The energy telecommunicationsand sectors keep modern lives turning. In Australia, where seven million people – around 30 percent of the population – live in rural or remote areas, the importance of connection cannot be understated. These areas encompass diverse communities and locations, with many facing challenges unique to their geographies.Helpingtobring
2 | APAC Outlook issue 57
| Project Manager: Ryan Gray
LOCAL SOLUTIONS, GLOBAL REACH
power transmission, distribution, and telecoms.“Weare a proud part of the world’s largest global actor in the cable manufacturing business – Prysmian Group,” begins Hama Shroff, CEO of Prysmian Australia.
connection to all people across the country, Prysmian Australia comprises two manufacturing facilities and is the largest manufacturer in Australia, supplying energy and telecommunication cables for all sectors of the domestic economy. These sectors range from construction (residential and non-residential) and transport infrastructure (road and rail), to mining, oil and gas, renewable, Hama Shroff, CEO Prysmian Group helps keep Australia connected. We speak to Hama Shroff, CEO of Prysmian Australia, about the company’s use of local expertise, green methods and global experience to bring the best solutions to industries across the Writer:countryMarcusKääpä
“Our history of local manufacturing dates to 1944 and continues today in our two local Sydney plants, where we employ around 500 Aussies and therefore support our local economy, infrastructure, businesses and supply chains. Our local development capability is indeed a strong point of differentiation for Prysmian Australia, allowing us to easily adapt to change.”
Prysmian Group is a global market leader in optical and metallic systems
Prysmian Group’s technology encompasses optical fibres, optical fibre cables (both single mode and multimode), copper cables, optical connectivity, services and project management – ensuring that not only the right cable but the right total passive optical system is matched to its customers’ needs. Prysmian Group provides a full range of integrated products and services, to create optical networks from international communication links spanning continents, to local access networks for business or residential and local area networks.
for the telecommunication market. The company supplies a major share of the world’s metallic and fibre optic cable requirements, and offers complete end-to-end passive optical systems. At the company’s local manufacturing plant in Dee Why, Sydney, Prysmian Australia adapts this worldwide knowledge in telecommunication to fit Australian conditions and standards.
DELIVERING CONNECTION
“When it comes to navigating tough and hazardous conditions in Australia, we solve the specific environment’s demands through our advantage of being global. Our business approach has made us the world’s largest producer of safe and reliable cables for the power and telecommunication industry.”Thisemphasis on quality, safety and reliability is echoed in the company’s multiple projects. In recent years, Prysmian Australia has successfully
APAC Outlook issue 57 | 3 PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING
The core of Prysmian Group’s global and Australian approach is focused on local quality and simplicity. “We act quickly, we are flexible, and we are predictable, which makes us reliable,” Shroff says. “From the deepest oceans and mines to the farthest satellites orbiting Earth in space, you will find products made by us. No matter how large we are, we live and expand thanks to our customers and business partners. We go above and beyond for our customer’s needs – developing customised cable solutions.
1300 786 468 | www.stockwells.com.au
Exceptional Service, World Class Logistics.
Stockwell International is an Australian, privately family-owned international freight forwarding and customs logistics company with over 50 years’ experience. Specialising in a variety of services including sea freight, air freight, customs brokerage, port transport, global warehousing and logistics, supply chain consulting, linehaul and project management, Stockwell’s can do it all. At Stockwell’s, we strive to be the best freight company and are dedicated to delivering exceptional service and world-class logistics services.
PROUDLY CELEBRATING 50 years
INNOVATION AND TRANSITION
While providing such solutions, Prysmian Group aims to also make the world a greener place. The company’s ambition is to act as an enabler for accelerating the energy transition, while also creating business value, by supporting the development of greener and smarter power grids with innovative cable technologies to cover longer distances and sea depths, ensuring higher performances, reliability and sustainability. “This ambition is translated in our everyday business activities, with the
6 | APAC Outlook issue 57 PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING
delivered key projects such as the WestConnex M4 East Tunnel (AUD$18 million), WestConnex M8 Tunnel (AUD$20 million), Sydney Metro NorthWest Rapid Transport (AUD$31 million), and Santos Gas field development/electrification, as well as various windfarms and mining projects.“Wealso have ongoing contracts in the telecom space supplying all optical and copper cables to service providers such as NBN, TPG and Telstra,” Shroff continues. “Our power distribution contracts include Ausgrid, Endeavour, Essential Energy, Western Power, Ausnet, South Australia Power Network, Powercor and Tas Network.
