commodity prices.

The Indian market for wire and cable had been growing at a fast pace through 2006, 2007 and into 2008. The ongoing huge power and industrial capital expenditure, the infrastructure investments and the manufacturing and construction boom have been generating a strong demand for power, control and instrumentation cables and building wire. Given that trade flows are relatively low compared to the size of the total market, domestic production has kept pace with this surge.

India has now seen a sustained increase in its construction sector, since the economy began taking-off in 1997 and a recent surge since 2006 has tightened the supply-demand balance as well as producer margins in India. This has meant that many of the leading Indian cable makersâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;such as Polycab, Nicco, Plaza, Finolex, KEI, Havells, Torrent and Universal Cablesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;have all benefitted from increased demand. This is also reflected in the manufacturing sector, as increased infrastructure spending is helping leading magnet wire producers such as Precision Wires India.

In China itself, there are a number of leading companies that have not made it into the Top 50 companies but may well do so in the next decade. One of the leading players we can mention is Tongling Jingda. It is the leading enamelled wire producer in the region, and perhaps globally now. It has a joint venture with Rea Magnet Wire, a U.S.-based global producer of enamelled wire (magnet wire). In the power

54 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

cable market there are a number of leading players, such as Baosheng Group, Shanghai and Tebian Electric (TBEA), which produces a range of electrical engineering equipment, and Shanghai Shenghua Cable Group. There are also smaller players such as Baofeng and Hunan Wire & Cable.

In the telecoms sector, there are Yangtze Optical Fibre and Hengtong Group, which produce fiber optic cable and copper telecom cable respectively.

China may not yet have a top 50 cable company but there is little question of its importance as a driver to the industry.

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The BRIC economies had been one of the main drivers of wire and cable demand over the last five years. The growth rates in China have been quite impressive over the last decade, whereas, those in India, Russia and Brazil had been more cyclical. Hurt by currency devaluation in 1998-2002, those markets were even in decline in some years. However, through 2005-2008, there was synchronous growth in their economies, and this added to the overall demand for a range of global commodities. In the next few years, growth is also going to spread to the other G-20 countries, and China may well show more modest growth rates beyond 2010.

North East Asia Japan and South Korea A world leader in technology and home to four of the world’s top 25 cable companies, Japan consists of some 3,000 islands along the Pacific coast of Asia, but some 70 percent or more of its territory is not usable, which with its population of about 127 million people has made it one of the world’s most densely populated countries. It is also very dependent on imported oil. The World Bank ranks Japan third in terms of purchasing power parity, with a per-capita annual income of $37,670, the 25th highest in the world, and a GDP of $4.377 trillion. In December 2008, Morgan Stanley noted concerns that could result there from politics and protracted policy gridlock as well as “a policy-induced slump of construction investment (again) just like the housing shock in 2007. Our bull scenario envisages a sharp improvement of terms of trade, which could reduce the outflow of real purchasing power and unleash pent-up consumer demand.”

South Korea, one of the four “Asian Tigers,” has one of the world’s fastest growing economies. The country has seen impressive increases in industrialization from the 1960s to the 1990s. Its capital, Seoul, is often among the world’s top ten financial and commercial cities. South Korea, which has a population of more than 44 million, has a trillion-dollar economy, even though it has little in the way of natural resources and has a relatively small area. It is one of the world’s top ten exporters, the seventh largest trading partner of the U.S. The country has been called an “education superpower,” and that potential has led to its standing as having filed the largest number of patents per GDP and R&D expenditure in the world. It is home to conglomerates such as Samsung, Hyundai-Kia, LG and SK and is one of the world’s top five automobile manufacturing nations and the sixth largest steel producer in the world.

Integer Perspective. Along with Taiwan, the key markets in North East Asia are Japan and South Korea. Of course, they are over-shadowed by the continued growth in the Chinese cable industry. Japan had seen cable demand recover from the lows through 1998-2005, and saw demand increase in 2006 and 2007. Nonetheless, Japan is still one of the leading innovative markets for wire and cable products, and companies like Sumitomo Electric, Furukawa Electric and Fujikura

Japan and South Korea account for six of the top 25 cable companies. are global innovators in new electronic wire products.

The South Korean wire and cable market has seen a steady increase from the low levels of 2001, but in volume terms is still below the levels seen back in 2002. In part the value of the market has increased as South Korean demand for cable has seen greater levels of higher value-added cables. In South Korea, there are two major players, LS Cable, which acquired Superior Essex in 2008, and Taihan Electric, which now has a 10% stake in Prysmian, and any further tie-up will increase Prysmian’s market position in North-East Asia.

Taiwan, by contrast, has been under pressure as more and more production has migrated to mainland China. The leading producers in Taiwan—Walsin Lihwa and Pacific Electric—have both sought to set up operations in China, with Walsin Lihwa having become one of the leading upstream suppliers of raw materials such as copper rod.

Sumitomo Electric, #3 Japan, 2007 Rev. $6.439 b.

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., (SEI), founded in 1911 as Sumitomo Electric Wire and Cable Works, is the largest Japanese cable maker, and also one of the leading producers in Asia. The company produces a range of wire and cable, optical fibers and components, as well as non-cable products such as advanced electronic devices, automotive parts, carbide tools and special steel wires. At its website, Sumitomo Electric notes that it has more than 300 subsidiaries and affiliates in more than 30 countries, and employs approximately 130,000 people. It was #383 in the Fortune Global 2008 list of the world’s top 500 companies.

The company structure is divided into five main sectors.

Automotive, the biggest sector, accounted for 47% of business in 2007, and the electric wire and cable, energy sector, the second largest, accounted for 23% of revenues. The other three sectors, which account for the remaining 30% of revenues, are the information and communications sector, the electronics sector and the industrial materials sector.

Financially, Sumitomo had a good year in 2007 despite dif-

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ficult business conditions due to increased competition and high input costs. In 2007, the company reported total revenues of 2,540 billion yen. Results varied across the segments with the automotive, electric wire and cable, energy and industrial materials and others reporting increase in sales, while the information, communications and electronics segments reported a fall in overall sales. Overall, Sumitomo reported a net profit of 88 billion yen, a 15% year-on-year increase, with no change in profit margin in 2007.

In 2007, Sumitomo continued its international expansions with its Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems subsidiary, and built an automotive wire and cable plant in Morocco to provide cables for car manufacturer PSA Peugeot-Citroen. In 2007, Sumitomo also expanded in India with the signing of a joint venture agreement with J-Power Systems Corp., a joint venture company of Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd., and Hitachi Cable, Ltd., and Finolex Cables Ltd., to begin production of a high-voltage power cables plant.

In 2008, Sumitomo reported several new ventures. It opened an automotive wiring harness manufacturer in Port Said, Egypt, its first automotive wiring harness production base in Egypt. It entered into an agreement with Futong Group Co., Ltd., to set up optical fiber-related joint ventures.

Those include Hangzhou SEI-Futong Optical Fiber Co., Ltd., an optical preform and fiber manufacturing company in Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province; and Chengdu SEI-Futong Optical Cable Co., Ltd., an optical cable manufacturing company in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province. It also established Hong Kong SEI-Futong Holding Limited, a holding company. It agreed to join Nexans S.A. to collaborate in optical fiber cable business for terrestrial telecommunications in Europe. It also became a minority owner (25%) with NEC Corporation of OCC Holdings and its subsidiary OCC Corporation, which manufactures fiber optic submarine cables.

Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd. #6 Japan, 2007 Rev. $4.159 b.

Furukawa Electric Co. Ltd., (Furukawa), listed on the Tokyo, Floor and Xetra Stock Exchanges, is a public Japanese wire and cable producer based in Tokyo. The company produces and sells wire and cable for telecommunications, electronics and automotive systems, energy and industrial products, processed copper products such as extended copper products, electrolytic copper foils and memory metals.

The company also produces light metal products and provides logistical and other services.

Though more than 70% of revenues were generated in Japan in fiscal 2008, the company has wide-reaching business operations located in the Americas, Europe, South East Asia and China. In the Americas and Europe, Furukawa is mainly involved in optical communication, information technology, electronics and automobile industries. In China, the company has focused its business activity on power cables, whereas in South East Asia, the company focuses on the electrical and electronics industries.

Financially, 2007 was a difficult year for Furukawa. Despite an increase in sales in FY2008, operating income was hit by rising prices of copper and aluminum, crude oils and other auxiliary metals such as magnesium, silver and tin. Operating income fell in all segments in 2007 with the exception of the electronics and automotive systems segment, which benefitted from strong demand for batteries and harnesses. In the telecommunications segment, Japanese demand for optical cables was low, and fiber-to-the-home prices fell in fiscal year ending March 2008. Additionally, domestic demand for copper wires and industrial wires decreased, impacting the energy segments results, and in the electronics and automotives segment, demand for winding wires declined. Most recently, it announced that Furukawa Automotive Systems Inc., has established Furukawa Automotive Systems Vietnam Inc., a company that manufactures wire harnesses for automobiles, in the Ben Tre Province of Vietnam.

The outlook for FY2009 is not promising, as difficult business conditions are expected to persist. The company anticipates a year-on-year increase of operating profit for the energy and industrial products segment and the metals segment, but a fall in operating profits in other segments.

LS Cable, #7 South Korea 2007 Rev. $3.810 b.

Split off from South Koreaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s LG Group in 2003, LS Cable is a major global supplier in South Korea and the rest of Asia, with a product range that includes power cables, telecom cables, copper rod, magnet wire and specialty products.

Technology from its LS Mtron and LS Industrial Systems businesses are used to manufacture automotive parts such as automotive cables and wires and rubber hoses, heat-shrinkable tubes and motor winding wires, with a future focus on hybrid car high-voltage automotive electrical wires, connec-

tors, inverters, relays and next-generation large-capacity energy storage. LS Cable’s operations include three plants in South Korea, including the country’s first submarine cable factory. Its R&D focus includes nano-technology, and it has developed first-of-its-kind cables for electronic devices. The company, which moved its headquarters from central Seoul to Anyang, was greatly bolstered in 2008 by its purchase of U.S.-based Superior Essex, a major producer of magnet wire. In a speech to key officials of Superior Essex on Sept.

3, 2008, LS Cable CEO Christopher Koo spoke of the vision for what the US$900 million acquisition meant. “The sole purpose of this M&A was to reinforce the core competencies of the two companies in the field of cables, and we will soon become (the) No. 1 cable company in the world by sharing success stories in all areas including sales, manufacturing and operations.”

In 2008, LS Cable broke ground in Donghae City, Korea, on its first submarine cable plant, which is scheduled to begin commercial production during 2009. Two key contracts in 2008 included the signing of a 15-year contract with Vodafone to supply coaxial cables and a deal valued at US$210 million to supply high-voltage power cables to Qatar. It notes that it was also appointed as the official test organization of TÜV, Germany, an industry first.

Fujikura Ltd., #10 Japan, 2007 Rev. $2.661 b.

Fujikura, a Japanese company with headquarters in Tokyo, produces optical transmission systems, network systems, electronic materials, power systems, coated wires, magnet wires, electronic materials for equipment and metallic materials. Fujikura Electric Wire Corporation was founded in 1910 and changed its name to Fujikura Ltd., in 1992. The company operates four plants in Japan located in Sakura, Suzuka, Numazu and Ishioka and overseas plants in the U.S., U.K., Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, India and Russia.

Fujikura’s business is separated into four segments. The telecommunications segment produces optical fiber cables and optical components. The electronics and auto segment sells electronic wire and wire and cable products to the digi-

Hitachi Cable, #11 Japan, 2007 Rev. $2.449 b.

Japan-based Hitachi Cable dates back to 1918 when, under the name of Densen Works, the company produced wires, cables and copper products. The company, headquartered in Tokyo, reports its activities in four segments: wire and cables; information and telecommunications networking; sophisticated materials; and other business.

The electric wires and cables division, accounting for 53% of sales in FY2008, produces wire and cable used in information technology. The information and telecommunication networking division manufactures and sells information network solutions, wireless systems and cables for telecommunication, which amounted to 36% of sales in FY2008. The sophisticated materials division’s product portfolio consists of semi-conductors, compound semi-conductors, light components and automobile-related parts. In FY2008, the division reported 16% of total sales. The other operations division includes distribution services, real estate management and leasing.

In FY2008, Hitachi Cable operated seven production sites in Japan. The company also has production bases in China, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, South Korea, North and Central America and Europe. In addition, Hitachi Cable America is a holding company for three American subsidiaries, and two European subsidiaries.

Hitachi also has several joint venture operations in Thailand, in conjunction with Bangkok Cable.

Despite the slowing of the Japanese economy, Hitachi Cable reported an increase in sales and net profit in FY2008.

Throughout the year, sales were boosted by higher prices for products and strong demand for products such as optical submarine cables. Generally, strong results from the information and telecommunications network segment outweighed weak performance from the wire and cable

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tal consumer appliance, electronic device and automotive industries. The metal cable and systems segment focuses on developing component, construction and installation requirements for overseas markets—and the development of power distribution systems and components that meet the needs of a new environmentally friendly power generation—and all the other segments that account for the remaining company operations.

The telecom segment in particular reported weak results in FY2008 as revenues suffered from a fall in sales of equipment, components and engineering products. The electronics and auto segment also reported disappointing results for FY2008, reporting an operating loss for the year. Weak FY2008 results from telecom and electronics and auto segments were in part offset by the metal cable and systems segment’s impressive 51% increase in operating profit.

However, despite overall increasing revenues, Fujikura’s results were dented by high cost of sales in fiscal 2008. This is Fujikura’s second consecutive year of declining profits, which fell by 14% in FY2007.

Taihan Electric, #13 South Korea, 2007 Rev. $2.097 b.

