Two students, juniors Meg Davis and Rhada Dave, have developed a device to measure water usage in dorm showers. They used an $1,800 grant from the Sustainability, Innovation and Engagement Fund (SIEF) to create a prototype for their project.

The two began envisioning their creation back in spring 2018. After brainstorming ideas for an assignment in their Global Challenges, Scientific Solutions class, Davis, a biology major, jokingly suggested they measure water usage and shower times. Two years later, after countless hours of observation, research and tracking the water flow through shower pipes, the students are soon debuting their product in the Commonwealth Honors College dorm showers. The preliminary data collected suggests that they should be able to reduce water usage in the dorms by about 42 percent.

The testing will take place on three floors, using one floor as a control with no form of intervention in the showers, a second floor with 10 passive intervention posters and a third with 10 active intervention devices. The passive intervention poster is visible to studentsand displays how much water the average shower uses. The active intervention device has a button that students push to start a visual timer tracking the length of the shower and how much water is being used. All 30 showers (passive, active and control) have sensors that are discrete, logging how much water runs throughout the shower onto a microSD card.

Dave, a student on the neuroscience track, says, I thought it was pretty interesting to see if one device could actually have some degree of behavioral change and have that impact a third part, like water consumption.

Over the next couple of weeks, Davis and Dave hope to begin installing the devices in the bathrooms, where they will remain until the end of the Spring 2020 semester. The students hope to continue this project their senior year as a part of their iCons senior thesis.

Editors note: This is part of a series of items about the latest green idea projects around campus to receive grants from the Sustainability, Innovation and Engagement (SIEF) Fund. Launched in 2013, the SIEF program aims to foster sustainability by financially supporting students, faculty and staff who propose projects to promote a greener campus.

The rest is here:
Saving Water, One Shower at a Time | Office of News & Media Relations - UMass News and Media Relations

Like many couples renting in highly desirable and increasingly expensive parts of Brooklyn, Eric Mailaender and Emily Lowe Mailaender waited too long to buy. But with their children, Stella, 9, and Bo, 6, in school in their Cobble Hill neighborhood, they felt tethered to the area.

It was their search for something affordable that landed them in South Slope, uncomfortably close to the Prospect Expressway, which Mr. Mailaender sometimes refers to as my nemesis.

But the circa-1890 house they bought for $1.48 million in 2018 was a gem, a shockingly intact brownstone the likes of which you dont often find these days, he said.

So what if it was near the junction of the Prospect and Gowanus Expressways? Unlike many houses in the area, it hadnt been repeatedly updated and modernized. And as the principal of Resistance Design, a Brooklyn architecture and design firm that emphasizes affordability, Mr. Mailaender, 55, welcomed a chance to do a project on his own terms.

Ms. Lowe Mailaender, 41, a senior vice president at the public-relations agency Rogers & Cowan PMK, was happy to give him free rein. My main request was for something that was fun and not so serious, she said. I didnt want to feel like I was living in my parents house.

Mr. Mailaenders idea was to preserve where it was possible and update where it was essential all on a budget of about $300,000, which for any brownstone would present a challenge.

He embraced the quirkiness of the narrow, 16-foot lot. Most people would have taken the middle wall out, he said, referring to the wall dividing the center hall from the living spaces. But I didnt want to open it up partially for money, but also because I really wanted to retain the original layout.

So instead of large, multifunctional spaces, they wound up with a series of smaller, more intimate rooms. To keep costs down further, the work was done to high standards but not too high.

What I basically told the contractors was I wanted them to correct the big offenses, Mr. Mailaender said. So the boards in the parlor floor that had exposed nails or gaps were replaced by others salvaged from the second floor, which got new flooring.

Repairing millwork and plasterwork can be costly, but Mr. Mailaender found ways to save money there, too. Instead of stripping the wood, an expensive process, he repaired wood surfaces by working a filler into cracks with a trowel, to smooth out some of the age without making them look brand-new. And original plaster details were rescued without replastering entire surfaces: The ceiling medallion on the main floor, for example, was cut out of the plaster ceiling, remounted onto Sheetrock and replaced (along with a custom light fixture he designed).

The upstairs received some updates, including new door hardware and bedroom doors, and a slight reconfiguration that involved moving the bathroom inside the master suite.

