The daily news bulletin for the informed wire & cable executive. Reaching a regular audience of 7733 readers in 101 countries. Wire & Cable Industry news Subscribe here for your automatic email   RESOURCES... - Exchange Rates - Info Links - Forex TV - Publication Policy - Email the Editor - Advertising November 16th, 2009  - Press Releases Vienna, Austria - NEWS from the AWCMA/VOEDKM - Austria Achieving greater awareness of its market leading high-tech products and Austrian engineering in the international wire and cable industry are central to the global aims of the Austrian Wire and Cable Machinery Manufacturers´ Association (AWCMA/VOEDKM) . Since its foundation in 1988 by Dr. Kurt G. Eder, 21 Austrian specialist firms are available to apply state-of-the-art technology to the solution of wire and cable production problems. During the 2009  Annual General meeting, the following members of the board have been elected in office until end of 2012 : Members of the board: President:                             Dr. Kurt G. EDER                       (EDER Engineering-Austria) Vice-President:                    Mag. Robert EBNER                   (EBNER Industrieofenbau) Secretary:                            Mag. Werner LICHTSCHEIDL  (MEDEK&SCHOERNER) Coordination&Advisor         Ing. Siegfried ALTMANN           (KNILL Group/ROSENDAHL GmbH) See Extended Story.. November 12th, 2009  - Press Releases Vienna, Austria - News from EDER Engineering GmbH – Austria NEW ORDERS for EDER ENGINEERING-AUSTRIA: As a result of continuous efforts within the global wire and cable industry and to some degree certainly also benefitting from the evident economic upturn, EDER-Austria have recently been entrusted with considerable orders for complete die-tool workshop equipment lines from „AZENCO“ in Azerbaijan and from GULF Cable Co. – Jordan. NEW CATALOGUES available : EDER-Austria have launched new catalogues for die-tool processing and reparing equipment as well as for an attractive selection of die-workshop ancillary devices and die-tools. NEW EDER-Representation for Colombia/Ecuador : Matthias BRUEGGER, active within the wire drawing industry of his region for many years and also representing Wafios, Koch, Schlatter, Strecker, Bongart, Wittels & Albert etc., is now representing also EDER-Austria in Colombia and Ecuador. See Extended Story.. October 21st, 2009  - Press Releases Wrexham U.K. - A Webinar to Announce a New Release of CableBuilder Cimteq have recently enhanced their cable design software CableBuilder, with many developments that are designed to make it easier and faster to integrate into the cable manufacture’s enterprise.  A full demonstration of the application as well, as the details of new features is now planned with an online webinar in late November.  Software for cable design has been under used in the cable industry.  The majority of manufactures rely on spreadsheets to manage their cable design process.  Spreadsheets are flexible and easy to use, however, they are notoriously difficult to manage in large volumes and pose a security threat to the companies more valuable asset, their intellectual properly. Cimteq plan to show how modern design software like CableBuilder can be used to help a cable company manage their intellectual properly effectively, remove waste, reduce scrap, look professional and win more orders. Registration through Cimteq’s website with this link. See Extended Story.. October 16th, 2009  - Press Releases Garibaldi, RS, Brazil - Madem Operations are 100% HT - ISPM 15 Certified WorldWide With the final implementation and HT certification at operations in Romania and Bahrain, all Madem plants worldwide are now exclusively working with HT ISPM 15 certified materials. The HT standard evolved from the need for pest and insect control in wooden packaging for shipment.  Every year these requirements continue to tighten on customers in countries all over the world. Madem Group anticipated this trend and proactively prepared for global operations to adopt this certification in Brazil, USA, Spain, Romania, and Bahrain. “Aside from the obvious question of pest and insect control for packaging, HT certification has an additional positive environmental impact, because the HT process doesn’t use harsh chemicals and conforms to ISO 14.000 standards” said Leandro Mazzoccato, Director of Corporate Marketing and Sales. He adds, “Madem currently uses only HT certified renewable lumber, which makes us a truly ‘Green’ company. September 22nd, 2009  - Press Releases Wrexham, United Kingdom - SAP’s Crystal Reports enhances Cable Design Cimteq, the supplier of the cable design software CableBuilder, signed a partnership agreement with SAP to turbo-boost their software’s ability to generate professional reports, manufacturing instructions and on-line catalogues. CableBuilder the popular Cable Design software that is used by wire and cable manufacturers worldwide for design, quotations, costing, datasheets, etc. now contains an integrated reporting engine in the form of Crystal Reports. See Extended Story.. September 17th, 2009  - Press Releases CHASSE-SUR-RHÔNE, France - VICAFIL / STEELSKIN: Rigorous control to guaranty quality CONDAT supplies wire producers with products adapted to their processes with a guaranteed optimum quality level. With a laboratory of 45 people and 5% of its turnover dedicated to R&D, CONDAT is ahead of the competition. CONDAT group laboratories are separated into 3 departments: Strategic & Prospective research in order to find innovative lubricating solutions and develop the lubricant technologies of the future. Applied research to characterize and develop new products. Analysis and SAV to control, follow and maintain current lubricants in use Through the dimension and resources allocated to its R&D, CONDAT affirms its worldwide leading position in the wire drawing business and reinforces its capacity to develop quickly new products answering the market demands and the specific needs of its customers. See Extended Story.. September 16th, 2009  - Press Releases Houston, Texas - Attend one of AMI's Informative Plastics Industry Strategy Seminars "The Plastics Industry Strategy Seminar" Managing in times like the present can feel like a lonely affair. Who can you turn to for fair but authoritative views on the direction and strategic options open to your company?  In difficult times, what distinguishes the successful from the unsuccessful may well be the quality of the information they work with. "Middle East Plastics Industry Strategy Seminar" At times of economic slowdown, the position of weaker players tends to erode further while the stronger companies continue to strive to find the competitive advantage. The Middle East is about to play a pivotal role in the global plastics industry. Is your company positioned to gain from the prospective changes? Who can you turn to for fair but authoritative views on the direction and strategic options which are opening up at this time? Both seminars are structured as intimate meetings where attendees can get the maximum benefit of both the presentations, and also discussions with industry colleagues from a wide variety of backgrounds. See Extended Story.. August 14th, 2009  - Press Releases Vantaa, Finland - Nextrom’s Advanced Coloring System OFC 52i Nextrom developed a high speed optical fiber coloring line to improve productivity and to provide the flexibility to manufacturing a variety of quality products. The development focused upon the design of key line components to achieve speeds up to 3000 m/min for coloring. A robust mechanical and electrical design, in combination with optimized tooling, improved UV lamp system, UV monitoring instrumentation and increased spool sizes provide the capability to produce longer fiber lengths with faster set-ups. The result is a significant productivity improvement. Previous developments of UV up-coating and ring marking were incorporated into the new design to provide the flexibility to manufacture a wide variety of products. See Extended Story.. July 27th, 2009  - Press Releases Arnhem, The Netherlands - Teijin Aramid publishes CSR report 2008 Teijin Aramid has published its 2008 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report. Basic theme of the report on 2008 is ‘Strength in Unity’, which expresses the core values of Teijin Aramid and the way it cooperates with its customers. With this sixth report, Teijin Aramid shows that CSR is heavily engrained in its DNA and that aramid fibers are the products of the future. July 6th, 2009  - Press Releases Vienna, Austria - Austrian Wire and Cable Machinery Manufacturers' Association - Wire South East ASIA 2009 /Bangkok (13-15 Oct. 09) The "AWCMA" (Austrian Wire and Cable Machinery Manufacturers' Association, (German language title "VOEDKM") has been celebrating its 20th anniversary in last year and presently consists of 20 member companies. All AWCMA member companies are continuously involved in that kind of outstanding research and development, making them the first choice when it is to find your best partner in introducing latest production methods throughout the world of producing wires and cables. The Austrian Wire- and Cable Machinery Manufacturers´Association, “AWCMA”will actively take part in this exhibition in Bangkok and with 11 of its member-companies there, all offering leading technology (hard- and software) for the economical production of wires and cables. See Extended Story.. July 3rd, 2009  - Press Releases Vienna, Austria - EDER Engineering GmbH - Participation in - "Wire SouthEast Asia 09" Eder Engineering GmbH for over 60 years offer efficient standard, semi-automatic and fully automatic machines for both the reconditioning and production of ultrahard precision tools made from tungsten carbide, natural diamond and synthetic PCD, drawing dies, as well as technical assistance for all Eder die-tool working equipment. EDER-Austria will again participate in the forthcoming exhibition in Bangkok (13-15 Oct. 2009) and at their stand, located in the Austrian Pavilion. See Extended Story.. June 30th, 2009  - Press Releases Irving, Texas - Commercial Metals Company reports $13.1 Million loss in 2nd Quarter CMC Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Murray R. McClean said, "Global metal markets may have tested the bottom during the quarter and though some recovery has occurred, the markets, overall, remain fragile. Any volume improvement in the quarter was seasonal and not reflective of any stimulus effect. Destocking appears to be in its last stages; however, end-use demand remains weak. Internationally, Poland remains one of the few countries with a positive GDP; its weak currency discourages imports; however, the lack of demand in traditional export markets minimizes any opportunities to leverage the euro or the U.S. dollar through exports. There are some encouraging developments in China where pricing and consumption are on the rise. Lower prices and lower inventory quantities again triggered LIFO income during the quarter. Our largest commercial exposures remain unwarranted customer contractual noncompliance leading to market claims, price renegotiations, and unexpected inventory positions." See Extended Story.. June 23rd, 2009  - Press Releases Ecublens, Switzerland - Improving the Throughput Linearity of Extruders The throughput of an extruder should increase linearly with screw speed, but the relation is never absolutely linear. With better linearity, the scrap produced during ramp up can be reduced. Linearity of the throughput depends on several variables. In particular, the barrel temperature and the screw temperature affect the linearity. These relations, however, are complicated. Nonlinear modeling is an effective route to tackle this problem. This article defines throughput linearity in measurable quantitative terms. Nonlinear models of this variable are developed from data from suitably planned experiments. After that, it is feasible to determine the maximum throughput in presence of constraints on linearity and melt temperature. June 22nd, 2009  - Press Releases Sandviken - Pressure on Sandvik Earnings from Low Volumes and nonrecurring Costs Sandvik’s order intake rate gradually declined in April-May to a level, which in terms of volume was 40-50% lower than the year-earlier period. Generally low demand from end customers, combined with continued inventory reductions among most customer segments, leads to invoicing in terms of volume having declined to a level 30-40% lower than the year-earlier period. In order to avoid increased obsolescence this generates a need for Sandvik to further reduce inventories. Accordingly, the production rate has fallen below the rate of order intake by about 10% during the second quarter. As a result of the dramatic decline in the market situation since October 2008, extensive actions to reduce Sandvik’s cost base were initiated early on. To date, the global staff has been reduced by about 6,000 people and agreement to decrease work time by 15-20% with a corresponding cut in salary costs will comprise about 12,000-14,000 people as of June. Additionally, decisions have been taken to permanently close 10 production sites. The action program has steadily increased in scope and implemented and approved actions will have a gradually increasing effect during the year. For the full year, the implemented and planned measures are expected to lead to cost reductions of nearly SEK 6 billion compared with 2008. See Extended Story.. June 17th, 2009  - Press Releases New York - Tyco Electronics Shares Surge Nearly 8 Percent Tyco Electronics shares spiked upward after the company issued better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter guidance, citing improved consumer sales, new project revenue and benefits from foreign currency exchange rates. The Bermuda-based electronic components firm said it expects sales between $2.45 billion and $2.55 billion for the three months at end of June, above its prior forecast of $2.35 billion to $2.45 billion. The increase stems, in part, from better sales in its electronic components segment, which makes items such as mobile phone antennas, wire and cable components, flat-screen monitors and a variety of other products. See Extended Story.. June 16th, 2009  - Press Releases Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A. - 800 Workers to be Recalled to Sidestep Severence Charges - US Steel United States Steel Corp. plans to recall about 800 laid-off workers at a plant in Canada this summer, partly to avoid possible severance payments required under a provincial law, a union representative announced. Like other steel companies, U.S. Steel has faced dwindling orders as the global economic crisis shrinks demand for the metal used in everything from cars to office buildings. The company has laid off thousands of workers since last fall as it has ratcheted down production in an effort to match the falling demand.U.S. Steel said Friday it plans to recall the workers at its plant in Hamilton, Ontario, sometime this summer, according to Rolf Gerstenberger, president of the United Steelworkers' Local 1005. See Extended Story.. June 15th, 2009  - Press Releases Bloomsbury, New Jersey - Cortinovis America to represent Corbellini in North America Cortinovis Machinery America, Inc. is pleased to announce that Corbellini has joined the group of companies we represent in North America which include: Eurolls SpA, Cortinovis Machinery SpA, Eurolls/Teammeccanica, Teurema, and Vitari. Corbellini is specialized in the total production of ceramic-tungsten carbide –special alloys coating or sintered ceramic aluminia-zirconia, for wire machinery components such as: Capstans, rollers, and pulleys Balanced draw rings and rollers for high speed multiple wire drawing Conical -step capstans for wet drawing machines Components in solid ceramic or ceramic on a metal (aluminum or steel) See Extended Story.. June 13th, 2009  - Press Releases Melbourne, Australia - Sierra Global Network Presents Horizontal Directional Drilling Sierra Global Network (Pvt) Ltd., a leading firm in the telecommunication infrastructure development sector has taken another step forward by implementing fibre optic cable projects using the Horizontal Directional Drilling, commonly known as HDD technology. HDD is allowing construction companies to install underground telecommunication network infrastructure minimizing or eliminating the need for excavation. In most developed countries this trenchless technique has been used to install underground ducts along the roads as an alternative to traditional digging techniques. Long installation lengths can be achieved (even up to several kms) by dividing the work length into shorter sections (100m - 200m as an average). The length of each section will depend on the characteristics of the machines and the design requirements. See Extended Story.. June 12th, 2009  - Press Releases Magnitogorsk Chelyabinsk region , Russia - Auto, Construction Demand Revival Not Evident to Magnitogorsk in Russia OAO Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel, Russia’s third-largest steelmaker, said it sees no revival in demand from automakers and construction. Purchases from pipemakers may support sales, Andrei Eremin, Magnitogorsk’s director for economy, said on a conference call today. The company, which is based in the Ural Mountains city of the same name, plans to supply as much as 300,000 metric tons of plate to pipemakers by the end of the year, Eremin said. The steelmaker posted a first-quarter loss of $110 million, compared with net income of $271 million a year earlier. Sales dropped 55 percent to $965 billion, the company said today. Production fell 43 percent to 2.07 million tons as demand shrank in Russia. See Extended Story.. June 2nd, 2009  - Press Releases Veenendaal, GLD , The Netherlands - Red Sea Cables selects InnoVites to implement complete industry solution for wire & cable InnoVites B.V. announces that Red Sea Cables (ResCab) has selected InnoVites for Cable© as their ERP solution of choice. InnoVites for Cable© is the ERP solution for the wire and cable industry on Microsoft Dynamics AX©. ResCab is an innovative company that will commence its operations in Saudi Arabia in Q3 2009. InnoVites delivers ResCab a complete industry solution including an integration to CableBuilder©, the popular cable design software of Cimteq Ltd. InnoVites works together with the local partner INC Technologies to implement the solution at ResCab. The industry solution of InnoVites helps ResCab to benefit from the best practices in the industry from day one! See Extended Story.. April 21st, 2009  - Press Releases Nuremberg, Germany - Leoni widens product focus to limit automotive dependence Under the motto "Automotive & More" Leoni will present itself at the 2009 Hanover Trade Fair. Along with its products for the automotive industry, the Company is showing both proven and new kinds of wire, cable and system solutions for the core markets comprising electrical appliances, communication & infrastructure, industry & medical as well as conductors & copper solutions. Full press release use this link April 21st, 2009  - Press Releases Colorado Springs Colorado - Liberty Wire & Cable introduces recession-fighting cherry-picking order initiative Liberty Wire & Cable, worldwide supplier of a broad and expanding range of wire and cable products for the audio/video trade, introduces a recession-fighting Cherry-Picking Initiative™ to provide more and better options to help commercial and residential installers and other customers through tough times in the economy. Liberty’s Initiative is designed to protect and preserve installers’ businesses by encouraging and helping them select from more than 7,000 SKUs. This is the broadest selection of products, services and options in the industry, including the market’s largest selection of Lutron lighting products. With so many items to Cherry Pick among, and assistance available from Liberty’s technical specialists, Liberty provides a valuable alternative to allocating precious capital to maintain high inventory levels. Customers can, in effect, just use Liberty’s warehouses as their own, selecting what they need when they need it, knowing that Liberty’s delivery services are swift and reliable. See Extended Story.. April 3rd, 2009  - Press Releases Pischelsdorf, Austria - 50 Years Innovation Rosendahl Ongoing development and technological progress are fundamental values Rosendahl can look back on its 50 years’ history. Within those 50 years, Rosendahl has grown to a global supplier of manufacturing technology for the production of Power-, Automotive- and Fiber Optic Cables, RF-, Datacom and Coaxial Cables. With excellent products, competent consulting, competitive know-how, experience and great service Rosendahl is the leading partner in the industry. March 27th, 2009  - Press Releases Veenendaal, The Netherlands - InnoVites implements CableBuilder© at Relemac Cables InnoVites B.V. announces that Relemac Cables (Delhi, India) has selected InnoVites as their partner to implement CableBuilder©, the popular cable design software of Cimteq Ltd. Relemac Cables have selected CableBuilder© to improve the quality and efficiency of the design and quotation processes. InnoVites B.V., a software development company, with offices in India and The Netherlands announces today that Relemac Cables (Delhi, India) has selected InnoVites as their partner to implement CableBuilder©. CableBuilder© is the popular and powerful cable design software developed by Cimteq Ltd, the industry partner of InnoVites. InnoVites is the exclusive reseller for CableBuilder© in India. See Extended Story.. March 20th, 2009  - Press Releases Mielkendorf , Germany - Economic Growth in India Requires Second Uhing Agency on the Subcontinent The products of Joachim Uhing KG are being operated on all continents. Likewise widespread is the sales network of the company headquartered in Mielkendorf near Kiel. The well-established company is constantly striving at expanding its sales activities wherever possible, in particular when there is only little economic growth. For this reason, a new sales partnership contract was signed in India in November last year that came into effect on January 1, 2009. “The Indian market is developing very fast,” reports Uhing Marketing Head Wolfgang Weber. “We had the great pleasure to look for another partner to take care of our present and future customers in this vast, up-and-coming subcontinent.” For the manufacturer of special drive solutions, good contacts to the sales offices are of major importance. Last but not least, a constant mutual exchange and understanding for the products are vital prerequisites for a successful cooperation. For this reason, Weber met Mohan Pandit on occasion of the Wire & Cable Fair at Mumbai in November 2008. See Extended Story.. March 19th, 2009  - Press Releases Eatontown, NJ - IWCS/IICIT Expand Annual Conference, Issue Call for Papers The International Wire and Cable Symposium, Inc has announced that it will expand the subject matter of its annual conference and symposium to include connectivity and interconnection technologies, together with the traditional focus on wire and cable technologies.  This expanded activity is a result of the recently announced association with the International Institute of Connector and Interconnection Technology (IICIT), with the expanded conference serving both organizations.  