South Korea-based Taihan Electric, established in 1955 after the Korean War, was the first Korean wire and cable company. The company produces power cables, communication cables, control cables, magnet wire and copper rod, and provides turnkey projects. In 2007, Taihan Electric separated its stainless steel business and formed Taihan ST. Taihan Electric listed its shares on the Korean Stock exchange in 1968. It is now a global company with business activities worldwide. Company headquarters are located in Seoul, South Korea and, domestically, Taihan Electric operates two plants: the Anyang Plant in Gyeongii-do and the Dangjin Plant in Chungcheongnam-dong. Taihan Electric also has a widespread global presence through corporations located in South Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Vietnam, Mongolia, U.S. and Canada. In addition, the company has branch offices in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Australia.

The company reports its business results in three sec-

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segment and the sophisticated materials segment.

The company has been following an expansionary business direction in recent years. It expanded its wire and cable business in Vietnam and India with the establishment of Hitachi cable Vietnam Co., Ltd., and a joint venture between J-power and Finolex Cables in FY2007 and FY2008. The company also expanded its business of ultrasound probe cables for medical use in Europe with the acquisition of Astral Meditech GmbH. In addition, the company has undertaken numerous restructuring decisions, in an attempt to further increase management and operating efficiency.

Given the challenging wire and cable business environment of 2007, Hitachi Cables had a good year, successfully counteracting the impacts of the slowing global economy and rising input prices. The company managed to raise its net profit margin from 1.6% in FY2007 to 1.9% in FY2008.

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tors: the cable and wire business unit, which includes production of copper rods and power cables; the stainless steel business; and turnkey services. Taihan Electric also includes several subsidiaries, many of which are non-wire and cable businesses.

Though many segments reported good first-line results in 2007, Taihan Electric did not manage to escape the impact of harsh business conditions throughout the year.

The slowdown of the domestic economy and the slump of the construction sector affected Taihan’s profits, which fell for a second consecutive year. Strong revenue growth, in large part, was accounted for by Middle East sales, which grew more than 20% in 2007, and an increase in sales of high-value added products. Favorable results were also reported by Taihan Electric’s telecommunications sector and the company’s subsidiary Optomagic, due to the increase in demand for optical telecommunications, including fiber-to-the-home as demand for high-speed telecommunication network service grows. Conversely, Taihan’s copper rod segment suffered from low demand due to the fall in copper communication cables and the rise in copper prices. In addition, high shipping charges dented Taihan’s competitiveness.

In 2007, Taihan Electric focused on overseas sales and export of extra-high-voltage turnkey projects, which has achieved impressive results in recent years as Taihan Electric targeted new markets such as the U.S., Australia, Russia and South America. In October 2008, it signed a US$175 million contract to supply extra-high-voltage cable and system for its Russian partner, EnergoStroyinvest Holdings Co., a supplier to the Unified Energy System of Russia (RAO UES). It also broke ground on October 10, 2008, for a new Korean cable manufacturing plant at Janghang-li, Dangjin-gun, which will produce high-voltage power and fiber optic cable when it is completed around the end of 2010.

INTERWIRE & I NTERNATIONAL F A STENER E XPOSITION (IFE) 2009 P REVIEW

Middle Eastern economies range from oil-rich nations, such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, to very poor places, such as Gaza and Yemen. The estimated population of the Middle East in 2008 was about 197 million people, about 3% of the world’s population. Per the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook Database in April 2008, the three largest Middle Eastern economies in 2007 in terms of nominal GDP were Turkey ($663 billion), Saudi Arabia ($376 billion) and Iran ($294 billion). In October 2008, the IMF said that the Middle East region short-term outlook is generally favorable. However, inflation has emerged as a key issue, and while the global credit crunch has thus far had a limited impact on regional financial markets, the financial turmoil and slowdown in developed economies could lower growth in the period ahead. While some nations are heavily dependent on export of only oil and oil-related products (such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait), others have a highly diverse economic base (such as Turkey and Egypt) and a focus on manufacturing. AME Info, a Middle East business resource, predicts that despite the economic turmoil, “the outlook for 2009 looks comparatively positive towards the end of the year.

Although the financial upheaval will take a while to die down, by the middle of the year the Gulf economies should be beginning to see a return to a portion of the growth levels witnessed in H1 2008.” Of note: Internet World Stats reports that approximately 42 million people in the Middle East use the Internet. That, it said, represents an increase of more than 1,100% from 2000 to 2008, more than quadruple the world rate for that period.

Integer perspective. The Middle East has seen a strong increase in wire and cable demand in the last five years. In particular the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members, the six Arab Gulf States, have all shown strong economic

growth. In part it is due to the high price of oil, but also there has been development in the region, as the economies in Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have all seen an extraordinary increase in Gross Domestic Product. Much of that has been in sub-sectoral Construction GDP, which has also been reflected in the Gross Fixed Capital Formation.

This has meant that demand for a range of low- and medium-voltage power cable products has increased sharply in the last three years, and some of the leading companies in the region—Oman Cables, Dubai Cables, Saudi Cable and Riyadh Cable—have all seen a sharp increase in their revenues and profitability.

El Sewedy Cables Ltd. #21 Egypt, 2007 Rev. $1.387 b.

El Sewedy Cables is a leading producer of power cables, specialty cables, winding wire and cable accessories in the Middle East. The company has its base in Cairo, Egypt, with a number of manufacturing operations in Egypt, Syria and Sudan. El Sewedy Cables started trading wiring products in 1938, and then in 1986 started producing wire and cable products. In 2005, the company restructured to a vertically integrated enterprise with El Sewedy Cables as the Holding company. El Sewedy’s shares are now listed on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange.

El Sewedy Cables benefits from three key trade agreements. The EU agreement imposes no customs on El Sewedy’s exports to Europe but imposes tariffs on imports into Egypt. The Arab Free Trade Agreement enables El Sewedy to export its products tariff-free to all Arab countries and the Comesa Agreement (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) allows El Sewedy free exports to all African member countries, whereas Arab and European competitors do not enjoy this privilege.

The company’s operations are divided into four sectors: the wire and cables sector, the electrical products sector, the turnkey projects sector and the wind energy sector. The wire

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Middle East

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and cables sector is El Sewedy Cablesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dominant sector, typically accounting for about 81.5% of revenues. The electrical products sector represents 9.6% of revenues. The turnkey projects sector consists of supplying, planning, designing and contracting large projects. The sector has been growing rapidly since 2005.

All segments reported impressive results in 2007. The wire and cable segment reported total sales of US$1.5 billion, a 41% year-on-year increase in sales in 2007. The electrical products and the turnkey projects segment reported total sales of US$39 million and US$0.12 billion, respectively in 2007. The electrical products segment sales increased by 15% year-on-year in 2007 and sales by the turnkey projects rose by more than two-fold.

In 2007, El Sewedy had a total capacity of 125,000 mt with production reaching 99,000 mt. The company planned a 77% increase in capacity by the end of first quarter of 2009, totaling 220,000 mt. The company has taken on various investments in the past months. The company signed an MOU with El Raghy Group to set up a new power cables plant in Saudi Arabia, of which El Sewedy will own a 60% stake. In Libya, a US$64 million high voltage power cables plant is being established by Libya Cable, a joint venture between El Sewedy Cables, 55%, and General Electricity Company of Libya (GECOL), 45%. El Sewedy also announced El Sewedy Algeria, a US$50 million investment in a plant that will produce building wire, power cables, overhead conductors, and control cables.

El Sewedy has continued to expand its transformers operations, with a new transformer plant in Zambia. El Sewedy Cables Qatar is 50% owned by El Sewedy Group and 50% owned by Aamal Holding, with a total investment cost of US$150 million, The plant will produce all kinds of power

cables (LV cables, MV cables and HV cables up to 220 KV) and is expected to start production by the (end of 2009, beginning of 2010).

El Sewedy Cables acquired Iskraemeco, a leading electrometers manufacturer in Slovenia and made a US$50 million investment in El Sewedy Cables Transformers, whose new plant in the Ramadan industrial zone will be the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa for producing dry-type transformers and power transformers. El Sewedy Cables also acquired 70% of ECMEI (Egyptian Company for Manufacturing Electrical Insulators), a specialized producer in Africa and the Middle East of electrical porcelain insulators. Its annual capacity is expected to increase from 3000 to 7000 tons by 2011.

Finally, El Sewedy entered a new market, wind energy, acquiring 30% of the wind-energy division of M. Torres Olvega.

The Saudi Cable Company, #33 Saudi Arabia, 2007 Rev. $801 m.

The Saudi Cable Company, founded in 1975, provides cables and related products for the energy and telecommunications industries and turnkey solutions for power and telecommunications projects. The first company in the Middle East to become ISO 9002 certified, it sells its products globally, in over 60 countries, and employs over 1,300 workers worldwide.

Saudi Cable Company is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and its shares are traded on the Saudi Arabian Stock Exchange. The company operates 10 production facilities located in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Turkey. Total production capacity, as of 2007, was approximately 140,000 mt of copper and aluminum rod, 85,000 mt of power cables and conductors, six million core km of metallic telephone cable and 20,000 sheathed km of optical fiber cable.

The Saudi Cable Company group includes four sub groups: SCC Cables, Mass Kable, Mass Projects and Midal Cables. SCC Cables is located in Saudi Arabia and was the

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first provider of total cable systems solutions in the Middle East. Mass Kable is located in Turkey and produces extrahigh voltage cable systems. Mass Projects is a total solutions contractor for energy and telecommunications based in Saudi Arabia. Midal Cables is a producer of aluminum and alloy overhead conductor specialty, located in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Established in 1975 as a limited liability company, SCC became a joint stock company in 1988. The company is active in the manufacturing and supply of electric cables, wire and wireless communication, and other related products. Throughout the year the company won some substantial cable projects which boosted its sales in 2007. In Q4 2006 the company won a US$122.7 million contract to supply cables for the ongoing expansion of Qatar’s power grid and in Q2 2007 the company secured a US$18.1 million deal to supply electric cable to the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Saudi Cables is benefitting from strong cable demand from GCC markets (Gulf Corporation Council members: Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) which have been growing at an estimated rate of 15-20% year-on-year. The company announced that it plans to increase its capacity to 120,000 mt by 2009.

Some key contracts reported in 2008 include: a US$14 million order for high-voltage cables and fiber optic cables for King Abdullah Economic City in Rabigh; a US$22 million order for a turnkey project to supply and install superhigh voltage 380 kV underground cables for the Turkish Electricity Company, a project that it notes only eight cable companies in the world have the ability to provide; and a US$53 million domestic order.

through 2008, investing in a copper rod casting plant in Abu Dhabi, a PVC compound plant at its Jebel Ali facility and making significant investments in capacity expansions and streamlining power cable operations.

The company benefits in particular from strong cable demand from GCC markets (Gulf Corporation Council members Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), which have been growing at an estimated rate of 15-20% year-on-year. The company’s major supply contracts included projects like Burj Dubai, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, Dubai International Airport,

Dubai Cables Co., #44 Saudi Arabia, 2007 Rev. $572 m.

Dubai Cables Co. (Ducab), located in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), produces over 100,000 mt of lowand medium-voltage cables each year. It is jointly owned by the governments of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Operations date back to 1979 when its Jebel Ali plant began production.

Ducab’s product range also includes high-voltage power cables, building wire, a range of low-smoke, zero-halogen cables and a range of control and auxiliary cables. The company began selling cable accessories in recent years and has continued to expand its operations in the last five years, helped by the boom in construction across the Gulf Region.

It mainly exports to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.

The company expanded capacity by 30% in 1985 and began production of medium-voltage power cables in 1999 with the commissioning of a new CCV XLPE power cable line. In 2001, strong demand prompted the company to further expand its medium-voltage power cable capacity. This was set against a background of tougher margins by some of its competitors in Saudi Arabia. In 2005, the company began production at a new plant in Abu Dhabi Industrial City. It continued expanding its operations in 2006 and 2007 and

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Delhi Metro and Qatar Petroleum. Strong demand from the oil and gas industries also boosted Ducab’s revenues in 2007 and this has continued into 2008.

Most recently, in Q2 2008, Ducab announced a strategic partnership with Electrocab Emarat LLC, owned by Emirates International Investment Company (EIIC), to acquire its new Musaffah Abu Dhabi cable factory. Ducab will operate the new factory, which will produce low-, medium-, high- and extra-high-voltage cables, control and instrumentation cables (including lead-sheathed), building wires, flexible, THHN/THWN cables and fire performance cables.

At an inauguration ceremony in June 2008, it noted that the company’s new copper rod “is the first of its kind in the UAE,” while its new cable factory has increased its capacity by 40%. The US$45 million copper rod plant has production capacity of 110,000 mt, an amount that can be increased to 160,000 mt.

Last issue, Integer Research Dir. Philip Radbourne discussed the industry outlook with WJI. Below, he focuses on past cycles and his projections for the coming year.

WJI: It was just a month ago that you did an industry outlook in Part 1: how much has the situation changed?

Radbourne: I am not sure that so much has changed since then. People are even more worried about Japan and China, and are also looking at slight delays to their estimates of the timing recovery. It had been spoken of as Q3 2009, but may even be delayed through Q1 2010.

There’s a lot of uncertainty and waiting for U.S. government policy, but we are also now beginning to understand more clearly what has happened, and companies will start to become more confident that the market has stopped its rate of decline.

An analysis of recessions has shown that copper prices start to increase when the bottom of any recession has been reached—they are one of the first signals for any Philip Radbourne recovery. If that is true, copper prices have improved marginally over the last few weeks, and forward prices are also looking more positive. Yet, right now, we are loath to say that there are any “green shoots of recovery.”

WJI: Prior to the fourth quarter, 2008 looked to be a good year. Did that make the downturn that much steeper?

Radbourne: No, I do not think that the absolute decline in demand was accelerated by the previous buoyant H1 2008. If we look at stocks in the supply chain, when expectations had been so positive, there was a real change in sentiment—from a bullish mood to a bearish one.

The real impact will be seen in the additional capacity that is scheduled to come onstream globally through H1 2009, the result of investment decisions that had been made last year.

That is going to be the tough problem for cable producers in many emerging markets, where growth rates have slowed sharply.