Downstairs, modern touches include unexpectedly bold floor tiles in the kitchen and wallpaper in the parlor-floor bathroom, which Ms. Lowe Mailaender chose from options her husband presented.

But much of the budget went toward things no one can see, like work on the foundation, concealing new plumbing inside cleverly designed soffits, and installing modern heating and cooling systems. Mr. Mailaender also replaced the old windows with heavily laminated, double-paned ones, to dampen sound from the highway, and injected foam insulation into gaps around windows and doors. He installed shutters to block the world outside, leaving a view of only the sky.

The result is a home that is intentionally less modern, less open and less perfect, Mr. Mailaender said, than what many designers are doing these days. And thats fine with him. His concept of space has come a long way from his bachelor days, when he lived in a big loft in Midtown Manhattan a ridiculous amount of space for one person, he said.

There is something to the intimacy and scale of being squished in, he said. This is the right scale for a four-person family. All the spaces work just right. Weve enjoyed rediscovering this traditional scale of house. Its something that works very, very well.

And his relationship with the highway? Im at relative peace with it.

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

More:
Little House on the Highway - The New York Times

I wonder if it even occurs to young artists in the globalist, pluralist present to try to stake out a spot in art history by changing the way history goes. Donald Judd, pioneer of the 1960s movement called Minimalism (the label wasnt his; he hated it), thought about this constantly. He wanted, right from the start, to be a big art deal, a super influencer. Long before his death in 1994, at 65, he was.

Major American and European museums owned his work. His signature sculptural image a no-frills, no-content wood or metal box had not only been adapted by other artists, but also riffs on it became a fixture of international architecture and design. To some degree, we all lived in Judd-world, and still do.

Yet over time, Judd himself seems to have retreated from view. The survey of 70 works that opens at the Museum of Modern Art on March 1 is the first in New York in more than 30 years. Its a fine show: carefully winnowed, persuasively installed, just the right size. Its one-word title, Judd, suits the artists view of his wished-for, worked-for place in history: so assured as to need neither qualifiers nor explanations.

The big, and maybe only surprise, particularly for Judd skeptics, is how really beautiful some of the art looks, how poetic, and mysterious. These were qualities that Judd himself, at least when he was starting out, would not have wanted applied to his work, which in the 1950s was painting. Beauty and mystery belonged to the art of yesterday. His was an art of today, a today that he kept close tabs on as a busy New York art critic in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Writing led him to network widely in the contemporary art world. It allowed him to observe its career-making machinery in action, and to consider how to position himself within it. His reviews listy, pontificating, proscriptive were a form of self-advertising that also served as a useful means of self-critique.

Through evaluating the work of hundreds of other artists, many his generational peers, he came to see that his own paintings two examples introduce the MoMA show were not, and would never be, strong enough to take him in the history-making direction he aspired to. He had to go another, less conventional way, and around 1960, he began to make work that was like no other art around.

It was three-dimensional, so it wasnt painting but, he claimed, it wasnt sculpture either. He called the new works specific objects, and left it at that. He titled all of these objects Untitled, and insisted they were devoid of metaphors, personal data or real-world references all the lures, in other words, that art traditionally uses to draw us in.

The earliest of these experimental objects look pretty funky. From 1961 comes what is essentially an all-black oil painting with a baking pan sunk into its surface. An oil-paint-mixed-with-sand picture, dated to the following year, is colored allover scarlet red and has a yellow plastic O a found bit of commercial signage sideways in its center. Almost every subsequent piece for the next few years is the same red. Judd said he chose the color because it made edges look crisp. He didnt mention that it also shouted Look at me!

For some observers, the most interesting thing Judd was doing at this early point was playing with space, in unusual ways. A largish 1963 work composed of iron flanges (Hardware store finds? Junk shop rescues?) attached to a flat wood panel, simultaneously hugs the wall, painting-style, and curves out into the room. And a smaller wall piece from the same year offers a preview of further complexities to come.

About the size of carpenters plane, it consists of a shelflike unit holding a length of square pipe. They seem to form a single dense, even leaden unit. Yet two small holes cut into the shelf hint at interior space, and a view from the side reveals the pipe to be hollow and open at both ends. Suddenly the piece feels light and buoyant. Air is moving through. You can almost feel it.