A joint Call for Papers has been issued and is available through the respective websites. See Extended Story.. March 10th, 2009  - Press Releases Fulton, New York - Davis-Standard, LLC to exhibit at Chinaplas 2009 Davis-Standard, LLC said in a press release that the company will exhibit at Chinaplas 2009, Hall 5.1, Booth# D13, May 18-21 in Guangzhou, China. Davis-Standard's team of flexible packaging, converting and extrusion experts will be available to discuss the full range of cast film, extrusion lamination, fabric coating, liquid coating and laminating, blown film, blow molding, pelletizing, tubing and sheet product lines. This includes information on new technologies that are well suited for the evolving Chinese plastics industry. The company's new SYNERGY product line is an example of new technology that will be promoted during the show. SYNERGY, introduced earlier this year, is available in 300, 450 and 750 models. The model numbers reflect approximate line speed capabilities in meters per minute. The SYNERGY offering allows converters to produce high quality flexible packaging, thermal lamination, stand-up pouches, lidding, tube and aseptic films to match their market requirements and investment plans while utilizing the very best technologies of each brand within Davis-Standard's Converting Systems Group. For the full press release use this link March 5th, 2009  - Press Releases Vantaa, Finland - Nextrom is selected by CGCRI Research Institute to deliver an MCVD system and Chelate delivery system NHS Nextrom Oy, with its headquarter in Finland, is a global supplier and market leader of Optical Fiber and Cable manufacturing equipment. Nextrom recently got awarded with a contract from CGCRI, Kolkata, India to supply an MCVD and a rare earth vapor phase doping system for academic research and industrial R&D projects. Nextrom won the contract amidst stiff competition from other manufacturers. “The technical competence and reputation were big factors behind Nextrom’s success” stated CGCRI. See Extended Story.. February 19th, 2009  - Press Releases Mielkendorf / Germany - The Secret of the Uhing Drive Nut The numerous useful inventions for drive technology Joachim Uhing KG presented in its history caused surprise and bewilderment among mechanical engineering experts again and again. Observers are often puzzled by the underlying mechanism of our products and ask themselves: How does this work? Wolfgang Weber, the Marketing Head, explains how an Uhing drive nut can be successful although it lacks one technical property. By developing the drive nut, Uhing conceived a non-positive linear feed element that has become a success as a drive element in measuring machines although it does not have an accuracy of its own. Many engineers and operators of the Uhing drive nut are wondering: How come this technology works reliably in spite of this? See Extended Story.. February 5th, 2009  - Press Releases Concord, Ontario, Canada - Howar Equipment Inc. has constituted Unitek Crossheads Inc. to distribute UNITEK crossheads and color change systems in North America UNITEK Maschinenbau- und Handelsges.m.b.H., Austria the leading supplier of high precision crossheads and color change systems is proud to announce the new sales, distribution and service organization for North America.             In order to provide our valued customers with the best possible service UNITEK Maschinenbau- und Handelsges.m.b.H., Austria has signed a distribution agreement with UNITEK Crossheads Inc. (Div. of Howar Equipment) for the sales & service of UNITEK extrusion crossheads and color change systems for the North American market. See Extended Story.. February 4th, 2009  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn., U.S.A. - Davis-Standard, LLC to Host Basic Extrusion Seminar Davis-Standard, LLC will host its popular workshop on “The Basics of Plastics Extrusion” on April 7 and 8, 2009 at its headquarters in Pawcatuck, Connecticut. The two-day class will cover the fundamentals of plastics extrusion, as well as the composition and properties of various polymers and the mechanics of essential downstream processes. Topics include extruder components, temperature control, maintenance and screw design. See Extended Story.. January 27th, 2009  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn., U.S.A. - New Davis-Standard EPIC III Equipped with Remote Diagnostic Capability Davis-Standard customers who purchase an EPIC III supervisory control system in 2009 will now have access to remote diagnostics and troubleshooting via a secure Internet connection. The REACT (REmote ACcess Technology) system, standard on all new EPIC III systems, will enable Davis-Standard process engineers and technicians to support customers worldwide in real-time without a service call. With REACT, Davis-Standard’s service team can remotely and immediately view process conditions at a customer’s plant during a production run without the need to stop the line. See Extended Story.. January 15th, 2009  - Press Releases Veenendaal, The Netherlands - Neolex Cables selects InnoVites to implement CableBuilder© InnoVites B.V. announces that Neolex Cables (Mumbai, India) has selected InnoVites as their partner to implement CableBuilder©, the popular cable design software of Cimteq Ltd. Neolex Cables decided to invest in innovation to strengthen its competitive position in the current challenging times. InnoVites B.V. a software development company, with offices in India and The Netherlands announces today that Neolex Cables (Mumbai, India) has selected InnoVites as their partner to implement CableBuilder©. CableBuilder© is the popular and powerful cable design software developed by Cimteq Ltd, the industry partner of InnoVites. See Extended Story.. December 6th, 2008  - Press Releases Carrollton, GA, U.S.A. - Southwire's SCR Technologies Signs Deal With Changzou Jinyuan Copper Company     Southwire Company’s  SCR Technologies recently signed a contract Changzhou Jinyuan Copper Company of China. To build a 48-metric-tonne-per-hour copper rod system, including a 13-stand Morgan rolling mill. Changzhou Jinyuan currently produces copper rod. However, this contract represents the first SCR system for their company. “We are both honored and excited that Changzhou Jinyuan chose the SCR system and joined the SCR Technologies family,” said Will Berry, President of SCR Technologies. “We look forward to the new partnership.” The system will be capable of producing rod sizes ranging from 8mm up to 25mm. It will include SCR technology such as a twin fork loader for furnace charging and the latest in computerized remote monitoring (Ex-Ray) system for trouble shooting and real time process evaluation by a Southwire expert. The new rod line will be installed in China with commissioning slated for 2010. October 31st, 2008  - Press Releases Brantford, Ontario - IGI Announces New Advanced Access Architecture Report   FTTP/ FTTN – The RBOCs' Advanced Access Architectures Equipment and Fiber Requirements Dr. Paul Polishuk, president of Information Gatekeepers, announced the availability of a complete new report on the RBOCs’ Advanced Access Architecture plans. In discussing this release with a group of clients in Boston, Dr. Polishuk explained, “Information Gatekeepers has recognized the Advanced Access Architecture thrusts of the major US carriers as one of the most important events in telecommunications history. As such, IGI has been periodically issuing major reports on the FTTP/FTTN activities of the RBOCs since it began in 2003. Earlier this year we issued “Advanced Access Architectures 2008: AT&T, Verizon, and Qwest Plans and Forecasts,” the most comprehensive of our reports on this subject. Dr. Polishuk continued, "In recognition of the wide interest and deep importance of the FTTP/FTTN phenomena, we are now issuing a series of reports that focus on narrower aspects of Advanced Access Architectures.”  You can find the full press release, with this link. October 16th, 2008  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn., U.S.A. - Davis-Standard, LLC Opens New Office in Northeast Davis-Standard, LLC is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The Northeast office will feature personnel representing both the extrusion and converting businesses of Davis-Standard. According to Charles Buckley, President and CEO of Davis-Standard, LLC, the new office allows the company to increase its presence throughout the northeast and tap into the engineering and sales talents of the area. “Opening an office in Gloucester for experienced engineers and sales professionals is one more example of our ability to invest in future growth.” Buckley added, “In spite of the turmoil in the financial markets, we continue to grow through market share gains and continuous global expansion.” See Extended Story.. October 11th, 2008  - Press Releases Pewaukee, WI, U.S.A. - Allied Wire and Cable Announces Wisconsin Relocation Allied Wire and Cable, one of the country’s leading wire and cable distributors, has relocated their Wisconsin office and warehouse from Elkhorn, WI to a larger 20,000 square-foot facility in Pewaukee, WI on Friday, September 26. The new space allows for the addition of new machines and employees while leaving room for future expansion. “We are proud that we are moving to a larger facility. We will be adding additional equipment and stock to help better service our valued customers. It is very exciting that in less than 2 years, we have outgrown the Elkhorn plant,” said Hans Nelson, Sales Manager for the Wisconsin division. This new building is Allied's response to customers’ biggest need: faster lead times. Thanks to unprecedented growth in all locations, Allied Wire and Cable has been able to expand and meet these needs. The company expects shipping to customers in the Midwest and Western states to be even faster and more convenient than before. Meeting and exceeding customer needs is AWC’s primary focus. To this end, Wisconsin is expanding its value-added capacities, particularly striping and re-spooling, with more space and new or upgraded machinery. Warehouse improvement is just one of the many ways that Allied Wire and Cable is committed to always improving the customer experience. This facility upgrade takes place on the heels of a move for the Collegeville, PA corporate headquarters last winter. Allied Wire and Cable is thankful to our loyal customers. October 2nd, 2008  - Press Releases Pune, India - Optic cable demand strong in H1 2008 Sterlite reports in its Quarterly newsletter that they estimated the global demand for optical fiber to be 76 million-km in the first half of 2008, with Asia consuming more than half of this quantity. Growth rates indicate that 2008 should see the global demand of at least 150 million-km. The market is back to peak levels after the collapse, but the focus is on local access rather than longdistance applications. The news letter said that CRU (their source) further reports that the prices of both fiber optic cable and bare optical fiber price have shown an increase in the last few months. Key factors in the price increases for cables include higher material, energy, labor, and transportation costs. See Extended Story.. September 20th, 2008  - Press Releases Arnhem, The Netherlands - Teijin Aramid announces price increase for aramid products Twaron, Technora and Teijinconex As from October 1, 2008, Teijin Aramid will increase prices for its para-aramid products Twaron and Technora by a minimum of 8 percent. The price for our meta-aramid product Teijnconex will increase by a minimum of 15 percent as per that date. Ongoing cost-saving programs and other efficiency optimization measures have been unable to offset the extreme rise in costs involved in the production and transportation of aramid products. Teijin Aramid has been continuously expanding its production capacity in order to meet customer demands. “We strive to provide top quality products and services to our customers as part of a long term strategy to grow our business in partnership with our customers. Our combined success is the main driver behind investments of over one billion euro’s since 2000, to meet growing demand for our products. As we speak a new expansion is being implemented and that process will only continue in the coming years”, says Gert Frederiks, Commercial Director of Teijin Aramid. See Extended Story.. September 12th, 2008  - Press Releases Brantford Ontario - Machinery builders eye wireless developments in process industries Manufacturers in the automotive, aerospace, electrical, electronics, machinery, and other discrete industries are closely watching recent wireless developments in the process industries in hope that at least some of the outcome will address their own requirements. Recent process industry developments such as introduction of a wireless version of the HART protocol for process sensors, plus the ISA 100 initiative for wireless process sensing, are of significant interest to discrete manufacturers, but numerous differences between discrete versus process requirements will limit their applicability to discrete manufacturers. The worldwide market for wireless devices in discrete manufacturing is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% over the next five years. The discrete wireless market for ISA SP50 levels 0 through 2 totaled $368.0 million in 2007 and is forecasted to grow to over $780 million in 2012, according to a new ARC Advisory Group study. See Extended Story.. September 11th, 2008  - Press Releases DENVER, PA - Sylvin Unveils New Literature For Custom Vinyl Compounds Sylvin Technologies Inc., a custom vinyl compound manufacturer, has recently developed and published new quick reference literature guides designed to enable customers to quickly find a specific compound for their application.  Each piece of literature cites a list of the wide range of vinyl compounds available for wire and cable, injection molding, profile extrusion, electrical molding and FDA applications. See Extended Story.. August 25th, 2008  - Press Releases Pawtucket, RI, U.S.A. - Chem Polymer Publishes Brochures - Engineering Compounds & Data Sheets A new brochure from Chem Polymer, a unit of Teknor Apex Company, provides detailed information on the company's extensive range of engineering thermoplastic (ETP) compounds. Chem Polymer has also published accompanying data sheets focusing on automotive and electrical and electronics (E&E) applications of these materials. The general publication on ETPs is an 8-page color pocket brochure that lists property data for Chemlon® nylon 6, 66, 66/6 copolymer, and 12 compounds. Tables show these products to be available in many reinforced, filled, wear-protected, and flame-retardant versions, in formulations modified for impact resistance, enhanced flow, and other characteristics, and in products that combine these technologies. All compounds can be supplied in pre-colored form. You can find the general publication here. See Extended Story.. June 24th, 2008  - Press Releases Pischelsdorf , Österreich / Europa - KNILL Technology Prepares for Further Expansion after a Record Year The Knill Technology group with its companies Rosendahl, Nextrom and Silitec achieved last business year an order intake of more than 100 Million Euro. This is another important step in the growth and strengthening the leading technology and market position. Knill Technology is setting the course toward further growth based on organic development as well by acquisitions and has implemented new structures within the organisation to meet the challenges that lie ahead. See Extended Story.. June 21st, 2008  - Press Releases Washington, DC - Carris Reels Named 2008 ESOP Company of the Year by The ESOP Association Carris Reels, a 100% employee owned company located in Rutland, Vermont, has been selected by The ESOP Association as the 2008 ESOP Company of the Year. The award was presented at the Association’s 31st Annual Conference in Washington, DC. The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership. See Extended Story.. June 19th, 2008  - Press Releases Chasse-sur-Rhône, France - REACH - A strategic concern for CONDAT Since June 1st, 2008, the EUROPEAN REGULATION 2006/1907/CEE, better known under the name REACH, acronym of the words Registration, Evaluation, Authorization of Chemicals, officially started. The fundamental REACH concept is the risk evaluation of a substance for the user and the environment regarding its use and the implementation of appropriate means of protection. Chemical industries are affected by this new regulation. As creators of substances and formulators, lubricant producers have to comply with this rule and have to follow its process evolution. Regarding awareness and harmonization of the project, CONDAT for more than 2 years now, has followed the REACH regulations. See Extended Story.. June 2nd, 2008  - Press Releases Mielkendorf Germany - Functions on Plain Shaft Continue on their Road to Success Mielkendorf-based Joachim Uhing KG GmbH & Co. offers a broad range of products in the sector of linear technology. The company continues rolling out new models for industrial application even 60 years after the company's founder invented the rolling ring drive. The success of Uhing products for plain shafts is still unstoppable. What originally had been designed as a drive for industrial knitting machines has turned into a broad range of products today: the flexible screw spindle without thread the engineer Joachim Uhing invented around 1950 is found in a wide range of industrial applications. You can find out more about Joachim Uhing KG GmbH & Co. with this link. See Extended Story.. May 16th, 2008  - Press Releases Mumbai India - Aksh Optifibre to consider splitting manufacturing and services operations Optic fiber cable maker and broadband services firm Aksh Optifibre Ltd will consider separating its manufacturing and services operations into two entities, its chief financial officer said on Tuesday. "This is still in the nascent stages. The company is discussing about hiving off manufacturing and services into two separate companies," Satyendra Gupta told Reuters. The plan was still at a preliminary stage and was yet to be discussed at the board level, he added. The board is expected to take a decision within a month. The idea behind the proposed split was to have two independently focused companies and to unlock value for shareholders and allow investors to make a choice between manufacturing and services. The company's growth had led to two businesses which were diverse in nature, Gupta said. See Extended Story.. May 14th, 2008  - Press Releases Bethersden,Kent , U.K. - PWM appoints new US distributor British company Pressure Welding Machines (PWM), world-leading manufacturer of cold pressure welding equipment and dies, has announced the appointment of Amaral Automation Associates of Cumberland, RI as its exclusive distributor for the United States and Canada. Steve Mepsted, managing and sales director of PWM said: “Amaral Automation Associates has over 20 years of proven wire and cable experience and has the product and customer knowledge we are looking for in order to continue to expand our share of these very important markets”.  Since 1984, Rick Amaral, founder of Amaral Automation Associates, has supplied the wire and cable industry with top quality products from the best manufacturers in the wire and cable field. Over the years, the company has established a solid reputation for providing complete solutions to manufacturing and production issues and outstanding customer service. See Extended Story.. April 22nd, 2008  - Press Releases Shanghai China - Teknor Apex names Ashland to represent its PVC compounds in China Teknor Apex Company signed an agreement appointing Ashland Distribution China to represent the company's vinyl compounds in China, the companies announced jointly during Chinaplas 2008. Teknor Apex is participating in the show through its subsidiaries, Singapore Polymer Corporation (SPC) and Teknor Apex (Suzhou) Advanced Polymer Compounds Co. (Stand W3A01). A major focus for Ashland will be the medical device market, for which Teknor Apex offers an extensive range of flexible vinyl compounds, noted Bertram M. Lederer, executive vice president of Teknor Apex Company. SPC and Teknor Apex Suzhou both have the capability to manufacture compounds that are identical to those developed by the parent company in the U.S. and are already compliant with regulations widely required in major medical markets. See Extended Story.. April 10th, 2008  - Press Releases Veenendaal, The Netherlands - Announcement Partnership Cimteq and InnoVite Announcement Partnership Cimteq and InnoVites Cimteq Ltd. and InnoVites B.V. announce that they have entered into a strategic partnership. Both companies develop software solutions and are exclusively focused on the wire&cable industry. The companies offer products that help cable manufacturers to improve business performance. Cimteq and InnoVites have presented their complementary solutions in a joint booth at the Wire Düsseldorf trade fair. See Extended Story.. March 15th, 2008  - Press Releases Tempe Arizona - PCT International Introduces MOCSY™ last mile Coaxial Cable PCT International, Inc. (PCT), a manufacturer of last mile solutions, announced Thursday the introduction of MOCSY™ (Multimedia Over Cables Systems) coaxial cable. PCT said it was pleased to introduce its improved and re-branded line of MOCSY™ (Multimedia Over Cable System) coaxial cable. MOCSY brand 75 Ohm coaxial cable is available in Series 6, 11, 59, and mini-headend. Additionally, MOCSY coaxial cable is available with PCT’s revolutionary dry anti-corrosion technology, Z-Wire™, eliminating copper oxidation and providing the highest level of integrity for today’s sophisticated voice, video and data networks. PCT acquired Andrew Corporation's 75 Ohm coaxial cable division, including its manufacturing facility in Yantai, China in 2007 and finalized PCT’s completion of product lines necessary for its "Last Mile Drop Solution". "PCT's state of the art product offerings and proprietary drop installation products, including our MOCSY7 coaxial cables, firmly establishes PCT as the broadband industry leader regarding technology from the tap to the set-top box,” commented PCT’s Executive Vice-President, Brandon Wilson. "PCT’s product innovations, like our patented Z-Wire anti-corrosion cable, is a key piece of our bundled, hardened drop solution which not only saves money due to efficiency in logistics, but helps reduce costly service calls." March 14th, 2008  - Press Releases Veenendaal, The Netherlands - InnoVites Initiates Benchmark Study of Cable Manufacturers to Identify Best Practices in the Industry InnoVites B.V. announces that it initiated a benchmark study of cable manufacturers to identify best practices in the industry. The benchmark study is part of an Executive MBA program at the Rotterdam School of Management at the Erasmus University, The Netherlands. This study contributes to the mission of InnoVites to help cable manufacturers to improve their business performance. InnoVites B.V., a Dutch software development company that develops ERP software specific for the cable manufacturing industry announces the initiation of a benchmark study of cable manufacturers. See Extended Story.. March 3rd, 2008  - Press Releases Atlanta Georgia - Superior Essex Cat 6A UTP Cable receives UL verification Superior Essex Inc., one of the largest wire and cable manufacturers in the world, said that its 10Gain Category 6A UTP cable product line has been verified by Underwriter~{!