Wirenet Image Band
wirenet.org mobile image band

Wire Journal News

A subsidiary of Hellenic Cables plans to build a new, cable manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Maryland, that will see an investment of some $300 million.

Per media reports, the subsidiary, Hellenic Cables Americas, will use the plant to manufacture underwater and underground cables for offshore wind and grid modernization applications. The project was estimated to cost about $300 million. Of note, the project is being bolstered by Hellenic Cables Americas successfully getting a transferable tax credit from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) up to $58 million for the project.

Hellenic Cables Americas plans to acquire a 38-acre waterfront property at Wagners Point in Baltimore once its ongoing due diligence process is completed, which could be as soon as this month.

News about the project came from Belgium’s Cenergy Holding, whose industrial portfolio includes Hellenic Cable and Corinth Pipeworks. Hellenic Cable is one of the largest cable producers in Europe, manufacturing power and telecom cables as well as submarine cables.

Japan’s Sumitomo Electric Industries (SEI) and its subsea cable installation partner, Van Oord Offshore Wind UK (the Sumitomo Electric Van Oord Consortium) has been named the preferred bidder for the proposed Shetland 2 High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) link subsea cable for SSEN Transmission.

A press release said that independent electricity system operator, National Grid ESO, confirmed the need for a second HVDC link from Shetland to the main GB transmission system per “Beyond 2030,” its strategic network plan, “As well as helping enable the connection of three ScotWind offshore wind farm sites adjacent to Shetland, Shetland 2 will also support decarbonization and energy security ambitions, alongside helping further secure Shetland’s future electricity needs.”

Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. SSEN Transmission is the trading name for Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission, which is responsible for the electricity transmission network in the north of Scotland, maintaining and investing in the high voltage 132kV, 220kV, 275kV and 400kV electricity transmission network.

The Shetland 2 project helped SEI invest in its previously announced U.K. plant in Nigg. Construction of that high-voltage cable plant has begun, and it will have approximately 170 employees. “We now look forward to concluding contractual negotiations with the Sumitomo Electric Van Oord Consortium in the coming week and months,” said SSEN Managing Director Rob McDonald.

Scottish Government Energy Secretary Màiri McAllan said that the Scottish government is allocating up to £500 million to anchor the offshore wind supply-chain in Scotland to ensure our workforce, businesses and communities all benefit from the offshore renewables’ revolution. “This (latest) announcement gives us a further vote of confidence in that process and follows yesterday’s significant investment by the Scottish National Investment Bank in Ardersier Port. The Shetland 2 contract would underpin Sumitomo’s decision to locate its first European cable factory at Nigg and support hundreds of jobs in the Highlands.”

Contractual negotiations with SVOC will continue in advance of entering into Capacity Reservation Agreements and thereafter, Contract Award status for the Shetland 2 scheme later this year. In parallel, SSEN Transmission awaits the GB energy regulator, Ofgem, to conclude the development of the regulatory framework for Shetland 2 and other ‘Beyond 2030’ investments, with a decision on this expected shortly after.

LS GreenLink, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LS Cable & System Ltd. (LS C&S), plans to build a plant to make high-voltage submarine power cables in the U.S., a project that it notes is a part of a long-term strategic plan for global expansion.

A press release did not cite specific details about the size of the plant or the number of employees, but it did note that only one European company now operates a submarine cable factory in the U.S. LS C&S said that it “anticipates leveraging its early entry into the U.S. market to gain a significant competitive advantage while exploring opportunities to build submarine cable plants in Europe and Vietnam as well as in the United States.”

LS Green Link will get a substantial investment tax credit from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) as it has qualified for $99,060,000 in investment tax credits under Section 48C of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. That support will help LS GreenLink “meet the global surge in demand for submarine cables and alleviate the significant supply chain problems in the offshore wind industry in the United States,” said Daniel Ko, who heads LS C&S’s Global Submarine Cable System Division.

LS C&S has over 6,450 employees and 35 subsidiaries in 17 countries. It reported that it is in “the final stages of reviewing the site and the scale of investment for its U.S. high-voltage submarine power cable factory.”

The New England Chapter will hold an educational event that includes a Nov. 7 plant tour of Accel International’s wire drawing plant in Meriden, Connecticut, followed by a networking dinner in the surrounding area.