Then a more radical development arrived: Judd stopped making hands-on art. Most of the objects in the retrospectives first gallery were constructed and painted by Judd, with assistance from his father, who was a carpenter. Then in 1964, he hired a commercial sheet-metal workshop in Manhattan called Bernstein Brothers to fabricate his work, and it would continue to do so for years.

This came at a time when Abstract Expressionism that most touchy-feely of styles, remained the model of what serious art should be. Judd took critical heat for shifting production from his studio to what people assumed to be a factory. But in reality, his creative involvement with his art stayed intense. All the work was based on his detailed drawings. (Several are on view.) Indeed, drawing designs became one of his chief occupations. In addition, he chose the material, much of it industrial (metals, Plexiglas, acrylic paint), to be used for new work, and he often oversaw, or consulted on details and production. For a hands-off artist, he was very much on the job.

It is the art produced by this combination of authorial presence and absence that makes up the bulk of a retrospective that spans more than 30 years. In the second gallery, where industrial fabrication starts, we get a full range of what will be repeated Judd forms. There are round-ended metal wall pieces shaped like bolster pillows, and sets of thin, squared-off uprights reminiscent of high-jump bars. The little 1963 shelf-and-tube piece reappears in larger, more elaborate versions, its horizontal air shaft intact. And there are boxes, many, open and closed, foursquare and flat, single or multiple, floor-bound or attached to the wall and stacked up, one over the other, high.

A number of these objects come with what might be called special effects, not necessarily noticeable on a quick pass-through. A wall-climbing stack of stainless steel and yellow Plexiglas boxes generates a mini Niagara of light. Another, composed of gleaming copper radiates a tawny mandorla. A tall stack of boxes, its units blue-painted iron, casts shadows, and gives its side of the gallery a twilight tinge. Judds supposedly unexpressive art has many moods.

It also has an interior life, or lives. A floor box built of opaque honey-gold Plexiglas appears to have a dark form sealed inside. A row of four aluminum boxes spaced close together across the third gallery looms like a barrier wall. But peer into either end and youll find that the boxes are hollow and form a long corridor colored a subaqueous blue.

And theres the complex language of materials to savor, most industrially sourced. In the 1970s, commercial plywood caught Judds eye and he used it in a suite of boxy sculptures that look like a cross between shipping containers and anchorite cells. In addition, the unpainted sheets of wood chosen are rich with organic patterning: flamelike grains, knots like eyes. They exemplified an aesthetic of accident he relished.

In the 1980s he temporarily redirected his fabrication jobs to a firm in Switzerland. He simultaneously introduced a rainbow of harlequin colors forest green, marigold, pink to aluminum sculptures, as if circling back to the kooky roseate punch of his earliest objects, the ones that came from his own hands.

By the time his late work appeared, he had long since assumed identities he both did and didnt want. He had become a textbook historical figure, but also part of a past that many young artists either didnt know about or didnt need. When he died, elements he had tried to scour from his art narrative, personality, emotion were being re-embraced. Much of his late writing feels angry and bitter, partly, I suspect, because he knew he was no longer shaping the news.

He still isnt on any center stage. As a model for young artists now in an art world that acknowledges multiple histories and has zero interest in isms he seems locked in another time, as do many of his contemporaries who came of age more than a half-century ago. Simply put, they lived on a smaller art planet, one small enough to have faith in a Next Big Step. In the market-managed present, its hard to imagine ever thinking that way.

But its good to have him back in the spotlight at MoMA and elsewhere. (Several smaller New York exhibitions have been scheduled to complement the retrospective show.) And its nice to report that in important ways he still is news. His art once thought to be too severe to be beautiful (or maybe to be art at all) can now be seen to offer pleasures, visual and conceptual, that any audience with open eyes, can relate to, and that young artists can even maybe shoot for. Judd the critic once said that for art to matter, it needs only to be interesting. His is.

Judd

Sunday through July 11 (opens to members Feb. 27), Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan; 212-708-9400, moma.org.

Judd Around Town

Several galleries are offering shows related to the artist.

Judd in Two Dimensions: Fifteen Drawings at Mignoni, 960 Madison Avenue, Manhattan; through March 21; mignoniart.com.