/~}s Laboratory (UL) to meet the latest cable specification requirements of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA). Superior Essex plans to make 10Gain cable UL Verification test results available to its customers upon request, as the Company does for the other data cable products in its portfolio. The TIA specification, 568B.2-10, has recently received committee approval and is expected to be officially published by June 2008. "Although the TIA specification has been changed numerous times since draft versions were first issued in 2005, all of the 10Gain cable we have shipped to date has been designed to meet the final set of 10G specification requirements," Dr. Paul Neveux, director of premises product management for Superior Essex said in a press release. "With the specification about to be officially published, we felt it was important to provide to our customers with the additional level of performance assurance that is associated with the UL Verification program." February 22nd, 2008  - Press Releases Vancouver British Columbia - Vancouver British Columbia Tree Island Wire Income Fund Wednesday mailed a letter to unit holders and commented on new dissident information issued by The Futura Corporation in advance of a special meeting of unit holders on March 4, 2008. Futura requisitioned the meeting in an attempt to seize control of the Fund's Board of Trustees. Tree Island also invites unit holders to visit the Fund's website (www.treeisland.com) for materials related to the special meeting, including a video explaining the issues underlying the proxy contest and a video on the Fund's business strategy. "It is important for all unitholders to actively deliver their proxies, no matter how large or small their holdings, to prevent Futura from seizing control of the Fund without paying a premium to unitholders," said Keith Purchase, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tree Island. See Extended Story.. February 5th, 2008  - Press Releases Beloretsk Russia - Mechel masters unique wire production technology at its Beloretsk metallurgical plant subsidiary. Mechel OAO, one of the leading Russian mining and metals companies, announces that its Beloretsk Metallurgical Plant subsidiary succeeded in mastering a unique technology to produce stabilized reinforcing wire for pre-stressed concrete structures used in the construction industry. The equipment supplied in March 2007 by one of the leading European manufacturers, KOCH - GSG, enables Mechel, for the first time in the world, to implement mechanical descaling and surface preparing of 9-16 mm diameter high carbon wire rod in the drawing line resulting in output of 3-8 mm high-tensile wire with 1,700-2,300 MPa maximum strength at the level of approximately 20 thousand tonnes annually. The investments in the project are approximately RUR97.0 million (approximately US$3.9 million). See Extended Story.. November 24th, 2007  - Press Releases Orlando, Florida - The 56th IWCS Conference The 56th IWCS Conference wrapped up Nov 15 in sunny Florida. The perfect weather proved not to be a distraction as 900 delegates kept busy with the largest IWCS Technical Symposium experienced in several years. More than 105 papers were presented by their authors, with the consensus of the organizing committee being that the overall quality was excellent, with many break-through technologies in evidence. The Focus Suppliers Exhibition made certain that there was no “down time” for delegates as 110 industry suppliers provided information on their latest products and technologies. The Executive Forum once again provided information of strategic value to the leadership of the wire and cable industry, including a view of future technologies being delivered today. The Professional Development Courses experienced their highest enrollment in several years, with nearly 130 courses subscribed by attendees. In short, the 2007 IWCS Conference was a great success. Now the challenge is to maintain the momentum generated as planning begins for the 2008 event, scheduled for November 9 to 12 at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence RI. You can find out more about IWCS Conference 08 with this link. November 24th, 2007  - Press Releases Vienna, Austria - Diamond Celebration : 60 years of Eder, Austria Eder Engineering, Austria, now celebrating their 60th anniversary “ diamond celebration” , is a worldwide acknowledged specialist and leader in the field of leading quality drawing die tools, advanced die processing technologies and state-of-the-art working equipment for the production and reconditioning of ultrahard precision die tools. In 1947, Siegfried Eder, who had been technical director of "Felten & Guilleaume AG“, then a large wire & cable manufacturing plant in Vienna, founded the Eder company. Initially he started first with the production of wire drawing dies, then followed by making die tool processing machines for Eder´s own production, then later on also selling this equipment to Eder customers for the reconditioning of their dies.... See Extended Story.. November 12th, 2007  - Press Releases Pawtucket Rhode Island - New Brochure shows versatility and global reach of Teknor Apex as supplier of custom thermoplastic compounds A new brochure from Teknor Apex Company explains how designers, processors, and OEMs benefit from this custom compounder’s diverse thermoplastic technologies and its international supply capabilities. The colorful 12-page English-language publication reports that Teknor Apex draws on a database of 40,000 formulations and uses manufacturing capacity on three continents to supply compounds that already comply with key international standards. One special capability cited is that of providing identical compounds to globalized customers with multiple plant locations. Details on the following broad compounding groups are presented, including many product ranges in each group and the markets served: Vinyl: a dozen product ranges and extensive specialized programs for automotive, medical, wire and cable, and consumer/industrial applications. The brochure also lists numerous types of vinyl plasticizer manufactured by the Chemical Division and reports on Teknor Apex’s leading role as a manufacturer of vinyl garden hose for the retail market Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs): six product ranges encompassing styrenic block copolymer, thermoplastic olefin, and thermoplastic vulcanizate technologies. Engineered thermoplastics (ETPs): Chem Polymer compounds based on various types of acetal, nylon, PBT, and PET polymers. Colorants: standard and special-effect concentrates from Teknor Color Company for every type of thermoplastic material and processing method. Specialty compounding: toll and custom production of compounds, additive concentrates, and powder or liquid/powder blends. For a copy of the brochure, contact Teknor Apex at info@teknorapex.com. To download a pdf of the brochure, visit www.teknorapex.com/about_us.html. Founded in 1924, TEKNOR APEX COMPANY is a privately held company with seven business units and 2,000 employees. It is headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.A., manufactures at 13 locations in the U.S. and overseas, and sells in 86 countries. Visit the web site: www.teknorapex.com. November 6th, 2007  - Press Releases Brussels Belgium - New ethylene based pricing for wire and cable polyethylene grades INEOS Polyolefins introduces a new approach to ethylene based quarterly prices for all wire and cable polyethylene grades. The move follows similar changes by INEOS Polyolefins in other markets, where prices are now linked to the Quarterly West European Contract Price for Ethylene (WECP C2). Basing prices on ethylene, which is the main raw material of polyethylene, will provide both simplicity and stability, for INEOS’ wire and cable customers. The decision also includes its compounds and resins. “In order for our wire and cable customers to have a sustainable position in their markets, and support necessary investment in research and development, it is important that they have greater stability of prices. Moving to a quarterly based price linked to ethylene achieves this goal and simplifies the process for all parties,” said Andre Scheelen, Sector Manager Construction & Durables, INEOS Polyolefins. “Unlike purely commodity markets, where switching suppliers can be commonplace, contracts in the wire and cable market are typically negotiated for one year or more. In such markets security of supply is paramount to support the necessary technical approvals, which take time to achieve. Quarterly pricing helps support our customers address these needs.” A quarterly approach to pricing will be more stable than monthly and prices linked to ethylene tend to be less volatile, which allows cable manufacturers a greater ability to manage their short term business. Although large ethylene movements can occur under specific market circumstances, these are generally smaller than corresponding polyethylene resin price changes. In addition, it has been recognised that this move provides a means for cable manufacturers to link their final product prices to a neutral and independent reference such as WECP C2. INEOS Polyolefins has started to successfully introduce this new approach with many of its customers and will be applying ethylene based quarterly prices for all its resins and compounds for the Wire & Cable market November 3rd, 2007  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, CT, U.S.A. - Davis-Standard, LLC Recognized for Impressive Safety Record The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) recently recognized Davis-Standard’s manufacturing facilities in Pawcatuck, Connecticut, and Fulton, New York, for impressive safety records. Both plants were honored for having a Days of Restricted Work Activity or Job Transfer (DART) rate better than the national average in 2006 and demonstrating a 20 percent or greater reduction in the DART rate when compared to the previous year. Davis-Standard was also recognized by the State of Connecticut, Governor Jodi Rell, and Joan McDonald, Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) for the award which “acknowledges years of professionalism in training staff on up-to-date safety procedures and incorporating those practices into the daily operation” of the facilities. See Extended Story.. November 3rd, 2007  - Press Releases Houston, TX - DOW WIRE & CABLE TO EXIT LAMINATES BUSINESS The Dow Chemical Company has announced that it will exit the ZETABON™ Coated Metal Armor business at the end of March 2008. ZETABON is made at the Films & Laminates manufacturing facility in Findlay, Ohio. ZETABON is used in wire and cable constructions to help protect insulation and delicate components from rodent bites and other incursions that can affect electrical or voice/date transmission performance. Dow commercialized the product line in the mid 1960s and it enjoyed economic success until the early 2000s. At that time, a number of factors, including increases in raw material costs and decreasing suppliers of steel and aluminum, reduced the profitability of the business for Dow. Dow has, over the last five years, executed every available option to reduce costs and raise the profitability of ZETABON to reinvestment levels. However, the product line failed to meet critical milestones, despite the outstanding efforts of the Findlay, Ohio team that was able to identify and eliminate every possible defect and reduce costs as much as possible. Since the economics of the marketplace continue to fall below Dow’s standards, Dow is proactively exiting the business and advising all stakeholders months in advance. The future for the Findlay, Ohio team will be announced before the ZETABON business closes next March. Dow’s intent is to use the site for another business opportunity currently under discussion so that the number of roles at Findlay may remain unchanged. You can find out more about Dow Wire & Cable with this link. October 25th, 2007  - Press Releases Lebring, Austria - Plasmait wins Fast Forward 2007 Innovation Award Plasmait won a Fast Forward 2007 Innovation Award organised by Styrian Development Agency (SFG). The competition joined 125 companies who presented their latest innovation projects. Plasmait won the €10,000 prize in the category of small companies. Plasmait presented its plasma based heat and surface treatment technology for wire, strip and tube. Plasmait’s technology has proved to add commercial value to a number of applications and has been praised above all for its environmental benefits such as replacement of acid cleaning and fluxing in the nonferrous applications. As the winner of the Styrian award, Plasmait was automatically enrolled in the Austrian and European Innovation competitions. October 24th, 2007  - Press Releases Pune India - Sterlite announces name change Sterlite said in a press release following the acquisition of a Power Transmission Conductors business and subsequent diversification of the scope of the Company’s business into a “one-stop window” for a comprehensive suite of Telecom and Energy products that include Optical Fibers, Fiber Optic Cables, Power Transmission & Distribution Conductors, Copper Telecom Cables, Structured Data Cables, Customer Premise Equipment, Access Integration and Managed Services the current name of the company (Sterlite Optical Technologies Ltd) does not truly represent the expanded scope of our businesses. Based on a shareholder ballot held in July 2007, the company have received unanimous approval to change the name of the company to Sterlite Technologies Limited. In addition to a new name, the Company would also have a new brand identity, wherein all the company products and services would be offered under the common brand name “Sterlite”. The company said it had received all the necessary statutory and regulatory approvals and effective November 20, 2007 the Company would operate under its new legal identity - Sterlite Technologies Limited. October 17th, 2007  - Press Releases Bangkok, Thailand - wire Southeast Asia Opening Wire Southeast Asia 2007 started off on October 16th in Bangkok, Thailand with plenty of energy, many guests and a combined participation of some 400 exhibiting companies from 30 countries and economies including national pavilions and association groups from Austria, China, France, Germany, Italy, Taiwan, United Kingdom and USA. There were 2 speeches given, one by Mr Gernot Ringling, Managing Director of Messe Duesseldorf Asia Pte Ltd and the second by Mr Chakramon Phasukavanich, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Thailand. Statements on the economics of Thailand and the cumulative population of Southeast Asia standing at more than 500 million pointing to a GDP in excess of US$ 1 trillion, provided the framework to the need for a show in Thailand to bring the wire & cable and tube & pipe industries closer contact with manufacturers, processors and suppliers from Thailand and the rest of Asia. See Extended Story.. October 3rd, 2007  - Press Releases Liverpool Australia - Prysmian signs telecom cables supply agreement with Telstra. Prysmian Cables & Systems, announced Tuesday a three year agreement to continue the supply of both fiber optic and metallic communication cables to Telstra, the largest telecommunications service provider in Australia. The contract, based on a pre-existing agreement, has been secured by Prysmian Telecom Cables and Systems Australia Pty Limited. Having competed in a global tender process for this supply contract, the largest of its kind in Oceania, Prysmian successfully demonstrated competitiveness in price, product innovation and supply capabilities to maintain its long term commercial partnership with Telstra. The win also acknowledges Prysmian’s effectiveness in fulfilling the Telstra partnership during the past two years and extends the long-term relationship that has seen Prysmian as the only contracted supplier of communications cable, since 1998, when the company operated as Pirelli Telecom Cables and Systems Australia Pty Limited. See Extended Story.. September 26th, 2007  - Press Releases Meghana Society, Pune, India - Call for Papers “Wires in Automotive Applications” WAI Wire and Cable Services, the Indian subsidiary of The Wire Association International, in collaboration with Department of Metallurgical and materials Engineering, College of Engineering, Pune and the Pune Chapter of Indian Institute of Metals, is organizing an international conference on “Wires in Automotive Applications” on January 17 and 18, 2008. The conference will include technical sessions as well as a Table-Top exhibition. Authors are invited to submit an abstract on the following topics: Computational Modeling and Optimization, Functional Coatings, Failure & Prevention, Advances in Materials, and Innovations. Abstract up to 200 words should be submitted by November 30, 2007 to abhagwat@wirenet.org. Pune is a city located in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 7th largest city in India with a population of 4.5 million, and the second largest in the state of Maharashtra. It is located roughly 120 kilometers east of Mumbai. Pune has a reputation for its several esteemed colleges and educational institutions -- the reason why it is called the “Oxford of the East.” It has a very strong presence in the automobile sector and is on its way to consolidate its position as the 'Detroit of India' too. Founded in 1854, College Of Engineering, Pune is among the most prestigious engineering colleges in India. September 21st, 2007  - Press Releases Nessonvaux, Belgium - GER, s.a., Has Launched a new Continuous Resistance Annealer for Copper Wire GER, s.a., famous Belgian supplier of good second-hand wire and cable machinery has launched a new continuous resistance annealer for copper wire. This stand-alone model can be synchronized with any make of rod breakdown machine thanks to its own motorization. For this annealer model we propose an A.C. motor, 22 kW; the wire diameter range is from 1.0-3.5 mm. The rating is 3000 Amp. (or 3500 Amp) and the annealing voltage is approx. 45 V. Annealing transformer and control system are built in two separate cabinets. A steam generator with sufficient capacity is included in the scope of supply. Other annealer sizes are being offered, too, in order to complete also intermediate or fine wire drawing machines. We would be pleased to send you further details or quotations on request. September 19th, 2007  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn., U.S.A. - DS8000 Products Engineered for Abrasive and Corrosive Compounds Davis-Standard, LLC recently added to its bi-metallic barrel lining product series to support applications with highly abrasive and corrosive properties. The new DS8000 wear resistant barrel lining material is a nickel based alloy with a high percentage of tungsten carbide particles suspended within its matrix. This corrosion and abrasive wear resistant lining is recommended for those processes requiring highly filled or reinforced compounds, high-temperature resins, silicones, vinyl resins, polyethylenes, LLDPE, HMWPE and blends. See Extended Story.. September 11th, 2007  - Press Releases Bloomsbury, New Jersey , U.S.A. - Cortinovis America has Moved to a New and Larger Facility The Eurolls Group Udine, Italy is pleased to announce that Cortinovis America has moved to a new and larger facility. The Eurolls Group has been in the wire industry for 20 years and is celebrating its anniversary on September 21, 2007. The Group consists of Eurolls Spa, Team Meccanica, Teurema, and Vitari. At the beginning of 2007 Eurolls added Cortinovis America, LLC with the acquisition of Cortinovis Machinery Bergamo, Italy. See Extended Story.. September 7th, 2007  - Press Releases Chasse-Sur, Rhone, France - CONDAT presented on Kiev Technical Trade Show After over 150 years of existence, and thanks to the synergy of the CONDAT group in terms of international structures and technical know-how, the Condat VICAFIL lubricant range is now the worldwide reference for the wire drawing market. CONDAT present on KIEV Technical Trade Show 31 Oct – 2 Nov 2007 = Booth C7 Hall 7 Thanks to a true spirit of partnership, CONDAT can now offer its clients innovative products together with appropriate services. At Kiev Technical trade show, CONDAT will present its new products designed to accommodate new market trends resulting from environmental constraints and from the needs of customers always striving to reduce maintenance costs. See Extended Story.. September 3rd, 2007  - Press Releases Arnhem , The Netherlands - Teijin Twaron changes name into Teijin Aramid As of today, Teijin Twaron will change its name into Teijin Aramid. This change of name affects all locations worldwide, from production and headoffice in the Netherlands to all sales offices in the various continents. Why Teijin Aramid? Over the years Teijin Twaron has become a leading supplier of aramid products, with around 50% market share worldwide. This leading position is the result of constant improvement of the performance of its products, achieved in close cooperation with its customers. Since the acquisition by the Teijin Group in 2000, Teijin Twaron evolved from one brand company (Twaron) to four aramid brands; Twaron, Technora, Sulfron and Teijinconex. Based on a firm belief in the future of the aramid market, the new name Teijin Aramid reflects accurately the present focus of the company and will allow fully expansion and further development of the product range. This expansion is being supported by the Teijin Group, which considers high performance fibers (a.o. aramid) as one of the core business of the group. For the last seven years the Teijin Group has proved its commitment to the market by investing consecutively in capacity expansion for the aramid business. What happens to the name Twaron? Twaron is the flagship para-aramid product of Teijin Aramid and its name will remain unchanged. Twaron is applied in an unparalleled number of applications in the automotive industry, protective (bullet, fire and cut resistant) clothing, optical fiber cables, civil engineering and construction industries. You can find out more about Teijin Aramid with this link. September 1st, 2007  - Press Releases Westchester Illinois - Andrew streamlines HELIAX portfolio Building upon the market success of its two most significant recent cable product introductions, Andrew Corporation is streamlining its long-running and market-leading HELIAX® product portfolio by discontinuing most of its LDF series cable and featuring alternative products that offer higher value for customers. Separately, Andrew is implementing a 4.3 percent average price increase for HELIAX cable in response to market conditions, particularly the continued increases and volatility in raw material costs. With the revisions to its cable product offerings, equivalently sized HELIAX Andrew Virtual Air(TM) (AVA(TM)) and HELIAX AL aluminum series cables will serve as direct replacements for the LDF5 and LDF7 series coaxial cables after regular production ends on December 31. See Extended Story.. August 9th, 2007  - Press Releases Ecublens, Switzerland - Maillefer and Energya Industries commemorate 300th CV line An important signing commemorating the 300th CV line ordered, took place between Maillefer SA and Energya Industries during the Interbuild show in Cairo, Egypt on June 24, 2007. Hesham H. El Sewedy, CEO of Energya Industries, and Pentti Hätälä, CEO of Maillefer SA, took up the pen dedicated for the event. A handshake sealed the deal between the two men. The order received represents the 300th complete CV line sold in the history of Maillefer. Manufacturing is underway on the equipment, which is scheduled to ship from the company's Finnish facility during the later part of this year. See Extended Story.. August 9th, 2007  - Press Releases Akron, OH - WCISA Board of Director Changes WCISA is pleased to announce the following recent actions regarding its Board of Directors: 1. Thomas Copp, President of REELEX Packaging Solutions, Inc., and current WCISA President, was recently elected to a second, three-year term as WCISA President. 2. The following existing WCISA Board Members were elected to new three-year terms as WCISA Board Members: William E. Crowle, President, QED Wire Lines Inc.; David B. Kiddoo, Global Business Manager, AlphaGary Corp.; Mike Patel, Industry Manager - Wire & Cable Compounds, Teknor Apex Co.; Rahul Sachdev, VP Sales & Marketing, Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp.; Joseph Snee, Sales Manager, Huestis Industrial; and John Zachow, Business Area Manager, Davis-Standard Corp. 3. Long time Board Members, Bob Fulop, President, Wire Lab Company, and Jeff Swinchatt, President, SIKORA International Corporation, decided to end their Board service to WCISA and not pursue re-election. Jeff Swinchatt served on the WCISA Board since 1999, and Bob Fulop served on the WCISA Board since 1996, including serving as the WCISA President from 1999-2004. 