More details will follow, but from the “small world” files, this is not the first time that the New England Chapter has held such an event. In 2022, at a different plant located in Meriden—RFS Technologies, now owned by Amphenol—the plant tour followed by a networking dinner proved to be quite successful. That tour saw some 50 chapter members and guests see up close the operations of RFS, a global designer and manufacturer of total-package solutions for wireless and broadcast infrastructure. The tour started with a half-hour presentation on the markets that the company serves, followed by the tour, and then by dinner at a waterfront restaurant.

Accel International, Inc., manufactures silver and nickel plated, tin plated copper and copper alloys for the wire and cable market, serving markets such as aerospace, medical, telecommunications and industrial markets.

More details will follow about the event in future issues.

Last modified on June 18, 2024

Ohio Valley Chapter (OVC) has a third confirmed speaker for their golf tournament & educational event to be held Aug. 22 at Kensington Golf Club in Canfield, Ohio, and it’s hard to think of one that will draw more attention.

Steve Lebischak of Polara Golf will be discussing the process of developing their scientifically driven, self-correcting golf ball technology. Go to the Polaris website and what words do you see? “Flies straight -- guaranteed.” Is this a golfer’s dream come true? It may or may not work, but it feels as if there is plenty of incentive for golfing enthusiasts to want to attend this OVC presentation. You can find out more about this at
www.polaragolf.com.

As noted above, the OHV event will again couple the golf outing with an educational seminar, where guest speakers speak on current topics and trends in the manufacturing industry. The combination has proved to be quite popular, as golfers have their day, but the educational program offers another dimension.

Joining Lebischak will be scheduled speakers Dave Brambert of Fifth Wire Manufacturing, and Tim Moury and Marco Degasperi of Vericheck

It’s never too early for a golfer to plan a tournament, so it’s time for members of WAI’s Southeast Chapter to get out their minders to mark in bold letters that the annual golf tournament will be held Oct. 10.

The chapter will return to the Rock Barn Country Club & Spa in Conover, North Carolina. Last year, a total of 83 players took part at the Sept. 12 event, called the Vannais Outing in memory of the late Stephen Vannais, a founding member and president of the chapter. The 2023 winning team was Travis Card, William Godwin, Andrew Godwin and Paul Godwin, all of Technical Development Corp., who finished 14 under par.

Who will win this year? All that is known for sure is that you can’t win if you aren’t there, so again, set aside Oct. 10. Start hitting a few baskets. Golf destiny may await.

The Wire Association International is seeking presentations for its return to the Georgia World Congress Center in 2025 for both Interwire as well as what will be the fourth staging of the Global Continuous Casting Forum (GCCF) to be held May 12-15, 2025.

Interwire is held every other year whereas the GCCF was on a four-year schedule (2011, 2015 and 2019) prior to Covid. Presenters are needed for both events.

Chris Tucker, Encore Wire, will head the GCCF organizing committee. He will be joined by Richard Baker, Cableforce Consulting; Kurt Breischaft, SDI LaFarga COPPERWORKS; John Hugens, Hugens Metallurgy & Combustion; Martin Lecours, Rio Tinto; Giuseppe Marcantoni, Properzi International; Juan Sanchez, Freeport McMoran; Janusz Sekunda, Prysmian; Patrick Slaughter, Southwire; Robert White, Hazelett; and Florin Teglas, Nexans.

Suggested topics for the 2025 event include: casting technologies, electrical energy, global copper and aluminum markets, cost-saving opportunities, filtration concepts, molten metal, combustion systems, furnaces, degassing, metal flow, refractories, aluminum and copper alloys and sustainability. The submission date is Oct. 2, and questions can be sent to WAI’s John Markowski at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Presentations for Interwire are also being sought. The organizing team is being led by Conference Co-Chairmen WAI President Daniel Blais and Eric Biebrerich. Preferred topics for Interwire will include topics that address key industry needs. Future articles will address the specific topics. At this point, companies are welcome to suggest presentations for the committee to consider. Those also can be sent to WAI’s John Markowski at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

The Wire Association International will once again partner with two other industry associations—IWMA and ACIMAF—to hold Wire & Cable Krakow. The one day event will be held on Oct. 14, 2025, at the Holiday Inn Krakow City Centre.

In addition to the three industry associations, Wire & Cable Krakow has the support of the University of Science and Technology (AGH) and Czestochowa Technical University (CTU).

The Conference Committee includes Don Neville, RichardsApex Europe, Ltd., IWMA; Ferrucio Bellina, TKT Group, ACIMAF; Eric Bieberich, Fort Wayne Wire Die; Jessica Bennett, IWMA; Dr. Beata Smyrak, Prof. Tadeusz Knych; both of AGH University, Poland Chapter; and Steve Fetteroll, WAI.