Judd Foundation: In conjunction with the MoMA retrospective, Judds former loft and working space will operate an expanded visit schedule from March 1 July 11, at 101 Spring Street. It will also display 20 woodcut prints that Judd made in 1992 that have never been exhibited in New York. juddfoundation.org.

Donald Judd: Artwork: 1980 at Gagosian, 522 West 21st Street, Manhattan, March 12-April 11); gagosian.com.

Donald Judd: Artworks 1970-1994 at David Zwirner, 525 and 533 West 19th Street. Manhattan, April 18 to June 26; davidzwirner.com.

Salon 94 will be hosting a presentation of Donald Judd Furniture at the New York edition of TEFAF, May 8-12 at the Park Avenue Armory.

Link:
The Many Moods and Pleasures of Judds Objects - The New York Times

Abergwyngregyn was the home of the last Welsh Prince of Wales,Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, who led a revolt against the English but over 700 years later its at the forefront of a green revolution.

The villages old three-storey water mill is powered by an air source heating system which keeps the ground floor caf warm as toast and also heats the second floor, home to a number of village organizations, and the upper level where the snooker club has two tables.

It has been installed by Denbigh-based, Hafod Renewables, whose Managing Director, David Jones, said, Its a big area to heat but air-source works perfectly here because the system provides a constant comfortable heat for the building all year round.

Its reliability and the hassle-free controls are an added help for the users of the building too.

The air source heating made the gas system redundant which means the building produces no emissions so its safer, cleaner and easier to manage as they only have one utility to look after.

The gas supply has been disconnected which saves the centre over 100 a year in standing charges and the community will also receive 600 a year for 20 years from the Renewable Heating Initiative which will pay for the scheme.

Jones added, Abergwyngregyn is really leading the way with this approach as the UK Government shifts towards renewable fuels.

From 2025 the Government has said gas boilers will be banned in new homes and renewables, such as air and ground source and solar, will be the fuels of choice.

Its a remarkable village and they have big plans to become even greener in future with grants for local people to fit their own renewable systems.

It adds to the green credentials of Abergwyngregyn which already boasts a 1.3 million hydro-electric plant on the Afon Anafon which generates 200,000 from the National Grid which pays off the schemes loan repayments, pays rent to the landowners, provides social dividends to shareholders and provides 30,000 a year for the local community.

The village is best known for the spectacular 120-foot Aber Falls, one of the highest waterfalls in Wales, but Jacqui Bugden, one of the Directors of ARC, the Abergwyngregyn Regeneration Company, believes its green credentials are also putting it on the map.

She said, ARC manages the old mill as a community center and also two car parks because the waterfall attracts 100,000 visitors a year which keeps the caf busy and the center is very well used by local organizations from the tai chi group to the quilters, crafters and gardeners.

We wanted to make the building more sustainable and a survey showed the best option was to get rid of the old gas boiler and install air source and we were impressed by Hafod Renewables who asked the right questions and came up with the best solution.

Jones added, Abergwyngregyn is in a narrow valley which makes solar systems uneconomic but air source is a perfect solution and the sophisticated systems available now can easily be fitted to old properties.

They dont have much visual impact either and they can easily generate enough power to provide a home with a fully independent heating system that can easily give room temperatures up to 21C and heat water to 65C.

It operates like a fridge in reverse but the coolant in it has a boiling point of -40C so as long as its warmer than that then it can extract energy from the air it sucks in and heat the property.

Hafod has installed over 70 air source heat pumps in the past 12 months including one to provide underfloor heating to keep the abandoned dogs warm at the North Clwyd Animal Rescue charitys kennels near Holywell.

The company, which recently moved to its own carbon-free headquarters at Tremeirchion in the Vale of Clwyd, now employs 11 staff and has become a key player in North Wales in the installation of solar and non-solar systems.

Caption: David Jones of Hafod Renewables at the villages Old Mill community center, now powered by renewable energy.Picture by Mandy Jones Photography

See the rest here:
Panorama - Home of the Last Prince of Wales is Now Leading a Green Revolution - Renewable Energy Magazine

A recipe, a smell, a sound or a roofline can act as talismans of memories, triggering the senses and conjuring the delight of play.

Wenatchee Valley College Professor Natalie Dotzauer has filled the MAC Gallery with sculptural objects, or fragments of them, designed to do just that.

