Dow E&T, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company (”Dow”), is a leading global provider of products, technology, solutions and knowledge known for reliability, longevity, efficiency, ease of installation and protection that the power and telecommunications industries can count on.
Electrical Infrastructure (Elastomers, Electrical and
Telecommunication), The Dow Chemical Company
The Dow Chemical Company, commonly referred to as Dow, a diversified chemical company, was founded in 1897 and is headquartered in Midland, Michigan. Originally a producer of bleach and potassium bromide, the company underwent a period of diversification to become a major chemical company with a reputation as a significant player in the world market today. Its markets and solutions include major industries, viz. agriculture, building & construction, transportation, energy & water, electronic materials, packaging, and infrastructure.
Within the infrastructure category of industries, Dow’s products and solutions are represented by four main businesses, i.e. Dow Coating Materials, Dow Electrical & Telecommunications, Dow Elastomers, and Dow Polyurethanes. For electrical and telecommunications infrastructure, Dow Electrical & Telecommuni-cations, offers an innovative range of compound solutions aimed at long-life, reliable power and telecommunication cables and accessories.
For the electrical infrastructure market, Dow E&T manufactures the product family of Dow ENDURANCE™ medium-voltage, high-voltage and extra-high-voltage insulation, semi-conductive and jacketing compounds to ensure the manufacture of quality cables by cable maker customers around the world. In the telecommunications industry, Dow E&T offers the Dow AXELERON™ compound family of products comprising best-in-class insulation and jacketing materials that enable ease of installation, increase signal efficiency and improve manufacturing processes for coaxial, data, copper LAN/twisted pair, fiber optic, and radio frequency (RF) wires and cables.
Wire & Cable India recently had an opportunity to talk with Mr. Damien Polansky, Director of Marketing for Electrical Infrastructure (Elastomers, Electrical and Telecommuni-cation), The Dow Chemical Company. In the brief interview on the sidelines of Wire 2016, Dusseldorf, Germany, he talked mainly about how Dow’s range of compounds performs over other solutions in the field of power and telecommunications.
Wire & Cable India: Share with us new developments at Dow.
Damien Polansky: Here at the show, we are featuring two main product categories for the power and telecommunications industries. For power or electrical infrastructure, we are focusing on the Dow ENDURANCE™ family of products spanning medium-voltage, high-voltage and extra-high-voltage cable insulation, semi-conductive and jacketing compounds manufactured to the highest global performance standards.
The benefit of Dow ENDURANCE™ is reflected throughout the entire value-chain. This family of products allows for construction of quality cables and accessories that are installed by end users (utilities) into the power grid. These products help create a system that is durable, reliable and that lowers the total life-cycle cost of the system. Cables made with Dow ENDURANCE™ compounds can provide long-life, reliable service that potentially lasts for decades.
On the telecommunications side, we have the Dow AXELERON™ compound family of products that focuses on lower signal loss, improved transmission and ease of installation. These cutting-edge compounds provide the freedom to construct highly efficient telecommunications components including coaxial, data, copper LAN/twisted pair, fiber optic, and radio frequency (RF) wires and cables with increased signal efficiency and improved manufacturing processes.
WCI: Being in the leadership role for marketing a certain category of products at Dow, you must have some thoughts on how the Indian market is shaping for the wire and cable industry.
DP: Now, that’s a tricky question. There has been a lot of speculation about growth in the power infrastructure sector in the country. However, nothing much has happened on the ground in terms of infrastructure projects. Over the years, there has been discussion about spurring or accelerating the growth of infrastructure, however, the pace is slow and has yet to catch up to the manufacturing levels needed to serve infrastructure needs for the region.
However, talks of big investments in infrastructure are cause for encouragement. Though nothing much has happened in the last one year and a half, we are hoping that infrastructure will be a continued focus area which would mean business for the regional value chain, and for Dow as well.
WCI: How do you find the Indian market with regards to operations and selling your products? Do you think you are ready to cater to this market?
DP: Absolutely! We are as ready as we have ever been. The Indian market is quite competitive. We have an office in Mumbai and people are already working from there. Moreover, Dow has been participating in India for many years. We are well-established and would like to grow as the industry grows in the region.
WCI: Tell us the most glaring challenge you find while operating in the Indian market.
DP: When new customers and new utilities decide to build infrastructure, they look first at cost. This is a drawback for the market as well as a challenge for a company like us. They look at the cost involved in building the infrastructure rather than looking at the overall replacement or maintenance costs of infrastructure over the life of the system.
Our concern is that systems that are based on lower first costs are sometimes constructed with poor quality materials that may result in system failures or high costs of maintenance. We have designed our material to do away with such handicaps by assisting in production of highly reliable wires and cables for power and telecommunications. However, our world-class materials come at a small premium. We are encouraging utilities to look at not just the first cost, but at the entire life cycle of the system. That’s our value proposition and that’s what we stand for as a company.
WCI: Future plans of Dow for the Indian market?
DP: We are adding capacity in our facility in Saudi Arabia; it’s coming on line this year. Dow is building its capacity to serve the region. We are also looking at investing in other regions of the world to allow for less export from the US and Europe.
WCI: Tell us more about the new capacity in Saudi Arabia.
DP: As I said, it is coming on line. Most of the equipment has been installed and has started up. Our business will get a large portion of material from this plant. Also, this plant is unarguably the largest, fully-integrated chemical facility in the world.
WCI: Would you like to add something?
DP: We are here because we have been in this industry for over 70 years. We will keep investing in our businesses, processes, R&D, projects, and our people. We are sure of our continued presence for generations to come through our commitment to quality.
