R&D and Innovation

Türk Prysmian Kablo aims to improve its competitiveness by bringing its leadership in innovation and development together with the latest technology users in the energy and telecommunication cables sector and works on efficient, effective, superior and environmentally friendly product and system solutions.

The Research & Development (R&D) Centre in Mudanya is one of the 26 centres of Prysmian Group R&D family that plays a leading role internationally in cable production and material technologies. Owing to its comprehensive infrastructure and operations, Mudanya R&D Centre is also the pioneer of the Turkish Cable Industry.

Established on an area of 5 thousand square meters and comprised of 6 separate sections, the R&D Centre encompasses a Material Technologies Laboratory, a Fire Testing Laboratory, an Energy Cables Testing Laboratory, a Telecommunications and Fiber Cables Testing Laboratory as well as a Design and Innovation Office and a Process Design and Prototype Development Office. The R&D Centre holds the TS EN ISO /IEC 17025 Standard “General Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories”, and the Private Sector Fire Testing Laboratory has been the first lab accredited by the Turkish Accreditation Agency (TURKAK) in Turkey to possess the infrastructure prescribed by “CRP - Construction Products Regulation”.

“Attention! All Cables Are Not the Same...”, the most advanced initiative of the Turkish Cable Industry aimed at raising awareness in and educating users about low performance and non-standard cables, a major problem of the Turkish Cable Industry, and the Prysmian Performance Test project that examines cables in terms of standard compliance, performance, ease of use and cost-effectiveness were announced to the sector through a comprehensive communication programme in 2012. The efforts under the initiative were continued also in 2013. Upon receipt of positive feedback from the market and users, the 3rd stage of “Attention! All Cables Are Not the Same...” was implemented in 2014, and our examinations on the products in the market and our solution proposals for differentiating our products were presented to the sector. In 2015, solar cables were put under the scope, and awareness raising efforts promoting the message that “all cables are not the same” continued, and solar performance characters in solar cable selection were shared with users through seminars and simulators at the 4th stage of the initiative. Türk Prysmian Kablo completed the 5th stage of its initiative “ Attention! All Cables Are Not the Same...”, and is still working on this initiative.

The Construction Products Regulation (EU) No: 305/2011) that Türk Prysmian Kablo reviewed in the scope of its initiative “Attention! All Cables Are Not the Same...” and in respect of which it carried out years of comprehensive and in-depth studies, was published for the first time by the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning of the Republic of Turkey in 2011, and was legally enacted and declared compulsory for cables effective from July 1, 2017. CPR sets out performance statements related to the technical characteristics of materials used in constructions and rules for the attachment of CE marking to materials, whereas the CPR certificate authenticates reaction to fire performances and regulatory compliance of cables. EN 50575, the standard that regulates the application of CPR in the cable sector, sets out the reaction to fire performance requirements of power, control and communication cables used in any structure, including buildings and infrastructure, and establishes the tests related to these requirements and the criteria regarding conformity assessments.

The first company in the Turkish Cable Industry to acquire the CPR certificate thanks to its research and product development activities and the pioneer of the sector with its expertise in this field, Türk Prysmian Kablo started its awareness-raising efforts regarding CPR through a campaign comprised of a series 2020 ANNUAL REPORT 23 of 8 seminars for the representatives of the sector in May 2017. In this context, representatives of project and contracting companies, A-Team distributors, sub-dealers and Chambers of Electricians were invited to the factory in Mudanya. Türk Prysmian Kablo conducted seminars specific to work subjects to approximately 650 sector representatives in May 2017, and subsequent to CPR becoming compulsory in Turkey effective from July 1, 2017, it started informative seminars where it hosted some 300 people and succeeded to reach out to a substantial audience through one-to-one contacts.

Investing more to technology and innovation with its R&D Centre in Mudanya, Türk Prysmian Kablo offers technological innovations and superior performing products to users, and aims to improve the competitive power of our country. In line with this vision, the first R&D centre of the cable sector approved by the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology of the Republic of Turkey, has been operating since 2016. In addition to innovation and product development efforts, Türk Prysmian Kablo has established close alliances with Tübitak and universities as evidenced by 7 Tübitak Projects, 6 of which have been completed as of the end of 2020 and 1 is still in progress. Furthermore, it has filed 1 international patent application for special cables developed in 2020.

Türk Prysmian Kablo continues to produce high-performing innovative solutions giving priority to efficiency and safety in its R&D Centre. For energy, fibre and communication cables, innovative, competitive, state-of-the-art, user-friendly and high performing solutions are developed for various geographical, environmental and usage conditions all around the world, taking account of the needs of users and industries. These solutions include, amongst others, railway signalling cables, low voltage and fibre optic cables for the petrochemistry industry, minitube fibre optic cables, defence industry and railway car cables, fire-resistant railway - fibreoptic cables, and special cables for the petrochemistry sector. Moreover, the number of national and international tests that have been included in the scope of accreditation by Turkish Accreditation Agency (TURKAK) has risen to 29, which is an outcome of the importance accorded by Türk Prysmian Kablo to product and test reliability.

At the R&D Centre of Türk Prysmian Kablo, we will continue our efforts in the period ahead to take the Turkish Cable Industry a step further each day in line with our mission “Linking Turkey to the Future”.