Plant expands
Pirelli Cable Corp., Lexington, SC, has expanded its fiber-cable plant to include a new center that will develop and manufacture optical systems for voice, data and video transmission. According to Giuseppe Morchio, the company`s chairman who heads worldwide cable operations, the amplifier increases the number of simultaneous telephone conversations from 30,000 to 120,000 over a single optical fiber--an increase of 300%. He says Pirelli is also working on an advanced amplifier to increase capacity by 700%. The Lexington plant also makes fiber-optic cable with a capacity of 1.5 million fiber kilometers per year. This capacity is expected to double during the next three years.
The new optical systems facility opened in September, the same date as the cable plant`s 10th anniversary in South Carolina. Eugenio Razelli, president of Pirelli Cables North America, says the company employs more than 300 people in South Carolina and has already invested more than $100 million in the state. He says that Pirelli expects to invest another $90 million in its U.S. facilities during the next four years.