Of course, the decline in copper prices makes the decline in the value of the cable market seem very scary, but it is really about the volumes and value added, and ultimately the net profits produced by the industry globally that counts. In some ways, in Western Europe, Japan and the U.S., the market has been through this before, and has become naturally more cautious about investment decisions.

WJI: It’s easy to point to the economic climate as the reason for the down cycle, but are down cycles an inherent part of the wire and cable industry?

Radbourne: When we look at the wire and cable industry, it is important to remember that there are many sectors, or end-use markets, and demand reflects these vertical markets.

If the automotive industry slows down, and at the same time automotive wiring usage in terms of harness-per-car stays the same (intensity of use), then demand for automotive wire will decline. The same is true for magnet wire. If there is less magnet wire in each coil winding or motor, and less demand from television sets because of a shift from CRT to flatscreen televisions and monitors, that can also hit demand.

However, there are mega-trends, such as the “renewable” emphasis that is investment-driven, so we see increased demand for power cables in the grid to connect the dispersed grid and wind turbines on and offshore, as well as demand for the cable in the nacelles in the turbines themselves.

This credit crunch will hit all business, so no matter which sector you are in, business is going to slow, and investment decisions are going to be cut right back. Given that so much of wire and cable is related to infrastructure—and this depends on investment decisions rather than consumer spending—there is going to be a lag and we will see a slowing in demand for power cable through 2009-2010.

On a more pessimistic note, we can take isolated credit crunches or currency devaluations, and then map this onto cable demand. When we look at currency devaluations in South Korea or Russia in 1998, or even the ASEAN countries in 1997, we can see that demand for wire and cable declined by more than 10% in those markets.

WJI: Do you believe the current situation is comparable in any ways to the last industry down cycle (2001-03)?

Radbourne: Only in a limited way. Back then there was a particular focus on telecom and the downturn was especially severe in the fiber optic cable market in 2001/02. However, there was also a recession in the U.S. in 2002, and cable demand was weak there through 2003. We also know at a global level, in volume terms, there was only modest growth in volumes in 2002, reflecting a slowdown in a wide range of wire and cable products. We see that and more now. Yet, the market will recover, but it may take the rest of 2009. We may also see an increase in demand for fiber optic cable this time around, bucking the trend for other products.

WJI: Has this period created opportunities for companies?

Radbourne: Yes, if some companies collapse or fail— inevitably the least efficient or high-cost producers—then the lower cost and more efficient companies can gain an advantage, and certainly will in the upturn. We saw that in the U.S. when Rome Cable closed down in October 2003. This ultimately helped General Cable, Marmon, Encore Wire and Southwire through 2004, when demand picked up in 2004. (continued on p. 66)

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FEATURE

Q&A: Integer Research Dir. Philip Radbourne

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INTERWIRE â&#x20AC;˘ IFE 2009 EXHIBITING COMPANIES as of January 2009 ABC Plastics Inc. ABP Induction Ace Metal Inc. ACM AB - KSM AEB International Inc. AESA SA AIM Inc. All Forming Machinery Inc. Amacoil Inc. Amaral Automation Associates American Kuhne Inc. Ameritherm Inc. Ametek Specialty Metal Products Anbao Wire & Mesh Co. Ltd. A. Appiani Srl Aurum Chemicals Corp.

AW Machinery LLC AWPA American Wire Producers Association Aztech Lubricants LLC B & H Tool Co. Inc. Balloffet Die Corp.

Bao Zhang Galvanized Iron Wire Co., Ltd. Bartell Machinery Systems LLC Base Ten Consulting Inc. BCS Industries LLC Beijing Holland Trading Co. Ltd. Bekaert Corp.

Besel Basim San Tic Ltd. Sti Beta LaserMike Beta Systems Srl BJ Holland Blachford Corp.

BMR Group Maschinenfabrik Bock GmbH & Co. KG Bongard Machines USA LLC Boockmann GmbH/The Slover Group Boxy SpA Breen Color Concentrates Inc. Brookfield Wire Co. Butt Welders USA Caballe SA Cable Consultants Corp.

Calmec/MCM CANDOR Sweden AB Canterbury Engineering Co. Carpenter Technology Corp.

Carris Reels Inc. Cemanco LC Central Wire Industries Ltd. CeramTec AG CERSA-MCI Chin Pu Jir Enterprise Co. Ltd. Cimteq Ltd. CJI China Film Ltd. Clifford Welding Systems (Pty.) Ltd. Clinton Instrument Co. CM Furnaces Inc. CMEC International Exhibition Ltd. CN Wire Corp.

Coats North America.

Collins & Jewel Co. Cometo Snc Commission Brokers Inc. Condat Corp.

Conductix Wampfler-Delachaux Confederation of Indian Industry Conneaut Industries Inc. Continuus-Properzi SpA CoorsTek Cortinovis Machinery America Inc. CRU North America Inc. Dandong Decheng Chemical Co. Davis-Standard LLC Davis Wire Design & Engineering LLC Die Quip Corp.

Domeks Makine Ltd. Sti Donnelly Reels Dynamex Corp.

E-Beam Services Inc. Ebner Furnaces Inc. Ebner Industrieofenbau ECD Inc. EconoReel Corp.

Engineered Control Systems Inc. Engineered Machinery Group Enkotec Co. Inc. ERA Wire Inc. Er-Bakir Elektrolitik Bakir Erocarb SA Esteves Group Etna-Bechem Lubricants Ltd. Etna Products Inc. Eurobend SA Eurodraw Energy SpA Eurolls Group Eurowire Magazine George Evans Corp.

EVG Inc. Exel Fil SA Fabritex Inc. FIB Belgium SA Fiber-Line Inc. Fil-Tec Inc. Filtertech Inc. Fine International Corp.

Fisk Alloy Wire Inc. FLYMCA SL FMS Force Measuring Systems AG FMS USA Inc. Foerster Instruments Inc. Fort Wayne Wire Die Inc. Fortune Machinery Corp.

Frey Group LLC Frigeco Srl Frontier Composites & Castings Inc. FSP-One Karl Fuhr GmbH & Co. KG T. Fukase & Co. Ltd. Fushi Copperweld

Garg Sales Inc. Gauder SA Gavlick Machinery Corp.

Gem Gravure Co. Inc. GEMCO Electrical GENCA Corp.

Germ-Allcard (KP America) W. Gillies Technologies LLC Gimax Srl GMP-Slovakia Rudolf Grauer AG Guill Tool & Engineering Co. Hafner & Krullmann GmbH Vom Hagen & Funke GmbH Heacock Metal & Machine Co. Inc. Heany Industries Inc. Hearl Heaton Heatbath Corp.

Henkel Corp.

Heritage Wire Die Inc. Hezel GmbH & Co. KG Gebruder The Heico Group Hilgeland-Nutap GmbH Hofmann Ceramic GmbH Houghton International Inc. Howar Equipment Inc. Huestis Industrial Huettner Maschineenfabrik GmbH ICE Wire Line Equipment Inc. IDEAL Welding Systems Ideal-Werk India Steel Works Ltd. Industrial Steel & Wire Co. Industrial Heating Magazine Innovites Inosym Ltd. InterWire Products Intras Ltd. Iowa Steel & Wire Italian Trade Commission ITO-SIN (Deyang) Wire & Cable Equipment Co. Ltd. IWE Spools & Handling GmbH IWG High Performance Conductors Inc. IWMA International Wire & Machinery Association Jiangsu Etern Co. Ltd. Joe Tools Kamatics Corp.

Kemaite Optic & Electric Products Co. Ltd. King Steel Corp.

Kinrei of America KMK GmbH Ernst Koch GmbH & Co. KG Albert Krenn Friedr Krollmann GmbH Kuhar Metallizing Co. Inc. Lamnea Bruk AB Lamnea Bruk USA Lang Vision (Shanghai) Cable Material Co.

LaserLinc Inc. Laurel Wire Co. Leggett & Platt Wire Group Leoni Wire Inc. Lesmo Machinery America Inc. Lloyd & Bouvier Inc. Loos & Co. Inc. J.J. Lowe Associates Inc. L-S Industries Klaus Jakob Messlechnik AG M + E Macchine + Engineering Srl MacDermid Inc. Madem Reels USA Inc. Madem SA Magnetic Technologies Ltd. Magnus Equipment MAGPOWR Maillefer SA Mapre Belgium SA Mario Frigerio SpA Markem-Imaje USA Mathiasen Machinery Inc. William McCaskie Inc. Merritt Davis Metavan NV MFL USA Service Corp - Frigerio The MGS Group (MGS-HallNorthampton) MGS Manufacturing - The MGS Group Micro Products Co. Microdia Mikrotek Machines Ltd. Morgan-Koch Corp.

Mossberg Reel LLC /Boxy Group National Standard National Strand Products Inc. NEPTCO Inc. Nextrom Oy Niagara Composites Industries Inc. Maschinenfabrik Niehoff Niehoff Endex North America Inc. Northampton Machinery Co. The MGS Group Northeast Steel Corp.

Norwalk Innovation Inc. NTB Hitech Ceramics NUMAMERICA/NUMALLIANCE Ohio Rod Products Oklahoma Steel & Wire OM Frigerio OM Lesmo OMA USA Inc. OMCG North America Inc. OMCG SpA PA Industries Panchmahal Steel Ltd. Paramount Die Co. Inc. Parkway-Kew Corp.

Pave Automation Design PEKUtech GmbH Phifer Wire Inc.

Pinnacle Metals Inc. Pioneer Machinery Co. Ltd. Pittsburgh Carbide Die Co. Pittsfield Plastics Eng. Inc. Plasmait GmbH Plasticolor/Woywod GmbH Polyone Polytec Pourtier SAS Power Sonics LLC Precision Die Technologies Inc. Premier Wire Die PrintSafe Process Control Corp.

Progress Maschinen & Automation Properzi International Inc. Proton Products Ltd. PWM PWT Ltd. QED Wire Lines Inc. Qinhuangdao Yanda-Guohai Stainless Steel Co. Ltd. Qual-Fab Inc. Queins & Co. GmbH Raajratna Stainless Wire (USA) Inc. Rad-Con Inc. Radcliff Wire Co. Inc. Radyne Corp.

Rainbow Rubber & Plastics Rautomead Ltd. Reelex Packaging Solutions Inc. Reel-O-Matic R.G. Attachments Ltd. RichardsApex Inc. Rimjhim Ispat Ltd. Rizzardi Rohmann LP Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH Rosendahl Nextrom Technologies Roteq Machinery Inc. Saarsteel Inc. SAMP SpA (SAMPSISTEMI) SAMP USA Inc. Sanxin Wire Die Inc. SARK-USA Inc. Sarkuysan SA H A Schlatter AG Schlatter Inc. Schnell (Wire System) SpA Schunk Graphite Technology Sealeze Setic SAS Shanghai Nanyang Shanghai Yingong Wire Products Equipment Co. Ltd. Shijiazhuang Kingway Metal Products Co. Shuster-Mettler Corp.

Sictra Srl SIKORA International Corp. continued on reverse

(Continued from p. 63) Simpacks Singleton Reels Sirio Wire Srl Sivaco Wire Group Sjogren Industries Inc. Skaltek Inc. SKET Verseilmaschinenbau GmbH Solar Atmospheres Sonoco Crellin Inc. Sonoco Products South Fence Machinery Ltd. SPX Precision Components FENN Division Staku-Anlagenbau GmbH Steuler Anlagenbau GmbH & Co. KG August Strecker GmbH & Co. KG Summit City Enterprises T & T Marketing Inc. TAK Enterprises Inc. Talladega Machinery & Supply Taubensee Steel and Wire Co. Taylor Tech Union Ltd. Taymer Industries Inc. Team Meccanica Srl Techalloy Welding Products Technical Marketing Services Teknor Apex Co. Tensor Machinery Ltd. Teurema Thermcraft Inc. Thermoplastics Engineering Corp.

Timco Inc. Tips & Dies Inc. Tremefil SA Troester GmbH & Co. KG Tulsa Power LLC United Wire Co. Inc. Unitek North America Inc. Uniwire International Ltd. Urbano Associates US Synthetic Wire Die Vandor Corporation Vitari SpA Vollmer America Inc. Wafios AG Wafios Machinery Corp.

Wardwell Braiding Machine Co. Wardwell Italy SRL Watson Parts & Service Weber & Scher Mfg. Co. Inc. Welding Wire Machineries Srl Well Gain Cable Systems (Shanghai) Windak Wire & Cable Asia Magazine Wire & Cable Technology International Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp. wire 2010/Messe Düsseldorf North America The Wire Association International Inc. Wire Journal International

Wire Lab Co. Wire Machine Systems Inc. WireCo WorldGroup WireWorld Witels Albert USA Ltd. Woodburn Diamond Die Inc. World B.C. Co. Ltd. Worth Steel & Machinery Inc. Woywod GmbH & Co. KG Wyrepak Industries Inc. Yield Management Corp.

Zapp Precision Wire Inc. Zhejiang Minmetals Zumbach Electronics Corp.

IFE EXHIBITING COMPANIES American Metal Market (AMM) Anderson Controls, Inc. Barbarotto International BM Rebuilders Carlo Salvi, S.p.A. Chi Ning Co. Ltd. Cinco Industries Cold Header Machine Creative Carbide Fastener World Fastener Industry News (FIN) Gem International General Inspection Hariton Machinery Impact Global Machinery Ingramatic Tortona Intools Ltd. I-Tech International International Fastener Machinery & Suppliers Association (IFMA) Jagular Industry Ltd. Jian Hwa Enterprise Ltd. J + J Carbide KCS Enterprise Kingwin Precision Co. Ltd. Konfu Enterprise Co. Ltd. Metal Forming Systems, Inc. Nedschroef Herentals ORT Italia S.p.A. Plan-E-Tech Industries Inc. Reed Machinery Inc. Rockford Manufacturing Corp.

Sacma Machinery Corp.

Sakamura USA Inc. Sanshing Fastec Scientific Forming Technologies Corp.

Talleres Saspi SA Te Hung Enterprise Co. Ltd. Truform Equipment Inc. Universal Punch Corp.