The interactive exhibit, What We Take, opened Feb. 18 and runs through March 20.

Natalie Dotazuer's "Sweet Spot"features molasses-stained paper with sugar lumps and royal icing.

This installation is generated to trigger the senses and thoughts of nostalgia, as the act of play and sugar sensations are pulled together in unusual combinations, she said. I am attempting to unfurl the physical nature of each material, the visceral act of understanding and conjuring the delight of play.

Memories can take many forms.

I feel as though memories have some kind of personhood with eternal feelings, traces of lessons, survival instincts, reminders, sweet, nave, forever caught in a pageant of my deepest regrets or fondest regards. But where can I find a memory? Where do they exist? When do they exist? she said. At times, a name or an old photo can trigger a thought. A smell, a walk through an old neighborhood can bring back such vivid memories. Its as if we pass our younger selves in the same space. I exist both as the thought and the person remembering.

Dotzauer said she is struck by the impermanent nature of remembering.

Some of the strongest moments of my life and memories of these times are not pure joy or sadness; they are a wild combination of bliss and fear, sweetness and sorrow. I want to hold onto the places of these moments, visit them like monuments and hold them like relics, she said. However, this physicality is a mere talisman of the memory I am left with a memory and a desire, a recipe or a roofline.

Am Having a Good Time- (Detail), 2008. Found wood, sawdust and wiring assembled with hand printed wallpaper and postcard.

Am Having a Good Time- (Detail), 2008. Found wood, sawdust and wiring assembled with hand printed wallpaper and postcard.

Dotzauer teaches sculpture, drawing, art appreciation and more at WVC. Her multifaceted works are often interactive installations that engage viewer participation in multi-sensory experiences.

An artist reception is planned for 5-7 p.m. March 6, part of the First Friday ArtWalk events.

The MAC Gallery is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For information go to wwrld.us/2N4SRuG.

Here is the original post:
Dotzauer sparks memories with 'What We Take' exhibit - wenatcheeworld.com

JOHNSTOWN The Kingsboro Lumber Co. and the HFM Career and Technical Center have formed a new partnership inviting building material manufacturers and wholesalers to share their insights into the construction industry directly with students.Recently, HFM construction technology instructor Steve Derwin approached Donald Wicksell, the president and CEO of Kingsboro Lumber in Gloversville, for help arranging visits by industry professionals to the Career & Technical Center. The first of what will be a series of visits occurred Feb. 12 when Scott Dewsbury, the local territory sales manager for Reeb Millwork the largest distributor of doors on the East Coast spoke with the construction students about his career, the millwork industry, door material and construction, and more.Derwin, Dewsbury and Wicksell also spoke with the students about the critical role suppliers play for construction contractors and the careers available in the field.The whole country needs people to supply building materials. Its really a great opportunity for a career, Dewsbury said, noting that many in the supply industry are now nearing retirement and job seekers with construction experience, such as CTE students, would have a leg up when entering the field.Reeb Millwork is a family-owned company with five millwork facilities that work with manufacturers to assemble and ship pre-hung exterior and interior doors. Their smallest facility, which is in Syracuse, ships approximately 1,400 doors a day.Dewsbury explained the wide variety of professionals needed by companies such as Reeb including people who work in quoting and estimating, shipping and receiving, logistics, warehousing and sales. The company also requires field technicians for after-sale service.There is a dire need for door and window installers, Dewsbury said, explaining the technical expertise needed to properly install modern doors and tighten the building envelope.The HFM Construction program will continue to work with Kingsboro Lumber and bring in more material representatives to speak to students. Future topics planned include windows and insulation.Partnerships with local businesses and professionals have always been an important part of Career and Technical Education, and we thank Kingsboro Lumber for helping to expand these relationships, HFM Career and Technical Center Director Jay A. DeTraglia said.During his visit, Dewsburys final advice for students entering the workforce was to look beyond just getting a job and to focus on long-term career goals.Open to local high school juniors and seniors, construction technology is a two-year program that stresses career preparation in the building trades.Through building projects on the HFM campus, students are exposed to a variety of construction trades including residential construction, blueprint reading and estimating, building materials and tools, surveying, foundations, floor wall and roof systems, insulation, window and door installation, home electrical wiring, and energy use analysis. Particular attention is paid to modern framing techniques and green building strategies.

