The Wire Association International (WAI), Inc. announces the appointment of W.T. Bigbee as president of the association for a one-year term that commenced on January 1, 2019. Bigbee will serve as chairman of the Board of Directors and as the 66^th president of the 89-year-old association, which is headquartered in Madison, Connecticut, USA.

 A 31-year veteran in the wire industry, Bigbee joined the Wire Association International in 2011. In addition to his role as WAI president, and his forthcoming second term on the association’s Board of Directors, Bigbee will serve on its Conference Programming Committee, Exhibition Planning Committee, and Oversight Committee.

Commenting on this new appointment, WAI Executive Director Steven Fetteroll said, “The Association is fortunate to have the leadership of W.T. Bigbee and the support of an amazing company, Encore Wire, during this is exciting period for the wire and cable manufacturing sector. Bigbee understands the confluence of Industry 4.0, lean manufacturing, and employment markets and, as a result, he can ensure the Association is positioned to support the needs of the industry. This vision led to the ‘Next Generation’ theme for the Interwire 2019 Conference and it was the impetus behind the creation of a plant manager’s forum.”

Bigbee is vice president of operations at Encore Wire Corporation. His current role includes the oversight of technical and production operations and the development of new products and services. During his 21-year tenure at Encore, he has served as director of technical operations and product engineering, plant manager and quality control, and process engineering manager. Before joining Encore in 1997, Bigbee worked at Capital Wire/General Cable for 10 years, where he started his career in the industry and worked his way into a process engineering position. He currently holds memberships and serves in key positions within the Aluminum Association, the Canadian Standards Association, the Copper Development Association, the National Armored Cable Manufacturers Association, the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, the National Fire Protection Association, and the NEMA-UL Technical Forum.

WAI is governed by a network of volunteers from around the world. Joining Bigbee for the 2019 term will be members of the association’s 2019 executive committee: First Vice President, Jan Sørige, Enkotec Co. Inc.; Second Vice President, Tom Heberling, Southwire Co. LLC; Executive Committee Members, Daniel Blais, Prysmian, and James R. York, Insteel Industries; and Immediate Past President, Richard T. Wagner, Insteel Wire Products.

WAI, founded in 1930, is a not-for-profit association with more than 2,000 individual members in 54 countries around the globe. 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, Wire Journal International Reference Guide, and WIRE BULLETIN through subsidiary operations.

Media Contacts: Janice E. Swindells, Director Marketing & Corporate Communications, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel.: 001-203-453-2777 x. 117; Steven J. Fetteroll, Executive Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Tel.: 001-203-453-1777.           

The Prysmian Group announced that it has won a contract from Caldwell Marine International LLC, a U.S. construction contractor specializing in submarine utility operations, to supply submarine cable.

A press release said that the Prysmian Group will design, manufacture, supply and test six km of 3 x 630 sq mm 115kV submarine cable system with XLPE insulation, plus all related cable accessories, to connect Deer Island to mainland Massachusetts in the U.S. The Group will also supply and install the cable for the land portion of the project, which calls for 8 km of 115 kV land cabling, along with all related accessories. All the submarine cables will be produced at Prysmian’s Centre of Excellence in Arco Felice, Italy, while the land cables will be manufactured at Prysmian’s factory in Abbeville, South Carolina. Delivery of the project is scheduled for early 2019.

"This contract represents a very strategic opportunity for Prysmian Group as we move, following the acquisition of General Cable, to consolidate our presence in the U.S. interconnection market," said Hakan Ozmen, EVP Projects, Prysmian Group. "By winning this key contract Prysmian has again confirmed its historical leadership in the U.S. market, both in high-voltage underground and submarine cable business solutions. The impressive track record in delivering complete cable solutions in the US market will identify Prysmian as well-equipped to capture any market opportunities that arise."

Germany’s Leoni AG reports that the company’s new plant in Kraljevo, which represents its fourth plant in Serbia, should be ready to start ramping up production of wiring systems for Mercedes by the end of January.

A press release said that the 60 million euro investment in Kraljevo is being made in steps, and that the current stage accounts for 6,500 sq m of production space, with some 150 engineers, technicians and workers in the production. The site will not be fully completed until the end of the first quarter of 2020, at which time the plant will be 45,000 sq m. By 2023, it should be in full capacity, employing around 5,000 workers.

The release said that plant, described as the first new one built in Kraljevo in 30 years, will be the company’s largest plant in Serbia. Leoni has been operating in Serbia since 2009, when the German-based company opened its first factory in Prokuplje. In 2014, a factory was opened in Malosiste and in 2017, one in Nis. All the plants manufacture wiring systems for producers of premium cars.

Since setting up its business, Leoni Serbia, in 2009, the company has invested approximately 90 million euros in its facilities, machinery and staff training, the release said. It currently employs around 6,000 people in the country, and once the Kraljevo plant is at full capacity it should have 10,000 workers, at which point Leoni expects to be the largest manufacturing-industry employer in Serbia.

"Serbia has great potential from the human capital point of view and a work culture and ethics that we really appreciate," the release. Over the past 10 years, more than 52 million euros in taxes and contributions have been made to the Republic of Serbia. "We are pleased to be developing our business in Serbia further."

Of note, Leoni AG this year is scheduled to see the opening of a new plant it announced last June in Bulgaria. That plant, which would bring 2,000 jobs to the northern city of Pleven in Bulgaria, would cost an estimated €32 million investment. The plant would be Leoni’s first in the country. It is scheduled to be fully operational by 2020, according to one report citing Bulgaria’s Economy Ministry.

Fluoropolymer Resources LLC (FRL) announced that the company has opened its new 63,000-sq-ft production facility in North Windham, Connecticut.

A press release said that the company’s state-of-the-art facility brings all of its existing assets under one roof, while also adding new capacity and capabilities to further expand their position as a leading global reprocessor of fluoropolymer products.

"FRL is incredibly excited to have made this move to our new facility at such a dynamic period in our 28 year history," said company CEO Kevin Buchanan. "With this year’s production topping 2.6 million lb of FEP, PFA and ETFE, and 30% growth in volume anticipated in 2019, we needed a larger factory with an open floor plan to expand and streamline our production for greater control of quality and yields."

More space was also required to complete the integration of FRL’s 2018 acquisition of Trifluor Kunststoff, the release said. It noted that the German fluoropolymer reprocessor is a world leader in supplying reprocessed PFA and FEP with clarity and properties equal to prime virgin polymer. That resource added substantially to FRL’s long-term commitment to upgrade the usefulness and value of even the most contaminated PFA and FEP scrap supplies.

FRL, a division of Prime Materials Recovery, is a leading recycler of FEP, PFA and ETFE fluoropolymer plastics in North America, with products sold across the globe.

Wire and cable manufacturer Lake Cable plans to invest $7 million to expand its Valparaiso plant.

Per a report in the Times of Northwest Indiana, Lake Cable, a privately held wire and cable manufacturing that employs 450 workers at five plants, including three in Indiana, plans to add 82,000 sq ft to its 126,000-sq-ft plant in Valparaiso. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2020.

"Fourteen years after expanding into Valparaiso, we are excited and optimistic about the way our business is growing and developing," Lake Cable President Emile Tohme said in the report. The business was founded by Bill Runzel IV in the 1990s on the west side of Chicago with just three wire-making machines and a total of four people.

Today, Lake Cable manufactures a variety of cables for the utility, renewable energy, commercial construction, petrochemical, transit, HVAC, fire alarm, building management system, steel, and industrial sectors. Once the expansion is done, plans call for up to 54 new workers to be hired.