U.S.A. Carbide Tooling Wrentham Tool Products

WJI: There seems to be no letup to the bad headlines about the economy: how should companies view them?

Radbourne: My advice is to look at the numbers that you can rely on: PMIs, or any other leading indicators, and then track that against demand for your own products. We would expect marketing people to already know which are the most reliable indicators for their business, but we think in this type of downturn, purchasing manager surveys are a really good indicator, given that the rate of change has been so sharp.

Sentiment was at its worst in mid-December, but has improved only marginally since then. European and South American businesses are most worried, followed by North American businesses; Asian companies are negative but less so. Confidence is poor across all industries, particularly business services. Hiring intentions remain very weak and pricing power has collapsed, suggesting that deflation is increasingly likely. This is certainly going to be a worry in the next six months as companies adjust to the slowdown.

We have seen business and manufacturing reduce overheads by layoffs, cutting shifts and hiring freezes. In the short term, these measures can help, but in the collective long-term the effect of cutting the permanent workforce will cause unemployment to further increase through 2009, and even if the global recovery starts as soon as Q4 2009, job losses will continue through this period. It is not an easy period and the choices for leaders are both unpleasant and pivotal.

WJI: What’s your short-term outlook for the industry?

Would you be surprised if it turned out much better or worse?

Radbourne: I think it is going to be quite severe. This is the first time that global demand for wire and cable in volume terms has declined in absolute terms since 2001, and only the second time in the last 15 years. We are seeing a sense of deep concern from leaders of companies, both large and small. That may sound like a given, but it’s not. The tenor we have been seeing goes far beyond what we saw in 2002-03.

We believe that the reason for this reaction is that the cause of the problems has little to do with changes in technology—which is an ever-present concern and something that a company can control—and everything to do with the economy and financing, which is something that even CFOs can have a hard time grasping.

Hopefully, we will see sentiment start to improve during 2009, then that will be a signal for restocking, which will accentuate any increase in demand through the year. This will make the recovery in 2010 seem more marked than underlying demand actually is, in many wire and cable sectors, but then through 2011 the market is expected to have recovered from the 2008/2009 slowdown, and there will be a return to growth in the advanced economies. We think that the baton of demand growth will be passed from China to

70 60 50

Global PMI

40 Jan 2008

Jan 2007

Jan 2006

Jan 2005

Jan 2004

Jan 2003

Jan 2002

Jan 2001

Jan 2000

30

The effect of the economy is reflected in the downward Producers Manufacturers Index (PMI) trend for global manufacturing in this Integer Research chart.

India and the Middle East beyond 2010.

What is going to be interesting is to see how the leading wire and cable companies respond to this slowdown, and how each region’s supply and demand characteristics feed through to market prices for cable, and ultimately feed through to revenues and profits in 2009. There is a collective sense that these are extraordinary times, but it’s hard to tell.

WJI: Since it seems to be the trend these days, do you think that the wire and cable sector should be seeking a bailout?

Radbourne: That is a slightly loaded question. In pure economic terms, at Integer we believe that tariff barriers and government interference in the private sector and free markets slow down economic growth.

Anything that slows down the long-term growth in an economy is bad in the long run for cable demand. So bailouts are important factors in democracies, where politicians have to keep the electorate happy. Growth is important, but it has to be sustainable, not supported by bailouts. If an economy can have sustained high rates of growth—our benchmark is often 10 years of 10% growth in GDP or more—then in the ninth year we know we will see a sharp increase in wire and cable demand. If a government is diverting resources to bail out a certain economic sector, it will not be able to reach these sustained rates of growth. Sustained growth provides the basis that the wire and cable sector needs to flourish and to develop new technologies that will in turn lead to further growth. ■ U.K.-based Integer Research provides consultancy services for sectors that include the global wire and cable industry.

It issues reports that cover private as well as public companies. It uses company financials to complement traditional commodity analysis. Contact: Philip Radbourne, Integer Research, tel. 44-207-503-1265, philip.radbourne@ integer-research.com, www.integer-research.com.

The Purchasing Manufacturers Index (PMI) is an indicator of business activity derived from monthly surveys of selected individuals in manufacturing operations throughout the world indicators that track developments in a given supply chain (whether metal specific or macroeconomic).

A PMI index over 50 indicates that manufacturing is expanding while anything below 50 means that the industry is contracting. They are really useful right now, since the rate of change has been so dramatic in the global economy.

The PMI report is an extremely important indicator for the financial markets as it is the best indicator of factory production. The index is popular for detecting inflationary pressure as well as manufacturing economic activity, both of which investors pay close attention to. The PMI is not as strong as the CPI in detecting inflation, but because the data are released one day after the month it is very timely.

PMIs are indicators of business activity derived from monthly surveys of selected individuals in manufacturing operations throughout the world, indicators that track developments in a given supply chain (whether metal specific or macroeconomic). Should the PMI report an unexpected change, it is usually followed by a quick reaction in stocks.

One especially key area of the report is growth in new orders, which predicts manufacturing activity in future months.

Data are collected using identical methods in all countries so that international comparisons may be made. PMIs are some of the most closely watched and widely used by purchasing professionals in manufacturing and analysts in financial institutions. Notably, PMIs are favored by central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England for the most accurate advance signals of changing economic growth and inflation in their respective economies.

The most well known is the ISM (Institute for Supply Management) survey, but there are also other companies that produce a time series. The ISM manufacturing data goes back to 1948, and shows the previous U.S. recessions.

- Philip Radbourne

Integer Research to be at Interwire 2009 Integer Research Director Philip Radbourne will be at Interwire 2009, where he is scheduled to part of a special session at the event. Details on the program will be provided in the March pre-show issue.

FEBRUARY 2009 | 67

FEATURE

PMIs: what are they and why do they matter?

Global Manufacturing Output PMI>50=expansion/<50=contraction

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E DA L ER W INN AWA R

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Performance of nanoclay in a flame-retardant jacket compound

M

TECHNICAL PAPERS

TECHNICAL PAPER

Nanoclay modified fillers have been found to be effective at reducing the amount of retardants needed to provide required flammability protection levels as well as improving processability without diminishing cable performance.

By Sergio Castañeda, Octavio Parra, Eduardo Ramírez and Saúl Sánchez

A filler is a solid material capable of modifying the chemical and physical properties of other materials by its interaction of the filler surface with the matrix where it is included or by either the absence of this interaction or by its inherent physical characteristics1.

Reasons for using fillers with the other materials, in this case for a compound, include a desire to mechanically reinforce the materials as well as to reduce costs as the fillers were cheap and easy to get. It is not known who originally came up with the idea of using fillers for these purposes, and likely it was several individuals in different parts of the world, but the concept makes a lot of sense from both a performance and cost basis. Cost reduction is always important, but in this case the use of different fillers in the polymeric compounds formulations was even more important for what they were able to do to improve final properties in terms of processability, performance and durability.

Because of their outstanding mechanical properties, relative low cost and ease of being processed, some polyolefins such as polyethylene and EVAs, are used in a variety of products.

One such use is for energy cable jackets, which besides stiff mechanical requirements also demand high flame-retardant performance.

There are two types of retardants: reactive types and addi-

Table 1. Typical properties of the reference compound.

70 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

tive types2. Reactive-type retardants have halogens that, when decomposing, produce byproducts with flame-retardant characteristics. These retardants are usually introduced during polymer synthesis, mostly during mixing.

Additive-type retardants belong to the class of fillers that are added during the mixing step with the polymeric matrix. One of the most used fire-retardent fillers is aluminum hydroxide (ATH). This material functions by water delivery during an endothermic process, when temperature rises above 200°C. Another fire retardent filler material that is often used is halogens. Halogenated additives, when decomposing, displace the surrounding atmosphere, reducing the available oxygen for the polymer combustion. A third filler material is antimony trioxide, which behaves synergistically within the halogenated additives. In general, high concentrations of these type of fillers are required for the material to be effective in protecting the material3. In addition to the above-mentioned flame retardants, there are other types that have different properties and performance mechanisms.

Use of nanoclays to improve flame retardants. Many studies published in recent years justifies the use of nanomaterials in polymeric matrices, where several materials containing organo-modifed nanoclay sheets (lamellas) are incorporated into a polymeric matrix (nanocompound polymers). The

Table 2. Typical compound employed as a cable jacket material.

pheric oxygen diffusion into the material 4. One important condition for this to occur is the adequate dispersion of the clay at the nanometric level, which is reached by means of a chemical interaction between the polymeric matrix and the small clay sheets5. Employment of filler concentrations, such as ATH at above 50%, generates a considerable reduction of mechanical and rheological properties.

Objective The goal of this study was to develop EVA-based com-

Table 3. Employed nanoclays.

Fig. 1. WAXD difractogram of selected nanoclays.

Table 4. Equipment employed for measuring different properties of nanocompunds.

Table 5. Formulation of systems Nanoclay/PO/ATH without and with compatibilizer.

Fig. 2. Werner & Pfleiderer screw employed in nanoclay mixing with highly charged polyolefins.

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resulting composites provide excellent mechanical properties as well as an improved permeation for different gases, in particular for their synergistically flame-retardant properties, with relative low concentrations of organoclays.

Flame-retardants reduce the rate of heat release through the formation of a surface-protected sheet, known as â&#x20AC;&#x153;char.â&#x20AC;?

These clay sheets are produced during the polymer combustion3. The small exfoliated or interlinked sheets within the polymeric matrix, inhibit the polymer decomposition in air as a result of the improvement of barrier properties for atmos-

TECHNICAL PAPERS

pounds using nanoclays and reduced ATH content that can provide anti-flame characteristics similar to those of a referenced polyolefin compound while also offering lower density and better rheological and processing characteristics. The goal was also to prove the dispersion of the nanoclays and to veri-

fy their nano dimensions in the conformed compound. Table 1 shows the characteristics of the referenced polyolefin compound. Table 2 shows the composition of a typical compound used as a cable jacket compound.

Several types of organo-modified clays were used to produce nanometric compounds, the difference among them being the interlamellar separation and the organic surfactant deposited over them. This surfactant, an alkyl ammoniumtype that makes a gel upon contact with water6, is deposited over the nanoclay. It expands the space between two lamellas, which in turn facilitates its exfoliation and its adhesion between the nanoclay and the polymeric matrix7. These clays are identified in Table 3. In general, this type of surfactants is known as onium ions7-8.

Development In order to verify if the nanoclays to be used are adequate for this study, they were analyzed by Wide Angle X Ray

Fig. 3. WAXD difractograms of nanoclays at 6% with EVAgMA at 8%, incorporated in the polymeric matrix.

Fig. 4. STEM images of Systems Nanoclay/PO/ATH without compatibilizer (a and b) and with compatibilizer (c and d).

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the majority of these formulations. This can be explained by the absence of the compatibilizer agent as the EVA acetate groups interact in an efficient manner with the nanoclay onium ions. It was found that the best exfoliation synergy in the polymeric matrix of the nancolay-compatibilizer subsystem was between Clay 25A and Clay 25B clays, both at 6% of the total, together with ECAgMA compatibilizer at 8 %.

Diffractograms of these mixtures are shown in Fig. 3.

Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) images show a very good degree of intercalation between nanoclays and the polymeric matrix with differences among the different nanoclays and the compatibilizers, making this a very useful test for selecting the compatibilizer with the best functionality together with the clay, for the initial proposed objectives. Fig. 4 shows the exfoliation differences between Clay 25A/PO/ATH, the Clay 25A/PO/ATH/ system and H and the Clay 25B/PO/ATH/ compatibilizer system.

Fig. 5 shows the STEM micrography for system Clay 25B/PO/ATH without compatibilizer, using with 10% clay. A good degree of intercalation-exfoliation was attained in the system.

Results The various nanoclay compound mixtures in the nano scale (nanocomposites) were evaluated by direct comparison with the reference compound. This determined the dispersion grade in the polymeric matrix, the resulting physical properties while reducing the flame-retardant filler amount, and the energy consumption in an industrial size extruder type.

Nanoclay dispersion. Initial results using compatibilizer agents showed a low impact while using theses additives in

Table 5. Formulation of systems Nanoclay/PO/ATH without and with compatibilizer.

Fig. 5. STEM Micrography at 150,000X, sistem Clay 25B (10%)/PO/ATH(47%), without compatibilizer.

Table 6. Properties of systems Nanoclay/PO/ATH without and with compatibilizer.

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Dispersion (WAXD) for measuring distances between crystalline planes. This reveals the interlamellar distance between nanoclays. The greater the gap between sheets, the better exfoliation performance. The diffractograms of the clays are shown in Fig. 1.

For this study, several mixtures with the aforementioned clays were made, with some compatibilizers added for improving the mixing between organoclays and the polymeric matrix. These compatibilizers included: a low-density linear polyethylene LDPE (Bynel 4107); a polyethylene vinyl acetate EVA (Bynel 3905), both grafted with maleic anhydride (PEgMA and EVAgMA respectively); and two zincbased ethylenic ionometres (Surlyn-1652 and Surlyn-9520).

These steps required an experiment design and the development of a mixing method. The latter element was done with a double-spindle Werner & Pfleiderer mixer with a middle-cut screw configuration that was especially designed for the test formulation at a working temperature of 150째C. See Fig. 2.

The degree of exfoliation attained in this process, was checked by WAXD analysis and by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Table 4 shows the equipment that was used to determine properties.

TECHNICAL PAPERS

Flame tests and physiomechanical properties Based upon dispersion results of the nanoclays, formulations were made with clays Clay 25A and Clay 25 B, with 6% and 10% of nanoclay, in the total of the nanocomposite, for determining the best material to be processed by extrusion.

The prepared formula and obtained results are shown in Tables 5 and 6.