4. The following wire and cable industry professionals have been elected to three-year terms as new WCISA Board Members: Neville Crabbe, President, LEONI Wire, Inc.; John H. Falls, Sales Representative, Fiber-Line, Inc.; Rob Fulop, Vice President & General Manager, Wire Lab Company; Rene Mayer, Technical Sales, Mossberg Reel LLC; and Terri W. Terry, Senior Marketing Specialist, CommScope BiMetals Product Group. See Extended Story.. July 31st, 2007  - Press Releases Vienna, Austria - EDER Engineering GmbH - Participation in Wire SouthEast Asia 07 Eder Engineering GmbH for over 60 years offer efficient standard, semi-automatic and fully automatic machines for both the reconditioning and production of ultrahard precision tools made from tungsten carbide, natural diamond and synthetic PCD, as well as technical assistance for all Eder die-tool working equipment. EDER-Austria will again participate in the forthcoming exhibition in Bangkok (16-18 Oct. 2007) and at their Stand H13, located in the Austrian Pavilion, the following exhibits will be displayed respectively shown in a power point show : 1) Machines for working of diamond-/PCD dies 2) Machines for working of tungsten carbide dies 3) Die Workshop ancillary equipment 4) Diamond powders/ -pastes / -suspensions /-grinding pins etc. Other products and specialties will be continuously shown in a multi-media show at the stand and latest catalogues will be available for our visiting customers too. Personnel at the EDER Stand : Dr. K.G. Eder - Mr. B. Eder - Ms. A. EDER, Mr.W. Eberhardt – EDER agencies members You can find out more about Eder Engineering GmbH with this link. See Extended Story.. July 30th, 2007  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Connecticut - Davis-Standard, LLC to host basic extrusion seminar October 2-3 Davis-Standard, LLC will host a workshop on “The Basics of Plastics Extrusion” on October 2 and 3 at its headquarters in Pawcatuck, Connecticut. The two-day class will cover the fundamentals of plastics extrusion, as well as the composition and properties of various polymers and the mechanics of essential downstream processes. Topics include extruder components, temperature control, maintenance and screw design. In addition to instruction, course participants will tour Davis-Standard’s laboratory and manufacturing facilities and will have access to polymer process engineers and technical specialists. The fee is $750 per person with a 10 percent discount given for groups of three or more. Course books and materials are included, and class size is limited to promote student/teacher interaction. For enrollment or more information about Davis-Standard’s seminars and on-site extrusion training, contact Wendy Smith at (860) 599-6119 or at wsmith@davis-standard.com. You can find out more about Davis-Standard, LLC with this link. June 13th, 2007  - Press Releases Milan, Italy - Italy's Prysmian to expand in fibre optics and other specialty products Italy's Prysmian wants to expand in fibre optics and other specialty products, away from its traditional copper cables, with the aim of generating more than half its revenue from specialty cables. In his first interview since cable giant's stock listing in May, Chief Executive Valerio Battista said late on Tuesday he wanted to tap the growing demand for specialty cables, especially in the energy and telecommunication sectors. "Prysmian wants to increase its market presence in value-added products in order to get a greater return on equity," he told Reuters at his office in Milan . Battista aimed to generate more than half of revenues from specialty cables, which made up 45% of the total in 2006. He declined to give specific targets. "There are two sectors in which we are growing: high-tension power lines and specialty cables for oil, gas, petrochemicals and cranes", he said. "These are products that have margins that are double those of standard copper cables." See Extended Story.. June 13th, 2007  - Press Releases Hickory, North Carolina - Corning Cable Systems and Alcatel-Lucent Collaborate Corning Cable Systems, part of Corning Incorporated’s Telecommunications segment, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Alcatel-Lucent to supply the company with its OptiTap™ Connector and Adapter for use in Alcatel-Lucent’s gigabit passive optical network (GPON) system. The MOU outlines the terms of a multi-year agreement to be negotiated and signed by Corning Cable Systems and Alcatel-Lucent, by which Corning Cable Systems will become the exclusive supplier of OptiTap Connectors and Adapters for the Alcatel-Lucent system. The Corning Cable Systems OptiTap Connector and Adapter provide the ideal solution for factory-terminated, environmentally sealed and hardened connectors for use in drop cable deployments in optical access networks. The hardened connector significantly reduces the terminal and drop cable installation time for subscriber connection, thereby reducing the total installed cost of deployment. See Extended Story.. June 12th, 2007  - Press Releases Agrate Brianza (MI), ITALY - PS AUTOMATIC COIL WINDING LINES PS automatic lines can work as: 1. Slave to the extruder (on line) 2. Autonomous final station - By using a selector you can choose either the first or the second system. PS automatic coiling lines are equipped with strapping machines, thermoshrinking tunnels, boxing machines, stackers and palletizers. PS 350/8: suitable for flexible cables from 1,5 mm. up to 8 mm. dia. ; solid cables from 1,5 mm. up to 6 mm. dia. with a production of 5 coils 100 meters long per minute. It can also wind flat cables. PS 470/16: suitable for flexible cables from 5 mm. up to 16 mm. dia.; solid cables from 5 mm. up to 10 mm. dia. with a production of 3,5 coils 100 meters long per minute. It can also wind flat cables and can be equipped with automatic tension control for telephone cables. PS 600/25: suitable for flexible cables from 8 mm. up to 25 mm.dia.; solid cables from 8 up to 20 mm. dia. with a production of 2,5 – 3 coils 100 meters long per minute. PS 750/30: suitable for flexible cables from 8 mm. up to 30 mm. dia. with a production of 2,5 coils 100 meters long per minute. PS Costruzioni Meccaniche has been designing and manufacturing wire and cable packaging plants for over 35 years. We can meet each customer’s requirement thanks to our in-house departments: machine tools, electric and electronic, assembling and inspection, design and development, spares, customers care depts. We can offer assistance and response to any packaging problem all over the world. All markets served, contact PS Costruzioni Meccaniche srl using this link. April 26th, 2007  - Press Releases Corning New York - Corning reopens optical fiber plant on improved market demand. Corning Incorporated announced Wednesday first-quarter sales of $1.31 billion and net income of $327 million. of which .First-quarter Telecommunications segment sales were $439 million, an increase of 11 percent over first-quarter sales of $397 million last year and 9 percent over fourth-quarter sales of $404 million. Corning experienced higher demand than anticipated in the first quarter across most of its telecommunications product lines, including optical fiber, cable and hardware and equipment. Separately, Corning announced that it would begin the partial reopening of its Concord, N.C., optical fiber plant in response to improvements in market demand. See Extended Story.. April 4th, 2007  - Press Releases Greensboro, North Carolina - New address for the Gauder Group North American Service Center Gauder Group ensures advanced, cost-effective and complete solutions delivering wire and cable machinery as well as providing a comprehensive range of services for 30 years now. Since 1992, the American subsidiary “Gauder Group, Inc.” successfully covers the US and Canadian markets for all group products. From June 1st, the Gauder Group, Inc. occupies a dedicated facility with more space for a comprehensive stock of bows and spare parts. Furthermore, a large testing area is available to set-up SETIC and POURTIER rotating machines for evaluation and trials with customer’s own products. This brighter location, located less than a block away from the Piedmont Regional Airport, offers convenient transportation and direct access to new East coast FedEx hub for immediate spare parts delivery. You can find out more about Gauder Group with this link. Contacts : Gauder Group, Inc 7351 West Friendly Avenue, Suite A Greensboro, North Carolina 27410-6388 USA Phone: (336) 856-8176 Fax: (336) 856-8117 Doug Sedgwick Sales Manager sales.usa@gaudergroup.com Alain Hawaux After Sales Service Manager aftersales.usa@gaudergroup.com March 30th, 2007  - Press Releases Bristol, CT - SBT Modular Production Systems Considering the pressures facedby most wire and strip stamping and forming organizations, including the ever-present low cost, off-shore competition, the facts remain: If you cannot react to your customer requirements in a timely fashion and you are not producing parts in the most efficient manner available, your chances of holding on to work are limited. The ability to offer value added capabilities can make you more competitive and contribute to your profitability, particularly when automation eliminates additional handling. To be able to realize the most efficient utilization of your existing equipment can also be a factor. New products available to the market offering potential solutions warrant consideration by any company that intends to gain and maintain a competitive edge. The SBT Modular Production Systems target these issues by providing some of the most versatile, efficient, user friendly production solutions available. See Extended Story.. March 29th, 2007  - Press Releases Durban, South Africa - Largest steel wire rope (SWR) mechanical swaging press in the Western Cape ANCHOR Industries, market leader in the supply of offshore mooring chains in Southern Africa makes use of the largest horizontal testing facility in the Western Cape, performing destructive testing of up to 200 tons (capasity of 1,500 tons), Anchor’s commitment to safety and precautionary measures are key elements in their industry. Anchor Industries is also the only company in the Western Cape to offer large capacity slings and shackles for rental. Anchor stock a range of shackles between 0.5 and 200 tons. With container sling exports to the USA and a recent export order of 3 000 slings to the thriving oil business in Angola, which used 26 000 metres of SWR and 6000 aluminium ferrules, production took three weeks at an average of 2.5 minutes per sling. Another export to Angola used 11 378 metres of 90 mm SWR with a total shipment weight of 385 tons. Anchor has made its mark as a major player in international marine and offshore markets. SWR is not only used in the offshore mooring industry but also for heavy lifting applications in the mining sector. Anchor recently supplied 2 x 450T Work Load Limit (WLL) Cable Laid Grommet Anchor Industries, a privately owned South African company founded and operated by the Hutcheson family is based in Cape Town with fully fledged operations in Durban and Johannesburg. The company was established in 1994 to satisfy the demand for marine and offshore mooring equipment around the Southern Africa coastline. Lifting and rigging equipment was later added to the product range as part of a diversification strategy into the mining industry. March 27th, 2007  - Press Releases Houston, TX - Dow reports growth in wire and cable products Dow Chemical’s wire and cable plastics business has boosted its marketing position in Europe, the Middle East and India to take advantage of growing demand for its products. Benoit Fritz has been promoted from his position as market manager for Dow Wire & Cable in Europe to sales director for the business across the Europe, Middle East and India regions. Robert Tarimo has been named market manager for the same regions. Dow is particularly focusing on growth markets in Russia, Eastern Europe and some key countries in the Middle East. Fritz said: “These markets are experiencing double digit demand growth at this time, especially in high voltage power distribution applications.” Dow has doubled its supply of high purity insulation compounds and semi-conductive compounds in Europe to meet growing demand. Among the materials launched in 2006 that are experiencing growth are enhanced PE resins for cable jacketing and semi-conductive compounds for high and medium voltage applications. You can find out more about Dow Wire & Cable with this link. March 26th, 2007  - Press Releases Hertfordshire, UK - FASTENER FAIR STUTTGART     Following its much-praised launch in 2005, Fastener Fair Stuttgart has grown dramatically. “With over 330 confirmed exhibitors and six months to go before the show opens, I can confidently predict this will be the industry’s main event in 2007,” says Exhibition Organiser Jerry Ramsdale. “Not only are there already 132 more exhibitors than there were in 2005, but the show has also grown from one hall to cover three.” Taking place on 19 and 20 September 2007 at Messe Stuttgart in Germany, the exhibition has been designed as an ‘end to end’ show exclusively dedicated to the fastener and fixings industry. “The companies from around the world that have already signed up demonstrate that every sector of market is very well represented,” says Ramsdale. “So whatever their interest, trade buyers visiting Fastener Fair Stuttgart will have access to the best the industry has to offer.” You can find out more about Fastener Fair Stuttgart with this link. February 27th, 2007  - Press Releases Los Angeles California - Terra Nostra expects sustained copper demand in China China's trade deficit in copper is growing and is expected to sustain copper demand in 2007, analysts with Deutsche Bank indicated in a recent commodities report. China imported 111,159 metric tonnes (MT) of copper last December 2006, the highest monthly level of last year, increasing 40.68% from November 2006 and 41.28% from the same period of 2005. DB analysts acknowledge that while it may take some time to confirm the transition in China's copper market, indications are for a strong resurgence. Terra Nostra anticipates that with the settling of prices from the peaks experienced in 2006, the Company will be ideally positioned to assist in meeting this resurgent demand domestically, particularly as it prepares to ramp up additional new electrolytic copper facilities in China. Terra Nostra, with its majority joint venture stake in 170,000 MT of existing and under-construction capacity of electrolytic copper in China, is cost-effectively positioned to substitute copper imports with domestically produced electrolytic copper. See Extended Story.. February 23rd, 2007  - Press Releases Paris France - Nexans wins a 15 million Euro power cable contract for a refinery in Vietnam Nexans, a worldwide leader in the cable industry, has been awarded a contract worth approximately 15 million Euro to supply medium (MV) and low voltage (LV) power cables for Vietnam~{!/~}s first crude oil refinery, to be located in Dung Quat, south of Da Nang in central Vietnam. This project is being commissioned by Technip, one of the major corporations in the field of oil, gas and petrochemical engineering, construction and services, and the leader in a consortium with Japan Gas Corporation and Tecnicas Reunidas, on behalf of Vietnam Oil & Gas Corporation (Petrovietnam). For the Dung Quat refinery project, Nexans will supply approximately 1,400 km of medium and low voltage power cables. The cables will be installed underground to supply power for the contractors involved in the construction of the refinery and then for the refinery itself. The cables will be manufactured by Nexans plants in Vietnam, Korea and France. They should be delivered and installed from January to September 2007. Mechanical completion of the refinery should occur in 2008. February 20th, 2007  - Press Releases Arnhem The Netherlands - Teijin Ltd sponsor and main founder of new extension Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam With a substantial donation Teijin Ltd becomes the first international sponsor of the new extension to Amsterdam’s Stedelijk (municipal) Museum. This makes Teijin Ltd a main founder of this new extension. The sponsoring has been achieved in agreement with the Amsterdam Municipality. The span and façade of the futuristic new extension to the existing 19th century building will employ ultra-strong Twaron para-aramid, produced by Teijin Twaron, Teijin’s subsidiary in the Netherlands and carbon fiber from Toho Tenax, Teijin’s subsidiary in Germany. With investments of over 1 billion Euro during the last six years, Teijin is one of the largest investors in the Dutch economy. See Extended Story.. February 19th, 2007  - Press Releases Bowling Green, KY, U.S.A. - Powder Tech Intl. is now know as Envirotec Consultancy, Ltd. As our company has grown, so has the focus of our mission. To better reflect the full scope of our capabilities, Powder Tech Intl. is now Envirotec Consultancy, Ltd. Envirotec’s mission is to supply environmentally friendly equipment & services to the wire industry so that profits and quality are maximized while minimizing the detrimental impact on the environment. Please visit our new website at www.envirotec-inc.com. For further information, please contact: Tim Babcock Sales & Marketing Director Envirotec Americas, Inc. t.babcock@insightbb.com Phone: 270.535.9252 Fax: 270.843.5645 February 19th, 2007  - Press Releases Tokyo Japan - Showa Cable Systems develops production process of Yttrium superconducting wire rod in batch furnace SWCC Showa Cable Systems Co., Ltd. has succeeded in the production of a 200 m long yttrium-based superconducting wire rod in collaboration with International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC) by utilizing the electrothermal batch heat treatment production process for the first time in the world. The latest achievement enables the formation of a superconducting layer not by the vapor phase process but by using a batch furnace after applying a solution to a substrate. The production rate based on the new process is claimed to be 10 m/h since a 200 m long wire rod can be baked in a batch furnace in about 20 hours. This rate is reported to be twice as high as the development goal set by "Research and Development Project of Fundamental Technologies for Superconductivity Applications" commissioned from Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) for the period from FY2005-2007. For more details use this link February 17th, 2007  - Press Releases Paris France - Nexans to supply cables to Australia's largest wind farm Nexans, a worldwide leader in the cable industry, has been awarded, via Olex , an order from Suzlon Energy Australia for an amount of approximately 2 million euros to supply approximately 135km of Low Voltage (LV) flexible rubber cables for the Hallett Wind Farm in South Australia. The key feature of the cables in this application is their proven flexibility to accommodate the yawing movement of the turbine as they adjust to suit changing wind directions. The Hallett wind farm, Australia~{!/~}s largest wind farm located 200km north of Adelaide, South Australia is being constructed on behalf of AGL (Australian Gas Light Company), one of Australia~{!/~}s largest electricity retailers, and will consist of 45 turbines with a total capacity of 94.5MW. Once completed, it will become Australia~{!/~}s largest wind farm, with the capacity to supply ~{!0~}green~{!1~} electricity for around 54,000 households. To view the full press release use this link February 15th, 2007  - Press Releases Ecublens, Switzerland - 2006 was a record year for Maillefer Year 2006 was a record one for Maillefer. And as for this year, the strong growth continues. The company fully recognizes the confidence that customer's place in its leading technology, reliable products and dedicated project management. Figures show total sales in 2006 well exceeding €100 million. A healthy order backlog at year’s end confirms the trend forecasted a year ago. Deliveries are booked throughout the entire year ahead and leading into 2008. Total sales for 2007 are expected to clearly surpass that of the previous exercise. Much activity is from demands in modernizing or expanding the power grids in industrialized nations. That is leading to investments across the entire energy distribution network. While in pipe applications, the climbing copper prices are accelerating the switch from all metal to alternative plastic pipe (eg. PEX and composite PE Al PE). Neighboring Europe continues to remain a loyal ground for Maillefer. The mature industries lead with rationalization, expansion and new technology projects. In regions beyond, the company is seeing significant expansion and new growth projects in Russia, China and the Gulf states. For further details, please contact Antti-Jussi Rissanen or Manuel Felder. Tel: 41-21-694-41-11 Fax: 41-21-691-21-43 or e-mail info@maillefer.net To visit the maillefer website use this link http://www.mailleferextrusion.com February 15th, 2007  - Press Releases Nuremberg Germany - Leoni records best figures in the Company's history Leoni AG again succeeded in increasing its sales and earnings in the 2006 financial year, thereby meeting its set targets and in some cases exceeding them. Based on preliminary figures, Leoni generated consolidated sales of EUR 2.1 billion in the past fiscal year. This equates to a year-on-year increase of about 36 percent (1.55 billion in the previous year). The group of companies also recorded substantial growth in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). The figure was up by about 27 percent, from EUR 102.8 million to EUR 130.2 million. The net income of EUR 79.3 million was up by about 41 percent on the previous year’s figure of EUR 56.1 million. This includes once-off income of EUR 4.8 million from having capitalized corporate tax credit balances. With respect to free cash flow before spending on acquisitions and the dividend, the Company reached a figure of around EUR 59 million and thus topped expectations despite the substantially increased costs of materials. With a 73 percent increase to EUR 1,154 million (668.6 million in the previous year), the Wire & Cable division attained record-level sales in the 2006 financial year. Along with generic growth, some of this sales increase is attributable to the year-on-year rise in the price of copper as well as to acquisitions. The Wiring Systems division likewise continued on its growth course in 2006, generating sales of EUR 954.2 million (879.4 million in the previous year). This increase was due mainly to larger volumes of wiring systems sold as well as premium category cars being fitted with equipment of higher quality – and thus with more complex cable harnesses. The complete financial statements will be released on 21 March 2007, the date of Leoni AG’s balance sheet press conference. February 14th, 2007  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn., U.S.A. - Davis-Standard’s European Extrusion Systems Business Moves to UK   Davis-Standard, LLC recently relocated the Extrusion Systems portion of its European business from Erkrath, Germany to the D-S Brookes facility in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The Converting Systems business will remain in Erkrath. The move is part of a reorganization effort that will enable Davis-Standard to focus on its core customer base in Europe and key heritage brands, Betol and Repiquet. See Extended Story.. February 10th, 2007  - Press Releases Brantford Ontario - Thyssen Krupp to invest $2.9 billion in US steel manufacturing plant Thyssen Krupp said in a press release Tuesday that the company would build a state-of-the-art plant to manufacture and process steel and stainless steel for North American manufacturers in a range of industries, including automotive, packaging and construction. It also would house a hot strip mill that would be used to process slabs from a new ThyssenKrupp steel mill in Brazil, as well as a stainless steel melt shop and a cold rolling facility. The plant also would supply ThyssenKrupp Mexinox in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, with pre-material. The facility is expected to have a production capacity of 5.5 million metric tons per year, including 4.5 million metric tons of carbon steel and 1 million metric tons of stainless steel. The company is looking for about 3,000 acres of land and 7 million square feet of building space. This editor choose not publish the release because it dealt exclusively with flat products or so it appeared and so I told one of our readers who enquired why we have overlooked such a big news - Well, the point I was trying to make (said our reader) is that there are still manufacturing companies investing in North America, not only in the far east. That is indeed worth noting. So here is the rest of the release. "ThyssenKrupp is committed to the new facility as the NAFTA market is an integral part of our overall global strategy," Jurgen Fechter, chairman of the executive board of ThyssenKrupp Stainless, said in a statement. "In the coming years the North American market is expected to show above-average growth for both high-grade flat carbon steel and stainless steel products," he said. The planned facility is a joint venture of ThyssenKrupp Steel AG and ThyssenKrupp Stainless AG. The two groups, based in Duisburg, Germany, are subsidiaries of engineering and steel giant ThyssenKrupp AG, which is headquartered in Dusseldorf. The complex is expected to begin operations in 2010 and to employ as many as 2,700 people when fully operational. it would create another 38,000 to 52,000 indirect jobs over 20 years. The company had narrowed its selection down to Alabama, Arkansas and Louisiana. After months of negotiations and due diligence, Arkansas has been eliminated as a competitor, leaving Alabama and Louisiana to vie for the plant. Factors under consideration in selecting a site include geological characteristics that could affect plant design and construction costs, as well as energy costs and logistics. February 7th, 2007  - Press Releases Paris France - Nexans wins Euro 140 million high voltage subsea cable contract for China. Nexans, a worldwide leader in the cable industry, has been awarded a contract worth approximately 140 million Euros by the EHV Power Transmission Chinese Company of CSG, and Guangdong Nan-Dian Power Equipment Co, to manufacture and install a 500kV submarine power link to connect Hainan Island at the south end of China to the Chinese mainland in Guangdong province. The 30km submarine cable link, capable of carrying up to 600MW of power, will be laid at a water depth of around 100m. The power link is scheduled to commence operation in July 2009 and will play a key strategic role in the development of Hainan Island as a tourist resort. The submarine link will comprise an oil-filled cable with a cross section of 800 mm2 and will be manufactured in Japan by NVC, a factory joint venture owned 66 percent by Nexans and 34 percent by the Japanese company Viscas. It will be installed by Nexans~{!