While planning for the event continues, the format will be similar to that for Wire & Cable Milan in 2023, which got very good reviews. Wire & Cable Krakow will have an electrical and a nonferrous track, each with up to 12 slots that will last 20 minutes. Look for more information to follow in future issues.

Encore Wire reported four key positions. Kyle Carter was named a regional vice president of sales. He started as an intern in the sales department in 2009 and was promoted to director of sales in 2019. He holds a B.S. degree in business management and marketing from Oklahoma State University. Dustin Logston was named a regional vice president of sales. He joined Encore Wire in 2009 as an account manager and has served as director of sales since 2016. He holds a B.S. degree in business administration and economics from Austin College. Chris Tucker has been promoted to vice president of non-ferrous metals. He started with the company as a process engineer in 2012 and served as assistant rod mill manager, rod facility manager and, before his promotion, as director of non-ferrous metals. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Tyler. Mike Kammerdiener has been promoted to vice president of engineering. He spent time in three different industries—chemicals, aerospace and demolition—before joining the company in 2012 as an engineering director. He holds a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Based in McKinney, Texas, Encore Wire is one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of copper and aluminum electrical building wire for residential, commercial and industrial use.

 David Skinner was named vice president of operations for Joe Tools. He has 39 years of experience in wire and cable manufacturing, including 34 years with Southwire Company and five years with Honeywell Genesis Cable, starting out as a machine operator and rising to strategic positions such as operations manager, site leader and his most recent post, vice president of industrial manufacturing for Southwire Company. Based in metropolitan Atlanta, Joe Tools is a complete design and manufacturing resource for premium quality extrusion products that include innovative and industry standard crossheads, tips, dies, breaker plates and all accessories.

 Paula Butkevich has joined Hueson Wire & Cable as director of sales and business development. She most recently worked for Proterial Cable America (formerly Hitachi Cable America), where she was senior vice president of sales and business development. While there, she held P&L responsibility for a $50 million + revenue global business unit, restructured the Sales organization, and drove the overall sales strategy for Proterial’s medical vertical. She holds a B.S. degree in human resources management and services from Western Connecticut State University. Based in South Grafton, Massachusetts, Hueson Wire & Cable manufactures custom wire and cable for sectors that include agricultural, industrial automation, lighting and robotics. 

Sjogren Industries reported three recent personnel changes, one of which was the naming of Udo Plocher as the company’s CEO. He has more than 30 years of experience, gathered in various countries and industries. His areas of expertise include industrial engineering, business development, employee development, as well as lean organization and quality management in regulated environments. David Roberge is the new business development manager. He has more than a decade of experience in marketing and growth leadership in B2B manufacturing, driving personal and professional development for teams and revenues in varying industries. Michael Elwell is a sales applications specialist at Sjogren Industries. He has more than 19 years of experience in the wire and cable industry, with past employers including Hueson Wire, EIS Wire and Cable and Quabbin Wire & Cable. Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, Sjogren Industries designs and manufactures customized solutions for the wire industry tooling trade.

Eric Peeters has joined Bekaert as Division CEO Construction Decarbonization and as a member of the Bekaert Group Executive. He has 32 years of experience in the field of advanced materials, working at Dow Corning and Dow, serving in a range of general management and executive leadership roles. He most recently had been vice president for sustainability, coatings & performance materials at Dow. He holds an M.S. degree in chemical engineering from the University of Leuven. Based in Zwevegem, Belgium, N.V. Bekaert S.A. is a global company whose primary business is steel wire transformation and coatings.

Northern Cables Inc. named Mike Christiansen as the company’s new Western Canada Territory manager. He has more than 30 years of industry experience, including service as vice-president of sales at Lapp Canada, national sales and product manager for wire and cable at Graybar Canada as well as a 5-year stint at Anixter. Based in Brockville, Ontario, Canada, Northern Cables Inc., specializes in manufacturing armored cable for industrial and commercial markets.