Processability Clay 25B was selected as the most convenient clay for this study due to its exfoliation performance. It scored well in terms of overall properties that were shown during its compound exfoliation without compatibilizer, its mechanical properties and flame-resistance performance. Three 25B/PO/ATH clay systems without a compatibilizer were proposed to be processed by an industrial extrusion system to characterize real improvements in the processability of the formulated compounds Table 7 summarizes the selected formulations to be evaluated under the processability parameters in an industrial process. Extrusion of these compounds as cable jacketing required less pressure in the extrusion head as well as less a corresponding reduction in the amount of electrical power needed for the equipment. The images in Figs. 6 and 7 show the process improvement that resulted by use of compound with a lower alumina content that shows no loss in properties compared to the reference compound.

Conclusions Nanoclay interlamellar spacing is not the only factor affecting the adequate selection for this type of fillers. One must also check their behavior in the polymeric system to be treated, demonstrating by means of WAXD and STEM analysis the optimum Nanoclay/PO/ATH/Compatibilizer system selection (See Figs. 1- 3). The WAXD analysis in this study showed a clear displacement for d001 signal, indicating a good degree of intercalation, especially in clay systems Clay 25A and Clay 25B. The presence of alumina and compatibilizer, did not have any exfoliation effect (positive or negative) on these study samples.

In materials with higher clay contents (10%) physicochemical properties were better than those with lower clay contents.

The authors believe that this is so because when one reduces the ATH content in the compound, the higher clay content results in a higher carbonic residual formation that has shown better performance in flame tests.

Based on previous results and knowledge of exfoliation and degree of intercalation, the mechanical properties of the selected systems and their flammability according to Spec UL-94, it can be concluded that properties of manufactured nanoclay compounds and those of the reference compound are equivalent. Thus, the mechanical properties and flame resistances were kept similar to those of the reference compound. Further, formulation with Clay 25A and Clay 25B, presented a better degree of intercalation-exfoliation, besides the fact that the formula with compatibilizers did not show an extraordinary behavior compared with those without them.

Table 7. Selected systems for being evaluated in industrial process.

Fig. 6. Current consume with selectionated compounds system.

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Fig. 7. Pressure at extruder head with selectionated compounds system.

References 1. G. Wypych, “Handbook of fillers,” ChemTec Publishing, 1999, 2000, ISBN 1-895198-19-4.

2. E. Gatcher, “Plastics Additives Handbook,” Hanser Gardner Publications, 4TH Edition.

3. M. Zanetti, P. Bracco and L. Costa, “Polymer Degradation and Stability,” 85, 2004, 657, p. 665.

Sergio Castañeda is an investigator in the Engineering and Technology Support Group (INSOTEC) for the Centro de Investigacion y Desarrollo Condumex (CIDEC) CARSO R&D Center in Querétaro, México. He focuses on developing and validating new materials and rubber compounds for use in power cables within the Condumex Group. He holds BSc and MSc degrees in chemical engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas and the Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Mexico. He is a member of the technical advisory group to the US National Committee of the International Electrotechnical Commission IEC/TC 113 for nanotechnologies for electric and electronic industries, as well as the Mexican Institute of Normalization and Certification (IMNC) Technical Committee CT13 for nanotechnologies in Mexico. Octavio Parra heads the analytical chemistry laboratory for CIDEC, where he started 20 years ago, focusing on polymer characterization of materials mainly used in the wire and cable industry. He is CIDEC’s project leader for INSOTEC. He holds an MSc degree in polymers science and technology from the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila and a BSc degree in chemistry from the Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico. Eduardo Ramírez is a full-time professor and researcher at Condumex’s Applied Chemistry Research Center (CIQA).

He focuses on nanocompounds and nanofabrication R&D. He holds BSc and MSc degrees from the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila as well as a PhD degree from an inter-university program in Mexico. Saúl Sánchez is principal investigator at CIQA. His work focuses on functionalized polymers and nanocompounds for applications in pro-

4. S. Sánchez-Valdés, M.L. López-Quintanilla, E. RamirezVargas and F.J. Medellín-Rodríguez, “Effect of ionomeric compatibilizer an clay dispersion of polyethylene-clay nanocomposites,” Macromolecular Compósitos & Engineering, 291, pp. 128-136, 2006.

5. J.W. Gilman, C.L. Jackson, A.B. Morgan and R. Harris, Jr., Chem. Mater, 200, 12, pp. 1866-1873.

6. J.W. Jordan, Colloid hem., 53, pp. 294-306, 1949.

7. A. Usuki, M. Kawasumi, Y. Kojima, A. Okada, T. Kuraychi, O.J. Kamigaito and J. Mater, Res., 8, pp. 11791184, 1993.

8. Y. Kojima, A. Usuki, M. Kawasumi, A. Okada, T. Kurauchi, O. Kamigaito and K.J. Kaji, Polym. Sci. Part. B., 33, pp. 1039-1045, 1995. ■

Castañeda

Parra

Ramírez

Sánchez

tective material employed in the industry. He holds a PhD degree in materials engineering from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, as well as BSc and MSc degrees from the Universidad Autónoma de Coahuila. This paper, which was presented at WAI’s International Technical Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, October 2008, won the Urbain J.H. Malo Memorial Medal Award for best electrical paper.

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A lower ATH content present in the developed compounds presents a lower density than the one in the reference compound and a better extrusion processability, which is beneficial for industrial production.

Based upon present results, the authors conclude that the initial objective postulated for this study was achieved, regarding the creation of nanocompounds with similar antiflame characteristics to those of the reference compound, but with lower density and a better processability, while reducing the ATH contents

TECHNICAL PAPERS

TECHNICAL PAPER Rapid tensile test elongation study for measuring the annealability of copper rod A model, based upon precise elongation testing of annealed copper rod and its relationship to element contents, was obtained to predict the annealability elongation of the rod.

By Jose Luis MagaĂąa Leon and Elias FernĂĄndez Godinez

The objective of this study is to predict the effect of impurities at different concentrations on the recrystalization behavior of tough-pith, hot-rolled copper rod by a rapid tensile test elongation technique, and to produce a mathematical model that can be used for this purpose.

This paper describes the effect of most common low-, medium- and high-concentration impurities on the recrystalization of hot-rolled copper rod. A mathematical model based upon precise elongation testing of annealed copper rod and its relationship to element contents, used to predict the annealability of rod, will be presented.

In the early 1940s, Smart et al1 published a study concerning some properties of high-purity copper. This work was followed by many others describing the influence or impu-

rities on the recrystalization behavior of copper. Most experimental data were obtained by considering the behavior of commercial copper available at that time within a range of compositions, but it appeared to be very difficult to come to a clear conclusion. For instance, the harmful influence of Se-Te-Bi-S-As-Sb alone was clearly noticed after extrapolation to contents lower than 20 ppm.

Between 1972 and 1974, a study was conducted by the Olen division of Union Miniere (at that time MHO) and CRM4-5. The goal of the investigation was to evaluate the effect of low-impurity contents, namely Ag-As-Bi-Pb-SSb-Se-Te and O2.

A calculation model based upon chemical analysis to predict the annealability of the rod was demonstrated by a spi-

Fig. 2. Comparison of theoretical versus actual elongation results.

Fig. 1. Picture of temperature-controlled oil bath used for test.

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ed rod samples. The test results are used to construct a model with an excellent reliability interval. Fig. 2. shows the theoretical and experimental determination of the tensile elongation of the wire.

The authors found that the tensile elongation prediction can be performed with a 95% reliable interval and verified in a simple equipment (constant temperature oil bath-tensile elongation machine, one-die drawing machine).

It was discovered that the next mathematical model to predict the response to anneal of the copper rod regarding its chemical composition is as follows:

Rapid tensile test The rapid tensile test measures annealability kinetics at an elevated temperature (260 +/- 2ºC). More than 60 copper rod samples of varying concentration of impurities were selected, namely, Se, Te, Bi, Sb, As, Pb, Ag, Sn and Fe, within the range of 165-330 ppm of oxygen. The selected samples had previously been analyzed so their concentration impurities data are available. Each rod sample is at least 175 mm in length. The samples are drawn directly to a 6.3 mm diameter (2 AWG), which corresponds to a reduction of cross section of 38%. The drawn samples, now 250 mm long, show an elongation of no more than 5% at tensile break tests.

Procedure. One by one, the 60 copper rod samples were heated at 260ºC (+/- 2) for 13 minutes, a period of time that was observed to be the optimum time span for annealing wire2, in a temperature-controlled oil bath. Fig. 1. shows the equipment used for ths test.

Following annealing, each sample was taken out and quenched immediately in an n-hexane bath at ambient temperature, then subjected to tensile elongation test. Then the tensile elongation is measured on each of the 250-mm-long samples and gathered to be studied in a statistical program at a PC. The above is done for each of the 60 select-

Fig. 3. Monitoring of level of annealability during first of a three-month time frame.

Fig. 4. Monitoring of level of annealability during second of a threemonth time frame.

Fig. 5. Monitoring of level of annealability during third of a threemonth time frame.

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ral elongation test (Olen method: Sp850). This test procedure was found to be too long and complicated. Later on, different companies independently started similar research work, resulting in different methods.

In 1991, the SCCC Contirod company developed a new, precise, faster method that was as reliable as the spiral test.

The procedure was based on a measurement of annealability kinetics at high temperature. The rapid tensile, elongation test procedure fitted their requirements in terms of rapidity and of reliability.

Conticon2 followed this test using commercial copper to obtain a mathematical model to predict the annealability (bad, medium or excellent) of copper rod, considering as follows3: • RTE< 10% (SP<350 mm), bad annealability; • 10%< RTE< 30% (SP 350-425 mm), medium annealability; • RTE>30% (SP>425 mm), excellent annealability.

TECHNICAL PAPERS Fig. 6a. Results for lead contamination in test samples of wire.

Fig. 6b. Results for lead contamination in test samples of wire, values in PPM.

Fig. 6c. Percentage of elongation of copper rod at different lead concentrations.

E DITOR ’S NOTE Similar figures for other impurities (arsenic, tin, iron, selenium, tellurium, bisumth, silver and antimony) can be found by going to www.wirenet.org, clicking on “Wire Journal International,” then “Wire Journal Extra, then, “Conticon Paper.”

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Bi, Pb, Sn and Te have shown the main effect in the response to annealed of the copper rod studied in the present job. Figs. 3-5 shows the monitoring of level of annealability (using the aforementioned model) during production run time.

Results Tests were done to assess the effects of common concentration impurities on RTE and the tensile elongation of hotrolled copper rod with (165-330 g/ton) of O2. Fig. 6 shows the results for lead, one of the potential impurities that can be introduced during the cable manufacturing process.

Similar tests were done for eight other potential contaminants and those results are available.

References 1. J.S. Smart, A.A Smith and A.J., Philips, “Preparation and some properties of high purity coppers,” Metals Technology, AIME, T.P. 1289, 1941.

2. L. Graciela, A. Godinez and E.F. Godinez, Application of Rapid Test Elongation, Conticon, 1991.

3. J.P. Lavric, Annealibility test method applied to copper rod, Societe de Coulee Continue de Cuivre, France, 7th Contirod user’s meeting, Paris, 1991.

4. K. Feyaerts, P. Huybrechts, J. Schamp, J. Humbeeck and B. Verlinden, The effect of impurities on the recrystallization behaviour of tough-pitch hot rolled copper rod, Olen plant, Union Miniere.

5. D. Coutsouradis, E. Diderrich, J. Smets, G. Crocq and L. Pauwels, “Effects of trace amounts of impurities on the recrystallization behavior of high Purity, Tough-Pitch Copper,” CCM, No. 39, June 1974. ■

José Luis Magaña León is the technical and assurance quality manager of the continuous copper rod plant of Conticon S.A. de C.V., Condumex Group, Celaya, Mexico. He is a chemical engineer, responsible for research projects. He holds an M.S. degree in copper extractive Magaña León metallurgy from UMSNH, Mexico. He has written several papers for Contirod users on copper rod subjects. Elías Fernández Godínez is the general manager of the Conticon plant in Celaya. He has worked on the Contirod process at Conticon for more than 20 years. He is a chemical engineer who holds a master’s Godínez degree from the Universidad de Guanajuato in Guanajuato State, Mexico. He has written several papers for Contirod users on copper rod subjects.

This paper was presented at WAI’s International Technical Conference, Monterrey, Mexico, October 2008.

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* % Tensile elongation = 50.6 + 0.10 Se + 1.07 Te -15.9 Bi - 0.35 Sb - 0.113 As - 4.78 Pb - 3.99 Sn + 0.138 Fe - 0.169 Ag.

TECHNICAL PAPERS

TECHNICAL PAPER Center bursts - a review of criteria Initial stages of nearly all center bursts that occur during wiredrawing are consistent with ductile frature initiation, but several sources of criteria provide guidance for die and drawing pass design.

By Roger N. Wright

The development or exacerbation of centerline fractures and porosity in wire drawing has been the subject of many analyses, especially owing to the liabilities regarding drawing breaks and cable and fastener failures. A number of criteria are set forth in the literature, with rather different treatments of the roles of ductile fracture resistance and pre-existing centerline flaws.

A review and consolidation of the engineering criteria for center bursting has been set forth. The Cockcroft and Latham criterion for ductile failures or workability limits has been applied in this review. A data base from the work of Coffin and Rogers has been examined.

The Avitzur criterion has been considered in relation to deformation zone geometry, and this criterion may be regarded as the most conservative of the prominent center burst criteria. The criterion of Nakagiri, et al., has been discussed, including its emphasis on a zero value of the hydrostatic stress at the wire centerline. The somewhat similar empirical criterion of Glodowski has been considered as well.

The Cockcroft and Latham ductile fracture criterion has been used as a basis for the development of a center burstrelated workability equation, to be used as a starting point for industrial process study. The center burst-related workability equation is: ef = 4 ln(A0/A1) / (D + ½), where ef is the possible cumulative drawing strain (prior to likely center bursting), ln (A0 /A1) is the true strain at fracture in a tensile test, and D is the deformation zone shape parameter. Illustrative calculations have been made for the Glodowski criterion, and for observations from the drawing of ETP copper.