/~} own cable ship, the Skagerrak. See Extended Story.. February 7th, 2007  - Press Releases Tokyo Japan - Fujikoshi, Tohoku Univ. Co-develop new production process for special steels Nachi-Fujikoshi Corp. has developed a novel process to produce special steels such as stainless steel, in collaboration with Prof. Kiyohito Ishida of Graduate School of Engineering at Tohoku University in Japan. The achievement was made by combining the carbide dispersion carburizing (CDC) process developed by Tohoku Univ. with the continuous vacuum carburizing process and ultra-fine wire processing technology, which are proprietary to Fujikoshi. The new process is applicable to a wide range of materials and also allows continuous carburization of ultra-fine wires with a diameter of 50-500 ~{&L~}m. Thus, the process enables the fabrication of ultra-fine wires from low-formability materials, e.g. high-carbon stainless steel and high-alloy high-speed steel. See Extended Story.. February 6th, 2007  - Press Releases Horgen, Switzerland - Dow Wire & Cable underscores commitment to Middle East Market at 2007 Middle East Electricity Exhibition Dow Wire & Cable, a market-facing global business of The Dow Chemical Company, will demonstrate its commitment to the Middle East market by participating in the 2007 Middle East Electricity Exhibition (February 11-14, 2007, Dubai International Exhibition Centre, Stand No. IC31 in Hall 1). The exhibition, taking place in Dubai, the location of Dow's Regional Headquarters, is one of the world's leading showcases for electrical power generation and distribution technologies. In addition to hosting exhibit space at the event, Dow Wire & Cable will host a technical seminar for customers on February 12. The primary focus of Dow Wire & Cable is to provide innovative, value-creating solutions for a broad spectrum of power, telecommunications, flame-retardant and specialty wire and cable applications. These solutions offer cable manufacturers and end users an exceptional portfolio of plastics-enhanced materials and compounds used as insulation, semi-conductive, flame-retardant and jacketing materials, along with technical support that extends from formulation through installation. See Extended Story.. February 5th, 2007  - Press Releases Dubai UAE - Drives/automation upgrade raises QASCO mill output Morgan Construction Company has provided and installed new drives and an automation system for QASCO Dubai's wire rod mill in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, which has seen production rates increase about 25% and also product quality enhancement. The equipment recently passed acceptance tests. The new system was installed to increase production speed to 55m/s for the mill's low carbon and low alloy steel grade 5.5mm wire rods, which has increased production from 180,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) to about 240,000 TPA. The mill produces low carbon and low alloy steel grade wire rods ranging in diameter from 5.5mm to 12mm. The new equipment was delivered and commissioned in August 2005 and passed the performance guarantee in early 2006. Mill production is now up about 25%. Morgan Construction Company is a designer and producer of high-quality rolling mill products and services for the metals industry worldwide. January 30th, 2007  - Press Releases Paris France - German Federal Railways approve Nexans~{!/~} DuoTrack system Nexans~{!/~} DuoTrack system is an all-in-one duplex solution that combines copper and fiber-optic control and signaling functions within a single easy to install cable. Nexans said in a press release Monday that their DuoTrack duplex copper/fibre-optic lineside cabling solution had just received type approval from the German Federal Railway Authority (EBA). DB Deutsche Bahn AG (the German National Railways) will now use the cable for the first time in a pilot project for the modernization of the Odenwaldbahn line in Hesse, in central Germany. January 27th, 2007  - Press Releases Concord Ontario - Howar Equipment Inc. to represent Plasmait GmbH , Austria in Nafta area Howar Equipment Inc. is pleased to announce that it has been awarded the Sales and Service representation for U.S.A., Canada and Mexico of Plasmait GmbH , Austria. Plasmait is the leading edge manufacturer of Plasma heat and surface treatment machinery to the wire, strip and tube industry. The company’s head office is located in Lebring, Austria, where it also operates a plasma treatment trial facility. Plasmait provides heat and surface treatment solutions as individual machines or as a turn-key production line deployment. Plasmait heat and surface treatment solutions are designed for applications (preferably in-line) with demanding mechanical and surface requirements. Plasma treatment is conducted in controlled atmosphere to ensure distinct surface cleanliness and un-compromised surface quality. January 25th, 2007  - Press Releases Hickory North Carolina - CommScope adds residential product Cable maker CommScope Inc has begun marketing an in-home wiring product designed to connect personal computers, cable TVs and security alarms to one system. The network system, connected to a central cabling distribution center, can be used in homes, multifamily residences and small commercial buildings, says Mark Peterson, senior vice president of enterprise global marketing at Hickory-based CommScope. "People can now experience the same networking abilities at home that they use in their offices," he says. January 24th, 2007  - Press Releases Rotterdam, The Netherlands &Luxembourg - Rotterdam court denies ThyssenKrupp's petition for an order directing Mittal Steel to cause Arcelor to sue Stichting Mittal Steel Company N.V. announced that the President of the Rotterdam District Court today denied ThyssenKrupp AG's petition for an order directing Mittal Steel to cause Arcelor S.A. to initiate legal proceedings against the Strategic Steel Stichting, which currently owns 89% of Dofasco Inc., the North American steel producer, with a view to forcing the Stichting to dissolve. See Extended Story.. January 23rd, 2007  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn. U.S.A. - Davis-Standard, LLC to Host Basic Extrusion Seminar Davis-Standard, LLC will host a workshop on “The Basics of Plastics Extrusion” on April 3 and 4 at its headquarters in Pawcatuck, Connecticut. The two-day class will cover the fundamentals of plastics extrusion as well as the composition and properties of various polymers and the mechanics of essential downstream processes. Topics include extruder components, temperature control, maintenance and screw design. In addition to instruction, course participants will tour Davis-Standard’s laboratory and manufacturing facilities and will have access to polymer process engineers and technical specialists. The fee is $750 per person with a 10 percent discount given for groups of three or more. Course books and materials are included, and class size is limited to promote student/teacher interaction. For enrollment or more information about Davis-Standard’s seminars and on-site extrusion training, contact Wendy Smith at (860) 599-6119 or at wsmith@davis-standard.com. You can find out more about Davis-Standard, LLC. with this link. January 20th, 2007  - Press Releases Clearwater, Florida - Technology Research Corporation signs three year agreement with Coleman Cable, Inc. Ned Schiff, Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations for Technology Research Corporation, announced today that the Company has signed a new three year OEM agreement to supply portable ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI) products to Coleman Cable, Inc. with an estimated value of over $3.0 million. Product deliveries are expected over the next 36 months.Warren Schade, Vice President Industrial Distribution for Coleman Cable, added, "TRC's GFCI products represent an integral part of the Coleman Cable product offering and one of the keys to Coleman's continuing success in this market segment." Dale Plautz, Director of Corporate Purchasing for Coleman Cable, added, "Our long standing partnership with TRC for GFCI products reflects Coleman's commitment to develop long term, mutually beneficial relationships with fewer, but better suppliers." Ned Schiff said, "We are pleased to continue our long standing partnership with Coleman Cable as a customer of TRC GFCI products for distribution to the construction and industrial markets. Coleman Cable is also a major supplier to TRC of standard and custom cable for use with TRC products." See Extended Story.. January 20th, 2007  - Press Releases Wilmington Delaware - APA debuts high-performance extrusion grade DuraGrip TPE at PLASTEC West. Advanced Polymer Alloys (APA) will debut its DuraGrip TPE 6300 series, a versatile Melt-Processible Elastomer (MPE) with outstanding elastomeric properties, as part of its exhibit at PLASTEC West 2007. APA will exhibit at booth 4053 during the show, Feb. 13-15 at the Anaheim (Ca.) Convention Center. APA is also offering free admission to the show, which is being held simultaneously with five other events: the Automation Technology Expo West; Medical Design & Manufacturing West; Electronics West; WestPack; and Pacific Design & Manufacturing. DuraGrip TPE 6300 is designed with outstanding extrusion performance in mind, and offers a low-gloss finish, improved compression set, high melt strength, and good weather resistance. These properties make it ideal for profile extrusion applications like automotive exterior body moldings and windscreen and rear window seals, and wire and cable jackets. It also has potential in architectural window applications like bulb window seals. DuraGrip 6300 can be co-extruded with polypropylene and polyethylene, and its melt strength makes it ideal for ‘soft ergonomic feel’ sheet and other wide web applications. At PLASTEC, APA will also display its line of Alcryn Melt-Processible Rubber (MPR), and will include end-use samples of its entire product line for attendees to examine. January 19th, 2007  - Press Releases Paris France - Nexans signs16 million Euro frame contracts with Japanese shipyards Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Ishikajima Harima Industries have selected Nexans as the sole cable supplier for 39 new vessels. The two frame contracts worth a total of around 16 million Euro covers the supply of power, control and communication shipboard JIS type cables (Japanese Industrial Standard). The cables will be installed in 39 vessels under construction in five Japanese shipyards. The selection of a single cable supplier under a frame contract is reported as an unprecedented move by Japanese shipyards. The objective is to increase the supply’s overall reliability as well as improve the level of compatibility between the various types of shipboard cable. Over a three-year frame contract worth approximately 11 million Euro, Kukdong, a Nexans company based in South Korea, will be the sole supplier of JIS type shipboard cables to the Nagasaki, Kobe and Shimonoseki shipyards of MHI for installation on 23 vessels including container ships, PCTCs (Pure Car and Truck Carriers), and 78,000 m3 and 83,000 m3 capacity LPGCs (LPG Carriers). This is the first time that a single manufacturer will supply the cables for all the ships constructed by MHI’s three shipyards. The cables should be delivered between June 2007 and October 2009. For IHI, Nexans has signed a one-year frame agreement worth around 5 million Euro as the only cable supplier to the Kure and Yokohama shipyards for16 containers and bulk carriers. It is also unique for IHI to choose only one cable supplier for all the vessels built in its two shipyards over the year. Kukdong should deliver the cables between March 2007 and March 2008. January 19th, 2007  - Press Releases Westchester Illinois - Andrew Corporation builds new cable plant in India Andrew Corporation, has become the first company to manufacture both radio frequency cable products and antennas in India with the opening of its newly-built production facility in Goa. Andrew's new Indian facility will serve the various equipment manufacturers and network operators in this rapidly growing market with technically superior, high quality products which previously were available only through importing. For the first time, customers can benefit from the local supply of Indian-produced RF products that include Andrew's HELIAX(R) coaxial cable, connectors, and accessories. The new facility also hosts a staffed service and repair depot for Andrew RF repeater products. See Extended Story.. January 16th, 2007  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Conn., U.S.A. - Davis-Standard Converting Systems Group Launches New Website The web sites for Davis-Standard’s Converting Systems and Extrusion Systems Business Groups have a new look and improved features for 2007. The newly launched sites have been redesigned to enable easier navigation and provide more specific equipment information, including additional graphics and photos. Both sites offer access to updated news and events as well as safety bulletins for a variety of product areas to help customers optimize the maintenance and safety of their equipment. Specific to the Converting Systems site, Black Clawson Converting Machinery, customers can request a service visit, service contract, technical papers and literature, and obtain a list of sales contacts by region. Customers can also find information such as typical line specifications including line speeds, tension ranges, widths, winder diameters and end use applications. Extrusion Systems customers will find information about specific types of extruders, complete systems and applications. They will also have access to a new online parts store to conveniently place orders for commonly ordered parts. Davis-Standard, LLC is a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of extrusion systems, feedscrews, barrels, and process controls for the flexible web converting, plastics processing and rubber industries. For more information, go to the company’s website by using this link. December 8th, 2006  - Press Releases Bolingbrook Illinois - Wind City Wire expands staff training program Windy City Wire is currently planning to expand staff and training for their new headquarters in Bolingbrook, Illinois January of 2007. Because of the company’s substantial growth, human resources and senior management find it necessary to accommodate for the company’s development with staff and an updated training program for 2007. Windy City Wire anticipates hiring 5-10 new sales professionals to be staffed at the headquarters for the New Year. The low-voltage wire and cable company currently recruits at Illinois State University and DePaul University, to name a few. Although the company is headquartered outside of Chicago, the staff expansion for 2007 is expected to take place at the other three locations as well: Tempe, Arizona; Secaucus, New Jersey; and Los Angeles, California. See Extended Story.. December 7th, 2006  - Press Releases Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A. - Asahi Glass Company Announces ETFE Capacity Increase Asahi Glass Company (AGC) has announced yet another capacity increase for Fluon® ETFE (ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene) fluoropolymers. This expansion at AGC’s Kashima Plant in Japan will substantially increase AGC’s ETFE manufacturing capacity and further strengthens AGC’s position as the leading manufacturer of ETFE in the world. Construction is scheduled to begin soon, with startup occuring in the first quarter of 2008. This expansion comes on the heels of a new ETFE production facility at the company’s Hillhouse Plant in the United Kingdom. This facility will begin operations in April 2007. According to US Senior Business Director for ETFE, Evan Laganis, this expansion is necessary to meet the increasing demand for ETFE in worldwide markets, particularly wire and cable, automotive, construction, and films. See Extended Story.. December 6th, 2006  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Connecticut - Davis-Standard Sells 500th Dual Reel Take-up Davis-Standard~{!/~}s wire and cable business group recently achieved a significant milestone with the sale of the company~{!/~}s 500th dual reel take-up. The ~{!0~}Clipper~{!1~} style machine was sold to American Bare Conductor and will be used for processing THHN building wire. This machine has been a mainstay in Davis Standard~{!/~}s wire and cable product line due to its durable design and economical pricing. It also provides automatic transfer capability from full reel to empty reel without stopping or slowing down a line. ~{!0~}This take-up has been around for over 20 years and has proven itself both in safety and reliability,~{!1~} said John Zachow, Business Director of Davis-Standard~{!/~}s wire and cable business group. ~{!0~}It is a very efficient machine and has performed exceptionally well for customers. We look forward to selling the next 500.~{!1~} For more information about Davis-Standard~{!/~}s dual reel take-ups or other wire and cable equipment, contact John Zachow at jzachow@davis-standard.com. See Extended Story.. December 4th, 2006  - Press Releases Aston, PA, U.S.A. - Adjust linear pitch on positioning drive without changing gears or motor speed The Amacoil/Uhing model RS linear drive now offers a wider range of linear pitch settings for improved versatility and functionality in meeting linear motion application requirements. The change to linear pitch requires no re-gearing or adjustment to motor speed. Nor do any other components of the linear motion system have to be changed unlike other types of systems where changing pitch might require the purchase of major new parts such as screws, gearboxes and clutches. See Extended Story.. December 1st, 2006  - Press Releases Midland Michigan - Dow Divests its interest in VAM plant at Cabo, Brazil The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) announced recently, following a thorough evaluation of various options, that it intends to divest its interest in the vinyl acetate monomer (VAM) manufacturing facility at Cabo (State of Pernambuco), Brazil, to JB Group, located in Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Close of the transaction is dependent upon regulatory approval and completion of negotiations. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. “The decision to divest our interests in this plant is aligned with our ongoing drive to improve Dow’s global competitiveness,” said Philippe Raynaud de Fitte, Business Vice President, Chlor-Vinyl and VAM. “Operations at the Cabo facility do not fit with Dow’s model of integrated production--where raw material supply, manufacturing facilities and downstream derivative demand are all accessible and provide competitive advantage. The plant will have more opportunity for long-term economic improvements in the hands of JB Group.” As part of the transaction, employees of the Cabo facility, along with equipment and site-specific assets will transfer to JB Group. Following the completion of the transaction, Dow will continue to serve as the local distributor of VAM from the Cabo plant. “Dow remains committed to the VAM business and VAM customers in the region,” continued Raynaud de Fitte. “As always, safety, environmental performance and our commitment to our employees and customers throughout the transaction will remain our top priorities.” “Brazil is and continues to be an important geographic region for Dow. Dow remains committed to safe and reliable operations in Brazil” said Vicente Teixeira, Human Resources and Public Affairs Director, Latin America. VAM is an essential chemical building block used in a wide variety of industrial and consumer products. VAM is a key ingredient in emulsion polymers, resins, and intermediates used in paints, adhesives, coatings, textiles, wire and cable polyethylene compounds, laminated safety glass, packaging, automotive plastic fuel tanks and acrylic fibers. November 30th, 2006  - Press Releases Aston, PA, U.S.A. - Software simplifies linear drive selection – assures application requirements for speed and side thrust are met Amacoil technical salespeople now use the UH5 software program from Uhing Company to quickly analyze linear motion application requirements and assure selection of the correct size Uhing rolling ring drive. Application data may be submitted by telephone or using forms on the Amacoil web site. The program rapidly determines side thrust requirements, selects the correct size Uhing linear drive and provides other useful technical specifications and diagrams. See Extended Story.. November 25th, 2006  - Press Releases Arnhem The Netherlands - Teijin Limited and Teijin Twaron BV announce the 4th production capacity expansion in the last 6 years Teijin Limited and Teijin Twaron BV announce the 4th production capacity expansion in the last 6 years. This new expansion, called "Nikko” ("Sunshine” in Japanese), will again increase production capacity by approximately 15% for the high performance fiber Twaron®, in both plants in Emmen and Delfzijl. The 3rd production expansion, NIJI, is completed as well as the feasibility study for further expansion, announced in February this year. Therefore, according to plans, Teijin Twaron is initiating Nikko, which again will increase monomer and polymer capacity at Delfzijl and Emmen. This extra capacity will gradually become available from the end of 2008. See Extended Story.. November 1st, 2006  - Press Releases Downingtown Pennsylvania - AGC CHEMICALS AMERICAS, INC. announces opening of a new Business & Technichal Center. AGC Chemicals Americas, Inc. announces the opening of a new business and technical center located in Exton, Pennsylvania. The new center will serve as an operations center for the Sales and Marketing Group as well as promote research and development of new products and technical solutions as part of the company's overall business development strategy. The company plans to have the business and technical center fully operational by Q1 of 2007 with research and development of specialty chemicals and compounds for areas of applications and markets involving transportation, chemical processing, resource recovery, life sciences, and electronics industries. See Extended Story.. November 1st, 2006  - Press Releases Providence Rhode Island - Performance of 1 Gigabit and 10 Gigabit data over GI POF One of the speakers at POFWorld East 2006 is Dr. Brett Lane who will be presenting a lecture on Wednesday, November 15th summarizing the performance of 1 gigabit and 10 gigabit data transmission over Graded-Index Plastic Optical Fiber and provide perspective on how its performance may offer an attractive performance and cost comprise between copper and glass optical fiber within today's LAN. Dr. Brett Lane is a Research Engineer at Panduit Laboratories in Panduit Corporation located in Orland Park, Illinois. Dr. Lane has more than 10 years of experience in fiber optics and optoelectronic devices and currently has active research projects focused on differential mode delay, bit-error rates, plastic optical fiber, and high-performance fiber optic connectors. For details on this lecture use this link October 23rd, 2006  - Press Releases Clinton, Arkansas, USA - Volex Inc., Power Cord Products - Auction Live Public Auction of over 1000 lots of Wire & Cable Manufacturing & Factory Support Equipment Over 1,000 lots of well-maintained Wire & Cable and Factory Support Equipment from Volex, Inc. Power Cord Products will be will be sold at a Live Webcast Auction on Thursday November 09, 2006 at Quality Drive, Rt. 6, Clinton, Arkansas. Equipment for sale includes: Braiders; Cablers, Extrusion lines, Rewind lines, Ink Jet Printers, Injection Molding Equipment, Presses, Auto-Coilers, machine tools, maintenance shop, forklifts, and additional factory equipment. Visit their site with this link for more information or contact Wayne Hecht at 561-337-9199. October 12th, 2006  - Press Releases Central Falls, RI - Manufacturing Location Changes To Create New Efficiencies for Wardwell Manufacturing Location Changes To Create New Efficiencies for Wardwell The emergence of China as a location for establishing manufacturing facilities has enticed many cable producers around