See the article here:
Business connecting students with industry pros - fultoncountyexpress.com

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The "Optical Fiber & Plastic Conduit Market in Telecom & IT by Product: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018-2026" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

According to this report the global optical fiber and plastic conduit market was valued at $4,151.2 million in 2018, and is projected to reach $11,779.9 million by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 20.6% from 2019 to 2026.

The optical fiber industry is expected to provide promising growth prospects throughout the forecast period, owing to increase in investments and research undertaken by prominent optical fiber cable manufacturers in the industry to develop and upgrade the fiber optics technology application area. In addition, the plastic conduit systems market denotes a promising picture for future growth of efficient cable management. The recent business scenario has witnessed an upsurge in usage of cable conduit systems across commercial and industrial constructions. Companies are now adopting efficient techniques to provide consumers with innovated and cost-efficient products.

The rising demand for single-mode optical fibers is expected to grow during the forecast period, as the world is facing a shortage of single-mode cabling. The main reason for this fiber shortage is the rise in fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network projects, which had increased the fiber consumption by 46% of the whole world. Moreover, single-mode optical fiber cable offers numerous benefits, which includes high attenuation and dispersion, greater data-transmitting capabilities, usability within high-speed & large capacity networks, and others, which have been boosting its adoption among the end users. Furthermore, ongoing efforts to increase the penetration of telecom services in the emerging countries of the Asia-Pacific region are attributed to the increasing demand for single-mode cable in the region, which is opportunistic for the optical fiber and plastic conduit market.

Factors such as widespread implementation of 5G, increasing adoption of fiber to the home connectivity, emergence of internet of things, and growing demand for highly secure and safe wiring systems are anticipated to be major drivers of the global optical fiber and plastic conduits market. However, high installation cost and complications in installation of optical fiber and plastic conduits, growing demand for wireless communication system, and increasing prices of raw materials act as major drivers hampering the market growth globally. Furthermore, technological advancements in fiber optic cables and plastic conduits, rising investments in optical fiber cable network infrastructure, and emergence of cable in conduit system offers lucrative opportunities to the market growth globally.

Key Topics Covered:

