JUNE 2019
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INTERNATIONAL www.wirenet.org
Testing & Measuring
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE WIRE ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL
INTERWIRE WRAPUP
Attendees gather at the main entrance prior to opening of the exhibits at the Georgia World Congress Center.
INTERWIRE 2019: ‘Next-Gen’ was the buzz Atlanta, a well-known backdrop for Interwire, continued to shine as the host site, but the event—which also included the 3rd staging of the Global Continuous Casting Forum (GCCF) and the 1st staging of the International Fastener Manufacturing Exposition (IFME)—proved to live up to its “Next Gen” tag. By the numbers, overall attendance for Interwire was 3,514 down some from 2017, but in terms of the event’s look, feel and themes, it was a decided advance. The programs and speakers were forward-looking, starting with the keynote speaker, Dr. Shawn DuBravac, who
made dizzying advances in technology easier to grasp, to the closing speaker, Ross Bernstein, who outlined a different path to assessing success and direction. The Fundamentals course saw record attendance, followed by three days of solid presentations by panels and industry speakers. That backdrop, which included the new WAI Theater, sponsored by Sonoco, was matched by the exhibits that offered concepts and solutions, the overall result including a myriad of socializing and networking opportunities. There was value on multiple levels, as outlined in the following pages.
The show floor, as ever, was the ideal place for suppliers and manufacturers to meet.
The towering array of football helmets at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame was a reception photo must.
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INTERWIRE WRAPUP Keynote speaker Shawn DuBravac wowed the audience with The 3rd staging of Global Continuous Casting Forum his perspective of how technology advances. offered the most sessions ever. The Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta saw 3,514 wire and cable industry professionals representing 39 states and 47 countries in attendance. “This year’s Interwire was a perfect blend of solutions on the exhibit floor and comprehensive educational programs,” said WAI President W.T. Bigbee. “As a representative of one of the more than 400 manufacturing facilities with personnel in attendance, I saw that the industry was well served by this extensive showcase of everything that makes the wire and cable industry special.” Interwire started out with rockets blasting on Monday, May 13, with WAI’s day-long Fundamentals of Wire Manufacturing course. It drew a record 161 attendees, including a flurry of late sign-ins that forced the class to be moved to a larger location. The program continues to be a success story, one that relates to the need for manufactur-
ers to provide more industry know-how as more veteran staffers retire. That challenge was among those covered by multiple speakers in the newly created Interwire Conference Sessions over the next two days. See p. 54. Dozens of papers were presented as part of the Technical Program, which was held at the new WAI Theater, sponsored by Sonoco Reels, on the show floor. A sign of the times was that the Interwire event app saw triple the usage from 2017, and in terms of presentation, there were three new artistic elements, one of which was literally picture-perfect (see cover); the “moving” Association and staff images/blurbs at the WAI booth, and charts by Graphic Recorder Matt Orley that captured the essence of presentations on Tuesday, and were themselves often photographed both by the presenters and attendees.
The WAI Theater, sponsored by Sonoco Reels, was introduced at Interwire 2019. In the front row for the opening, from l-r, were WAI President W.T. Bigbee, WAI 2nd Vice President Tom Heberling and Sonoco Reels’ Dave Winebarger. JUNE 2019 | 37
FEATURE
Testing & Measuring
At Interwire, attendees had a wide choice of testing and measuring equipment to consider. WJI asked exhibitors to discuss their field, from what attendees were interested in to how they provide added value to customers. The Products section that starts on p. 76 also presents a range of technology to consider, and it is followed by a related tech paper on p. 82.
AESA Cortaillod SA Switzerland At Interwire 2019, AESA Cortaillod SA—which showcased the company’s ResTest 8130 model for testing aluminum conductors—explained why it is more vital than ever for manufacturers to use the most appropriate equipment.
Denis Milz, senior area sales manager, by his company’s ResTest 8130 model at Interwire. Given the extremely tight profit margins specific to the wire and cable industry, a close monitoring of raw material consumption is of paramount importance for cable manufacturers. Not only it differentiates you from your competitors but it is a must towards intelligent manufacturing in the era of smart factory/Industry 4.0. The ResTest 8130 “quick-and-easy-to-install” family is the sole solution available on the market for on-theline measurements. It renders possible the measurement of linear resistance with high accuracy, without the need to cut the conductor, hence, significantly saving time and material. The model is particularly dedicated to aluminum conductors, where the high compaction of the cable using hydraulic jaws is necessary to overcome inter-wire contact resistance due to oxide layer. Deformation of the conductor is avoided, thanks to specifically designed compaction rings. In terms of providing value to customers, the company notes that metallic conductors are the largest main source of cost in making a cable. Mastering their linear electri-
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cal resistance allows for substantial reduction in material consumption. The high accuracy of the ResTest 8130 series permits the design of conductors with properties close to the standards’ requirements while ensuring effective control of conformity of production. This can be directly linked with material savings, as was demonstrated at the company’s Interwire 2019 presentation “Electrical linear resistance versus weight measurement of conductors – what benefits can we expect?” More precisely, for a production plant with a yearly consumption of few thousand tons of copper, a backof-the-envelope calculation shows savings in the range of couple of hundred thousand dollars by tightening the material safety margin by even just 1%. Further, quicker decision regarding product quality and possible parameter adjustments can be made directly on the production line, allowing for higher productivity. In conclusion, this unique set of linear resistance equipment is a key asset with very attractive ROI to any cable manufacturers. Also, see p. 76. www.aesa-cortaillod.com.