Prysmian Group has the acuity to innovate and customise solutions to perfectly match the needs of its clients, and has 25 R&D centres all over the world to be utilised. “At two large production sites in Sydney, we merge our worldwide expertise with our local experience and know-how to manufacture topnotch cables to customers all over Australia,” Shroff tells us. “In addition, we also have a manufacturing plant in New Lynn, Auckland (New Zealand) with the capacity of producing 7,000 tonnes of cables annually.”
“Additionally, we are also currently delivering the Sydney Metro SouthWest Project and the WestConnex M4-M5 Tunnel.”
T 1300 786 468 | www.stockwells.com.au
In 2015 Stockwell International entered a Prysmian tender and bid against the usual multinationals, but what we believe stood out for Prysmian was that Stockwell’s were “just the right size”. As a family-owned business our core value of offering personal customer service and attention suited their frenetic nature and the scale of our business allowed us to remain competitive, adaptive and flexible at all times. A major bonus of this partnership being that we own our own fleet of trucks; working in Prysmian’s favour when immediate transport or critical solutions were required either off the wharf or through one of our many projects we worked with Prysmian on. The partnership was tested beyond measure in August 2016 when Hanjin went into administration and their containers were grounded around the world. Whilst Stockwell’s did not handle their forwarding at this stage, Director Angela Gambell took it upon herself to contact several solicitors around the world to negotiate their release, unpack, repack before the deadline of Hanjin containers being seized for auction resulted in a multimillion loss for PrysmianPrysmian.had 28 containers in three different ports with a commercial value in the millions. Stockwell’s were able to get all 28 containers switched, unpacked re-packed and shipped in time with a mere one day to spare (for the containers in Singapore). The relationship between our two companies was cemented that day, Stockwell’s showed Prysmian that we were a freight forwarding partner who were willing to do the extra work, no matter the issue and we would find a solution no matter what. In 2016 we took on warehousing as our yard suited large reels and our secure facility had the room for not only open large storage but export packing and staging. It was also in 2016 that Prysmian engaged with Stockwell’s for linehaul and whilst we didn’t win any major tender we were/are able to react on urgent transport requests where another provider was unable to assist. During the floods and the initial pandemic congestion, it was Stockwell’s trucks that moved containers over state lines before storage or detention became an issue. Our trucks ran straight across the country to Perth several times during the rail derailment and fires, one of these Perth runs being just shy of Christmas eve. Stockwell’s also worked with Prysmian for shipping, clearance and delivery of some of their major projects; Lincoln Gap Wind Farm, West Connex, Finley Solar Farm, Moorabool South Windfarm, Snowy Hydro Scheme to name a few. These types of projects were made easier for Prysmian as the Stockwell’s team were in constant contact with our own drivers as they navigated some pretty treacherous topography to lay down the cable reels.
Overall, whilst Stockwell International understand we work amongst other service providers for Prysmian, we will always see Prysmian as true partners to Stockwell’s. We look forward to other opportunities as they present themselves for both of our companies’ futures.
basf.comwww.performance-materials.
BASF With a track record of innovation, reliability, quality and cost competitiveness, BASF’s Performance Materials division has built a longstanding partnership with the Prysmian Group globally, having supplied them for more than 20 years.
Technological advancement, digitalisation, safety and progressive sustainability are core aspects of Prysmian Group, and these values are mirrored in Prysmian Australia, and the company’s effort and operations across the “Innovationcountry.is,and always will be, the cornerstone of our company,” Shroff affirms. “Focus on sustainability is key, therefore we aim to improve our footprint in
“We also aim to help our customers fulfil their environmental responsibilities by providing cables and solutions that are economically and environmentally sustainable. Our health and safety system complies with and is certified to AS/NZ 4801 and OHSAS 18001. Meanwhile, our environmental system complies with and is certified to ISO 14001.”
supply of cables and solutions for the liquid natural gas (LNG) industry to the renewable sector, where a number of local wind and solar farm projects have been successfully delivered to drive Australia’s “green aspirations”,” Shroff explains. “On the telecom front, we are heavily involved in supplying fibre optic cables to service providers NBN, Telstra, TPG and Vodafone, driving the digitalisation era in Australia.”
BASF currently supplies Prysmian Group with Ultradur® polybutylene terephthalate (or PBT) for fiber optic cables as well as Elastollan® thermoplastic polyurethane (or TPU) for other applications.