Introduction It has long been noticed that certain wire and wire product failures, from drawing breaks to fastener fractures, show evidence of the development of a large centerline flaw during drawing. In some instances the flaw seems to

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be associated with an inclusion or porosity, but in other instances a pre-existing “fracture center” is not in evidence. Moreover, close inspection may reveal repeated centerline flaws, at somewhat regular intervals, with a characteristic chevron-like shape, as seen in a longitudinal section of the wire or rod. Such flaws have come to be known as “center bursts.”

This characteristic development or exacerbation of centerline flaws in wire drawing has been the subject of many studies and analyses, especially in view of the liabilities regarding drawing breaks and cable and fastener failures. A number of criteria have been set forth in the literature, providing guidance for die and drawing pass design. This paper presents a review and consolidation of the engineering criteria for center bursting in the drawing of rod and wire.

Center bursts from a ductile fracture perspective. In assessing and using center burst criteria, it is important to recognize that center burst development nearly always involves aspects of ductile fracture, that is, the progressive development or exacerbation of pores with increasing strain, under tensile stress. While later stages of center burst growth, or the center bursting of rather brittle wire, may seem spontaneous, the initial stages of nearly all center bursts are consistent with ductile fracture initiation.

In this context, it is useful to review the Cockcroft and Latham criterion for ductile failure or workability limits.1 In simplified form, this criterion can be expressed as: f0ef s1 de = C

Eq. (1)

where s1 is the maximum tensile stress component (the most tensile principal stress), e is effective strain, ef is effective strain at fracture, and C is a material constant reflecting workability, drawability and general resistance to ductile fracture. Thus the criterion says that when the product of maximum tensile stress and effective strain increments reaches a critical value, C, ductile fracture is predicted. The criterion may be applied to conditions of continuous strain development or to intermittent straining, such as from one wire drawing pass to another. The

ing of non-strain hardening metal, with sy being yield strength or flow stress.2 It should be noted that for the case of plane strain strip drawing, D must be calculated on the basis of: Dplane strain = (a/ r) (2 – r).

Eq. (4)

The work of Coffin and Rogers Looking for incipient center bursts in great lengths of wire is often impractical. Thus, much of the work on center bursting focuses on analysis of specific failures, or statistically significant increases in failures, or on illustrative cases of the development of center bursts under conditions of high D drawing.

However, the classic work of Coffin and Rogers measured the development of centerline porosity en route to

D = (a/ r) [1 + (1 – r)½ ] 2, Eq. (2) where a is the die semiangle in radians, and r is the decimal reduction. It is common practice to consider the dependence of the centerline hydrostatic stress, sh , on D, where, to a reasonable approximation, s1 = sh + sd ,

Eq. (3)

with sd being the drawing stress, and with tensile stresses being of positive sign. Fig. 1 shows theoretical relationships between (sh/sy) and D for the case of frictionless strip draw-

Table I. Density changes for drawn copper strip as a function of cumulative drawing strain, die angle and Δ. The drawing reductions were 13% per pass.

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Cockcroft and Latham criterion assumes the presence of tensile stress. That is, no integration is to occur when the maximum principal stress, s1, is compressive. This implies that no “healing” of ductile damage occurs in compression, as far as the criterion is concerned.

In principle, the value of C may be determined by a simple tensile test, where the integral is simply the area under the true stress – true strain curve, since the true stress in a simple tensile test is s1, and the true strain is e. However, this requires that a correction be made for necking, and rigorous determination of C is tedious. For most engineering applications, C may be usefully approximated by the product of the average tensile test flow stress and the true strain at tensile test fracture. The true strain at fracture is simply the natural logarithm of (A0/A1), or ln (A0/A1), where A0 is the initial cross sectional area, and A1 is the cross sectional area at fracture. For very ductile material, the evaluation of A1 often requires microscopy.

In this context, it is not surprising that some center burst criteria involve considerations of the levels of centerline s1 and of cumulative drawing strain.

Centerline tension in drawing. Centerline tension in drawing can be shown to be a function of the reduction in the pass, and the die semi-angle, as well as the combination of such in the deformation zone shape parameter, D, where:

TECHNICAL PAPERS

center bursts by way of changes in the density of drawn strip. A summary of some of their data is set forth in Table I. It is important to note that the data of Table I indicate that even at a D value of 2.52, ETP copper shows no evidence of center burst development. On the other hand, this material shows clear, progressive evidence of center burst development at a D value of 3.77. Yet the tougher OFHC® copper shows much reduced evidence of center bursting, compared to ETP copper, at the D value of 3.77.

The Avitzur criterion A novel and widely appreciated approach to center burst prediction in wire drawing has been set forth by Avitzur.

Using upper-bound analysis, die angles and reductions are predicted for which the metal will tend to flow apart at the wire centerline. This is the most conservative of the center burst criteria. As has been noted by Backofen, this approach seeks to provide a “necessary, but not sufficient” criterion for center bursts.6 That is to say, the upper bound analysis projects conditions whereby metal will tend to flow apart at the centerline, assuming that no work is required to fracture the metal. This may nearly be the case for rather brittle wire, and for such cases, the Avitzur criterion seems highly appropriate. Relationships of Avitzur criterion projections to D values are shown in Table II. The D values in Table II are generally lower than the values associated with zero values of (sh/sy) in Fig. 1. They are probably even lower than the values associated with zero values for s1. Consider that Eq. (3) indicates that s1 is approximately equal to the sum of sh and sd. Now, analysis by Coffin and Rogers2, projects a (sh/sy) value of roughly -0.6 (compression) for r = 0.2 and a = 5º. Moreover, draw stress analysis7 projects a (sd/sy) value of roughly 0.3 for the frictionless case, using these values of r and a. This leads to a s1 estimate of -0.3!

In any case, the Avitzur criterion makes it clear that high-

er friction is predisposing to center burst development. Slip line field analysis reveals this as well, as utilized by Coffin and Rogers.2,3 A friction factor of 0.1 roughly corresponds to lubrication conditions in dry drawing, and a friction factor of 0.2 roughly corresponds to lubrication conditions in wet drawing.

The Criterion of Nakagiri, et al.

Nakagiri, et al., have undertaken an extensive finite element analysis of center burst development, with deformation zone geometry characterized by a die-wire contact ratio, ℓ /d0, where is the wire-die contact length and d0 is the diameter of the wire at die entry. They have shown that the (sh /sy) value is nearly zero when the die-wire contact ratio is about 0.6. Moreover, they believe that this is the “optimum drawing condition.” Thus, their criterion can be expressed as: ℓ/d0 0.6.

Eq. (5)

That is, they conclude that center bursting will be essentially avoided when ℓ/d0 is no lower than 0.6.

The value of ℓ/d0 is close to being the reciprocal of D in most cases, and values of /d0 are easily converted to D by way of: D = ½ (1 + d1/d0) ( /d0)-1.

Eq. (6)

For a reduction of 0.20, d1/d0 is 0.894, and an ℓ/d0 value of 0.6 corresponds to a D value of 1.58. This is quite consistent with a (sh/sy) value of zero in Fig. 1, and fully consistent with the finite element analysis of Nakagiri, et al. In being a criterion consistent with (sh/sy) being zero, the Nakagiri, et al., criterion is less conservative than that of Avitzur. On the other hand, it does not seem to incorporate consideration of the toughness of the wire material.

Empirical Observations

Table 2. Equivalent Δ values for representative reduction and die semi-angle values predictive of center bursting by way of the Avitzur criterion. Center bursting is predicted for lower r values and higher die semi-angles than those shown in combination.

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Based on extensive ferrous drawing observations, Glodowski has advocated drawing below a D value of 1.5 in order to avoid center bursting.9 This is close to the Nakagiri criterion, and the condition of (sh/sy) being zero at the wire centerline.

In sharp contrast, the data from Coffin and Rogers indicate that ETP copper, and no doubt OFHC® copper, are resistant to center bursting at D values as high as 2.5.

Moreover, copper drawing experts have stated that “center bursts are not a problem” despite industry-wide drawing practices involving D values of 2.5 or higher. Clearly, this reflects the robust toughness of the copper conductor materials.

Incorporating toughness into a center

f0efs1 de = C.

Eq. (1)

While it is difficult to mix and match upper-bound analysis and plasticity, it is safe to say that the Avitzur analysis leads to center burst criteria that reduce s1 to nearly zero or even a compressive value. Hence, for this most conservative criterion, there is no practical likelihood of the integral in Eq. (1) reaching the level of C, and therefore no likelihood of center bursting.

Criteria that involve at least some degree of tension, in terms of s1, require consideration of the cumulative drawing strain, ef , and of C. First let us simplify Eq. (1) in the following manner. Eq. (3) states that s1 is approximately the sum of sh and the drawing stress, sd. From Fig. (1) we can see that at D values below three, and at commonly used die angles, one can roughly approximate sh as ¼ sy (D – 1.5). Moreover, it can be shown that the value of sd is roughly ½ sy for many drawing passes.7 (This sd reflects a contribution of friction, whereas Fig. 1 does not.)

Therefore the value of s1 in Eq. (1) can be replaced with [¼ sy (D – 1.5) + ½ sy] or ¼ (D + ½) sy. Now, it was noted earlier the C can be approximated as the product of the yield strength or flow stress times the true strain at fracture in a tensile test, or by sy ln(A0/A1). Therefore, if work hardening is minimal, one can approximate Eq. (1) by: ¼ (D + ½) sy ef = sy ln(A0/A1), leading to: ef = 4 ln(A0/A1) / (D + ½).

Eq. (7)

1.3 for a rod displaying 50% area reduction in a tensile test.

This would still be equivalent to over eight passes at 15% reduction.

Now the case of ETP copper is clearly different. It is not unusual for annealed ETP copper to manifest 99.9% reduction in a tensile test, which would mean that ef would be nearly seven. Of course, if gross flaws and crow’s feet are not present, ETP, and especially OFHC®, copper seem to manifest indefinite drawability, particularly in regard to center bursts. Even at a D value of three, Eq. (8) predicts an ef value of 7.9 for a rod sample displaying 99.9% area reduction in a tensile test. This is equivalent to 34 passes at 1AWG reduction.

Eq. (8) may be useful in process analysis and planning, where center bursts are a concern. However, it is only an approximation and must be refined by industrial process observation, on specific redraw stock, before being the basis for any truly rigorous criterion and specification development.

Summary A review and consolidation of the engineering criteria for center bursting has been set forth, for the drawing of rod and wire. The initial stages of nearly all center bursts are consistent with ductile fracture initiation, and the Cockcroft and Latham criterion for ductile failures or workability limits has been applied in this review. A data base from the work of Coffin and Rogers has been examined, particularly as an illustration of center burst development in a highly ductile metal.

The Avitzur criterion has been considered in relation to

Eq. (8)

Now, the criterion set forth by Glodowski involves a D value of 1.5.

Thus, Eq. (8) suggests that cumulative drawing strain can be as high as 2 ln (A0/A1) before center bursting is likely. As an example, a rod sample that displayed 50% area reduction in a tensile test would be predicted to sustain a cumulative drawing strain of 2xln(2) or about 1.4, without risk of center bursting. This would be equivalent to over eight passes of 15% reduction each (at a D of 1.5).

The criterion set forth by Nakagiri, et al., involves slightly higher values than 1.5, but the center burst-related drawability implications are similar to those of the previous paragraph. For example, if the criterion involves a D value of 1.58, the value of ef would be predicted to be about 1.9 ln (A0/A1) or a cumulative drawing strain of about

Fig. 1. Ratio of centerline hydrostatic stress to flow stress (or yield strength) as a function of the deformation zone shape parameter, for the case of frictionless strip drawing of a non-strain hardening material 2.

(After Backofen 6).

FEBRUARY 2009 | 83

TECHNICAL PAPERS

burst criterion. In considering the role of toughness in center burst vulnerability, it is useful to revisit Eq. (1):

TECHNICAL PAPERS

deformation zone geometry, and this criterion may be regarded as the most conservative of the prominent center burst criteria, insofar as it appears to avoid any tensile stress at the wire centerline. The criterion of Nakagiri, et al. has been discussed, including its emphasis on a zero value of the hydrostatic stress at the wire centerline. The somewhat similar empirical criterion of Glodowski has been considered as well.

The Cockcroft and Latham ductile fracture criterion has been used as a basis for the development of a center burstrelated workability equation, to be used as a starting point for industrial process study. The center burst-related workability equation is: ef = 4 ln(A0/A1) / (D + ½), where ef is the possible cumulative drawing strain (prior to likely center bursting), ln(A0 /A1) is the true strain at fracture in a tensile test, and D is the deformation zone shape parameter. Illustrative calculations have been made for the Glodowski criterion, and for observations from the drawing of ETP copper.

References 1. M. G. Cockcroft and D. J. Latham, J. Inst. Metals, 1968, Vol. 96, p. 33.

2. L. F. Coffin, Jr. and H. C. Rogers, ASM Trans. Quart., 1967, Vol. 60, p. 672.

3. H. C. Rogers and L. F. Coffin, Jr., Int. J. of Mech. Sci., 1971, Vol. 13, p. 141.

4. B. Avitzur, ASME Trans., Ser. B, 1968, Vol. 90, p. 79.

5. B. Avitzur, Handbook of Metal-Forming Processes, John Wiley & Sons, 1983, p. 95.

6. W. A. Backofen, Deformation Processing, AddisonWesley Publishing, 1972, pp. 149-150.

7. R. N. Wright, Wire Technology, 1976, Vol. 9-10, p. 57.

8. A. Nakagiri, T. Yamano, M. Konaka, K. Yoshida and M. Asakawa, Conference Proceedings, WAI Annual Convention, Nashville, TN, 2000, p. 75.

9. R. J. Glodowski, “The Evolving Technology of Steel Rod Manufacturing – A Personal erspective”, Mordica Memorial Lecture, Wire Expo 2002, Chicago, Illinois. ■

84 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Professor Roger N. Wright, who joined the faculty at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1974, has contributed broadly to the literature in the areas of metallurgy and metals processing, and is active as a short course lecturer and consultant. He previously worked at Allegheny Wright Ludlum Steel Corporation and Westinghouse Electric.

