Market Trends

by Tim Laughlin, Global Business Director, Dow Wire & Cable

In our minds, the most significant trend in the global wire and cable industry is the demand for broader technology solutions from end users in the power and telecommunications industries. To achieve these solutions, end users are working much more closely with cable manufacturers and materials providers, no longer satisfied with meeting minimum requirements at lowest cost.

Utilities in growth economies such as China are now compelled to think about performance and value in a different context because the stakes are getting higher. As state-controlled utilities prepare to privatize, realization that a significant outage could result in business failure for an emerging utility becomes a crucial concern. The benefits of long-term performance of a wire or cable is now much better understood in our industry than it was even five years ago, and there is a greater appreciation for the value of differentiated materials relative to the small part they play in overall wire and cable system costs.

Far from being a passive observer of this trend, Dow Wire & Cable has evolved its business model to adapt to the new market situation. Since 2004, we have been a market-facing business, which means that we now deliver our technology solutions in direct collaboration with end users and wire and cable manufacturers. It also means that we act as a portal to the broad assets and capabilities of The Dow Chemical Company. By playing this role, we are not limited to PE-based products, as some material providers might be, but can also tap into a full range of elastomeric and other chemistries to develop game-changing products as well, thus enhancing our ability to deliver the right product for any given customer application.

Beyond these materials, our market-facing business model means that we are structured to deliver world-class technical support for end users and manufacturers, extending from expertise in material formulation all the way through to cable installation. Our ultimate goal in all of this is to create mutual value for end users and manufacturers that will sustain the wire and cable industry for years to come.