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Wire Journal News

August 2018

Corning Inc. has signed up to be the first tenant in a new business park being built in Hickory, North Carolina, a $60 million investment in its Optical Communications division.

A story by David Boraks, WFAE, said that city and Catawba County officials report that the plant will be built on 27 acres at the Trivium Corporate Center, between Robinwood and Startown roads. Local officials had been referring to the plan as "Project Wave" during negotiations with Corning.

The announcement came after the Hickory City Council and Catawba County Commission approved a series of incentives that provide Corning the land, valued at $605,000, and granting up to $1.7 million in tax rebates over five years. Corning also was given an option to acquire another 4.4 acres.

The project was expected to create 110 new jobs, the report said. Corning has committed to creating 75 new jobs by Dec. 31, 2020, and the remainder by Dec. 31, 2023. The manufacturing capacity will be used to produce a range of optical fiber and cable.

"Corning is investing in tomorrow’s growth today, as the growing number of connected devices fuels demand for our optical fiber and cable innovations," Dr. Bernhard Deutsch, vice president and general manager of Corning Optical Fiber and Cable, said in a statement.

Corning has more than 4,000 employees in North Carolina, in both cable manufacturing and life sciences. It is also building a new headquarters for the cable business, off I-485 in northwest Charlotte. That operation is expected to relocate to Charlotte from Hickory next year and could eventually employ up to 650 people.

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Following the collapse of the westernmost pylon of a 51-year-old bridge in Genoa that killed 43 people, efforts to pinpoint the cause have centered on what was described as the bridge’s “unusual stay cables” design.

Crossing the Polcevera Valley, the 1.1-km-long viaduct included three cable-stayed sections on the east side, with spans ranging from about 142 m to 207 m. The westernmost pylon (span 9) collapsed during a storm before noon on Aug. 14. About 240 m of deck dropped some 45 m onto a highway, rail track and buildings.

Per a report in Engineering News-Record, Paris-based cable-stayed bridge engineer Michel Virlogeux—who studied the structure’s design and saw a video of the collapse—suspects cable failure. The bridge’s design was unusual in that it had a small number of stays, which provided no redundancy. Also, their prestressing created a “dynamic effect” when ruptured, hastening collapse, he said.

The report said that the stays of span 11 were reinforced over their full lengths with external steel plates in the 1990s, and that the tops of stays of span 10 were reinforced, but no retrofitting appears to have been made on the collapsed span 9. Following the collapse, the infrastructure and transportation ministry ordered an urgent review of an estimated 10,000 bridges older than 50 years.

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The Asia America Gateway (AAG) undersea cable—a 20,000-km-long submarine communications cable system that connects South-East Asia with the mainland of the United States, across the Pacific Ocean via Guam and Hawaii—has reported its fourth service outage this year.

The Vietnam Post and Telecoms Group (VNPT) reports that the cable broke down on August 23, the fourth incident to date in 2018, affecting Vietnam’s international internet connections. It attributed the service break to a power leakage at a point about 250 km offshore the cable’s landing point in Vung Tau (Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province).

The AAG cable is notorious for its frequent breaks and outages since it started service in late 2009. Most of the outages have been located at the intra-Asia segments between Hong Kong and Singapore, with most problems occurring in the Vietnam section, while the segment between Hong Kong and the Philippines seems to have fewer problems.

The $560-million AAG cable handles more than 60% percent Vietnam’s international internet traffic. Since its debut, the cable has encountered a “very high” risk of rupture and been under frequent repair, affecting all service providers in Vietnam. The cable suffered technical errors at least five times in 2017.

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Prysmian reports that it has entered into an agreement with Chinese contractor Talesun to supply some 3,600 km of cables for a new major solar park in Cauchari, Argentina.

A press release said that Prysmian will provide a range of instrumentation and control, low- and medium-voltage and solar cables from its Chinese plants in Tianjin and Yixing. The deal, to include more than 1,100 medium-voltage accessories and connectors from its Yixing plant, will also require 100 Pry-Cam Grids and one Pry-Cam Portable for monitoring to be supplied by Prysmian Electronics, and supervision services (KOM) for both MV Accessories and Pry-Cam supplied by the team in Argentina, it said.

