The Dynamic Cables Group comprises three separate companies, namely Dynamic Cables SA, Dynatech Telecoms and MEC Energy. The Group head office is located in Cape Town, and Dynamic Cables (the focus of this article) operates a substantial facility in Johannesburg.
Ownership of the companies resides within the Cape Empowerment Trust, a black economic empowerment venture that was established and listed on the JSE in 1998. The group employs more than 320 people and is focussed on the self-development of the previously disadvantaged by changing traditional ownership and employment practices while maintaining sound business principles for growth and shareholder returns.
Dynamic Cables itself was established in 1982, being incorporated into the listed entity during 1998. The company has traditionally focussed on the supply of copper cable and accessories for telecommunications as well as specialised (eg industrial) applications. Due to the increased demand for bandwidth and changes in data and voice transmission equipment, Dynamic Cables is now also aggressively launching itself into the field of fibre optics, the emphasis being on professional manufacturing of patch cords and patch panels for new generation telecommunications networking applications.
Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) systems for use in optical fibre networks is going to make the accurate termination of such optical fibre cables much more critical than has been the case in the past. DWDM allows existing operators such as Telkom to use a single fibre to transmit many simultaneous calls (or data transfer) with automatic drop off (and pick up) at every major centre on its backbone. One of the weakest links in optical fibre has always been the cable termination and Dynamic Cables has taken the lead in Africa by installing a state-of-the-art 'laboratory' equipped with the latest top of the range equipment for such demanding work. Although referred to as a laboratory because of the precise nature of the work, this is indeed a production facility for fibre-optic 'patch cords' and rates amongst the best in the world.
The fibre-optics laboratory
The new high-tech facility was designed by John Sutherland and Gavin Faulds of Dynamic Cables in conjunction with engineers from Amphenol and ADC and will be used to manufacture and test patch cords and break out cables using every type of fibre (singlemode and multimode) and terminal available. This type of work has traditionally been carried out in an inadequate environment with relatively basic equipment. This will be totally inadequate to meet the needs of the new LX.5 tuneable connector from ADC. This connector was designed by ADC and will be used in wavelength demultiplexing applications to produce fibre break out cables for the data and telecommunications industry.
ADC, a world leader in fibre-optics, has approved the Dynamic Cables laboratory as the only southern African facility that meets its stringent requirements.
Dynamic Cables took the bold decision to create a new facility incorporating all of the features that would be required for both local and international recognition. Existing office premises were gutted and then totally refitted. A powerful environmental control system was installed and this maintains temperature at 21°C (±1°C). Positive pressure is maintained in the lab and access is only possible through two airlocks. The lighting was designed to stringent specifications so as to minimise shadows in work areas, and is complemented with natural light.
All required facilities have been installed within the laboratory to minimise contamination. A storage area in one of the airlocks contains all the cable and connectors required for one to two weeks of production. The laboratory is supplied with filtered air at positive pressure so as to exclude all contamination by dust and other contaminants. During the creation of this facility the company kept possible expansion in mind - the capacity of the air-conditioning/filtration unit is twice that currently required and an identical area of office space is available for immediate expansion conversion when required.
The current staff has a combined experience in fibre cable termination of some 60 years. The laboratory was designed to double the present number of staff without expansion. In line with the company's empowerment objectives all staff, with the exception of the manager, are from previously-disadvantaged communities.
In equipping the facility, no expense was spared in acquiring the very latest in fibre-polishing machines and test units. In terms of test equipment, an EXFO IQ206, the first in the country, has been installed. This new unit is mandrel-free (older generation equipment used a mandrel that could cause micro-cracking of the fibre) and measures optical parameters such as insertion and return loss in both the 1300 and 1550 nm wavebands. The IQ206 logs all recorded data and this is stored to provide total traceability.
Pride of place in the laboratory goes to the latest PC-controlled Direct Optical Research Company (DORC) zoom interferometer. The DORC carries out demanding checks such as radius of curvature, fibre height, apex offset, angle, fibre roughness and ferrule roughness of the termination itself and is programmable to provide 'pass' or 'fail' confirmation. Although a very complex piece of equipment, these features and its quality control report (that provides 2D and 3D profiles of the termination) make it very user-friendly.
When it comes to the polishing of the fibre ends Dynamic Cables has installed two polishing machines from Seiko Giken. The programmable polisher is equipped with a jig that holds up to 24 connectors simultaneously and is fully-programmable. The second Seiko Giken polishing machine will be dedicated to the high volume and less demanding work associated with the run-of-the-mill connectors such as FC, SC, STs.
Dynamic Cables believes that once it is fully operational it will be able to compete internationally. As part of its certification process locally-manufactured and tested patch cords will be evaluated by leading overseas laboratories. With a quality system already in place, Dynamic Cables will apply the highest international standards in respect of quality.
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