Partnership with Niehoff: first next-generation rod breakdown line

• The next-generation rod breakdown line is the first in operation in Nexans factory of Lens in France.
• The new state-of-the-art line allows an optimized production speed resulting in reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
• Capitalizing on 50 years of long-lasting collaboration and partnership, Nexans renews its trust in Niehoff for the supply of ground-breaking machines.

Niehoff, one of the world’s leading supplier of wire processing equipment, partners with Nexans, a leader in the design and manufacturing of cable systems and services, to develop and install the first next-generation of rod breakdown line in operation in the Group’s factory of Lens in the North of France.

After 50 years of long-lasting collaboration and partnership, Nexans renews its trust in Niehoff for the supply of ground-breaking machines.

The state-of-the-art line allows an optimized production speed that enables to achieve significant savings of 35 kW/h/t produced (example based on a 2.6 mm diameter copper cable manufactured at a 32 m/s production speed), resulting in reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The machine’s new generation motors and the new annealing technology (component of Drawing line for softening the wire after drawing, heating it by Joule effect) will allow Nexans to reduce the energy consumption of this production process by 25%, equivalent to 840 tons of CO2 emissions per year. With this energy saving, more than 100 households could be supplied for one year (at an electricity price of 0.20 €/kWh: average industrial electricity price in France in 2023 according to the French Commission de Régulation de l’Energie (CRE)) or equivalent of 220 flights from Brussels to New York and back could be avoided in term of CO2 emission.

Economic, Environmental and Engagement benefits

This breaking-through industrial partnership perfectly fits Nexans E3 performance approach:

• Economic performance: one new machine replaces two existing ones, and the next-generation line can work continuously at higher production speeds, thus improving the production output, plus the costs savings from reduced energy consumption
• Environment benefits: reduced energy consumption and related CO2 emissions
• Engagement of employees: by providing the teams a safer and more comfortable work environment.

This model is fully aligned with Niehoff’s strategy and commitment to building machines that are characterized by reliability and process stability, high productivity and energy efficiency, for greater sustainability.

In September 2024, Niehoff has received the “E3 partnership award” from Nexans, rewarding this breaking-through industrial cooperation that perfectly illustrates the alignment of both compagnies on a common E3 performance approach.

• Aluminum producer Trimet and Nexans have laid the groundwork for improving the eco-balance of power cables.
• In a joint breakthrough development project, the two companies have developed a material with recycled aluminum content for the production of aluminum rod used in electrical cables.

Trimet and Nexans have developed a new product able to meet the high technical requirements on the mechanical properties and conductivity of the alloy while reducing the product’s carbon footprint. Until now, power cables have been manufactured exclusively on the basis of primary aluminum.

Melting and recycling of aluminum scrap requires only a fraction of the energy needed to produce primary aluminum. However, recycled aluminum contains impurities that adversely affect the material’s specific properties. The collaborative project between Nexans and Trimet aimed to coordinate optimized raw material supply and innovative material development. For example, Nexans has refined the sorting of aluminum scrap at its production sites in Europe through RecyCâbles, a Nexans-Suez joint venture, while gearing its collection to recycling for electrical cables. Trimet has closed the material cycle with its recycling concept and used the scrap obtained to develop a high-quality alloy that meets the full range of quality requirements for mechanical and electrical performance.

Nexans plans to maximize the use of aluminum rod with recycled aluminum content in 2023. This enables the global company to meet its customers’ growing demand for products with a favorable eco-balance. For its part, Trimet is expanding its range of recycled products in the aluminum wire sector. In so doing, the materials specialist is building on its commitment to decarbonize production while making a further contribution to the energy transition.

• Nexans has adopted Authentic Vision Meta-Anchor™ technology to secure Nexans products and supply chains and combat illicit trade.
• State-of-the-art automated mobile authentication enables customers to verify the authenticity of Nexans products prior to the purchase.
• The Meta-Anchor™ technology delivers digital enablement offering enhanced consumer benefits and protects Nexans’ brand value and reputation.
• Nexans and Authentic Vision envision further customer engagement applications made possible by the use of digital identity of physical products.

Whether it is luxury products, consumer goods or industrial tools, a growing wave of counterfeiting is spreading across the globe, and electrical cables are no exception. Nexans and Authentic Vision, a leading provider of mobile authentication solutions, have agreed to enter into a strategic alliance partnership based upon the organizations’ shared philosophy focusing on consumer safety and improving the consumer experience. Authentic Vision’s patented Holographic Fingerprint labels have already been applied to Nexans products packaging in Peru and Lebanon and are under deployment in other countries. The labels make it easy for customers or distributors to scan and verify the authenticity of a product with any smartphone, an approach that is fully in line with Nexans’ strategy of providing value-added services to its customers.