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Executive Summary

2.1. Key Findings

2.1.1. Top Impacting Factors

2.1.2. Top Investment Pockets

2.2. Cxo Perspective

Chapter 3: Market Overview

3.1. Market Definition And Scope

3.2. Key Forces Shaping The Optical Fiber And Plastic Conduit Market

3.3. Optical Fiber And Plastic Conduits Key Player Positioning, 2018

3.4. Market Dynamics

3.4.1. Drivers

3.4.1.1. Widespread Implementation of 5G

3.4.1.2. Increase In Adoption of Fiber To The Home (Ftth) Connectivity

3.4.1.3. Emergence of Internet of Things (IoT)

3.4.1.4. Demand For Highly Secure And Safe Wiring System

3.4.2. Restraints

3.4.2.1. High Installation Cost of Optical Fiber And Conduits

3.4.2.2. Growth In The Wireless Communication Systems

3.4.3. Opportunities

3.4.3.1. Rise In Technological Advancements In Optical Fiber And Plastic Conduits

3.4.3.2. Increase In Investments In Optical Fiber Cable (ofc) Network Infrastructure

3.4.3.3. Emerging Trends Toward Cable-In-Conduits Systems

3.5. Optical Fiber Vs Plastic Conduits In It & Telecom Industry-Trend Analysis

Chapter 4: Optical Fiber Market, By Mode

4.1. Overview

4.2. Single Mode

4.2.1. Key Market Trends, Growth Factors, And Opportunities

4.2.2. Market Size And Forecast, By Region

4.2.3. Market Analysis, By Country

4.3. Multimode

4.3.1. Key Market Trends, Growth Factors, And Opportunities

4.3.2. Market Size And Forecast, By Region

4.3.3. Market Analysis, By Country

Chapter 5: Optical Fiber Market, By Product Type

5.1. Overview

5.2. Glass Optical Fiber

5.2.1. Key Market Trends, Growth Factors, And Opportunities

5.2.2. Market Size And Forecast, By Region

5.2.3. Market Analysis, By Country

5.3. Plastic Optical Fiber

5.3.1. Key Market Trends, Growth Factors, And Opportunities

5.3.2. Market Size And Forecast, By Region

5.3.3. Market Analysis, By Country

Chapter 6: Optical Fiber Market, By Connectivity

6.1. Overview

6.2. Fiber-To-The-Home (Ftth)

6.2.1. Key Market Trends, Growth Factors, And Opportunities

6.2.2. Market Size And Forecast, By Region

6.2.3. Market Analysis, By Country

6.3. Fiber-To-The-Business (Fttb)

Chapter 7: Optical Fiber Market, By Industry Vertical

7.1. Overview

7.2. Telecom & It

7.3. Public Sector

7.4. Healthcare

7.5. Energy & Utilities

7.6. Aerospace & Defense

7.7. Manufacturing

7.8. Others

Chapter 8: Plastic Conduit Market In It And Telecom Industry, By Product

8.1. Overview

8.2. Rigid Conduits

8.3. Flexible Conduits

Chapter 9: Optical Fiber And Plastic Conduits Market, By Region

9.1. Overview

9.2. North America

9.3. Europe

9.4. Asia Pacific

9.5. LAMEA

Chapter 10: Optical Fiber Cable:-Company Profiles

10.1. Corning Incorporated

10.2. Emtelle UK Ltd.

10.3. Fujikura Ltd.

10.4. Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

10.5. Hexatronic Group Ab

10.6. Sterlite Technologies Ltd.

10.7. The Kuhkenah Network (K-Net) Services

10.8. The Prysmian Group

Chapter 11: Plastic Conduits:- Company Profiles

11.1. Atkore International

11.2. Akg Group

11.3. Cantex Inc.

11.4. Dura-Line Holding, Inc.

11.5. Prime Conduit

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/t9ghtl

Original post:
Global Optical Fiber & Plastic Conduit Market (2018 to 2026) - Drivers, Restraints and Opportunities - ResearchAndMarkets.com - Business Wire

The Sennheiser Sound Academy has introduced the schedule for its UK trainings for the first half of 2020

Duncan Proctor 12 hours ago

Sennheiser Sound Academy training courses are now available online for the first half of 2020. Run by Sennheisers Andrew Lillywhite and Joe Mahoney from the Customer Development & Application Engineer (CDAE) team, the courses are designed for RF techs, AV integrators and technicians, sound engineers, designers or consultants, live event professionals, equipment resellers and apprentices, who want to further their understanding of the specific area of each course.

A wide variety of courses are now available including Wireless Mics Monitoring Essentials, held at Sennheiser UK offices in Marlow as well as at Arnolfini in Bristol; RF Best Practice for Production and Touring course in London; Wireless Audio for AV Integrators, held in Marlow and London; Audio For Meeting Rooms & Conferencing, taking place in London and Scotland; and, finally, Wireless Mics & Monitoring: The Master Class, held in Marlow.

This course is for new and existing users of wireless microphones and in-ear monitor systems who wish to further their understanding of the area for the benefit of their career. It will provide the skills and confidence to operate multichannel wireless systems, covering acoustics and electrotechnology, wireless mics and monitoring, antenna technology, microphone technology, frequency management and wireless monitoring.

A hands-on training day for rental companies and sound engineers looking to make their productions more professional, reliable and RF efficient. The course will cover topics such as Practices when planning RF; Preparing for the 2020 clearance of the 700 MHz band; Antenna distribution and wiring options; Avoiding loss through cable and addressing interference issues.

A practical day of training for audio/visual integrators, focusing on Sennheisers wireless audio portfolio including UHF and digital wireless mics, antenna setup, streaming audio solutions and more.

A detailed and practical day of training and product familiarisation on Sennheisers audio for meeting rooms portfolio, targeted at business and education campus AV teams and system architects.

This course is designed for existing users of wireless microphones and in ear monitoring systems who have already completed the Basic Wireless Mics and Monitoring Course. This intensive two-day course is based at our Marlow Headquarters and consists of one full day of theoretical tutored eLearning and one full day of practical workshops. Due to the practical nature of the workshops this course is restricted to a maximum of eight participants.

Each course offers a combination of classroom training, which includes hands-on practical modules and eLearning.

