The Executive Session presents important information you need in managing your business. This session is designed for the general management of the wire and cable producing companies and their suppliers. Important issues facing the industry will be addressed by expert speakers in a provocative session that includes the following topics and presenters.
Important Industry Topics to Be Addressed
Elements of a Business Plan to be Successful in the World of AI and Electrification; Scott Klososky, Technology speaker, author, consultant, and founder of Future Point of View
Leading the Transition to an Energy Efficient World; Stephen Eaves, VoltServer, USA; and Luis Suau, Sinclair Digital Services
Global Economic Outlook; Robert Fry, Robert Fry Economics, USA
Metallic Wire and Cable: Recession Risk vs. Green Energy Transition; Chenfei Wang, CRU Group, Shanghai
Optical Cable: Demand Growth Pared Back as Challenges Mount; Chenfei Wang, CRU Group, Shanghai
Attendee Resources
2024 Forum Components
Meet the IWCS 2023 Executive Session Presenters
Robert Fry
Chenfei Wang
Stephen Eaves
Luis Suau
Scott Klososky
Abstract
Robert Fry will discuss current conditions in the global economy and the outlook for future growth, with emphasis on U.S. manufacturing and on markets important to the wire and cable industry. Among the topics covered will be growth in GDP and industrial production, including wire & cable production, housing starts, light vehicle sales, inflation, and interest rates. A brief Question & Answer period will follow Robert’s presentation.
Keywords: Economy, macroeconomics, manufacturing, GDP, industrial production, recession, recovery
Bio
Robert Fry is Chief Economist of Robert Fry Economics LLC, where he analyzes and forecasts the global economy to guide business decision-makers. Robert publishes a monthly newsletter, Current Economic Conditions, and speaks on the economic outlook to corporate leadership teams, customer events, and trade association meetings
In 2018, Robert was elected a Fellow of the National Association for Business Economics, in recognition of his outstanding service as a professional business economist and his contributions to the field of business economics. He joins an exclusive group that includes four Nobel laureates and the last four Chairs of the Federal Reserve. He is also a member of the Consensus Economics, Wall Street Journal and CNBC survey panels and has taught Economics to MBA students at the University of Delaware.
Until retiring in June 2015, Robert was Senior Economist at DuPont, where he analyzed the global economy and its impact on DuPont, published a monthly newsletter sent to thousands of DuPont employees and customers, and made more than 800 speeches on the economic outlook to DuPont senior management, business teams, customers, and trade associations.
While at DuPont, Robert and his colleague Bob Shrouds were named among the top economic forecasters by Bloomberg, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. In 2005, they won the prestigious Lawrence R. Klein Award for Blue Chip Forecasting Accuracy, making the DuPont Economist’s Office the first three-time winner of the award.
Robert received his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Ohio University and his Master’s degree and PhD in Economics from Harvard University.
Robert has served on the boards of seven non-profit organizations, including the National Association for Business Economics, the nationally recognized Charter School of Wilmington, and the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University. He would welcome the opportunity to use his board experience and knowledge of the global economy by serving on the Board of Directors of a for-profit company.
Summary
Interest rates continue to rise in the US and Europe, increasing the likelihood of a recession. Construction-related cable demand struggles, though green energy transition cables are resilient. Chinese GDP growth of over 5% in 2023 will provide significant support for domestic cable consumption. However, production growth will be more modest as exports weaken. CRU forecasts world insulated metallic wire and cable demand will grow by 2.4% y/y this year, healthy growth but not spectacular. However, the emergence new key cable demand driver as energy security has superseded decarbonization as a priority will support global HV and EHV cable demand to grow at a 11.7% CAGR between 2022 and 2029. Subsea cables which are mainly used in offshore wind and interconnector applications will grow at above 25% CAGR over the same time horizon.
Keywords: low-voltage energy cable, HV and EHV, communications cable, winding wire, renewables, e-mobility, energy transition, energy security, macro-economic trends
Bio
Chenfei is Head of CRU’s Wire and Cable team, and works across the full portfolio of products analysing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries. He is a Principal Analyst and also the current editors of CRU’s Telecom Cables Market Outlook and Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor.
Chenfei joined CRU in early 2019 as an Analyst within the Wire and Cable team. At CRU, Chenfei held various editorship roles including Wire and Cable Market Outlook and HV and EHV Cables Market Outlook. Prior to CRU, Chenfei was working at Rolls-Royce in a variety of engineering leadership roles, with a focus on aeroengine technology development and manufacturing process improvement.
He holds an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London, and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland. Chenfei spent 3.5 years in CRU London office and he is now based in CRU Shanghai office.
