Helukabel adds new product, facilities

ELGIN, Ill.—Helukabel GmbH is expanding both its global footprint and its product portfolio.

The Germany-based cable producer recently opened two new offices, one in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the other in Coimbra, Portugal, giving it 26 global subsidiaries. Its branches in South Africa and the Netherlands also moved into new, larger locations.

On the product side, the company recently released a new hybrid cable to the market that combines four cables into one.

The firm also is expanding its manufacturing footprint. Helukabel is on track to complete an addition to its plant in Windsbach, Germany, bringing nearly 97,000 square feet of additional office, laboratory and production space.

A company spokesman said the building itself will be completed by the end of August. The firm then will begin reorganizing its current layout to make room for the installation of new machines.

The spokesman said the installation and reorganization process will follow a five-year plan, expected to be complete by 2021.

When disclosed in 2015, the company said that the $22.4 million expansion represents the largest investment in Windsbach to date. It is projected to create about 25 jobs.

Increased demand for Helukabel's products led to longer lead times. The spokesman said the expansion was necessary to return its lead times back to timeframes its customers were accustomed to. The forthcoming new equipment will allow the firm to break into new segments of the cable industry.

“Our manufacturing expansion will incorporate a mixture of additional production capacity and other new capabilities, such as being able to extrude foamed insulation,” the spokesman said in an email. “One of our main objectives is to further expand our technological capabilities in the area of data cables, especially where these cable types are combined with power cables to form a hybrid cable construction.”

Its office in Vietnam will be operated by a seven-member sales and logistics team based in the Southern Vietnamese seaport to handle customer inquires, led by Prapan Angsuthasawit. The spokesman said the company projects the office to grow to about 20 people in a five-year span.

The office is currently just 765 square feet and only carries small quantities of single conductor wire, but the spokesman said a larger warehouse is expected to be complete in 2017.

The firm said Southeast Asia is one of the world's fastest growing economies, with Vietnam's industrial sector accounting for more than 40 percent of the country's economic output. The spokesman added that the company's current outlook in Vietnam is to provide product versatility based on market needs.

“We expect solid, double-digit growth in Asia overall,” the spokesman said. “The slowdown in some areas will be compensated by growing business in several segments in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations region.”

Helukabel said its products previously only were available through the firm's Thailand subsidiary. The firm now has a presence in eight of Asia's regions. In addition to Vietnam, the company operates subsidiaries in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.

The new site in Portugal will be targeting the industrial market, ranging from conventional control cables to flexible data cables. Its 65,000-sq.-ft. warehouse in Coimbra will service the region, utilizing a team of four employees, at least initially.

Helukabel added that it believes positive economic growth from the last two years will continue in Portugal for the long term, citing a need to be close to customers to have a better understanding of the local requirements.

“There is a thriving electrical industry in Portugal,” Branch Director Eduardo Soares said in a news release.

“Developments in the mechanical engineering and renewable energy industries are also very promising. Applications in these industries are increasingly becoming more sophisticated, which is in turn making the requirements on cables and connection technology higher as well.”

The firm's South Africa subsidiary tripled its space to 43,000 square feet in a location on the outskirts of Johannesburg. The firm's Netherland's operation doubled the number of pallet bays to more than 2,200 at its new location.

Earlier in 2016, the firm released a new media technology cable—Heluevent Hybrid—a cable that combines video, audio and electrical components while maintaining high flexibility properties. The company said it is primarily used for control desks and mixing consoles, but it also can be used in cameras with multiple outlets. The cable also utilizes a thermoplastic polyurethane outer jacket for protection.

The spokesman said the cable is needed in TV studios for camera installation because current studio setups require multiple cables to be used.

“We have received other inquiries from other TV studios looking to reduce the amount of cabling they use,” he said. “This is a cable for a normal areas that require a distance of 80 feet. We are currently working on a second cable that will send SDI-HD for distances about 160 feet.”

It contains four cables—two Helukat 200 cables for data transmission, one JZ-500 control cable for power supply and a 75 Ohm 1.0/4.6 coax cable for video signal. Heluevent Hybrid is halogen free and flame retardant, also resistant to oxygen, ultraviolet and microbes.

Helukabel operates in the U.S. as Helukabel USA Inc., with a 45,000-sq.-ft. facility in the suburban Chicago area, stocking more than 4,000 cables.