2017 Sustainability Overview | Prysmian Group

21 INCREASING CAPACITY WHILE OPTIMIZING THE MIX Investing in HV and Submarine The most significant investment of 2017 was the acquisition of assets previously owned by ShenHuan Cable Technologies with the aim of creating a centre of excellence in China serving the entire area of the Far East so as to offer all high voltage cable technologies to APAC customers. Also within the high voltage business, at the Gron plant in France, there was an increase in the production capacity of cables to meet the ever-increasing demand for direct current connections over long distances. In the submarine cables business, work has been completed in Pikkala, Finland, for a new vertical extrusion line that will allow the production of the Cobra cable for the submarine link between Denmark and the Netherlands. Meeting demand for Energy Products The segment has been invested globally to ensure the satisfaction of a growing demand in some value-added sectors. In Suzhou, China, production capacity of Trade & Installer, Rolling Stock and Automotive cables was increased. In general, great impetus was given to the whole Far East, with investments under way in Malaysia to strengthen the Instrumentation and Control market, and in Indonesia, where an additional line is being installed for the catenary extrusion of medium voltage cables, in order to make greater use of the opportunities that the area offers in all the business sectors of the Group operates. Verticalising production in the Telecom In the optical fibre plant of Claremont, North Carolina, the Group made investments to create a verticalised production structure and increase spinning capacity to meet the demand for fibres destined to the production of optical cables. The Group also increased capacity of ribbon cables in the Lexington plant always in South Carolina, following the important supply agreement signed with Verizon Communications to support the expansion of 5G services. The factories of Douvrin, France, and Battipaglia, Italy, have also been the subject of further investments by the Group with the aim of increasing the production of single-mode fibre and serving the continental optical cables market. Reducing variable costs Investments destined to reduce variable costs amounted to around 27% of the total. The Group is continuing to perform an important cost optimisation for the entire production chain of the Telecom segment. Two new factories were almost completed in Slatina, Romania, and Presov, Slovak Republic. In Durango, Mexico, work has been completed for the construction of an optical telecommunications cable factory to meet the growing demand in North and Central America. In the European optical factories of Battipaglia and Douvrin, efficiency investments continued, with a significant reduction in the cost of fibre manufacturing. In the Energy business, work started for the creation of a new Centre of Excellence in South America, within the industrial pole of Sorocaba, Brazil.