the world to open plants there to take advantage of lower costs and greater overall efficiency. Although this strategy has been successful for many companies, a downside seen by some of them has been the lessening effectiveness of their existing facilities in Europe and North America, and negative impact on their employees and suppliers. See Extended Story.. September 5th, 2006  - Press Releases Paris France - Nexans wins a 73 million Euro contract in the United States Nexans has been awarded a contract worth over 73 million Euro to design, manufacture, deliver and install a 138 kV high voltage submarine transmission link between Norwalk (Connecticut) and Northport on Long Island (New York) in the United States. This transmission link called Long Island Replacement Cable (LIRC) project was commissioned by the Northeast Utilities Service Company (NUSCO) on behalf of the Long Island Power Authority and Connecticut Light and Power. "This project (The largest cables ever manufactured at this voltage level Nexans bears out the excellent performance of the North American energy market which Nexans is already successfully active in. Moreover, this contract confirms the leading position of the Group in the high voltage submarine power cables market in North America" underlines Frédéric Vincent, Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice- President North America Area. For full press release use this link July 15th, 2006  - Press Releases Doncaster U.K. - U.K. company introduces new wire cable tray Cable Management specialist Cablofil has provided steel wire cable tray design for installation of lighting, power and data cables that is being throughout the new Sports Complex at Lakeside in Doncaster U.K. The main electrical and mechanical contractor for the project, LJ Monks Building Services Ltd, will use 1,300m of Cablofil steel wire tray in total.. The cable tray will be installed around the stadium's perimeter on all three storeys of the new sports ground and installation of the cable management system will be completed in phases alongside construction work, with LJ Monks expected to be on site until the end of November. July 6th, 2006  - Press Releases Vantaa Finland - Nextrom Technology at the CNRS / University of Lille Nextrom has been selected by the CNRS (Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique) and the University of Lille (France) to supply sintering equipment for OVD preforms to complete the optical fiber platform of IRCICA (Institut de Recherche sur les Composants logiciels et matériels pour l'Information et les Communications Avancées). For the full press release use this link June 23rd, 2006  - Press Releases Gothenburg Sweden - ESAB to Open US$30m Plant in Jiangsu ESAB, one of the world's largest welding and cutting equipment manufacturers, said it is investing US$30 million to build its first welding wire plant in China. The plant, which will open next month, is located in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province and will be able to produce 40,000 tons of solid wires for welding process every year with 110 employees. It is the first time the Swedish company has expanded its production to China as it aims to increase its market share in China from the current 1 percent to 10 percent in the next five to 10 years. Although domestic steel producers such as Baosteel announced they will accept an 19 percent price increase in iron ore prices, which will increase ESAB's production costs, the company is optimistic about its future development in China. "It will not change the competitive capacity between us and rivals as every company will face the problem and the strong market demand of welding materials will strongly boost our business," said Robert Wiseman, managing director of ESAB Welding and Cutting Products (Shanghai) Co Ltd. See Extended Story.. June 21st, 2006  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Connecticut - Davis-Standard, LLC Adds Value with After-Sale Services Davis-Standard, LLC is proud to offer one of the most complete menus of after-sale services for both extrusion and converting equipment. The aftermarket and technical departments of Davis-Standard’s Extrusion Systems Group and the “Advance” program of the Converting Systems Group aim to provide customers with cost-effective options for increasing productivity, reducing waste, improving product quality and adding new capabilities. This includes equipment upgrades, replacement parts, field service, custom engineering, research and technical capabilities, and a 24-7 hotline in North America. Following is a summary of services. See Extended Story.. June 21st, 2006  - Press Releases Paris France - Italy's INFN selects Alcatel/Elettra consortium for Mediterranean undersea telescope Alcatel today announced that it has signed, in consortium with Elettra - a Telecom Italia Group company specialized in survey, installation and maintenance of submarine cable networks, a contract with Italy's public scientific institution Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN) for a 5 million Euro project to deploy a submarine cable network for the research activities carried out via the NEutrino Mediterranean Observatory (NEMO) telescope. The new cable system will enable data transmission from NEMO to the researchers' stations as they investigate data for monitoring astrophysical and geophysical subjects such as bioluminescent phenomena, the marine environment, and seismic activity. June 12th, 2006  - Press Releases Central Falls, RI, U.S.A. - WARDWELL JOINT VENTURE SIGNALS START OF MANUFACTURING The Wardwell Braiding Machine Company has announced a joint venture with two Japanese companies that will allow customers in China greater access to Wardwell products, service, and technology. The resulting new company, Wardwell-Hamana Machinery, is based in Shanghai, China and will be headed by John Tomaz. In announcing the partnership with Sojitz Corporation in Tokyo and Hamana Iron Works in Osaka, Wardwell president and chairman Jonathan Farnum says this development is the result of many years planning. “We knew early on that establishing an Asian facility was an important part of Wardwell’s long term success. In addition, we felt this was the best way to provide the highest levels of sales and service for this growing market,” says Mr. Farnum. See Extended Story.. May 18th, 2006  - Press Releases Ras Al Khaimah UAE - Kriss Wires opens Dh15 million plant in RAK Free Trade Zone The Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone added one more member on Saturday when Kriss Wires began operations in its Industrial Park. The new plant, inaugurated by the zone's chairman Shaikh Faisal Bin Saqr Al Qasimi, Chairman of the RAK FTZ Authority, specializes in manufacturing high-carbon wires used in construction, furniture and stainless steel products like watch hands, pins, clips and rods. A group of Indian businessmen and industrialists from various enterprises joined forces and formed the new plant, constructed on 3,000 square metres of land, with a total investment of Dh15 million. Oussama Al Omari, Director-General and CEO of the RAK FTZA, said the new plant is one of a very few of its kind in the UAE and has the capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes of carbon wires per month. See Extended Story.. April 25th, 2006  - Press Releases Hannover Germany - American Superconductor Corporation beats own record for G2 HTS wire electrical performance American Superconductor Corporation announced Monday at Hannover Fair 2006, a new record for electrical performance of its proprietary second generation (2G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire. AMSC's scientists achieved an additional 10% increase in electrical performance of its 2G HTS wire to 492 Amperes per centimeter of wire width. This is an increase of 44 Amperes over the previous record set by American Superconductor just a few months ago. This level of electrical performance is well above the threshold of 300 Amperes per centimeter of width for commercial introduction and approaches the benchmark of 500 Amperes per centimeter of width required for broad commercial adoption of high temperature superconductors. Why the general industrial fair in Hannover was chosen rather than the specialty wire & cable fair in Düsseldorf that takes place this week the release did not say. April 24th, 2006  - Press Releases Christchurch New Zeeland - General Cable Corporation makes Christchurch base for Asia/Pacific markets General Cable Corporation has completed a significant reorganization which will see its Christchurch based subsidiary General Cable New Zealand Ltd become its base for developing new business opportunities in some of the world’s fastest growing economies. The company has created a new regional entity, General Cable Asia Pacific, to drive the company’s presence into the region’s high growth economies, including China and India. General Cable Corporation, headquartered in Kentucky, has two other regional operations – one servicing the Americas, from the US, and another in Spain servicing Europe. The changes reflect the company’s strategy to enter the fast growing emerging economies worldwide through its global product strategies for specialty segments of the cable industry. These include Extra-High Voltage, Aluminum Conductor Composite Cores (ACCC), aerial cables and products for the oil, gas and petroleum sector. To visit the company web site use this link provided by wirelinks.com See Extended Story.. April 18th, 2006  - Press Releases Atlanta, GA - Superior Essex Amends Existing Revolving Credit Facility Superior Essex Inc, one of the largest wire and cable manufacturers in the world, announced today that it amended and restated its existing revolving credit facility on April 14, 2006. This amendment increased the size of the facility to $225 million from $175 million and extended the maturity date to April 2011. The amended and restated facility was arranged by Bank of America Securities LLC. Superior Essex's profit jumped 204 percent to $31.9 million on $1.8 billion in revenue in 2005. April 17th, 2006  - Press Releases MOUNT AIRY, N.C. - Insteel Industries second-quarter 2006 earnings Insteel Industries one of the largest manufacturers of steel wire reinforcing products in the USA will release its second-quarter 2006 earnings on Friday, April 21, 2006 March 1st, 2006  - Press Releases Blackburn Lancashire U.K. - Meltech Engineering Management Buy-Out The management team at Blackburn engineering company Meltech Engineering Ltd has undertaken a buy-in, management buy-out from parent company Pentre Group. The MBO allows Meltech to develop its growing role as a leading supplier of bespoke in-line furnace and winding equipment for a wide range of industries in the UK and internationally. Founded over 30 years ago, Meltech specializes in complex engineering projects in heat treatment and winding equipment for cable, extruded metals and plastics. Peter Drever sales and marketing director, Meltech Engineering, believes the MBO will allow Meltech to develop and invest in new equipment and skills in taking the business forward. "Our customers are driven by the desire to improve quality, maximise plant production and in so doing increase their competitive edge. The ability to undertake and deliver complex, and often bespoke, projects means investing in equipment and skills to ensure we continue to achieve significant productivity improvements for their businesses," he said. Financier Marcus Moir joins the Meltech Engineering management team as both an investor in the business and chairman. Mr Moir commented, "Meltech is a solid engineering company with an enviable track record as both an innovator and deliverer of high quality equipment - key ingredients of a successful business. I look forward to working with the Meltech Engineering management team in growing the business." February 28th, 2006  - Press Releases Mielkendorf, Germany - Uhing expands its range of agencies Joachim Uhing KG GmbH & Co., inventor of the rolling ring drive, has expanded its range of agencies. As of now, Uhing customers and prospective customers in Russia will be covered by CZMP LTD - RUSSIA,196601,  Saint-Petersburg, Pushkin,  Gusarskaya, 4 and Uhing customers and prospective customers in the Czech Republic,the Slovak Republic,in Hungary, Croatia and Serbia will be covered by: Mr. M i l o s l a v S v o b o d a, See Extended Story.. February 28th, 2006  - Press Releases Dubai United Arab Emirates - Al Hamad Group and Yamuna formalise new working relationship at Middle East Electricity 2006 The Al Hamad Group of Companies (AHG) has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Yamuna Cable Accessories Pvt. Ltd., India (part of the YGCL Group, India) to set up a new joint venture which will manufacture and market power cable accessories up to 36 kv. The two companies have had a working relationship for more than fifteen years in the power sector. YGCL, whose registered office and works are located in Jagadhri, Distt Yamunanagar in the state of Haryana, have been involved in manufacturing and marketing various types of cable jointing kits and accessories for the power sector for the last thirty years. See Extended Story.. February 17th, 2006  - Press Releases Schachen, Austria - University of Stuttgart goes for NEXTROM optical fiber technology The Institut für Strahlwerkzeuge (IFSW) of the Universität Stuttgart, reputed as one of the leading laser research centres worldwide has chosen Nextrom, the world premier supplier of state-of-the-art technology in Optical Fiber and Fiber Optic Cables manufacturing to provide a MCVD Preform manufacturing, a fiber Draw tower, and various auxiliary equipment for automatic material refilling and waste gas treatment. The fiber production facility that will be installed at the IFSW within this year, will mainly be used for the research on fiber delivery for the next generation of industrial high power lasers with very high brightness. To allow the flexible and reliable delivery of multi-kilowatt lasers (e.g. thin disk lasers) with near-diffraction limited beam quality over distances in the order of 100 m, new concepts have to be developed. See Extended Story.. February 14th, 2006  - Press Releases Wrexham, U.K. - Electronic Magic Ltd announces name change to Cimteq Ltd Electronic Magic Ltd announces  name change to Cimteq Ltd Electronic Magic Ltd (the Cable Design Software Company) announces that it has changed its company name to Cimteq Ltd (pronounced as 'Simtek Limited'). The aim of the name change is to strengthen the Computer Integrated Manufacturing brand focus. During the past few months, and in parallel with our technical services, we have developed a strong corporate identity that will accurately represent our company and its products and services to our clients and prospects. Even though our company name is changing, all core activities will remain the same. Cimteq Ltd will continue to provide Cable Builder as its flagship product and all the required services to implement and support it. Cimteq will continue to develop Cable Builder and other related products to serve the Wire and Cable Market. Our focus will remain in the cable design and sales & marketing tools with emphasis on value adding components and features. See Extended Story.. January 20th, 2006  - Press Releases Kuala Lumpur Malaysia - Wonderful Wire incorporates new subsidiary in Australia Wonderful Wire & Cable Bhd said it has established a subsidiary company, Wonderful Wire & Cable Australia Pty (WWC Australia), in which it holds a 70 pct stake. In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the company said that WWC Australia, which was incorporated on Jan 17, 2006, will principally engage in investment and trading specified wire and cable products. It said the unit's establishment is in line with the company's marketing plan to penetrate and capture the Australian wire and cable products market. December 14th, 2005  - Press Releases Concord, Ontario, Canada - Saving Costs on Reel Manufacturing The wire and cable industry has seen much competition from new markets, and has also had to absorb many increases in the costs of raw materials, power, lubricants, and shipping. It is often difficult to directly pass these costs along to customers, and we all try to help each other out as best we can. GMP-Slovakia is a premier producer of steel reels, spools and handling equipment. A large portion of the manufacturing cost of the reels consist of steel, and thus the cost of the finished product has drastically increased due to steel becoming up to 80% more expensive in some cases. We are very much devoted to helping our customers, by finding ways to reduce the burden of the higher material costs. See Extended Story.. December 14th, 2005  - Press Releases New Holland Pennsylvania - Berk-Tek and Ortronics/Legrand announce the addition of Wiremold(R) Pathways to NetClear 10 Gig Solutions Berk-Tek, a Nexans company, and Ortronics/Legrand are pleased to announce a partnership with Wiremold/Legrand to enhance the delivery of NetClear solutions through Wiremold(R) pathway solutions. This partnership enables NetClear to provide extra performance, installation, and ownership advantages including complete integration with Wiremold pathways. Wiremold products are now part of the NetClear solutions and the NetClear warranty in situations requiring specialty pathways and spaces. With the increasing demands of emerging technologies like 10 Gigabit/s Ethernet over copper, it is more critical than ever that every aspect of the structured cabling system, including pathways and spaces, be designed to ensure the highest channel performance. The new Wiremold(R) 4000 Designer Series(TM) steel raceway is a 10 Gig Ready(TM) system that features high capacity and unique crossover fittings that provide greater space within the raceway to accommodate the larger diameter 10G cable. As a result, when raceway is required, NetClear GTX 10G UTP and NetClear GTS 10G FTP channel solutions can be successfully delivered to the desktop without compromise. FiberReady(TM) Wiremold pathway solutions maintain the proper 2" bend radius for both copper and fiber cables. Their metallic construction provides a shielding effect to block interference from external noise sources. See Extended Story.. December 14th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Sea-Me-We 4 Submarine Cable Network Inaugurated in Dubai Alcatel today participated in the ceremony hosted by Etisalat for the inauguration of the Sea-Me-We 4 submarine cable network which took place in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates. After extensive provisional acceptance tests, Sea-Me-We 4, for which Alcatel had the turnkey responsibility with its co-contractor Fujitsu, is now ready to carry live traffic and to meet the fast growing needs from South East Asia, Indian subcontinent, Middle-Eastern countries and Europe. Completed in 18 months, the Sea-Me-We 4 submarine cable network nearly spans 20,000 km, approximately half of the circumference of the globe, linking 14 countries from Singapore to France and relying on 16 landing points. This system is designed to last 25 years with full reliability, and with 32 times the initial capacity of the previous Sea-Me-We 3 system, which was installed in 1998. See Extended Story.. November 12th, 2005  - Press Releases Helsinki - Finland's Outokumpu planning to cut jobs at SS unit Finnish metals group Outokumpu Oyj, the world's second largest stainless steel maker, which has been suffering from increased competition from China, said that it plans to cut up to 700 jobs as part of a restructuring scheme aimed at reducing costs at its main stainless steel unit. It said 300 jobs would be cut in Finland, another 300 in Sweden and the remaining 100 in other countries. The restructuring is expected to reduce annual costs by euro100 million from mid 2006. "It is regrettable that we have to take these drastic actions but they are necessary to so that we can ensure that Outokumpu is financially robust even in current difficult market conditions," CEO Mr Juha Rantanen said in a statement. In October, Outokumpu said it would close its coil products unit in Sheffield, Britain, possibly resulting in hundreds of layoffs. Outokumpu Stainless is a world-class supplier of wire rod and semi-finished long products. The Group’s wire rod product range is further enhanced through Fagersta Stainless. Outokumpu Stainless Tubular Products manufactures and sell welded stainless steel tubes, pipes, fittings and flanges. November 9th, 2005  - Press Releases Pfäffikon, Switzerland - Change in the Board of Directors of Nextrom Holding. Nextrom Holding AG announces the resignation of Mr. Georg Knill from its Board of Directors, as of November 7th, 2005. The coordinated resignation marks the final step of the formerly announced divestment. We would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Knill for his initiative and support during the whole reorganisation. Furthermore, Nextrom Holding AG announces the arrival of Dr. Juerg Leupp as the CEO of the group. Dr. Leupp, former Executive Division board member of Alusuisse, will add substantial industrial know-how to the organisation. See Extended Story.. September 30th, 2005  - Press Releases Neosho, Missouri - K&S Wire embarks on expansion K & S Wire Products, Inc. said in a press release Wednesday that the company is adding a 30,000 square-foot Powder Paint Company to their existing building. According to K & S President Gene Schwartz, construction has begun on the building with Farrell Construction Company as the contractor. The company has also purchased a large state-of-the-art electrostatic powder paint system consisting of power washers, dry-off oven, environmental room, powder paint boot and 100 foot of cure oven. The system is totally environmental friendly. The new facility will be in operation before the end of the year and will employ an additional 30 to 50 new jobs. Currently, K & S Wire Products employs more than 100 people. "The expansion will allow us to add value to our products and keep the work in-house and in the Neosho plant," Schwartz said. Currently, the company must send this work to facilities in other states. See Extended Story.. September 29th, 2005  - Press Releases Pawcatuck, Connecticut - Davis-Standard Accepts Credit Cards for Spare Parts Orders The spare parts department at Davis-Standard, LLC said in a press release Wednesday that the company has implemented a more convenient procurement option by accepting VISA and MasterCard for telephone, fax and e-mail orders. This service will better facilitate customer purchases for frequently ordered spare parts such as rupture discs, swing gate bolts and nuts, cast aluminum heaters, band heaters, thermocouples and temperature controllers. Davis-Standard stocks parts for the company’s entire product line including NRM, Killion, Davis-Standard and Merritt Extruder brands. Orders can be placed between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. See Extended Story.. September 22nd, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Nexans supplies the world’s first high temperature superconductor contact-less bearing to go on test for an industrial application Nexans, worldwide diversified maker of cable, has supplied the world’s first contact-less bearing based on high-temperature superconductors to go on test for use in an industrial application. The customer for this prototype is Siemens AG’s Corporate Technology division, which is evaluating it for use in electrical machinery. Siemens is carrying out intensive research on high-temperature superconductors (HTS), and recently started operation of a 4 MVA generator designed for ships, containing a rotor with an HTS magnet. The HTS’ high current densities result in compact designs for engine and generator applications. This is especially important in marine applications, where low weight and small dimensions allow efficient use of space and permit new types of ship design that cannot be realised using conventional engines. See Extended Story.. September 21st, 2005  - Press Releases Montreal Quebec Canada - Dessau-Soprin secures major power transmission line contract Dessau-Soprin, one of Canada's largest engineering and construction firms, has recently secured a major contract for supervising the construction of the SIEPAC (Sistema Interconectado para la América Central) interconnection project in Central America. The project consists of the construction of a 230-kV power transmission line over a distance of more than 1,800 km from Guatemala to Panama, together with modifications to incoming and outgoing bays at 15 substations. The total value of