He holds B.S. and Sc.D. degrees in metallurgy from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has received The Wire Association International’s (WAI) Mordica Memorial Award and the Schneider Memorial Award of the Poland Chapter of WAI, and is a four-time winner of the WAI Marshall V. Yokelson Memorial Award. He is a registered professional engineer, and a fellow of ASM and SME. This paper was presented at Wire Expo 2008, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, June 2008.

CALL FOR

PAPERS

INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL CONFERENCE

SHARE YOUR INSIGHT. PUBLISH YOUR FINDINGS. Abstract submissions are welcome for original papers to be presented at the Istanbul Cable & Wire 09 International Technical Conference in Istanbul, Turkey.

Program organizers seek manuscripts that specifically address any of the following topics. See online abstract submission instructions below.

Authors will be notified of abstract acceptance. The highest ranking papers (as judged by the organizers) will be published in future issues of Wire Journal International. Selected papers will also be published by the IWMA in its media.

Ferrous—The manufac ture o f steel wire fo r st r u c t u r a l a p p li c at i o ns: • mesh production; • stainless steel rebar applications; • suspension bridge ropes: design, construction, and manufacturing; • rust preventative fillers for suspension bridge ropes; • sheaving of suspension bridge ropes with PVC or similar materials; • dry drawing lubricants for high-carbon steel wire; • offshore applications for steel rope; and • metallurgical designs and aspects of rod production for high-carbon steel rope.

Nonferrous—Recent developments in nonferrous wire and c able technologies:

2-3 November 2009 • Istanbul, Turkey “New Technology for Global Markets” A b s trac t De ad l i ne : April 6, 2009

Author Notific ation: May 4, 2009

Manuscript Deadline: August 4, 2009

• fire-resistant cable; • communication and data cable update; • new developments in wire processing; • new developments in rod and wire production; • plating of nonferrous wire (silver, nickel); • copper-clad conductors (bi-metal conductors); • undersea cables; and • the work of the Leonardo Power Quality Initiative, Europe’s cooperative of professionals and academics dedicated to improving power quality, particularly as it applies to Turkey.

S u b mi t yo u r a b st r a c t o nli ne : 1. Log on to www.wirenet.org.

2. Click on the horizontal “Technical” tab on the main page.

3. Select the “Call for Papers” tab from the drop-down menu.

4. Complete and submit the abstract form.

For more information contact: Marc Murray, Director of Education, The Wire Association International, Inc., 1570 Boston Post Rd., P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA, Tel.: (001) 203-453-2777 ext. 121, Fax: (001) 203-453-8384, E-mail: mmurray@wirenet.org.

Conference organized by: Associazione Costruttori Italiani Macchine Per Filo

C.E.T.

Comité Européen de la Tréfilerie

International Wire & Machinery Association

The Wire Association International, Inc.

PRODUCTS & MEDIA

PRODUCTS & MEDIA PRODUCTS Company expands its capacity for reel and drum production Italy’s A. Appiani, represented in North America by Lesmo Machinery America, Inc., reports that it has increased its capacity for producing drums and reels that are optimally designed for cable, rope and strands.

The range of products includes its structural reels type BCS (photo) as well as its corrugated BFA type or finflanged reels, a press release said. The BFA type reels are also offered with a smooth internal flange and drum surface that is suitable for medium- and high-voltage cable, it said.

Use of 3D software and FEA simulations has made it possible to produce reels designed for heavy-duty applications without rupturing, it said.

The reels incorporate shipping spools (one-way or multiple shipping type) or process reels with flange diameters ranging from 800 mm to 4000 mm, the dimensions made to DIN norms or customer requirements, it said. Options include reinforcements for drum-twister applications, statically and dynamically balanced reels for high-speed processes per G16 ISO 1940, spools with smooth internal flange and drum surfaces for delicate cables, breakdown or take-apart reels, folding or removable (screwed) flanges, ancillary equipment and more.

Contact: Allan Brown, Lesmo Machinery America, Inc., tel.,905-761-6165; sales@lesmoamerica.com.

Miniature flat cable a key part of a new ‘disposable’ hearing aid U.S.-based Cicoil announced the release of the Songbird flexfit hearing aid featuring Cicoil’s miniature, flexible flat cable.

A press release called the product, “the world’s first disposable hearing aid,” designed as an over-the-counter solution for people with moderate hearing loss who need part-time hearing assistance. The hearing aid is a onemodel-fits-all device with a highly flexible, miniature Cicoil flat cable running from the behind-the-ear body to the microspeaker earpiece, which is user-adjustable for ideal length and fit, it said. The silicone-jacketed, high flex flat cable was selected for comfortable placement

86 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

inside the ear, where extreme flexibility was a primary requirement, it said. Cicoil’s 2-conductor cable utilizes finely braided copper wire, with base stranding of just 60 AWG, creating the high flexibility needed, it said.

While flexible, the miniature Cicoil cable is strong enough to mechanically hold the earpiece, and retains the tensile strength not break while being pulled by the user to adjust the cable length and the position the earpiece, the press release noted.

Contact: Cicoil, tel. 661-295-1295, www.cicoil.com.

Rotating die holders come in multiple sets-ups,work for many applications The FA line of rotating die holders from Italy’s OM Frigerio, represented in North America by Howar Equipment, are available in a wide array of set-ups to accommodate the specific wiredrawing application.

The specially designed FA10/2F feature a secondary die holder that holds the first die immersed in the drawing emulsion or grease, a press release said.

This special set-up is designed for finishing passes where there is requirement to obtain a high quality bright wire, often for wires that are subsequently plated, it said.

The FA line of rotating die holders, for dies up to 3.25 in. (80 mm) in diameter, are designed to provide: improved die life, elimination of oval die wear, increased lubrication, reduced drawing temperatures and an improved wire finish, the release said. The rotating die has a large recirculation cooling chamber located around the die seating, and can be set-up as direct or indirect cooling, it noted, adding that the efficient and operatorfriendly system focuses the cooling around the die instead of losing efficiency from cooling adjacent motor components. A variety of other rotating die units for specific applications are also available for processes where rotation is obtained by motor or a chain-drive system on heavier wires and rod up to 0.8o in. (20 mm), it said Contact: HOWAR Equipment, Inc., tel. 905-738-4010, sales@howarequipment.com, www.howarequipment.com.

Bare copper wire offerings expanded U.S.-based Coleman Cable, Inc., announced that it has expanded its line of Royal/Triangle® Bare Copper Wire.

Coleman Cable’s Triangle brand of solid and stranded bare copper conductors are available (soft annealed

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PRODUCTS & MEDIA

copper) and sizes (14 AWG to 4/0), electrolytic tough pitch (ETP) copper feed stock is used to draw solid conductors (and B3), and solid and stranded conductors (per ASTM B8 or ASTM B787) are available in stock or customer specified packaging, a press release said.

The bare copper wire offers the highest conductivity per unit area of all commonly used metals to conduct electricity, is flexible, easily shaped and formed into place, and is easily welded and soldered, the release noted.

The conductors are designed for use in overhead transmission and distribution systems and for grounding grid systems, it said.

Contact: Coleman Cable, Inc., tel. 800-323-9355, www.colemancable.com.

Magnesium hydroxide product maximizes flame retardant properties Huber Engineered Materials announced the launch of Vertex® 100 SV, a surface-treated magnesium hydroxide designed to boost flame retardant properties of ethylene vinyl acetate copolymers.

A press release said that Vertex 100 SV was designed to enhance copolymer applications, including improved flame retardancy, processability and physical properties.

Research has shown that the product offers more uniform

dispersion of MDH particles in the polymer matrix and reduces the rate of heat release and smoke production compared to untreated magnesium hydroxide products, the release said.

Vertex 100 SV also increases the limiting oxygen index, which correlates with reduced flammability of the EVA compound, the release explained.

Flame retardant EVA compounds, it noted, are primarily used in wire and cable applications.

The release noted that Vertex 100 SV is recommended for use where low smoke generation is important, such as EVA-based wire and cable compounds and interior construction materials, and fire retardant partition boards and electrical jacketing applications. The product can also be used in other polymer systems, such as EPDM, polypropylene and silicone elastomers, where it will ben-

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VISIT WWW.GAVLICK.COM TO SEE OUR COMPLETE LISTINGS 88 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Next generation DC drives can increase performance and flexibility The SSD Drives Division of Parker Hannifin Corporation announced the launch of the next generation of its DC590+ family of DC drives.

A press release said that the DC590+ Integrator Series 2 offers unprecedented levels of control over a wide range of DC motor applications, improving both performance and profitability. The DC drives can be used to power a wide range of industrial equipment, including that used by the wire and cable industry. The DC590+ Integrator Series 2 offers control over a range of DC motor applications and features 32-bit control architecture, the release said.

The DC drive can be ordered either in four quadrant regenerative or two quadrant non-regenerative configurations, with ratings up to 2700 amps and supply voltages up to 690V. Contact: Parker Hannifin Corporation, www.parker.com.

Module exceeds international systems standards requirements Germany-based Corning Cable Systems LLC, part of Corning Incorporatedâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Telecommunications segment, announced that its FutureComâ&#x201E;˘10TENe System exceeds international ISO/IEC 11801:2002, Amd1:2008, and American ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-B.2-10-CAT6A system standards requirements.

The system is the newest addition to the highperformance FutureCom solutions and has been specifically developed to support 10 Gbit/s applications over 100 meters, a press release noted. The FutureCom10TENe System is fully compliant with the IEEE 802.3an and the recently released new EA class.

The system is suitable for Power over Ethernet and PoE Plus applications.

The FutureCom S10TENe Module has received the GHMT Premium certification from the accredited test lab for cabling and connection components, GHMT, Corning notes. The IDC (insulation displacement connector) technology allows for fast and easy termination without special tooling or wire preparation.

Contact: Corning Cable Systems LLC, tel.

49-800-267-646-41, or in Europe, www.corning.com/cablesystems.

FEBRUARY 2009 | 89

PRODUCTS & MEDIA

efit mechanical and low temperature properties and water resistance, it said.

Contact: Huber Engineered Materials, 866-564-8237, www.hubermaterials.com, www.huber.com.

PRODUCTS & MEDIA

MEDIA Washington Roebling’s Father: A Memoir of John A. Roebling Reviewed by Mark Marselli, editor-in-chief Washington Roebling’s Father: A Memoir of John A. Roebling, is a unique book that is unlikely to appeal to the general public, but may indeed be of interest to members of the wire and cable industry, especially those familiar with the role of John Roebling (18061869) in the early days of bridges in the U.S. The memoirs of Roebling by his son, Washington Roebling, have been edited

by WAI Historian Don Sayenga, who over the years has done extensive research on the life of John Roebling. An editor’s role can vary greatly depending on the topic, and in this case Sayenga’s editing is a vital cog as his comments that are presented in both chapter introductions and in comments on the border of the 270 pages expand on background, cite inconsistencies and include sliceof-life comments about the era in which the events took place.

The Roebling memoirs, which were known at one point to exist, had never been published and were believed by the family to be lost. Sayenga deserves credit for its publication as it was his research that led him to discover the memoirs, which were listed as being part of one of two large archival collections of Roebling memorabilia at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Rutgers University, the latter proving to be the actual site where the memoirs were stored.

The memoirs include reams of information about John Roebling, both as an engineer and as a man. It was quite the discovery for Sayenga, but it was also bittersweet as well. Sometimes, one can find out more than one wants

90 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

to, as it proved to be in this case. Indeed, Roebling was a pioneer in continuous production of helical wire rope (patented in 1842) that became a staple in bridge projects in the U.S., including a dozen bridges and aqueducts that his company, later known as John A Roebling & Sons Co., designed and worked on from1844 to 1883.

He also was able to convince a skeptical City Council in Pittsburgh to let him rebuild the Pittsburgh Aqueduct across the Allegheny River, with a controversial design that employed seven spans of 163 feet, each consisting of a wooden trunk to hold the water supported by a continuous parallel wire cable on each side. That successful project and others to follow soon made him an icon in his field. Yet the stern-looking man on the right side of the cover was also a very harsh man, one who was hard on employees and even harder on his family.

Wrote Washington Roebling, “If I still dared to hold an opinion then came a storm of vituperation followed by a hurricane of personal abuse and attacks on my life. … any man with more spunk than I had would have killed him … .”

As Sayenga notes, the book is not a biography in the classic sense, although elements of a biography are there.

The book is a slice of real life and of life in a past era. Washington Roebling conveys in a very stoic tone what it is like for someone to grow up with a father who was hard to please and quick to criticize.

One might wish that an industry icon was a better person, but his son’s writings over the years captured an essence that showed him for what he was: both a brilliant engineer and a flawed person. Maybe that’s part of the overall essence, the motivation for his son’s memoirs: however one attains fame or reputation in his or her life, without a sense of decency the reality is a hollow legacy.

This book, published in 2008 by ASCE Press, can be ordered at the WAI Store by going to www.wirenet.org and clicking on the WAI Store icon. ■

WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL MEMBERS seeking employment positions are entitled to FREE “Position Wanted” classified ads. Limit: one ad per issue, maximum three ads per year. This WAI membership benefit is not transferable to nonmembers or to companies.

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days after receipt. Responses to Blind Box ads should be addressed to: Wire Journal International, Box number (as it appears in print or on-line), P.O. Box 578, Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA. PAYMENT POLICY: All ads must be pre-paid.

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years of experience in the areas of maintenance, mounting, quality control, planning & production programming, software for design, manufacturing engineering, product engineering, ISO internal auditing & SAP implementing. Offers consulting services on projects for efficiency & productivity increase, waste decrease, improvement on manufacturing times in different processes such as drawing, stranded, insulation, wiring, jackets & CCV lines.

E-mail: williamcastano@cable.net.co.

opening for a Mechanical Engineer.

Must have experience in steel wire manufacturing. This position will include exercising functional authority for the planning, organization, control and integration of facilities and production areas. Additional responsibilities will include providing technical consulting services to manufacturing personnel. A Bachelors degree in mechanical engineering or equivalent and 3 (three) years of experience with manufacturing processes is required.