Nexans demonstrates its determination to protect its customers from potentially harmful, substandard products. The most important risk associated with counterfeit cable is cheating on the quantity of copper, which can have dramatic consequences. By reducing the diameter of the copper conductor, counterfeit cables can become abnormally hot when current is passed through them and cause a short-circuit and a fire outbreak.

The Group is now planning to roll out and deploy Authentic Vision’s solution in products around the world to protect the brand and create consumer engagement.

Secure, easy to use and widely beneficial

Authentic Vision’s solution is highly secure, easy to use and instantly provides clear positive/negative verification results. No additional training or specialized equipment is required.

Thomas Weiss points out that his company’s technology is also global and actionable: “Our solution provides customers with proof of authenticity, and in the event a fake attempt occurs, precise geo-location provides brands with actionable data.” In other words, the Meta-Anchor™ technology provides every product with a physically and digitally unique identifier (UID) and tracks counterfeiting attempts, thus providing valuable data for the prosecution of counterfeiters and fraudsters. Only three weeks after the Nexans launch, the first suspicious activities were recorded by the Group.

Environmental, partner and customer benefits

Nexans is engaged and deeply committed to reduce any adverse impact on the environment. Counterfeiters do not apply rules and regulations as Nexans does, to limit the environmental impact. With the Authentic Vision unique holographic label, anyone can differentiate a genuine product that respects standards in force and one that is manufactured in the frame of the Group Sustainability action plan.

Indeed, Nexans and Authentic Vision are joining efforts to develop customer engagement features that will be implemented by regional marketing teams, through the Nexans mobile app, which is used to authenticate the Nexans products.

Nexans has signed a three-year partnership agreement with Eiffage. The Group has been approved to supply charging stations for electric vehicles at Eiffage’s 1,000 French sites, representing more than 4,000 charging points.

After 20 years of successful collaboration, Eiffage renews its trust in Nexans for the supply of charging stations.

Nexans’ AGICITY range, produced at its Donchery site in the Ardennes region of France, offers compact charging stations that can be customized for indoor and outdoor car parks, including numerous services and options for integrating high-performance digital solutions.

The AC and DC charging stations supplied by Nexans operate at between 22-50 kVA, allowing two cars to charge at the same time. A 45-minute charge gives up to 80% of the electric range, depending on the vehicles and the power of the station.

An initial project overseen by Nexans to equip the Eiffage head office in Vélizy Villacoublay with 200 charging points was successfully completed in 2021.

With these developments, Nexans is once again displaying its industrial agility and its capacity to support its customers in their energy transition.

Since 2014, Nexans has been designing and manufacturing electric vehicle charging stations that integrate management and supervision services. It has already delivered more than 20,000 charging points in France, supporting the collective effort to reduce CO2 emissions.

Nexans hence confirms its broader goal of creating the electricity of tomorrow and being a player in the construction of a low-carbon Europe.

This ambition follows on from actions already undertaken with Eiffage, in particular in the development of solar energy – an area that has seen continual growth since the inauguration of the Cestas photovoltaic power plant in 2015, the largest in Europe at the time (300 MWc of installed power producing the equivalent annual consumption of 150,000 households).

Given that 40% of global energy-related CO2 emissions come from the electricity sector, primary energy sources must move towards renewable energy. Solar power, for example, currently accounts for around 2% of the French energy mix. However, this sector is expected to see exponential growth, and is now a priority investment for the planet.

Nexans is also working to bolster the competitiveness, reliability and sustainability of solar power – one of the key solutions for the electrification of the future, as well as the use of electric vehicles.

• Nexans is awarded a 100 million euro contract worth from Enedis and will supply a large share of eco-designed medium voltage cables over the next four years.
• The contract combines technological innovation, environmental benefits and digital services.
• Cables will be manufactured in Nexans’ plant in Bourg-en-Bresse, France.

Nexans has been awarded a contract with a value of more than 100 million euro to supply Enedis with medium voltage power distribution cables and services for the next 4 years. This contract reinforces Nexans’ position in France as a long-term partner of Enedis and as a major player of sustainable electrification.

The project combines technological innovation, environmental benefits, superior plant capability and digital services such as full deployment of ULTRACKER: Nexans’ digital supply chain solution based on the Internet of Things, enhanced artificial intelligence and cloud services.

In line with the continuous development of renewable energy in France, the contract includes an extended amount of EDRMAX cables which are largely used to connect onshore wind and solar farms to the grid. These directly buried cables have demonstrated a reduced environmental impact and an improved total cost of ownership.

Environmental benefits, “Made in France” products and the introduction of a new generation of eco-designed medium voltage cables (NF C 33-226) that could reduce CO2 emissions up to 20%, were key to Enedis decision to choosing Nexans. In addition, in light of its industrial location in France, Nexans allows the customer to buy and be delivered in a short circuit, thus reducing the carbon footprint of the cable supply.