If there is a positive lesson to be learnt from the recent food standards crisis then it’s the importance of knowing your supply chain. As Tesco undertakes to sell more meat from “closer to home” and others similarly look to reassure customers, Peter Smeeth of the Approved Cables Initiative examines whether this is a pledge that the cable supply industry should be considering to deliver a better and safer product to the market.

As the UK’s supermarkets face a significant drop in sales of processed foods and ready meals, 43% of the 1,000 people surveyed said they were more likely to buy food traceable from UK farms in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, demonstrating a strong demand for British-farmed products.

Tratos Ltd, UK manufacturer of electric and fibre optic cables, is exhibiting at this year’s SPE Offshore Europe 2013 Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition (3-6th September) in Aberdeen, at Stand Number 1B22. SPE Offshore Europe offers the ideal opportunity for customers to engage with suppliers face-to-face, and therefore attracts thousands of professionals in the upstream industry including engineers, technical specialists, industry leaders and experts. With the oil and gas sectors being Tratos’ primary market, representing 50% of its turnover, Offshore Europe is the ideal platform from which to showcase Tratos’ extensive range of hydraulic, electro-hydraulic and electrical umbilical cabling for subsea oil and gas extraction and Oil&Gas BS6883 cables.

Tratos, one of the leading European manufacturers of electrical, electronic and fibre optic cables, has launched the AllWave® FLEX and the AllWave FLEX+ Bend-Optimised Single-Mode Fibre range.  The range has been developed alongside cutting-edge fibre optic network solutions manufacturer OFS in order to offer customers a brand new solution for any application that requires exceptionally small bend diameters. Featuring a 200 micron coating, AllWave Fibres occupy 46% less area than conventional 250 micron coated fibres, enabling them to be used in cables with higher fibre counts per tube and in microcables where cable diameters must be minimised.  The bend-optimised design enables tight, low loss bends and the coating meets dynamic fatigue characteristics without risking fibre strength, resulting in long-term reliability and ultimate peace of mind for the customer.

Tratos, one of the leading European manufacturers of Electrical, Electronic and Fibre Optic cables, has recently completed delivery of £5.5m worth of distribution equipment, transformers and poles to the Palestinian Southern Electricity Company (SELCo).
The contract for the order was signed back in 2008 by the Vice President of Tratos Ennio Bragagni Capaccini and the equipment has been supplied and installed as required over the past five years. This project is part of a more comprehensive initiative called the Electric Sector Investment Management Program (ESIMP), the primary objective of which is to deliver numerous benefits to electricity consumers in Palestine through sustainable improvements in the quality of the electricity supply. The initiative is being jointly financed by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank (EIB).

TOC Europe 2013, at Ahoy in Rotterdam, has been once again a successful event for Tratos. Our stand C28 included the special Tratosflex cable range which we have specifically designed for the reeling industry and for moving applications such as monospiral, multi-spiral reeling, festoons and spreaders. Tratos had a strong presence at the event as one of the few leaders cable manufacturers exhibiting.
Tratos is one of the leading European manufacturers of specialist cables, combining over 40 years’ experience with cutting edge technology to create unique custom-made cable solutions. Especially, Tratosflex-ESDB is different from other reeling cables as Tratos engineers have modified the internal cable design, tightening the structure against the internal relative movement to accommodate high speed applications. This prevents the common problem of twisting that affects cables reeling at high speed, thereby preventing extensive and costly damage to equipment.  A medium voltage rubber insulated and sheathed drum reeling cable, Tratosflex-ESDB operates in temperatures from -20ºC to +60ºC.

Tratos has proudly exhibited for the second consecutive year a significant range of its products especially designed for the Oil & Gas industry at OMC 2013, the  11th Offshore Mediterranean Conference & Exhibition (20/22 March) in Ravenna-Italy.

Centre stage have taken the Tratos Oil & Gas JBA cables, especially designed for the Jasmine development in the Central North Sea.

OMC 2013 provides a unique venue, from engineers and technical specialists to industry leaders and manufacturers. For discussing and exchanging the latest developments and innovations in the oil & gas technology and their applications, not only for the Mediterranean Countries but worldwide.

Tratos is a specialist supplier of mining and tunnelling equipment that are used in applications worldwide. The group is one of the most trusted suppliers of cables with long-standing relationships with major global mining groups.

We are proud to reveal our latest case study and project for TAKRAF company in KOSOVO.
Tratos have supplied Takraf with 2100m of Tratos MTO® ES3. It is about a 30 kV flexible and reelable rubber hose cable with a diameter of 70 mm and a reel of 3 m inner diameter and 8.5 m length.

So where does the Tratos story start? Who better to tell us than Dr Ennio Bragagni Capaccini, Vice President, who remembers the story of his late Grandfather, Egidio Capaccini, and how he came to be the founder of Tratos Cavi spa.
“It is said that every end marks a new beginning. For my Grandfather, Egidio Capaccini, that time came at the culmination of the Second World War. His home town in Southern Tuscany had been almost completely destroyed by the Germans and, with little or no work available, he packed his bags and travelled to Argentina to find employment. After taking work in a new company as a General Worker for a year, fate stepped in and Egidio was offered a job in a factory making cables. With his passion and natural aptitude for business, he swiftly rose up the ranks to become the General Manager, as well as a shareholder in the company.

Tratos Vice President Ennio Bragagni Capaccini attended the annual Subsea Conference and Exhibition at the AECC in Aberdeen 6-7^th February this year.
The event featured over a hundred subsea-focused exhibitors, a conference and the prestigious Subsea UK Business Awards Dinner. The two days provided visitors to the show with the platform to do business and learn about the subsea sector.Tratos, whose primary market is the oil and gas industry, offers an extensive range of hydraulic, electro-hydraulic and electrical umbilical cabling for subsea oil and gas extraction and Oil&Gas BS6883 cables. The Tratos subsea cable range allows for hydraulic and injection fluids to be transmitted, as well as power and data, depending on the cable type. They are suited for installation at depths up to 2000 metres, with select umbilicals qualified for depths of 3000 meters.

Tratos is exhibiting its Tratosflex range at The TOC Container Supply Chain Exhibition and Conference, 25th – 27th June at Ahoy, Rotterdam in The Netherlands.

Tratos have recently opened a new Faraday cage, based at one of our manufacturing sites in the area of Pieve Santo Stefano, Italy.  The largest Faraday cage in Europe.
The opening ceremony was a successful event with over 100 visitors from all around the world. We were delighted to receive our clients including Enel, Terna and members of Tratos approval systems such as IMQ and Dr Jeremy Hodge, chief executive of BASEC. Additionally pleased we were by the presence of the local authorities.
The Faraday cage is an investment of approximately € 6 million and is the latest one of a long series that the company has made in the last decade and that will continue in the future. This major project strengths and certifies the quality of HV cables as the Faraday Cage enables effectively to administer AC resonant tests on site, allowing testing of up to 220 kV of nominal voltage cables, of up to 20 km in length.

We were delighted to be part of Cabex 2013 in the territory of “Sokolniki” CEC, in Russia, this year; the 12th International Exhibition for Cables, Wires, Fastening Hardware and Installation Technologies. Tratos presented its full range of products which are designed to meet the ever increasing demands of the industry.
The event organizers were MVK International Exhibition Company, part of the ITE Group, All-Russian Research Institute for Cable Industry (VNIIKP) and “Elektrokabel” NCP Association.