8 | APAC Outlook issue 57 PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING
APAC OUTLOOK: WHAT INDUSTRY?STANDPRYSMIANMAKESAUSTRALIAOUTINTHE
SAFETY FIRST Sustainability - social as well as environmental - is an increasingly important issue for any company. Prysmian Australia strives to achieve these efforts everyday through its customers and business partners. “Our goal is to maintain environmentally and socially sustainable business practices. We believe that a safe work environment is a sign of efficiency and quality,” Shroff says. “Accidents can be prevented, and we are committed to continually improving safety and low incidents of work-related injury, illness and environmental impact.
HAMA SHROFF, CEO: “Prysmian Australia differentiates itself from competitors as a high-quality and reliable local supplier. Our customised and innovative solutions designed for local needs and sometimes harsh conditions are backed up by our local R&D “Wecentre.also have the advantage and leverage our global footprint and resources from Prysmian Group being the world’s largest supplier of cables and solutions, operating in over 50 countries worldwide and employing over 29,000 people.”
32-40 Derby Street, Silverwater, NSW, 2128, Australia T: +61 2 9748 2638 E: info@rbmplastics.com.au RBM PLASTICS Innovators NOT Imitators SPECIALISTS IN THE COMPOUNDING OF PVC MATERIAL APAC Outlook issue 57 | 9 PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING
“WE A PROUD PART OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST GLOBAL ACTOR IN THE CABLE MANUFACTURING BUSINESS –PRYSMIAN GROUP” – HAMA SHROFF, CEO, PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA 10 | APAC Outlook issue 57 PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING
A GREEN AUSTRALIA
This has shown in Prysmian Groups’ first rank in the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index amongst its peers in the electrical industry.
Moving forward through 2022 and beyond, Prysmian Australia’s goal is to continue its mission for innovative, quality and reliable solutions that promote a sustainable Australia alongside its gradual expansion, while remaining vigilant in the face of a world that is yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
APAC Outlook issue 57 | 11 PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA MANUFACTURING
GREEN SUITABILITYSTAR – PVC CREDIT Green Star certification is Australia’s only national, voluntary rating system for environmentally sound building practices. Assessed buildings can achieve a Green Star rating from one to six, and Prysmian Group’s PVC cables can help its customers achieve points. Prysmian Group supports customers through: • Green manufacturing standards for PVC • Green initiatives internally • Recycling its PVC nationally • Auditing by PrysmianInternationalPlusNCSGroup’scables do not contain any mercury asbestos, lead chromium or acetylene process. PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA Tel: 1300 300 workplace.”ourwhilstsupplymitigatetopnavigatingextremelytheandmorephasehttps://www.prysmiancable.com.ausales.au@prysmiangroup.com304fromfossilfuelgenerationtoandmorerenewablesources.“WiththeCOVID-19pandemicglobalsupplychainchallenges,businessenvironmenthasbeenvolatile.Mypriorityremainsthroughandstayingonofthingsthatareinourcontroltoanyrisktothebusinessanddisruptiontoourcustomers,ensuringthatweprovideemployeeswithaCOVID-safe terms of energy efficiency and waste management. Some of our ongoing local sustainability projects include using plastic drums to replace timber drums and increasing recycling efforts through our drum recycling system. “We are also in the process of establishing a ‘green’ product label system, increasing the usage of recycled polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and conducting R&D on improving the sustainability of our PVC, used for electrical insulation, pipes, and films, and cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) materials whilst maintaining the integrity of our products. Our established expertise and vast research efforts have allowed us to deliver not only key technologies and superior performance to our customers, but also to continue to shape the future of the industry itself.”
Prysmian Group is the only pure cable maker included in the most recognised sustainability index at a global level – an index covering over 5,300 companies.
“Over the last couple of years, we have re-established ourselves in the local high voltage cable and solutions underground power transmission market, investing in resources to be able to do turnkey projects as well as offer our capabilities with system design and engineering,” Shroff tells us. “This is where I see the opportunities for growth in Australia as we go through an energy transition
PRYSMIAN AUSTRALIA 1 Heathcote Rd Liverpool NSW 2170 Tel:Australia1300 300 PRODUCEDhttps://www.prysmiancable.com.ausales.au@prysmiangroup.com304BY APAC OUTLOOK MAGAZINE