The WAI’s Poland Chapter has rescheduled its 9th International Drawing Conference from Oct. 22, 2021, to a date in April 2022, at a new location in Poland.

The announcement from Poland Chapter President Jan W. Pilarczyk said that the plan is to now hold the event at the Hotel GALAXY in Krakow. The event date was changed due to concerns about the pandemic.

The conference will focus on modern methods of metal forming and drawing processes, and production of wire rods and wires. It is designed to serve as a gathering site for producers of carbon steel wire rod with their customers and create future cooperation for partners.

Beyond the technical program during the event, the conference will honor WAI Past President Tom Moran, a steel industry veteran, who will receive the Schneider Memorial Award, the highest honor in the Polish steel wire industry. For further and future details, go to the event website: www.msc.wip.pcz.pl.

Dr. Horace Pops, the industry guru for fines and wire breaks, destroyed the association record for webinar registration for the first of his three webinars: Annealing, Jan. 27, which had to close on Friday, Jan. 22 because all 500 available slots were filled. Of note, the days that followed brought additional requests.

The two other scheduled Pops’ webinars are Fines, February 3, and Wire Breaks, Feb. 10. The original registration was for all three sessions, so all three are closed.

“Dr. Pops has long been known in the industry for his ability to discuss potential wire problem areas in a way that makes sense, but even we were surprised that we had to shut registration six days before it was to be held,” WAI Executive Director Steve Fetteroll said. He observed that the three webinars will be available later online to WAI members.

A prolific author of technical papers, including multiple award winners, Pops has presented at numerous WAI events over the years. He is a mainstay at WAI’s Fundamentals of Wire & Cable Manufacturing course. A WAI Past President (1992-93), he is the principal of Horace Pops Consulting, Inc.

The WAI is seeking technical papers for the Association’s technical program at Interwire 2021, which earlier this year due to Covid-19 was rescheduled from May 10-13 to Oct. 26-27.

The WAI is focusing on Industry 4.0 at Interwire, (more on that in future issues), and technical papers that focus on this are being sought. Abstracts should be sent by March 1 to WAI Executive Director Steve Fetteroll at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Interwire will remain at its longtime location at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. More information will be presented about the event in future issues, including a “Prequel” of the Atlanta show in the August issue, then the full preview in the September issue.

Nexans has strengthened its industrial presence in Morocco with the inauguration of a new plant in the Nouaceur industrial acceleration zone known as Midparc.

A press release said that the plant, to be part of the company’s telecom systems business unit, will produce fiber optic cable connectorization accessories for FTTH (Fiber to the Home), 5G, data center and LAN (Local Area Network) applications. The new site was built on 6,000 sq m of land, half for production, and will employ between 250 and 300 people by 2022. The Nexans Group currently has five sites in Morocco.

“The initiative will enable the Nexans Group to increase its production capacity, while expanding its product range and offering new services to better satisfy its customers: supply chain optimization services, component pre-wiring and cable connectorization services,” the release said. It will serve the European market, as well as the North African market.

The inauguration was chaired by Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s minister of industry, trade, green and digital economy, who welcomed the latest expansion. “This new investment in Morocco of the industrial leader Nexans, in line with the European strategy of rationalization of the supply chain, demonstrates the competitiveness of Morocco and the resilience of the national industrial sector in this context of crisis.”

“This investment enables us to pursue our development strategy in this high-growth region and to have a stronger local presence in the North West African market,” said Julien Hueber, executive vice president of Nexans’ Industry Solutions & Projects Business Group.