the project is estimated at $330 million Cdn ($280 million USD). A main project office will be opened in San Jose, Costa Rica, together with regional offices in the six countries crossed by the high-tension transmission line. The SIEPAC project is aimed at limiting power shortages, reducing operating costs, optimizing the usage of clean hydroelectric power, promoting the development of a competitive electricity market in the region, and attracting foreign investment. Dessau-Soprin's team includes over 1,800 engineers and other experts in a number of advanced fields. It has permanent offices in three South American countries: Peru, Chile and Venezuela. September 16th, 2005  - Press Releases Frankfurt am Main Germany - Delphi's Halogen-Free Automotive Cable makes european debut at Frankfurt Auto show Delphi Corporation's role as a technical leader in the design and manufacture of advanced electrical/electronic distribution systems has been strengthened with an innovative automotive cable coming to market through a cooperative effort with General Electric. Delphi is formally introducing its new halogen-free, recyclable cable to the European continent, a new wire family with insulation made with GE's Flexible Noryl* Resin that can help automakers meet pressing environmental and performance challenges. Having already made its global debut at GE's Washington D.C. "ecomagination" introduction, Delphi's new cable, with its insulation composed of GE's PPO* resin, is now being presented to customers in Europe, where it's positioned well to respond to a growing trend among the region's automotive manufacturers. It is being showcased at the 61st International Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt. See Extended Story.. September 16th, 2005  - Press Releases Richmond Indiana - Belden introduces Brilliance® Catsnake™ a heavy duty Cat 5e UTP Cable. Belden CDT Electronics Division, a unit of Belden CDT Inc. a supplier of specialty cable products for A/V, broadcast and entertainment applications, introduces Brilliance® CatSnake™ tactical field-deployable Category 5e audio/video cables designed for use in patching Ethernet or other Cat 5e digital audio/video formats. The new Cat 5e UTP cables are AES/EBU-compliant and feature an extremely rugged construction, utilizing Belden's patented Bonded-Pair design, which makes them ideal for indoor broadcast applications in high traffic areas, as well as tactical, field-deployable for use out-of-doors and in broadcast truck applications. September 15th, 2005  - Press Releases Stenungsund Sweden - Borealis to expand XLPE capacity in Scandinavia Borealis today announced plans to substantially expand its cross linkable polyethylene (XLPE) capacity in Stenungsund, Sweden in order to meet the growing demand in the power cable industry for the coming decade. The investment of EUR 42 million will enhance cost competitiveness as part of an integrated PE chain at Stenungsund. The additional capacity is expected to be available during the second half of 2007. Growth in power cables is driven by the need for underground solutions in urban and environmentally sensitive areas and to improve the security of supply for example in areas prone to high winds or excessive ice and snow. For full release use this link September 15th, 2005  - Press Releases Camp Hill, Pennsylvania - Harsco Division Expands Business at Two Mexican Steel Mills Harsco Corp. announced that its MultiServ mill services division will expand its on-site services at two of Mexico's largest steel works under multi-year contracts expected to generate new revenues of more than $40 million over their duration. Under a ten-year agreement at the Mittal Steel Lazaro Cardenas mill, MultiServ will own and operate a multi-vehicle fleet of slag pot carriers that will provide round-the-clock support to the steelmaking plant. The carriers, expected to begin operation in 2006, will replace several older units owned by the mill. Mittal Steel Lazaro Cardenas is Mexico's largest steel producer, averaging nearly four million tons of liquid steel production per year. The new contract expands MultiServ's service responsibilities at this location, where MultiServ has provided a range of on-site metal recovery, slag processing and other services since 1999. MultiServ will be undertaking a similar slag handling service upgrade at the DeAcero Celaya works, a producer of wire products. That mill will have doubled its annual production to more than two million tons within the next 12 months. To support the increase, MultiServ will introduce an all-new slag pot carrying service as part of a 10-year main services contract renewal that also extends MultiServ's other on-site responsibilities for metal recovery, slag processing and other services. MultiServ will also be taking over an on-site scrap collection service previously provided by another contractor. September 14th, 2005  - Press Releases Seoul - South Korean researchers develop high-temperature superconducting power transmission cable. A team of South Korean researchers and engineers said Tuesday that they have developed a high-temperature superconducting power transmission cable that can handle fives times more electricity than existing cables. The new cables can be made a third thinner than current cables, while transmitting much more power, researchers said. The development project was led by the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute (KERI) and LS Cable Co. The lines are of the 22.9 kilovolt, 50 megavolt-ampere type. Cho Jeon-wook, one of the chief researchers for the project and a technician at KERI's Center for Applied Superconductivity Technology, said the development team has built a monitoring and control system that can help smooth operation of the cables. He said this is the second time a superconducting power cable has been developed, and that this cable uses indigenous technology. September 12th, 2005  - Press Releases Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates - Ducab strengthens presence in Iran Dubai Cable Company Pvt. Ltd (Ducab), also recently announced that the company has strengthened its presence in the promising Iranian markets in line with its growth strategy to explore upcoming markets in the region. Ducab has already made sales worth more than AED 20 million in the last two years in the Iranian market in various sectors. In order to reinforce its long-term commitment in the Iranian market, Ducab conducted a Seminar highlighting the technical advantage of its wide product range recently, which was attended by over 230 participants including senior managers and engineers from prominent government organizations, consultants and contractors from the oil, gas & petrochemical sector and utilities. September 9th, 2005  - Press Releases Laplace Louisianna - Bayou Steel Corporation announces plant is operational after hurricane Katrina Bayou Steel Corporation announced Wednesday the resumption of plant operations following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Jerry M. Pitts, President and CEO of Bayou Steel Corporation today reported, "Hurricane Katrina released its destructive fury on New Orleans, the Gulf Coast and surrounding areas. However, Bayou Steel Corporation's LaPlace facility which is located only 35 miles north of New Orleans, experienced only minor damage to the exterior of plant buildings and to phone services. The plant experienced minimal disruption and damage and resumed operations by Sunday, September 4th. Our concern and prayers turn to our employees and other victims of this storm who have and continue to suffer significant losses. Even in the midst of such destruction, our employees' resiliency has again been evident as the plant successfully resumed operations at normal capacity in just a few days following the hurricane. We are very grateful to our dedicated employees and anticipate that we will quickly return to service levels our customers have come to expect. We would like to thank in advance, the patience of our faithful customers and the continued services of our committed suppliers." September 8th, 2005  - Press Releases Seoul - Cable-making firm completes court receivership. Jinro Industries, a South Korean cable-making firm, said Tuesday it has graduated from a two-year period of court receivership. Jinro Industries has been under a court-mediated debt workout plan after its former parent company Jinro Co., South Korea's largest traditional liquor maker, collapsed. Last December, Jinro Industries was taken over by LS Group, South Korea's 15th-largest business group, formerly known as LG Cable Group. The acquisition deal helped LS Group garner 46 per cent of the local cable market. On Tuesday, Jinro Industries announced a set of new management plans marking the completion of its court receivership. They include spending 30 billion won on training their personnel and developing their R&D sectors by 2008. Jinro Industries produces shipboard, fiber-optic and power cables, as well as aluminum wire and bare copper rods. August 26th, 2005  - Press Releases Hamburg Germany - Rolf Schlicht to distribute Huestis air wipes & cable strippers Rolf Schlicht GmbH, Hamburg, said in a press release Thursday that it has taken over the distribution of Huestis air wipes and cable strippers also for the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg since July 2005. From a well assorted stock the Company will now deliver apart from Germany also to France, Switzerland, Austria, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Slovakian Republic. Catalogues as well as price lists are available in German and English language. August 18th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Nexans and iTRACS Corporation® announce strategic global partnership to provide Intelligent Infrastructure Management Solutions Nexans, and iTRACS Corporation, a software supplier of network infrastructure tracking, reporting and asset management systems, have formed a strategic partnership to provide a wide range of intelligent infrastructure management (IIM) solutions under the Nexans LANSense brand. To read the full release use this link August 15th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Superior Essex and Nexans form Joint-venture to pursue European enameled wire market Nexans of France has entered into a joint-venture with Superior Essex, the US cable, wire and electrical insulation products specialist, in the field of enameled wire. The new entity, whose capital is divided 60/40 between its US and French parent companies, contains their enameled wire businesses in Europe. The J?V operation will be known as Essex Nexans. July 1st, 2005  - Press Releases Schaffhausen, Switzerland - 1st Nextrom to demonstrate the VAD process developed for OFC 04 Nextrom announces demonstration of the VAD process developed for its OFC 04 VAD equipment, which uses one core burner and two clad burners to manufacture LWPF VAD core preforms up to two meters long and10 kg weight. The core preform shown hereafter was produced in Nextrom's Technology Center in Camarillo, California, USA, with a core diameter of 35 mm (not visible), a clad diameter of 175 mm and weighs 5.31 kg for a one meter useable core length. In Nextrom's VAD process, a proprietary advancement allows clad deposition to continue after core deposition is stopped and minimizes end losses. In the second half of 2005, Nextrom will demonstrate state-of-the-art VAD fiber meeting the G652.C LWPF specification. See Extended Story.. June 30th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Nexans to supply rolling stock cables for the Qinghai-Tibet railway project. Nexans, has been awarded an order by Bombardier-Sifang-Power Transportation Ltd. (BSP) to supply power and control cables for the high grade railway cars of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project. Nexans will supply 1,210 kilometers of its power cables Flamex 750 and 1,114 kilometers of its control cables Flamex SH20. Totally 222 cars will be used in the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Project. To ensure railway operations in harsh and freezing condition, Nexans low-temperature power cables provide energy under extremely cold temperatures. The operating temperature of Nexans cables ranges from -40 deg C to +125 deg C, which ensures the railway operation along the line. Nexans control cables offer fire protection for people and equipment through Halogen-Free, Fire-Retardant (HFFR) materials. Besides high quality, the fast delivery also helps Nexans to win the order. In the first phase of the project, Nexans will supply BSP with its power and control cables to be installed in 173 high grade cars. All the cables of this order will be manufactured by Nexans plants in Bohain and Paillart, France. The first batch of Nexans cables should be delivered to Shanghai in June 2005, and the rest delivery is expected to be completed by the end of 2005. The first train set (8 cars) for the railway line will be delivered in October 2005. Moreover, Nexans is also in contact with BSP in order to supply cables for the rest 49 cars in a second phase. See Extended Story.. June 25th, 2005  - Press Releases - PolyOne focuses on Asia US-based polymer processor and distributor PolyOne Corp is focusing on Asia, especially China, as the American and European markets post slow growth. The company, having posted 30 to 40 percent sales growth a year in China over the past few years, expects this strong momentum to continue in the coming years, said president and chief executive officer Thomas Waltermire, on the sidelines of the ongoing 19th International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber industries. It is targeting 12 per cent growth in Asia this year, the same growth rate as last year's in the region, he said. With revenue of about US$40 million, China accounted for about half of the company's sales in Asia last year, while Asia makes up about 4 per cent of its global sales. PolyOne Corp officially marked the opening of its plant in Shenzhen in southern China's Guangdong Province on Thursday, which, with a technical development centre, is one of its largest production facilities worldwide. With a first-phase investment of more than US$10 million, the plant will have an annual production capacity of 10,500 tons initially and can be expanded to allow double the capacity. June 24th, 2005  - Press Releases Brussels - Cumerio ups its guidance for 2005 Since the beginning of the year, copper prices remained at very high levels. In June, the copper price even reached historical highs and the backwardation (ie a situation where cash prices are higher than forward prices) widened substantially, indicating a strong demand for copper mainly driven by the high Chinese consumption. Inventories on both the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Commodity Exchange (COMEX) continued to fall. See Extended Story.. June 22nd, 2005  - Press Releases Tokyo - Kobe Steel to set up China wire rod joint venture. Kobe Steel Ltd, Japan's third-largest steel maker, will set up a joint venture in Jiangsu Province in China to manufacture special-steel wire rod for use in springs for automobile suspension, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. A joint venture, which will be set up next month, will be capitalized at 760 million yen, with Kobe Steel taking a 35 % stake and a local firm acquiring a 15 % interest. Mitsui & Co and Sugita Wire Ltd will own the remainder, the business daily reported. Total investment is estimated at 1.9 billion yen, with production due to start in October 2006. The facility is expected to produce 7,200 tons a year initially, which will be stepped up to the 11,000 ton mark in 2010, the report said. June 20th, 2005  - Press Releases London - More production cut backs at Corus as steel glut worsens Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus yesterday said it was to make further cuts in production to bring it into line with demand. The group cut production by 70,000 tonnes a month this year and will cut a further 90,000 tonnes for the third quarter. The cuts will reduce output to just over 90% of capacity and will be achieved by managing overtime working, shift patterns and the use of contractors, a spokeswoman said. The group said global steel consumption was expected to increase by about 4% as demand from China offset higher stock levels in the US and Europe. This is countrary to statistic reports from China which wirenews has received, which points to a decrease in steel purchases by China of 2 million metric tons in the first 4 month of 2004. There were signs that stocks in the US were beginning to decline, and Europe, where steel demand has been hit by weakness in the automotive and construction sectors, was expected to follow suit. June 10th, 2005  - Press Releases Brussels - Bekaert says it will keep research activities in Belgium The finance director of steel wire and cord manufacturer Bekaert SA Bert De Graeve is quoted in the Asian press as saying that the group intends to keep its research activities in Belgium. During a recent visit to China De Graeve said "The research remains in Belgium. We do not have have the intention to make changes," he said, speaking on a visit to China. Bekaert focuses its product manufacturing in China. "The costs are very low -- that is an important motivation," said De Graeve. De Greave added however that local competition in the market was improving. June 4th, 2005  - Press Releases Westborough Massachusetts - Condumex to Build High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) Cable System with HTS Wire from American Superconductor American Superconductor Corporation announced Wednesday that it has received an order for its first generation (1G) high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire from Condumex, the largest wire and cable manufacturer in Mexico. The HTS wire will be utilized by Condumex to manufacture and install an HTS power cable system in a Mexico City, Mexico electrical substation. The project will demonstrate the ability of HTS cable to move increased amounts of power under the streets of Mexico City, helping to break grid bottlenecks and provide customers with more reliable and secure electric power. One-third of the project is to be funded by the government of Mexico.The AC power distribution cable system will be able to transmit 47-megawatts (MW) of power. See Extended Story.. June 2nd, 2005  - Press Releases Milan - Follow-up on June 1st news item Pirelli Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) contract Pirelli Telecom Cables & Systems has secured a contract in China for the supply of an Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) cable system which will take its total worldwide OPGW volume past the 75,000km mark - almost enough cable to go twice around the world. OPGW cable forms an integral part of an overhead electricity network, performing both the primary function of a conventional earth conductor together with the provision of a state-of-the-art communications link thanks to the optical fibres contained within. The customer for this milestone project is the East China Power Grid Corporation and the cable will form a part of the East China Anhui Long Span OPGW network. Installation will be on the 500kV transmission lines of ECPGC over a distance of 165km covering some of the most difficult terrain in the region. A special section of cable has been designed to perform the 2km crossing of the Yangzi River with Pirelli also supplying all fittings and accessories for the project. The cable - which will be produced at both Pirelli's new facility in Vilanova, Spain and also at its factory at Wuxi near Shanghai - will bring to over 6,000 km the quantity of OPGW which Pirelli has now installed in China, including a large quantity recently installed as part of the prestigious Three Gorges Project. "OPGW remains a key part of the Pirelli product portfolio" said Mr Giovanni B. Scotti, CEO of Pirelli Telecom Cables and Optical Fibres. "We are delighted to reach this important point in the product's history. We have now installed OPGW in more than 60 countries around the world and are especially pleased that this particular project has occurred in a country where we have such a long tradition of supply". May 14th, 2005  - Press Releases Washington D.C. - So what??? Or so what about silicosis???? The Welding Information Center a group sponsored by current and former manufacturers and distributors of welding rods has provided a grant funding a study that found no association between welding and parkinson's disease! Did anyone expect or suggest there would be?? To this editor it seems like announcing a study that found no correlation between mobile phone use and diabetes. If the objective was concern about occupational health risk to which welders are exposed why not study if there is a higher occurrence of silicosis among men employed as welders?? May 12th, 2005  - Press Releases Irvine California - Composite Technology announces MU regarding sales of ACCC conductor in the U.K. Composite Technology Corporation a developer of high-performance composite core for electric transmission and distribution cables, Wednesday announced the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding with a subsidiary of the Babcock International Group, Eve Group Limited (Eve), a leading supplier of engineering services to the power transmission industry, relating to the distribution of ACCC cable utilizing the CTC proprietary composite core for use in the United Kingdom market subject to the completion of definitive legal agreements. Eve works closely with the UK's power transmission network owners and operators, supporting them in the management of their network assets. With 75 years of experience in the overhead transmission line sector, Eve provides comprehensive contract and project management for 132kV, 275kV and 400kV network infrastructure projects and delivers specialist network life cycle services from design, construction and refurbishment, through to type registration, asset management, optical fiber installation and research & development. May 12th, 2005  - Press Releases Kortrijk Belgium - Good start Bekaert says to 1st Q, but market conditions getting difficult In a press release Wednesday Bekaert said that the company in the first quarter of 2005, generated consolidated and combined sales of € 462 million (+18%) and € 733 million (+20%), respectively. Combined sales defined as sales generated by consolidated companies, joint ventures and associates. The consolidated sales’ increase was 2% from the net movement in acquisitions and divestments and 18% from organic growth, while adverse currency movements amounted to 2%. Bekaert performed strongly in advanced wire products. Sales prices are considerably higher compared to the first quarter of last year, due to the sharp rise in raw materials’ prices which marked 2004. Sales were negatively affected by currency movements. Combined sales grew most rapidly in Latin America and Asia, whilst the markets in North America came under increased pressure. In Europe, Bekaert is experiencing increasing competition from the ‘dollar countries’ as a result of the strong position of the euro in relation to the dollar. Sales of building products remained at the same level as in the exceptionally strong first quarter of 2004. Sales of steel cord China showed an increase compared to the strong first quarter of 2004. The measures the Chinese authorities took to combat vehicle overloading, as reported previously, only began to have a negative influence on sales from the second quarter of last year. In the other regions, Bekaert achieved a strong growth in sales of steel cord products, backed up in part by supplies from its worldwide production platform. The third steel cord plant in China was officially inaugurated in April. For the full press release use this link May 7th, 2005  - Press Releases Mobile, Alabama - Expansion of plant to mean more jobs at Kvaerner umbilical Plant Aker Kvaerner ASA officials said they will expand their Mobile production facility and add jobs after winning a $110 million contract for work related to a deepwater oil and gas project in the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the money will be funneled to Kvaerner's $20 million plant in south Mobile County to produce 112 miles of steel tube umbilicals -- cords that carry fiber optic cables, electrical wiring and hydraulic fluid from platforms on the water's surface to the Gulf floor -- the company announced Monday. The Mobile plant will hire 18 operations and maintenance employees because of the additional business, according to office manager Angel Persson. It had already hired 24 