Societal Demand for Industrial Electric Wires & Cables

In electric wires and cables, a main product category of the Sumitomo Electric Group, there is a category called “industrial electric wires and cables,” which are used in a wide variety of industries for many purposes as wiring in places where electricity is consumed—for example, social infrastructures such as railroad cars and seaport facilities, manufacturing sites such as shipyards, iron shops and factories, and constructions such as houses, condominium buildings and office buildings.

As a subcategory of industrial electric wires and cables, there are products called “traveling cables,” which are power cables that can be moved while carrying electricity. They have mainly been used for applications with harsh environmental conditions, typically heavy industries such as steel, ship building and civil construction machinery. Against the backdrop of labor shortage, an aging workforce and review of work styles at the sites of these industries, there is a growing need for saving labor and improving work efficiency.

In addition, insulated wires in electric equipment and panels fixed in solar power generation and storage systems, houses, facilities, etc. need not only resistance to heat and wear, but also flexibility to facilitate wiring in cramped spaces, and thereby accommodate the downsizing of equipment.

To accommodate these diverse issues and needs, in November 2019, the Sumitomo Electric Group launched a new brand, S-FREE™. Under the brand concept “Comfort for the site,” the brand focuses on traveling cables and insulated wires in electric equipment and panels as its main product category. What is the aim of the brand? This issue introduces Sumitomo Electric’s development process of S-FREE™ and its efforts to establish brand recognition, as well as the potential of S-FREE™ including users’ voices.