Cersa-MCI France Check your defects at high speed! That was the message at Interwire 2019 from Cersa-MCI, which presented its LPS-3-H solution to monitor diameter and also detect short defects for high speed extrusion lines. The LPS-3-H model was designed to measure tubes, cables and wires from 0.3 mm to 5 mm. Its measurement principle is based on laser projection (shadow), and its three-axis laser beam measurement ensures a full coverage of the surface. A key competitive advantage is that, compared to the scanning principle that uses rotating mirrors, our measurements are position and vibration-independent, so no “averaging” is required. As a result, LPS-3-H gauges are more reliable than the competition. With its fast measurement rate: 20 000 Hz (measurements per axis), the LPS-3-H can detect any short evolutions/changes of the diameter but up to—and in some cases more than—10 times faster than other available devices. Thus, a short defect such as a lump or neckdown can be
Cersa-MCI’s Eric Nogues and David Miara.
This fast-lane testing & measuring outlier is rooted in Tesla smarts Tradition and legacy matter in the wire and cable industry, but the speed of innovation is a “disruptor.” Below, Overview founder Christopher Van Dyke, a former Tesla staffer, and colleague Russel Nibbelink, discuss their company’s technology. For more details, go to www.overview.ai, or contact Chris at chris@overview.ai. Overview is bringing AI, machine learning and other tech-forward software techniques out of Silicon Valley and into more factories all over the country. We may look young, but we have a combined 18 years of manufacturing and equipment experience, 12 at Tesla, where we developed high impact products on aggressive schedules. We are using those skills to develop a new set of factory tools for the wire and cable industry. If you think we are distant from the field, we’d like to note that Chris has long been fond of the cable industry, as he designed specialty cables for Tesla’s electric vehicle charging stations. Overview uses low-cost cameras with custom software to continuously watch production points, looking for errors or anomalies. The proprietary software uses machine learning to look at patterns rather than using pixel math. The results is a very flexible toolkit that can spot visible defects yet is robust enough to ignore shadows, vibrations and other false signals. Common applications include spotting braiding errors and windows, tape wrapping folds or drop out, surface defects, strand-breaks or any change that can be seen by the naked eye. Overview is working on a print quality and verification toolkit that we expect to roll out this year. We started last October, and our systems can now be bought. Why us? We use unique deep learning and general pattern matching that other vision systems don’t have, so we can have a lower cost more generalizable tool for error detection. Our tools are also operational tools. An Overview camera can continuously supervise a piece of equipment, sending an alert or shutting down a machine in the case of an error. They allow operators to manage more machines at once and support “lights out” production. A camera continuously watching a process allows excellent data to be collected. Machine status and history can
Christopher Van Dyke and Russell Nibbelink. be seen from anywhere with an internet connection. The cameras are an excellent digitization tool for older equipment that has no digital signature. Overview cameras work particularly well for wire and cable work as machines run for hours and a lot of information can be gathered from a tight viewing window. Our Overview software uses technology that traces back to the self-driving car industry and other fields with increased automation. Camera and computer costs have come down dramatically, and software techniques have been perfected that allow a computer to learn more like a human does. Five years ago only a handful academic labs running the most powerful computers could create software that would recognize and objects and actions, but now this can be done on accessible local computers that allow products like Overview’s recognition cameras to exist. Tesla has achieved a lot in a short time. We would like to hear from wire and cable manufacturers that admire that spirit of innovation, that willingness to go in directions that others have not taken.
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quickly detected even for a fast-running line. For example: at 300 m/min, the LPS-3-H can detect a lump with a length as small as 250 µm. Traditionally, customers have had to buy two gauges: one for diameter control and one for flaw detection. The LPS-3-H can do both, its dual feature of diameter monitoring and defect detection making it an all-in-one product. Many customers around the world are already using the LPS for online measurements to prevent quality problems and optimize their processes. Technical Sales Engineer Eric Nogues reports that tests carried out in customer’s factory of a using a much slower