engineers and project managers to create pre-designs to win the contract, she said. "It was fought for, I can tell you," she said. "This is the largest umbilical contract that's ever been awarded." The company has been competing for several months against other umbilical makers such as Paris-based Technip and Houston-based Oceaneering Multiflex. See Extended Story.. May 4th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Nexans innovative Spider dredging system, levels the seabed at depths of 1,000 m before laying cables Nexans has developed a new steep terrain dredger/ sub-sea intervention vehicle for the demanding seafloor terrain of the Ormen Lange gas field on the Norwegian continental shelf. The Ormen Lange is a pioneering project, with Hydro as operator. The field lies in an area of the Norwegian Sea with rough seafloor and climatic and oceanographic conditions that render it one of the world’s most demanding gas development projects. Nexans innovative terrain dredger/sub-sea intervention system, called the Spider, is the only technology capable of leveling the seabed in steep areas. It combines powered tracks, with an articulated walking leg system, enabling it to function in very uneven sub-sea terrain with up to 35 degrees slope. The Spider is derived from the well proven Capjet trenching vehicle design and benefits from more than 15 years of experience in sub-sea vehicle design and operation. See Extended Story.. April 27th, 2005  - Press Releases Milwaukee - Rockwell with 13 percent growth in second quarter Rockwell Automation, Inc. , a global provider of industrial automation power, control and information solutions, has reported fiscal 2005 second quarter income from continuing operations of $142.5 million compared to $74.9 million in 2004. Sales for the second quarter were $1,218.4 million, up 13 percent compared to $1,079.6 million in the second quarter of 2004. Keith Nosbusch, chairman and chief executive officer, said, “Our businesses continue to benefit from our steady investment in proliferating our integrated architecture platform and in broadening our portfolio of automation products, value-added services and solutions. Our strengthened offering better positions us to solve the business needs of our customers and capitalize on the continued growth of our customers’ investment in automation and productivity.” See Extended Story.. April 26th, 2005  - Press Releases Pittsburgh, PA - Allegheny’s Specialty-metals increasing profits Few people know that Allegheny Technologies Inc. makes the super conducting wire used in magnetic resonance imaging machinery, fingerprint resistant stainless steel or that its nickel-titanium alloys are used for coronary stents. L. Patrick Hassey, CEO of Allegheny Technologies, says that will change as the company's leadership focuses on increasing profitability -- not only by improving its core stainless steel business, but also by leveraging its high-technology expertise to add profits in its high-performance metals and engineered products businesses. See Extended Story.. April 22nd, 2005  - Press Releases Chatham, New York - Sonoco Reports Earnings Sonoco, the global packaging Company, reports earnings per diluted share for the first quarter of 2005 of $.37, versus $.39 for the same period in 2004. Net sales were $814 million, versus $695 million for the same period in 2004. "The increase in sales for the first quarter of 2005 primarily reflects the acquisition of CorrFlex Graphics, LLC, in May 2004; increased volume and higher average prices for flexible packaging, rigid paper and plastic containers, molded and extruded plastics, easy-open closures and wire and cable reels; the formation of the joint venture between the European engineered carriers and coreboard operations of Sonoco and Ahlstrom Corporation; and higher average prices for engineered carriers and paperboard," said DeLoach. See Extended Story.. April 13th, 2005  - Press Releases Schaffhausen, Switzerland - Nextrom announces order intake and sales for 1st Q 2005 Nextrom announced Monday that new orders for CHF 1.6 million had been received during the first quarter of 2005 while gross sales during the same period amounted to CHF 9.0 million (up from CHF 3.6 million in the first quarter 2004). The backlog as per 31 March 2005 amounted to CHF 4.4 million. Nextrom Holding S.A., headquartered in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, is one of the world's premier suppliers of manufacturing solutions and services to the Fiber Optic industry. Nextrom also offers manufacturing services to industries globally. For information please contact Mr. Risto Laakso, CFO, tel: +358 40 503 06 81 or Mr. Georg Knill, CEO, tel: +43 664 4554 920 To visit the company web site use this link http://www.nextrom.com April 7th, 2005  - Press Releases Shanghai - Nexans opens a new special cables plant in Shanghai, China Nexans, has held a grand opening ceremony, in presence of Gérard Hauser, CEO of the Group, to mark the official start of production at its 22 million Euros special cable plant in Shanghai, China. The event follows the successful completion of nine months of plant construction and equipment testing and was attended by approximately 150 participants including Nexans’ business partners and customers from shipyards, rolling stock makers, nuclear power plants and government officials. The new plant, named Nexans (Shanghai) Wires and Cables Co., Ltd., covers a land area of about 50,000m2 in Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone Shanghai and employs about 80 people. Nexans has imported all the equipment from Europe to ensure the same product quality as its European operations. See Extended Story.. April 1st, 2005  - Press Releases Waukegan Illinois - Coleman Cable, Inc. announces the appointment of 2 new directors Coleman Cable, Inc. (Bloomberg Equity Ticker: 502222Z) today announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Shmuel D. Levinson and James G. London to the Coleman Cable Board of Directors, effective March 22, 2005. Both Mr. Levinson’s and Mr. London’s term will expire at this year’s annual meeting of stockholders, at which time they will be nominated along with the other members of the Board to a regular one year term. See Extended Story.. March 16th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Alcatel to upgrade Sea-Me-We 3 submarine cable network Alcatel announced yesterday that it has been awarded a multi-million US dollar turnkey contract to deploy an integrated submarine and terrestrial optical solution for the 10Gbit/s upgrade of the Sea-Me-We 3 submarine cable network. The upgrade will provide the 38,000 Km Sea-Me-We 3 cable network with extra capacity to support the increased traffic loads driven by the rollout of broadband services. With completion scheduled by the end of 2005, the upgraded Sea-Me-We 3 will also benefit from advanced restoration capabilities and will serve as backhaul infrastructure for the Sea-Me-We 4 network. Alcatel will upgrade submarine sections linking the UK to India via France, Portugal, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti in Africa and the United Arab Emirates. Alcatel will also upgrade all terrestrial stations along the network. March 14th, 2005  - Press Releases Tewksbury, Massachusetts - NEMA revises guidelines for metallic and nonmetallic cable NEMA, The National Electrical Manufacturers Association, has released two revised wire and cable standards: RV 1-2004, Revision 1, Application and Installation Guidelines for Armored Cable and Metal-Clad Cable, and RV 2-2005, Application and Installation Guidelines for Nonmetallic-Sheathed Cable and Underground Feeder and Branch Circuit Cable. See Extended Story.. March 10th, 2005  - Press Releases Norcross, Georgia - OFS introduces improved TrueWave reach In a press release Tuesday OFS formerly the Optical Fiber Solutions Division of Lucent Technologies a designer, manufacturer, and supplier of leading edge optical fiber, and optical fiber cable, said that the copper circuit-switched networks born of the 19th century continue to be transformed into the fiber optic-based networks of the 21st century. In this transformation, metro and long-haul applications are being converged and the fractured industry structure of separate local exchange, long distance, cable, and cellular carriers is becoming more vertically integrated. The result is that more and more integrated service providers will furnish end-to-end connectivity to their customers for a wide variety of services, both metro and long-haul. In order to handle ever-increasing traffic demands, while lowering their costs, improving their efficiencies, and maximizing their competitiveness, these integrated service providers will continue to find it necessary to improve their networks with cost-reducing fiber optic products using state-of-the-art technologies. In response OFS announced that it has dramatically enhanced its TrueWave(R) REACH fiber product line by introducing the Low Water Peak version of the product, TrueWave REACH LWP fiber. See Extended Story.. March 9th, 2005  - Press Releases Erkrath/Düsseldorf - Davis Standard expects to double Euroblue extruder sales in 2005 Davis Standard says its has sold 12 of its new Euroblue extruders to processors in Europe since the machine was introduced in mid-2004. It adds that it expects orders to double in 2005. Reasons for the machine’s acceptance have been its “ergonomic design, competitive price and fast delivery of less than two weeks from the order date”, the company states. The Euroblue is available with screw sizes of 50mm, 65mm, 75mm and 90mm in a range of designs and is aimed at pipe, tubing, profile, as well as wire and cable applications. Features of the machine include: a sloped front panel with full machine access, a low noise, high torque double reduction gearbox, cast aluminium finned heaters, a brushless AC drive and motor, a high capacity air cooling system. The wear resistant bimetallic barrel can withstand 700 bar operating pressure. To visit the Davis Standard web site this link March 7th, 2005  - Press Releases Brantford - Exhibitors at Wire Russia 2005 already start planning. Opening day visitors to Moscow’s Wire Russia will be arriving on the first day of summer in Moscow the capital city of Russia. In a press release this past week Maillefer said that the exhibits in their stand, 75 A14, will focus on LAN cable manufacturing, and Energy cable production. Also available will be Maillefer's new model ECH crossheads for multi-layer constructions. The heads boast exacting design, productivity and operator friendliness. An ECH 4/6 SL for solid insulation will be on display. The company also said that Russian made PE and PE blends have gained acceptance for Telecom cables produced on Maillefer equipment. For those wanting to move up to higher LAN categories or those getting into LAN manufacturing, See Extended Story.. March 3rd, 2005  - Press Releases Hamilton - Stelco to pursue new refinancing - no bid good enough as business has improved. Stelco Inc. said Tuesday that its Board of Directors had decided to pursue new refinancing alternatives for the integrated steel business as part of its capital raising process since none of the proposals received satisfy its requirements for being designated as a prevailing offer under the order of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice made in October, 2004 as subsequently amended. The Company, together with its advisors, have spent the last two and half weeks examining in detail bids submitted by the bid submission date of February 14, 2005. In reviewing the bids, the Corporation and its Board of Directors have been guided by the principle that the overall objective is to pursue an outcome that will strengthen the Corporation on its emergence from protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act. To permit Stelco to emerge from creditor protection as a competitive participant in the industry, the Company expects to return to court in the near future to outline its plans for raising capital. See Extended Story.. March 2nd, 2005  - Press Releases Milan - Pirelli awarded €25 million contract for high voltage cables in Singapore Pirelli Energy Cables and Systems today announced that its subsidiary Comergy Limited has been chosen by the Singaporean power utility SP PowerAssets Ltd. , a subsidiary of Singapore Power , to supply and install 400kV PPL oil filled power cables, auxiliary cables and accessories which are to reinforce the power transmission network within the country. The contract, which is worth some € 25 million, is the second 400kV contract awarded to Comergy within the last year and confirms Pirelli worldwide leadership in power transmission cable systems . Under the terms of the contract, Comergy will supply and install the 400kV cables for SP PowerAssets Ltd to form part of the strengthening of the network in the south west of the city state. The project includes for the cables to be installed within an undersea tunnel and Comergy have been awarded a separate contract by SP Power Assets Ltd to construct this tunnel. February 28th, 2005  - Press Releases Lagos - China-USA-France J/V secures rural telephone project in Nigeria Equipment and cable for Nigeria's rural telephony project worth about $23million have arrived to Nigeria from China signaling an early take-off of the project designed to increase access to telephone by rural communities under the Nigeria Rural Telephony Project(NRTP) The equipment ordered by contractors to the project, a Chinese consortium of Alcatel Shanghai Bell(ASB) and China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation (CMEC) arrived Lagos port on February 16 and were cleared for onward transportation to the various project sites scattered across 108 Local Government Areas of the country in which the Chinese consortium have responsibility under an existing contract to deliver rural telephony services to the people. The equipment imported include switching system, transmission system and cables which officials of the company said are ready for installation. Under the contract terms, the Chinese contractor is required to provide design of project, manufacture, supply, install and commission equipment as well as train the personnel to handle the equipment after commissioning. See Extended Story.. February 25th, 2005  - Press Releases Taipei - Taiwan's China Steel raises domestic basic prices for wire rod China Steel Corp said it has decided to raise its domestic basic prices for most of its steel products for the second quarter to June. The decision follows substantial price increases which have just been announced by Japanese steelmakers and China-based Baosteel, it said in a statement. The planned increases in the company's steel prices, however, remain lower than those internationally, to help the island's downstream steelmakers stay competitive, it said. China Steel said the prices of hot-rolled steel will be raised by an average of 1,280 twd per metric ton. The prices of bar and wire rod products however will only be increased by 1,000 twd per metric ton. February 21st, 2005  - Press Releases Kuala Lumphur - Malaysia's Wonderful Wire wins deal to supply automotive cables to US' Lear Wonderful Wire & Cable Bhd said it has been awarded a contract by US-based Lear Corp for supply of automotive cables. In a statement to Bursa Malaysia, the company said that the first consignment, expected to be delivered on March 7, 2005 is valued at about 5 million rgt. It added that the sales value will remain the same for the second and third month and after the third month the order will gradually increase to approximately 8 million rgt a month."The period of supply contract will be valid until December 31, 2008 and will be extended up to December 31, 2009," Wonderful Wire said. Lear supplies wire harnesses to the automotive industry globally. Lear has operations in the Philippines. The company supplies its products to carmakers, including Mazda, Nissan and Ford. See Extended Story.. February 18th, 2005  - Press Releases Amsterdam - Draka to sell NKF electronics for 20 million euro mainly in cash. Dutch cable maker Draka Holding NV said in a press release Wednesday it signed a letter of intent to sell its subsidiary NKF Electronics BV to Optelecom Inc of the US. The price is expected to be around 20 million euro, the bulk of which will be paid in cash and the remainder in the form of a subordinated loan to Optelecom, Draka said.NKF Electronics develops, manufactures and sells high- grade video network equipment for traffic management and safety & security systems. The company, which employs 75 people, generates annual turnover of around 15 million euro.The sale of NKF Electronics, which has the full support of its management, follows from Draka's review of the future of its non-strategic activities, it said. February 16th, 2005  - Press Releases Hickory North Carolina - CommScope announces distribution agreement with Anixter CommScope, Inc. a designer and manufacturer of high-performance broadband communication cables, announces a new distribution agreement with Anixter International, Inc. to supply coaxial cables for 50-ohm wireless mobile systems and in-building wireless applications. CommScope and Anixter International expect these products to be deployed in wireless telecom networks throughout Europe and the Middle East. February 9th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris, - “Choosing Plastic Optical Fibre today enables em2c to future-proof its options” Nexans said in a press release Tuesday that it had installed a complete Plastic Optical Fibre (POF) cabling solution for the headquarters of em2c, a provider of corporate real estate solutions based in Lyon (France). This is the first building in Europe to be equipped with this state-of-the-art technology. The project was conducted in partnership with Nexans cabling solutions activities based in Belgium and the International Nexans Research Center (NRC) located in Lyon. Martin Rossbach, Corporate Project Leader POF, explained: “POF currently provides an attractive alternative to copper and silica fibre solutions with data rates ranging from 100Mbps to 10Gbps. It has already been in use for some time in the automotive industry, and now POF is now becoming of interest to residential and corporate networks with the development of multimedia. Thanks to its capabilities, POF can be used for interconnecting buildings, for highspeed backbone distribution and for horizontal distribution.” February 8th, 2005  - Press Releases Ecublens, Switzerland - Mailleefer to exhibit full range of equipment at Interwire 2005 Springtime visitors to May’s Interwire in Atlanta, USA, will find Maillefer at stand 2720. With the accent being placed on LAN cable manufacturing, the company counts on renewed interest from the North American telecom industry.On the stand, the EKP fully automatic dual take-up will be the most visible. The robust and reliable component is familiar to the industry worldwide. The model displayed is an EKP 5 version optimized for LAN manufacturing and includes Allen-Bradley controls, drives and motors. In the extrusion field, new model crossheads ECH for multi-layer Telecom wire boast exacting design, productivity and operator friendliness. An ECH 4/6 SL for solid insulation will be on display. Solid and foam FEP solutions are also available, including a specific regulation system using extrusion cone length. Plus Maillefer will present its high-speed line for extrusion of cross web filler (spline), which is employed in constructions to neatly separate each of the twisted pairs. Manufacturing cross web filler in-house is shown to be an attractive alternative to outside sourcing. Moving on to Energy cable, Maillefer proposes the full range, from automotive wire to extra-high voltage cable. While on the components side, the thick catalog of pay-off, take-up, accumulators, extruders, heads, controls and downstream equipment offers attractive possibilities for every upgrade need. The Swiss-based manufacturer has locations in Ecublens (Switzerland), Vantaa (Finland), Moscow and Shanghai. As worldwide leader of extrusion and winding solutions to the wire & cable and pipe industries, Maillefer provides maximum productivity to its customers through superior technology, know-how and service. For further details please contact Manuel Felder, Maillefer Sales & Marketing at: Maillefer SA Route du Bois 37 CH-1024 Ecublens Switzerland Phone +41 21 694 4111 Fax +41 21 691 2143 www.mailleferextrusion.com info@maillefer.net January 25th, 2005  - Press Releases Paris - Nexans awarded contract from Perenco in West Africa Nexans, announced Monday that the company had been awarded a contract worth approximately 9 million Euros by Perenco, an independent European oil company, to deliver power and control cables for the development of its oil fields, located 40km off the coast of Gabon, West Africa. Under the terms of the contract, Nexans will supply a complete range of cables and accessories to Perenco including submarine and underground XLPE (cross-linked polyethylene) power cables, fiber optic telecom cables and MV (medium voltage) power cables. Nexans will also provide technical support throughout the North Gabon Project. January 24th, 2005  - Press Releases Taiyuan Shanxi China - Taiyuan Iron and Steel to produce 3 million tons of steel by 2006 Taiyuan Iron and Steel (Group) Corp. in China's Shanxi Province, China's largest stainless steel producer, is building a project with an annual production of 1.5 million tons of stainless steel. The new project involves an investment of 16.5 billion yuan (US$2 billion). Upon the completion in 2006, the company will have an annual production capacity of 3 million tons of stainless steel, becoming the largest stainless steel producer in the world. January 24th, 2005  - Press Releases Zwevegem Belgium - Sonoco to close Saint-Girons plant Sonoco Europe announced that it will close factory in Saint-Girons in southwest France next month. The Saint-Girons factory produces packaging and rolls for paper, fabric and wire. The closure is part of an overhaul of the company's French business in the wake of its merger with the Norwegian fiber-based materials company Ahlstrom. Eighteen people are employed at the Saint-Girons site. In April last year Sonoco, Hartsville, S.C., signed a definitive agreement with Ahlstrom Corp., Helsinki, Finland, to combine both companies’ European paper-based tube, core and coreboard operations into a joint venture under the name Sonoco-Alcore S.a.r.l. In a separate but related transaction, Sonoco also will purchase 100 percent of Ahlstrom’s paper tube and core operation in Shouguang, China. The purchase price is undisclosed, and the operation will not be part of the joint venture. See Extended Story.. January 20th, 2005  - Press Releases Seoul - LG Cable to change name to LS Cable LG Cable Ltd said that it plans to change its company name to LS Cable, highlighting its separation from LG Group and stressing changes in the company's business strategy. Names of its units, including LG Industrial Systems Co, will be changed accordingly. "LS means 'leading solution,' implying the change of our business focus into being a solutions provider" rather than a device manufacturer, it said in a statement. The new company name is subject to shareholder approval at an upcoming meeting in March. LG Cable Group is the 22nd largest business group in South Korea with 16 units under its wing and combined total assets of 5.1 trln won. It separated itself from LG Group in 2003. January 18th, 2005  - Press Releases Concord Ontario - METAVAN breaks into North America market after only 5 months of local presence HOWAR Equipment Inc. is proud to announce its successful signing of a contract worth over $300,000 for 30" (760 mm) steel reels to a North American facility manufacturing Bead Wire. The reels are manufactured by METAVAN N.V. of Belgium (Est. 1958) who has been represented by HOWAR Equipment in North America for just 5 months. The high quality of the specially engineered Bead Wire reels have stood out from the competition, with the careful attention to detail that METAVAN employs during its special manufacturing program. Due to the specialized pressed steel reel manufacturing equipment, METAVAN is also able to provide unsurpassed lead times and quality consistency when manufacturing the reels. METAVAN manufactures a full line of shipping and process pressed steel reels for the wire and cable industry. For further details on the products available from HOWAR Equipment, phone: (905) 738-4010 or E-Mail sales@HowarEquipment.com or visit www.HowarEquipment.com

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