Send resume to mcrosa@riverdale.com

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

PLANT MANAGER. Leading manufacturer of welded wire mesh products has an immediate opening for a Plant Manager. Must have experience

MECHANICAL ENGINEER. Leading manufacturer of welded wire mesh products has an immediate

Serving the non-ferrous and ferrous industries since 1983

FEBRUARY 2009 | 91

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in steel wire manufacturing.

Responsibilities will include the management of welding, wire drawing, galvanizing and coating operations, including production, cost control of raw materials, purchasing and providing recommendations for capital expenditures. The plant manager will

also be accountable for the operation and maintenance of the departments to produce wire and wire mesh in the correct size, grade, quantity and quality to meet the timely demands of the production schedule. Experience in implementing key business initiatives that drive cost efficiency, product

COMMISSION BROKERS, INC. EQUIPMENT SPECIALISTS TO THE ELECTRICAL WIRE & CABLE INDUSTRY APPRAISERS • COMMISSION BROKERS • INDIVIDUAL PIECES OR ENTIRE PLANTS

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2 - TULSA 24” Motorized Shaftless Payoffs, Model HSPO-1, 12/02 1 - NEXTROM 1000mm Rotating Take-up w/Group Twinner 1 - D/S 36” H.S. Dual Reel Take-up, twin Motors 1 - CLIPPER PS36 Parallel Axis Dual Reel Take-up, 1999 1 - ENTWISTLE 36” Dual Reel Take-up, Model THE 24/36 4 - D/S 30” Dual Reel Take-ups 1 - DAVIS ELECTRIC Model TAP30 Parallel Axis Dual Take-up 4 - NOKIA Model EKP50 Parallel Axis Dual Reel Take-ups 1 - CLIPPER Model SP16 Dual Spooler 2 - TEC Model 24STC Hi-Speed Twisters, rated 1300rpm w/2-Wire Payoffs 1 - NEW ENGLAND BUTT 60” Dual Wheel Capstan Assembly 1 - RAYMOND 3000lb Stacker Forklift 41 - 48” x 32-1/4” ID x 25” Barrel x 3” Arbor Toroidal Reels

Contact: Martin Kenner

COMMISSION BROKERS, INC. P.O. Box 8456 • Cranston, RI 02920-0456 • Tel. (401) 943-3777 • Fax: (401) 943-3670 WEB: www.commissionbrokers.com • E-MAIL: marty137@aol.com

92 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

Please e-mail the requested information to: WAI’s Cindy Kirmss at ckirmss@wirenet.org.

For more details, you can call her at 203-453-2777, ext. 116.

quality, and employee safety are a plus. A Bachelors degree and 10 (ten) years relevant experience in manufacturing and production processes is required.

Send resumes to mcrosa@riverdale.com.

PERSONNEL SERVICES “LET OUR SUCCESS BE YOUR SUCCESS” Wire Resources is the foremost recruiting firm in the Wire & Cable Industry. Since 1967 we have partnered with industry manufacturers to secure the services of thousands of key individual contributors, managers and executives. For corporations we provide recruitment, outplacement, and salary assessment functions. For the professional exploring a new opportunity, we provide career evaluation and guidance. Our services are performed in absolute confidence.

Contact: E-mail Peter Carino at pcarino@wireresources.com or Jack Cutler at jcutler@wireresources.com, w w w. w i r e r e s o u r c e s . c o m . Wi re Resources, Inc., 522 E. Putnam Ave, Greenwich, CT 06830, 203-622-3000 or 800-394-WIRE. PURGING COMPOUNDS AMERICA’S OLDEST SUPPLIER. Since 1948 we've supplied millions of pounds so we know a little bit about JIT deliveries and customer satisfaction.

We sell for less because our costs are less. BUY SMART - WE DO. Alan Plastics Co., Inc. PH: (781) 821-0700

DIES MOLONEY DIE COMPANY. Low prices on all sizes of new, used and recut carbide dies. We also recut tapered nibs. Fast turn-around. Quality service since 1985. Tel. 904-388-3654.

APOLLO DIA-CARB COMPANY. Buy & sell new/used Natural & PCD DIAMOND DIES. Fair prices & excellent lead times. Contact Paulette, Owner-Sales, by telephone at 1-508226-1508 or by e-mail at apollodie@wmconnect.com.

MACHINERY “NEW” RESPOOLING/RETIPPING LINE MANUFACTURED

BY KOPILOWITZ Model 2412 FOR KINREI OF AMERICA FOR SALE. 1-Kopilowitz respooling/retipping line model 2412 new, never used except by Kinrei of America at Interwire 2007. This line is a compact, free standing line including a shaftless motorized payoff with a reel size range of 1625”(400-630mm) with integrated dancer and takeup reel size range of 6-12” (150-300mm). The complete line has maximum speed of 2500 fpm (757 m/sec) with tension range of 0.4-5.5 lbs (0.2-2.5 kg) and is maintained throughout the rewinding process with the use of an integral dancer with a P.I.D. close-loop-system. All wire guides and pulleys are manufactured from HDPE to protect the surface of the wire or cable. The unit is loaded on the payoff side via a hydraulic hand activated pump. The take-up side is unloaded pneumatically with the pintles being activated by a hand crank. The braking system is also pneumatic for smooth stopping in normal or e-stop. All drives are AC inverters and motors are Siemens AC. An operator touchscreen station is provided with all normal operator functions (start/stop, etc.) plus a wire

length counter, hour meter and line speed indicator. This line is capable of respooling single end, stranded, rope constructions of copper conductors as well as any insulated cables.

This line still carries a complete 12month warranty from Kinrei of America. The original selling price of this line was US$45,000, currently please MAKE AN OFFER!!!!!!!

To mjacobsen@KinreiUSA.com or 973-677-9500 x 145.

RECONDITIONED KINREI DOUBLE TWIST BUNCHERS FOR SALE. (5)-HK560 High Double Twists Bunchers and (1) NB-450 reconditioned, with partial warranty, currently available for use as either Buncher/Strander or Cabler/Twinner.

All can be sold in an “as is” or in a reconditioned state. Machines may be currently viewed at Kinrei of America in New Jersey. These machines are in excellent condition and were built in 1999/2000 with approximately 13,000 hours of production time manufacturing Litz Wire. Pictures as well as complete details available by contacting Mitch Jacobsen at 973-494-6143 or email mjacobsen@kinreiusa.com.

Association and edited by former WAI President Robert M. Shemenski. List Price is $235, $195 for WAI members.

To purchase, go to wirenet.org and click on The WAI Bookstore.

ANNEALING: PARTS 1-3.

This three-part video set presents information from industry expert Dr. Horace Pops. The set, which has a total running time of 1 hr., 36 min., includes: Annealing Part 1: Principles of Annealing (28 min.); Annealing, Part 2: Annealing of Copper and Aluminum Wire (31 min.); and Annealing, Part 3: Annealing Problems (37 min.). The set can be ordered for $285, $225 for WAI members, plus shipping, or by individual parts for $95, $75 for WAI members, plus shipping. To order, go to wirenet.org and click on the icon at the lower right side for the WAI Store. ■

WWW.URBANOASSOCIATES. COM. For New (Hakusan Heat Pressure Welders, Ferrous & NonFerrous; Marldon Rolling Ring Traverses) & Used Wire & Cable Equipment. Tel. 727-863-4700 or by e-mail: urbassoc@ verizon.net.

FOR SALE. 7/8 HRS Vaughn. Start .220 Finish to .052. 3500 FPM - 35 HP DC ea Block. Machine mounted Deadblock - 24” Controls. 6/7 HRS Vaughn. Start .310 max 2000 FPM - 45 HP ea Block Controls. Please contact Box 02-01.

MEDIA FERROUS WIRE HANDBOOK. The most recent in a series of handbooks published by WAI, this comprehensive hard-cover book is a new, definitive industry resource for ferrous wire written by members of the FEBRUARY 2009 | 93

CLASSIFIEDS

FX: (781) 828-2087. E-mail: alplas@aol.com, www.alplastic.com.

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX

ADVERTISERS’ INDEX ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

Alloy Wire International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

Gem Gravure Co Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .34

Amacoil Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 3

W Gillies Technologies LLC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Amaral Automation Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

Howar Equipment Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

Anbao Wire & Mesh Co Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Howar Equipment Inc/GMP Slovakia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

Beta LaserMike . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Howar Equipment Inc/Unitek . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Bongard Trading GmbH & Co KG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

Huestis Industrial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Cable Components Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 2

Integer Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

Cable Consultants Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

International Fastener Machinery & Suppliers Association (IFMSA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

Carris Reels Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Cemanco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50 Commission Brokers Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92 Cortinovis Machinery America Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Eurolls Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 George Evans Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Mario Frigerio SpA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5 Fushi Copperweld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45 Gavlick Machinery Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Kinrei of America . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Lesmo Machinery America Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 Manner Plastics LP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Mathiasen Machinery Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91 Micro Products Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Millennium Steel & Wire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49 Milliman Extrusion Tool & Design Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88 Paramount Die Co . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 Pittsfield Plastics Eng Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

WIRE JOURNAL I N T E R N A T I O N A L

NORTH AMERICA

EUROPE

Robert J. Xeller Anna Bzowski Wire Journal International 1570 Boston Post Road P.O. Box 578 Guilford, CT 06437-0578 USA Tel: 203-453-2777 Fax: 203-453-8384 sales@wirenet.org

U.K., France, Spain, Holland, Belgium, Denmark & Scandinavia Jennie Franks David Franks & Co. 63 St. Andrew’s Road Cambridge CB4 1DH, England Tel/Fax: 44-1223-360472 franksco@btopenworld.com

94 | WIRE JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

SALES OFFICES ASIA/WAI INDIA OFFICE Germany, Austria, & Switzerland Dagmar Melcher Media Service International P.O. Box 103 D-82402 Seeshaupt Germany Tel: 49-8801-914682 Fax: 49-8801-914683 dmelcher@t-online.de

Anand Bhagwat Wire & Cable Services Pvt. Ltd. (WCS) Mobile 91-98-508-38467 abhagwat@wirenet.org

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

Properzi International Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Woywod GmbH & Co. KG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Queins & Co GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Zumbach Electronics Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Cover 4

Rautomead Ltd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44 Rosendahl Maschinen GmbH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Sanxin Wire Die, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11, 61 Sikora International Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Sjogren Industries Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Talladega Machinery & Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 Teknor Apex Vinyl Division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL ADS WAI Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31-32 Interwire 2009/IFE 2009 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64-66, 68-69 Call for Papers: Istanbul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85

Vandor Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23 Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95 Woodburn Diamond Die Inc . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

FEBRUARY 2009 | 95

ADVERTISERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; INDEX

ADVERTISER . . . . . . . . . . . . . .PAGE

X-ray vision See right into the Wire & Cable industry with complete financial and production numbers at your fingertips To understand how a wire and cable producer is performing, you have to see right into their operations. Production numbers only show part of the picture. To find out what’s really going on, you need financials too.

That’s why Integer collects and standardizes financial data to present alongside production numbers. This unique combination gives you the insight you need to make the right strategic and business decisions.

Integer 55 Farringdon Road London EC1M 3JB United Kingdom

www.integer-research.com Tel +44 20 7503 1265 Fax +44 20 7503 1266 Email info@integer-research.com

Wind up with an Amacoil/Uhing assembly for perfect pitch every time Pitch is adjustable (10:1) without requiring gear changes or adjusting motor speed. A single Amacoil/Uhing assembly may be used for winding many different diameter materials. Automatic reversal of the traverse is mechanically controlled – without clutches, cams or gears. No electronics or programming needed.

FEATURES • Zero backlash.

• Automatically synchronizes pitch with take-up reel rotational speed.

• Traverse drives with up to 800 lbs. axial thrust.

• Smooth, unthreaded shaft won't clog or jam – no bellows assembly needed.

• One inexpensive, unidirectional motor drives both the traverse and take-up reel.

• Free movement lever – no need to "jog" system on and off to position linear drive.

• Options and accessories for every winding situation.

• Light, medium and heavy-duty systems.

For Brochure or CD-ROM Call toll free 800-252-2645

email: amacoil@amacoil.com

www.amacoil.com AMACOIL, INC. PO Box 2228 • Aston, PA 19014 • Phone: 610-485-8300 • Fax: 610-485-2357

Material Savings Gained Through Precise Product Measurement s Fast Return On Investment s Advanced solution for your specific application s Superior mechanical design

Diameter

Wall Thickness

Eccentricity

With 1, 2 and 3 axis ODAC® Laser Gauges

With UMAC® / WALLMASTER Ultrasonic Scanners

With ODEX® Optical / Magnetic Gauges

repeatability up to 0.05 μm / .000002 in.

s High scan rate, up to 2400/sec. s Worldwide, more than 60.000 gauges sold.

s Up to 8 measuring points s Up to 15.000

s 2400 synchronized

s Convenient transducer

s Compact and robust

measurements /sec. adjustment allows for product set-up with in seconds.

laser diameter and magnetic position measurements / sec. design, no positioning mechanism needed.

s Closed loop inductor control allows for flexible installation.

ZUMB.707.0098.U_WJ

Worldwide Zumbach Customer Service and Sales Offices in: Zumbach Electronic AG – SWITZERLAND (H.Q.) Zumbach Electrónica Argentina S.R.L. – ARGENTINA Zumbach Electronic S.A. – BELGIUM Zumbach do Brasil Ltda – BRAZIL Zumbach Electronic Co., Ltd. – CHINA P.R. Zumbach Bureau France – FRANCE Zumbach Electronic GmbH – GERMANY

Zumbach Electronic India Pvt. Ltd. – INDIA Zumbach Electronic Srl – ITALY Zumbach Electrónica S.L. – SPAIN Zumbach Electronics Far East – TAIWAN Zumbach Electronics Ltd. – UK Zumbach Electronics Corp. – USA

www.zumbach.com

We Measure Quality

s Highest accuracy,