Emerging growth drivers for the wire and cable industry
T&D India
Urbanization and industrialization have been traditional growth drivers for the Indian wire and cable industry. However, in the coming years, growth in this sector will also be determined by new-age drives like the 5G spectrum, robotics & automation, and the increasing role of cloud-based data sharing, notes Gary Bateman.
The global wires and cables market size was estimated at $183.14 billion in 2020, and it is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.4 per cent from 2021 to 2028. In India, the wire and cable market comprises nearly 40 per cent of the electrical industry, growing at a CAGR of 15 per cent fueled by urbanization and industrialization. In the years to come, multiple factors will boost this growth and open up an avenue of possibilities for the industry. Let us discuss the important ones here.
5G Spectrum
With the 5G revolution taking over industries, the role of cables and connection technology cannot be underestimated. The next generation of mobile phone technology will also open up brand-new possibilities for industrial communication. Irrespective of the applications that will communicate over 5G in factories, the infrastructure for 5G will still need to be wired. It is necessary for the efficient and synchronous functioning of networks. With the advent of 5G and the latest technologies, the demands for speed and functionality are increasing. Since cable connections come with a dedicated bandwidth, the wire and cable industry need to adapt to the new speed. 5G and efficiency can go hand in hand, only with the support of a robust cable and wire network. 5G will also require the installation of multiple number of access points for seamless connectivity, which also calls for higher demand of both power cables and optical fiber cables/connectors. Higher data exchange requires higher capacity in data centers and an increased number of high-capacity servers and storage devices. Data center expansion would, in turn, increase the demand for power and optical fiber cables.
Communication Advancements
The role of technology has increased exponentially in the past year, ranging from online classes to work-from-home systems to tele-health, etc. Connectivity and communication technologies have accelerated during the pandemic. In the case of organizations, digitization has enabled the remote access and monitoring of processes encouraging the use of various analytic tools for monitoring and prediction. It has also made remote maintenance and upgradation possible, which has led to considerable savings in time and money while ensuring quick and reliable service quality levels. The emergence of Industry 4.0 has led to an increase in the number of interconnected devices to the network. Future ‘smart’ factories will be 100 percent connected internally as well as externally. Network traffic and data transfer are integral to both horizontal (between machines) and vertical directions (machine to MES and ERP). All these advancements promise great potential for wires, cables, and connection technology.
Automation & Robotics
Automation and robotics bring in new demand for agile, minimal cables that must be compact and lightweight, with the ability to transfer data swiftly. Robotics is one of the most dynamic areas for development, playing a crucial role in complex production processes. This industry calls for versatile cable systems as every robot type features different motion sequences. They have limited space available for cabling and demand robust wires that withstand friction, tension, and volume. Cables used in robotics must be versatile and have the highest levels of flexibility and bending radii, stability, and durability. They are required to address safety concerns and have resistance to chemicals and oils, preventing fuse and accidental harm. Modern and developed cable management systems will also be required for smooth functioning and operations. Until recently, the functions of a robot data cable were left to the manufacturers’ and customers’ interpretation. Today, to meet the industry standards, a robot data cable must withstand five million vertical torsion cycles of ±180° per meter, as well as five million cycles in the horizontal cable chain at accelerations of up to 10 m/s² and speeds of 3 m/s over a travel distance of 5m, plus a million bending cycles in the alternating bending test at a bending radius of seven times the outer diameter.
Nowadays, factory buildings contain various drive and robot systems that transfer a work-piece from one step to another and ensure that it is precisely processed. Stable and reliable response time without high latency is essential for controlling the measurement system, sensor, or grippers on the last axis, the so-called end-of-arm tools, as well as for synchronization and communication between the robots. Nowadays, the end-of-arm tool is connected using cable-based data communication such as digital I/O, I/O link, or Industrial Ethernet (PROFINET).
With Industry 4.0, an increasing number of production-related undertakings will need a higher rate of data sharing across sites and company boundaries. Due to this, machine data and functionality will increasingly be deployed to the cloud. Nowadays, monitoring systems and control processes are also becoming cloud-based. These cloud-based systems require scalability, adaptability, extensibility, and manageability while providing real-time performance with negligible scope for error. Wire and cable technology must adapt to these new technologies and support the high data transfer rates across systems with minimum maintenance and long life.
Dominance of organized sector
We are witnessing a transition in the Indian wire and cable industry from the unorganized space with small players to the organized sector, which consists of branded players present across the country. The rapid growth of the organized sector has also contributed to the expansion of the size of the wire and cable market. The government’s focus on infrastructure sectors and development projects is expected to promote large-scale growth across sectors, such as infrastructure, power generation, telecom, T&D, engineering, and automotive. It will lead to a spike in demand for suitable wires and cables to support sector-specific requirements and technological advancements.
