OPTICAL CABLE BLOG LIBRARY

Welcome to Technical Horsepower Consulting, LLC. (THC)

THC is an international high technology consulting company incorporated by Wayne Kachmar and built on his 40+ years of optical cable industry experience. Work includes consulting for wire companies adding fiber optics line in their manufacturing, cable companies developing and testing new cable designs and assembly houses determining cable specs or incoming cable quality tests programs.

Additional services include program guidance for certified test houses, optical cable spec requirements, independent outside expert review of cables or installations, optical patent attorney support, independent lab support of environmental chamber time, physical tests etc. and United States cable operation set up consulting (specifically for foreign companies) including but not limited to spec conversion, plant operation set-up, overall equipment and product line evaluation.

How Small Is Too Small…. The Fiber Optic Cable Industry Over the Decades

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 ...

Realistic Integration of Next-generation Fiber Optic Technologies

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...

Preserving Critical Knowledge for Next-Gen Fiber and Cable Professionals

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 ...

Fiber Optic Cable Specifications: With So Many Specs, Which Ones Should You Qualify To?

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?” ...

Optical Cable Measurements: Why Don’t OTDR and Jacket Length Markings Agree?

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 ...

Cablers: Advice to Efficiently Reconfigure Fiber Optic Process Lines for Add-on Products – Without Resulting in Suboptimized Products

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: Are You Looking To Work With Specialty Cables or Furcation Tubes? If So, Here Are Key Points to Consider.

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 ...

Advice for Raw Material Suppliers Planning to Sell to the Optical Cable Industry: 4 Points to Consider – and Pitfalls to Avoid

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. ...

Advice for Cable Manufacturers Looking to Enter the US Fiber Optic Market

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 ...

Buying Used vs. New Equipment: Challenges in Optical Cable Manufacture and New Extrusion Line Business

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...

OPTICAL CABLE BLOG LIBRARY

Welcome to Technical Horsepower Consulting, LLC. (THC)

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