Specialty optical fiber manufacturer Fibercore Limited announced 25 June 2003 that it has completed the commissioning of its new fiber production facility at its Southampton, south England base.
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Specialty optical fiber manufacturer Fibercore Limited announced 25 June 2003 that it has completed the commissioning of its new fiber production facility at its Southampton, south England base. Having moved into the new facility at the start of 2003, the company retained much of its fiber production at its existing Southampton Opto-Electronics Research Centre-based facility until it could fully qualify the fiber produced on its new lathes and towers. This ensured it could maintain supply for existing customers, while ensuring fibers at the new facility were identical to those it was already supplying. Planning and building of Fibercore“s new research, development and production facility has taken a total of 3 years and has been funded entirely from retained earnings. The company says it has a strong forward order book. When operating at full capacity the new facility will enable the company to increase its capacity by a factor of ten. This would take output to around 3500km of specialty optical fiber every month based on current designs, with the potential to double this through process improvement – providing significant extra capacity above current shipments of around 350 km/month. Despite the current difficulties in the telecoms industry, Fibercore Limited currently ships around 350 km of fiber every month – more than at any time in its 21 year history. The company says this is a result of its single-minded focus on specialty fiber and its reputation in the defence, fundamental research, aerospace, sensing and fiber-gyro marketplaces. Fibercore Limited“s broad customer base has meant that the company has reported just a 30% fall in sales revenue since the height of the market in 2000, in a climate where 75 – 90% is an accepted norm. The new facility will enable it to continue to meet existing demand while future-proofing capacity for the return of telecoms and continued growth in its existing strongholds. Dr. Chris Emslie, Fibercore Limited“s Managing Director says, “I am delighted that our state-of-the-art production facility has been successfully commissioned and is now producing 100% of our specialty optical fibers. It was vital to ensure that the fibers produced on the new lathes meet our strict quality control standards to make our fiber identical to the products we have been supplying to customers over the last two decades”. “Fibercore Limited has been at the forefront of photonics for the last 21 years and the commissioning of our new research, development and production facility will ensure we remain there. Our new home will not only enable us to continue to meet customers“ current demands, but also safeguards our pioneering fiber development work while equipping us to meet the future demands of a rejuvenated telecoms market”.