Cuachari is the first project signed by China and Argentina within the “OBOR – One Belt, One Road” initiative, the release said. It noted that Talesun is acting on behalf of Shanghai Electric, the main contractor for the project, which will see the construction of a 315 MW photovoltaic plant. It is to be located in the Jujuy Province, close to the North-West border with Chile, and at an altitude of 4,100 m, it represents a significant solar resource. The solar park is expected to generate a monthly average of 55,073 MWh, which will be conveyed to the 345 kV line that links the Chilean town of Andes with the town of Cobos in the province of Salta.

“We leveraged the internal synergies within the Group with the close cooperation of the different regions and teams involved to fulfill the complex requirements of the project,” said Prysmian Group China CEO Matteo Bavaresco. “This is a milestone example of global integration and teamwork within Prysmian.”

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The Lithuanian-Swedish submarine power cable, NordBalt, was shut down for what is expected to be two and a half months for planned repairs.

A story in The Baltic Course said that the repairs include the replacement of onshore cable joints that have been identified as the cause of frequent failures. It said that Lithuanian power transmission system operator Litgrid reports that 31 failures have been registered since the launch of the 700 MW NordBalt power cable in February 2016, including 12 incidents linked to cable joints. The repair work, expected to be completed by the end of October, will see 22 cable joints replaced on the Lithuanian side and 98 in Sweden.

The cable was provided by ABB, which in March 2017 was acquired by NKT. In a press release at its website, ABB outlined the project, which was described as the world’s longest HVDC Light® underground and submarine cable. “The NordBalt HVDC Light link is a joint project of the Swedish and Lithuanian transmission system operators (TSOs), Svenska Kraftnät and LITGRID AB. HVDC Light is an ABB technology for connecting transmission systems using submarine and underground cables. It offers several compelling benefits, including ‘invisible’ power lines, highly compact AC-DC converter stations, low cable and converter losses, and black start capability (the ability to rapidly restore system operations in the event of a systemwide power outage).”

The NordBalt project included “a 2 x 40 km HVDC Light underground cable on the Swedish side, a 2 x 13 km HVDC Light underground cable on the Lithuanian side, and a 2 x 400 km HVDC Light submarine cable across the Baltic Sea,” the report said. The ABB HVDC Light solution has a power rating of 300 kV. It includes two converter stations, “one at Nybro in Sweden and the other at Klaipeda in Lithuania, where the power is converted from AC to DC for transfer in the HVDC Light cable system. The Swedish power grid has a rating of 400 kV AC and the Lithuanian grid a rating of 330 kV AC; the two grids are asynchronous.”

Contacted by WJI, an NKT spokeswoman said that the owner of Nordbalt “has previously communicated that the line will temporarily be shut down due to cable joint repair. We ... (cannot) comment on any contractual terms, including repair costs.”

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Supporting the company’s growth strategy and strengthening its commitment to remain generationally sustainable, Southwire announced that it has acquired Garvin Industries, a 120-year-old man mufacturer of electrical, lighting and low voltage products based in Franklin Park, Illinois.

A press release said that Garvin Industries is widely recognized for designing innovative, labor-saving products that provide economical solutions to common installation problems. Its staff, which numbers about 30, can custom design and manufacture products to meet customer specifications.

“As a company, our goal is to grow 50% over the next five years,” said Rich Stinson, Southwire’s president and CEO. “To do so, we must be intentional about listening to our customers and creating solutions to meet their needs. The acquisition of Garvin helps us further expand our product offering and will give us a broader opportunity to provide custom solutions for our electrical customers.”

The acquisition includes the company’s manufacturing, distribution and corporate support functions and will add the Garvin employees to the Southwire family as a part of the company’s Tools and Assembled Products Business Unit.
“Garvin Industries, with its continued focus on customer service, value and innovation, is the perfect addition to our business, with products that are used every day with our core wire and cable products,” said Brandon Moss, Southwire’s president of Tools and Assembled Products Business Unit.

