By: Carol Everett Oliver, RCDD, of Berk-Tek, a Nexans Company
Q. There is a television show that started on the Discovery Channel that shows how simple products are made. I’ve always wondered how twisted pair cables are manufactured since the “Reel Time” column credits the cable’s electrical characteristics to the manufacturing process. How can something as simple as combining copper and plastic be made as a critical component for transporting sensitive data, voice, video and power?
A. The basic steps to making twisted pair cables are similar in each manufacturing facility. However, for leading cable suppliers, such as Berk-Tek, cable manufacturing is an engineered science, which includes intricate quality control measures during every step. These detailed measurements assure that each cable lot is consistently being monitored and manufactured to be able to provide maximum electrical characteristics that meet or exceed performance standards set by TIA/EIA, ISO/IEC and Ethernet applications defined by IEEE. If ever given the opportunity for a cable plant tour (either fiber or copper), make the time as it is worthy of an interesting television episode. But, here are the basics -- in other words, this is how we do it.