Obituary
Gianpietro Benedetti, a developer of Danieli plant-making and steelmaking business who was known for more than 60 years for his “endless” passion for work and innovation, died April 28 at the age of 81.
Benedetti’s ideas led to more than many 80 patents, the most notable of which is perhaps the endless casting and rolling process. that revolutionized long and flat steel production worldwide, in the most effective, competitive, green way. His career started under the Danieli flag in 1961 as a designer in the technical office for long product rolling mills, continued as a project engineer, and then a plant start-up engineer. He became manager of the rolling mill process and roll pass design offices in 1968 and director of R&D in 1976. He became sales director in 1982 and was appointed Danieli Group managing director in 1986. Four years later he ascended to Group president and CEO. From October 2003 he drove the company as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Danieli Group and, from 2017, also as chairman of the Executive Board. Benedetti also was a member of the Board of Directors of Acciaierie Bertoli Safau SpA, a mining and metals company owned by Danieli, since 1994.
Backed by an extraordinary vision, Benedetti impressed his ideas upon the Group and the industry, which led to an ongoing transformation process, establishing a path for continuous growth. Benedetti received honorary degrees from three different universities in mechanical engineering, in management engineering, and international business between 2010 and 2018. Benedetti’s passion for art and sense of social responsibility led to several significant restoration projects across the Danieli homeland. With strong beliefs towards the regional education system, he launched and developed several scholarship and international university programs, including Danieli’s educational projects. In June 2006, the National Order of Chivalry made Gianpietro Benedetti a knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. In 2018, in recognition of his leadership in steelmaking technology and plant building, he received the Tadeusz Sendzimir Memorial Medal from the AIST Association, USA.


MADISON, Connecticut, USA – June 14, 2024 – The Wire Association International (WAI), Inc. reports another successful staging of its Wire Expo trade event on June 11-12, 2024, at the Mohegan Sun Resort & Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, USA.

1108 participants from 38 states and 21 countries filled the exhibit hall and conference rooms for this much-anticipated occasion. The biennial event was last staged at the Mohegan Sun in 2016.

WAI’s popular Fundamentals of Wire Manufacturing Course on June 10 preceded the activities with 130 participants.

The exhibit included a full complement of products and supplies from 168 participating companies. Conference attendees represented 300 discrete companies.

Describing the event WAI 2024 President Daniel Blais said “What a great turnout at this year’s Wire Expo. We held the annual clock winding ceremony outside of the WAI headquarters for the first time. Breaking with tradition reminds us that our industry is in constant evolution and that we should never be afraid to try something different. The increased attendance and energy this week show how important it is for our members to stay connected and learn firsthand what is happening within our industry. A truly great week!”

Added highlights:

Keynote Speakers
This year’s keynote speakers shared their perspectives on improvement and manufacturing excellence, both to a full audience.

On Tuesday, June 11, H.O. Woltz, Chairman, President, and CEO of Insteel Industries presented his keynote address “Success based on committing to continuous improvement and a passion for manufacturing.” On that same day he accepted the 2024 WAI Champion Award, an honor given to an individual from the wire industry in recognition of being a strong supporter of The Wire Association International and the wire industry.

Paul Furtado, COO, Prysmian presented his keynote address on Wednesday, June 12, titled: “Elevating operations: Paving the way to manufacturing excellence.”

Top Honors
WAI presented its highest honors on Wednesday to award recipients: William Bigbee – Mordica Memorial Award; Jan Sørige - Donnellan Memorial Award; Raúl García Martínez - President’s Award. 

Welcome Reception
This year more than 400 attendees gathered outside for WAI’s Welcome Reception on the Sun Patio to network and relax with refreshments and live music.

WAI had the generous support of the following sponsors:
Elite: Encore Wire; James Monroe Wire & Cable Corp., Lloyd & Bouvier Inc.; Prysmian; SDI LaFarga COPPERWORKS; Southwire Co.; and Wire & Plastic Machinery Corp; Platinum: Carris Reels Inc.; Gem Gravure Co. Inc.; and Insteel Industries Inc. Silver: Blachford; Niehoff Endex; RichardsApex Inc.; Sikora International Corp.; and Sonoco Reels & Spools Bronze: Baum’s Castorine; Cable Components Group; Fort Wayne Wire Die; Gendon Polymer Services Inc., Graham Engineering; and Precision Payoff Systems.

The Wire and Cable Industry Suppliers Association (WCISA) is an industry partner with WAI.

WAI’s Operations Summit & Wire Expo will be held in the spring of 2026.

About the Organizer:
WAI, founded in 1930, is a not-for-profit association with 1,800 individual members in 50 countries. The association serves the educational needs of the wire and cable manufacturing industry through a variety of products and services. WAI manages the Interwire Trade Exhibition and the WAI Operations Summit & Wire Expo and publishes the Wire Journal International and the Wire Journal International Reference Guide.

Last modified on June 14, 2024

Contact us

The Wire Association Int.

71 Bradley Road, Suite 9

Madison, CT 06443-2662

P: (203) 453-2777