NAVANK works synergistically with its OEM Partners for the designing and development of innovative solutions which could prove beneficial in terms of efficiency for the customers. Moving ahead, NAVANK would continue to identify and partner with such innovative companies. Excerpts of the interaction with Mr. Naval Singhal, Chief Business Officer & Director, NAVANK Holding BV:
At NAVANK, our main focus has been on promoting superior raw materials (tapes and polymers) manufactured by our OEM Partners for the cable industry in the Indian market. Earlier this year, we established NAVANK Cable BV in the Netherlands (Europe), in the bid to promote our partners and their products/services in Europe and the US market as well.
Creating and Sustaining Long-Term Synergies
Additionally, we have partnered with Unitape, a UK-based ECCS tape manufacturer, offering an innovative tape containing CJB (controlled jacketed bonding) and has a huge demand in the US market. In recent months, the demand outlook in the Indian market has also been picking up for this innovative product. In Q2FY22, we tied up with Bengaluru-based Chhaperia International Company, the largest and most renowned Indian manufacturer of Mica tapes, to promote their products in Europe. We have had a longstanding partnership with Nantong Siber since 2013 for water-blocking tapes & yarns and now focusing on the power cable market as we already have more than 80 percent of the Indian market for FO communication cables.
Since 2009, Kemaite China has been our OEM partner, which is a Specialty Tape manufacturer (Cu/Al-on-Polymer-film) with their R&D team in Germany. There is a huge demand for Kemaite products in FOC, data cable, and now, we are entering the power cable market as well.
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Partnership with Wanma
Since 2015, NAVANK has been OEM partner of Wanma China, the largest Cable Compound manufacturer in Asia. We are now focussing on specific Polymers like HDPE and XLPE for the communication cable and power cable market after capturing a large part of the Indian market for LSZH in the data cables and optical fibre cable, meeting various international standards like UL1581, IEC60332, IEC60092, DIN72551, SAEJ1128, etc. In my understanding, the cable market has been expanding year by year, looking for innovations in cable design which our customers are focusing on. In 2022, there has been a lot of focus on solar & other UL cables; thereby, bringing a huge demand for Wanma’s FR XLPE and Master-batches for the power cable market. Similarly, for the optical fibre industry, our customers have started focusing on exports to the US and UK markets as there has been a shift of manufacturing from China to India. This has generated a huge demand for steel armoured cables with a focus on jacket bonding. I think this trend will continue into 2023-24 as well.
Wanma started their HV project (XLPE 110 kV+) in 2009 and within a year, i.e., by 2010, they had filed two national invention patents. In the following year, the Company installed the Buss Compounds machine with a capacity to produce 20,000 T per year. By 2015, Wanma had started the production of 220 kV compounds and super-smooth semi-conductive compounds. By 2020, Wanma became the leader in the market and the largest manufacturer in Asia.
While there have been various kinds of innovations in the cable industry this year, it has also brought newer challenges in the market. We have seen most of our customers which have been struggling with some of the regular products like HDPE and XLPE (110 kV/200 kV) due to supply chain issues with some of the largest polymer manufacturers from the USA as well as Europe. To overcome the issue of relying overtly on one supplier, we have started promoting HDPE and XLPE from Wanma. For this, we’ve been receiving a good response due to its high-quality material & large capacity plant. For cable manufacturers, Wanma will continue to work to optimize their supply chain with a lesser focus on only one supplier and with a wider outlook. The companies are already redistributing their sourcing to multiple vendors, both from abroad and locally.
The Way Ahead
There’s been a major demand by operators and cable laying companies for relatively smaller and thinner cables. Hence, we are working closely with all our partners to design and develop such products across our portfolio. Further ahead, NAVANK will continue to identify and partner with Innovative Manufacturers so that NAVANK can offer cost-effective solutions and solve specific problems of telecom and power cable companies, globally.
