Looking back at the fiber optic cable industry over two to four decades, I notice the trend, as in everything, is to make each device smaller and more feature-filled. This is true in connectors, cables, transceivers etc. Perusing my collection of old fiber optic...
What we do vs. what we wish to do‚ thoughts on the realistic integration of next-generation fiber optic technologies. Today, fiber optic communications have been firmly established. We install networks both in the switched telephone and CATV networks with...
Are we doomed to repeat the past? Not letting our industry’s critical “tribal knowledge” become lost. As more colleagues from my generation move toward retirement, I am concerned that the collected knowledge we gained empirically is not fully being preserved for the...
One of the questions I often get from fiber optic cable manufacturers is: “Which specifications do I have to qualify to?” Additionally, I often hear: “Why is it that this particular specification is not good enough? Why can’t one spec fit all?” Unfortunately, a...
One of the questions I get asked about regarding optical cable measurements is: “Why don’t my OTDR and jacket length markings agree?” The answer depends on the type of cable being made. In the old days (when you and I were a lot younger) the normal procedure was for...
When I was a process engineer at a large cabler, we could reconfigure our fiber optic process lines in about 20 minutes. In a 3-shift day, we could produce 8 different products. Unfortunately, most cablers don’t enjoy this level of efficiency. Cablers large and small...
A growing trend in the fiber optic industry is the increasing use of specialty fibers. Clearly, telecommunications and data communications applications are the high-volume users of fiber optics, yet other areas are burgeoning. In fact, many specialty fiber optic...
In the “dog-eat-dog” world of raw materials, competition is stiff. Margins are tight. Opportunities are rare. Is your company eyeing fiber optics as a new market? If you’re a raw material supplier looking to sell to the optical cable industry, keep reading. ...
I am seeing a trend in the fiber optic industry: Cable manufacturers around the world are looking to develop and qualify cable designs in order to enter the US fiber optic market. Unfortunately, I am witnessing another trend: Many cable manufacturers don’t do enough...
Many times I have had the conversation about how to get started in cable manufacture or get a new extrusion line up quickly. Invariably two questions come up: How quick can I be in production and what equipment do I need? That quickly is followed by, How much will it...
At the 65th IWCS International Cable & Connectivity Symposium, Technical Horsepower Consulting, LLC. (THC) presented a short talk on Starting a Cable Company and/or Adding a Cable Making Division. The talk included a handout outlining the basic questions that...
As I was going over thoughts of what is appropriate for a summer blog I noticed that some of my hobbies and my vocation cross in very different ways. For example, I have spent the bulk of my professional career developing and building optical cables and the means to...
Reflecting on trade show booths and poster papers now versus the past few years, I believe that we are ready for disruptive change. Every year there are many new disruptive technologies being put forth as ready for implementation. The real question is, are those...
Published 10.6.15 in the IWCS Proceedings from the 64th International Cable & Connectivity Symposium (2015) by Wayne Kachmar, President Technical Horsepower Consulting LLC. with Fiber Optic Center, Inc. Abstract As the optical fiber and cable industry...
Are all cable lines alike? I’ve heard this many times before and typically it’s from operations type folks who have seen both copper and fiber cable operations recognize the similarity of the process but do not understand the subtle differences between...
