Wuhu Jiahong New Material Co., Ltd., (Wuhu Jiahong), a Chinese cable manufacturer, announced that it will be a supplier of self-regulating heat trace cable to Garinger, a major U.S. industrial supply company.

A press release said that Wuhu Jiahong will supply 20,000 meters of self-regulating heat trace cables and 10,000 meters of constant wattage heating cables to Grainger on a yearly basis. These cables will be used for residential and commercial buildings, mainly for pipe freeze protection, in-pipe heat tracing system, electric floor heating system, and roof and gutter de-icing system.

The self-regulating heat trace cables can also be used for other sites, such as offshore oil platforms, marine ship, and fire pipelines, the release said. It noted that Wuhu Jiahong is the lone Chinese company to offer self-regulating heating cables. It is building a 60,000 sq-m-factory in Wuhu, scheduled to open in 2020, that “will be equipped with fully automated testing equipment and is expected to multiply the existing production scale by five times.” Wuhu Jiahong CEO Steven Xu said that the company’s new factory will allow the business “to shift its production line to a new frontier, making it highly digitized and more connected ... (and) provide the company a serious competitive edge over its other competitors in the coming years.”

Founded in 1993, Wuhu Jiahong’s R&D staff includes 20 industry experts, and its cables are made to strict European and North American safety standards, the releasse said. It competes with companies such as Raychem, Emerson, Technitrace, Thermon and Eltherm.