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As of Aug. 23, copper scrap sent from the U.S. to China was to be hit with a 25% tariff, an action that would cause problems for U.S. scrap exporters that include one company whose parent operation is on the other side of the equation.

A report by Tom Daly in Reuters said that the David J. Joseph Company, which in 2006 became a subsidiary of Nucor Corp., was described as one of the major U.S. scrap exporters involved by the action. Nucor, which was one of the key companies pursuing the successful imposition of wire rod tariffs, was also a big supporter of the Section 232 remedies that were imposed by the U.S. that led to further such actions between it and China.

Per the Reuters story, last year the U.S. sold almost $6 billion worth of scrap commodities to China, and was the second-largest supplier of copper scrap behind Hong Kong, exporting 535,371 metric tons worth roughly $1.8 billion in 2017. Hong Kong sent 627,180 metric ton, according to Chinese customs data. In the first quarter of 2018 there were almost 2,200 cargoes of copper scrap per month sent to China from the U.S., with the average cargo about 20 metric tons.

The story said the copper scrap had not been on a draft list of retaliatory tariffs released by China in June but was present in the final list of $16 billion worth of U.S. goods.

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The International Fastener Machinery & Suppliers’ Association (IFMSA) announced that it is launching what it noted will be the only U.S. event with an exclusive focus on the manufacture of fasteners and precision-formed parts.

A press release said that the new event, called the International Fastener Manufacturing Exposition (IFME), will take place May 14-16, 2019, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The three-day event will be co-located with WAI’s biennial Interwire event.

“Although IFME is a new launch, we have been organizing successful exhibitions concentrating on the machinery aspect of the fastener industry for over 35 years,” said IFMSA Executive Director Ray Zirkle. “The name of this new event reflects our focus on and dedication to providing the machinery manufacturers a much higher profile than may be available elsewhere.”

With an unparalleled manufacturing renaissance and resurgence taking place across the U.S., domestic demand for fasteners and precision-formed parts is expected to increase dramatically, the IFMSA release said. As such, there is a need for a dedicated event for key suppliers of machinery, materials, tooling, controls, systems, and supplies to display and demonstrate their products, equipment and services to an active, buying audience of manufacturers.

Zirkle said that the decision to co-locate IFME with Interwire in Atlanta was based in large part on previous successful co-locations and the synergy between the fastener and wire industries.
One IFME exhibitor agreed. “The reunion of IFME with Interwire in Atlanta is an exciting development,” said Reed Machinery President Jim Flanagan. “The show will provide a needed and focused event for meeting with U.S. manufacturers of fasteners and precision formed parts.

For more information on IFME 2019, contact Ray Zirkle or Doug Zirkle, national sales director, at tel. 203-794-0444, and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Sumgayit Technology Park (STP) has carried out large-scale deliveries of 110 kV cable to Kazakhstan for the construction and reconstruction of the existing BURIL substation.

A report from Trend News Agency said that cables are to be used for reconstruction work in the Rogun hydroelectric power station. The enterprise dispatched two types of cables: control cables and low-voltage cables. The substation provides electricity to a part of the third largest residential settlement in the southern Kazakhstan region in the city of Shymkent.

STP’s cable has been exported to Tajikistan per a deal the company has with “Tajikgidroenergoproekt” JSC for the reconstruction of the “Ravshan” substation. Export contracts have also been signed for the supply of cable products to Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, and a significant portion of those orders has been completed.

STP makes high-voltage cables, including voltages of 220, 330 and 500 kV, at its facilities in The Technology Park, which is the largest enterprise implementing new infrastructure projects in the power industry of Azerbaijan. At its website, STP, which was launched in 2009, notes that it is a multilateral enterprise that offers a wide range of cables as well as transformers, high-voltage equipment, hydraulic turbines, water pumps, electric motors, pipes, technical gases.

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