Summary
The 2023 outlook for optical cable demand further deteriorated since the beginning of the year. The China Mobile tender announcement has delayed by more than six months. This has taken a toll on Chinese domestic optical cable demand in the first quarter of this year. As a result, CRU further downgraded the country’s full year optical cable demand growth. Off the back of weaker domestic demand, top Chinese producers are actively exploring more oversea market opportunities. US cable demand growth for this year has been further tempered. The supply chain still needs to reduce the accumulated fibre and cable inventories after some “panic buying” from last year. Some carriers have reduced their FTTH deployment targets in 2023 due to inflation concerns and labour shortages. Despite the near-term slowdown, we remain optimistic about North America’s mid-term demand outlook driven by both private and public funding opportunities.
Keywords: optical fiber, communication cable, FTTH, 5G, data center, telecom infrastructure, broadband networks, fiber prices
Bio
Chenfei is Head of CRU’s Wire and Cable team, and works across the full portfolio of products analysing key trends and developments in both the metallic wire and cable, and optical fibre industries. He is a Principal Analyst and also the current editors of CRU’s Telecom Cables Market Outlook and Optical Fibre and Cable Monitor.
Chenfei joined CRU in early 2019 as an Analyst within the Wire and Cable team. At CRU, Chenfei held various editorship roles including Wire and Cable Market Outlook and HV and EHV Cables Market Outlook. Prior to CRU, Chenfei was working at Rolls-Royce in a variety of engineering leadership roles, with a focus on aeroengine technology development and manufacturing process improvement.
He holds an MSc in Advanced Materials Science and Engineering from Imperial College London, and a BEng (Hons) in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Auckland. Chenfei spent 3.5 years in CRU London office and he is now based in CRU Shanghai office.
Summary
While communications and computing have evolved exponentially in recent years, there has been little change in how electricity has been distributed since the late 1800’s. In 2014 VoltServer invented the first Fault Managed Power System (FMPS) under the trade name Digital ElectricityTM. A transmitter unit converts AC or DC electricity to discreet packets of energy and data sent hundreds of times a second over thin communication cables to a receiver – each packet is checked to ensure that not even small amounts of energy are lost to a fault. For the first time, even at hundreds of Volts, shock and fire hazards are managed by converting electricity to a format that is inherently safe from the source, rather than being contained in metal conduit with add-on safety devices and complicated installation practices. Moreover, the two traditionally separate worlds of operational (electrical) and information technology converge with Digital Electricity as it accommodates data and “AC-like” power levels in the same cable or duct, using IT trade skills. Digital Electricity was adopted into the National Electric Code in 2023 under the generic industry term “Fault Managed Power Systems” or FMPS. This talk will introduce the concept of Fault Managed Power Systems, its incorporation into building code, and the potential to fundamentally change the materials, practices and trade skills for electricity distribution. The use case of the Marriott Sinclair will be presented. The Sinclaire is a luxury “smart” hotel in Ft. Worth Texas that employs FMPS and Power Over Ethernet technology to deliver an unprecedented user experience to its customers.
Keywords: Fault Managed Power, Class 4 Power, Digital Electricity, PoE, Power over Ethernet, Smart Buildings
Bios
Stephen Eaves is the founder and CEO of VoltServer and is the inventor of Digital Electricity, a new electricity format adopted into the US National Electric Code in 2023. The company has deployed the technology in over 1,000 large venues worldwide. Steve has more than 30 years of experience innovating around electrical energy storage, distribution, and control. Steve has authored or co-authored numerous industry and peer reviewed papers related to the energy industry and is an inventor on 35 patents.
Luis Suau is the Chief Business Officer of Sinclair Digital Services and one of the original Pioneers of Power over Ethernet technology as well as a pioneer in the application of Digital Electricity to smart buildings. Luis has 40 + years of experience in IT, 26 years at Cisco in internal Consulting and R&D roles and is an inventor on 4 patents.
Summary
One of the more difficult tasks leaders have today is designing and redesigning their digital strategy roadmaps. Technology evolution is exciting and at the same time problematic when it comes to making decisions on investing time and money! In this executive session Scott will be sharing some of the latest thinking in leadership concepts that can be applied to a world where cabling infrastructure will soon be supporting an AI powered world. High Beam strategic improvements today will pay off well when organizations build an ambient intelligence layer that augments the decision making done by humans today. Be sure to stick around after the Executive Session to experiece Scott’s forward-thinking keynote presentation, “Disruptive Opportunities: Building the Ambient Intelligence Backbone” during the IWCS Plenary Session.
Keywords: Digital Leadership, High Beam Strategy, Humalogy, Artificial Intelligence, The Ambient Mesh, Digital Strategy Roadmapping
Bios
As a founding partner of digital strategy firm, Future Point of View (FPOV), Scott lives on the leading edge of technology and innovative thinking. Scott speaks to large audiences worldwide about the intersection of humanity and the Digital Transformation. Through FPOV, Scott provides advisory work for clients including Fortune100, SMB’s and government entities. This work has driven him to develop unique concepts such as the HUMALOGY® Scale for measuring the amount of human or machine involved in a system or process, and the Rivers of Information® process for building learning eco-systems. He also pioneered a framework for looking accurately into the future of an industry sector in order to set organizational strategy: The High Beam process.