The majority are free trainings. Registered members of the of the Association of Sound Designers (ASD), Institute of Professional Sound (IPS), Association of Motion Picture Sound (AMPS), Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT), Guild of TV Camera Professionals (GTC), Learning & Teaching Spaces Managers Group (LTSMG), Production Services Association (PSA) and PLASA all get 50% discount on the paid-for courses. Sennheiser also offers a 20% discount for those aged under 24 years.

http://www.sennheiser.com/soundacademy

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Sennheiser Sound Academy training courses added across UK - Installation International

Power Distribution Cables Market

Power Distribution Cables Market Research Report by Installation (Overhead, Underground & Submarine), by Voltage (Medium, Low), by Users (Industrial, Residential, Commercial) and by Region Global Forecast to 2022

Power Distribution Cables Market Overview

The global power distribution cables market is anticipated to attain decent growth over the forthcoming forecast period. Market Research Future (MRFR) confirms the previous statement in its recently released report, wherein it mentions that the global market is projected to attain a compound annual growth rate of 6% during the assessment period.

Power distribution cables are most commonly used for delivering electric power. It is an electrical cable that is referred to as the assembly of one or more electrical conductors and is typically held together with an overall sheath. In order to transmit the electrical power the assembly is used. These cables carry electricity from the transmission tower and delivers the same to individual consumers. These cables can be installed by burying it into the ground, as permanent wiring within buildings, run overhead, or even exposed.

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The team at MRFR went above and beyond to conduct a thorough study and has garnered various key findings to gain a prominent understanding of the market. Most notably, the company mentions that owing to the increasing need and demand for electricity, there has been an increasing number of power transmission networks around the world. This is subsequently helping boost the distribution cables market towards growth and expansion. Some of the other key factors identified by MRFR as the drivers of the market are the increasing proliferation of the infrastructure and construction sector, rapid-paced industrialization and shifting urbanization, and the surging demand for renewable energy.

Power Distribution Cables Market Segmentation

The globalpower distribution cables marketsegmentation is based upon three key components for the ease of understanding the report in a far precise manner.

By voltage, the market distributes into low and medium voltage.

By users, the market comprises residential, commercial, and industrial.

By installation, the market is broken down into underground, overhead, and submarine. This market category is spearheaded by the overhead segment and is further expected to keep its position at the top and lead the market.

Regional Analysis

The global power distribution cables market is regionally distributed among the following regions: Asia Pacific, Latin America, North America, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa.

Geographically, the Asia Pacific region holds a major share of the global market. The region contributes significantly to the overall welfare of the Asia Pacific region and is expected to continue its stay at the top in the forthcoming years of the forecast period. MRFR identifies that the fast-paced industrialization, a growing renewable industry, and various construction & infrastructural activities to be some of the key factors expected to boost the global market towards heightened growth. The global market for power distribution cables is led by Asia Pacific and followed up by North America and Europe. Both the North American and Europe regional markets are expected to grow at a healthy pace during the forecast period and contribute significantly to the overall growth of the power distribution cables market.

Competitive Landscape

The global power distribution cable market includes a number of key players. The names mentioned in the statement are SAS Brockskes (Germany), Brugg Kabel AG (Switzerland), Prysmian Group (Italy), General Cable Corporation (U.S.), CAE Groupe (France), ConCab Kabel Ltd. (Germany), Spina Group (Italy), Cavotec (Switzerland), and others. The players in the market are continuously innovating, applying new strategies, and investing in R&D activities to cement their standings and edge past their competitors.

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At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.

MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by Components, Application, Logistics and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.

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Power Distribution Cables Market 2020| Robust Expansion by Top Manufacturers, Growth Insights, Leading Players, Size, Share Analysis and Regional...

At first glance, Quebec and Texas might not seem like the most natural partners. La Belle Province and the Lone Star State dont appear, on the surface, to have much in common, other than a uniquely distinctive culture and outlook, one that often sets them apart from their near neighbors, let alone those from another country. But the two do share a proud aviation history, and each is, today, home to a flourishing aerospace hub: in the Montreal and Dallas-Fort Worth regions, respectively.

There are several companies with a foot in each one, but perhaps none have done so quite as successfully as Bell. Established by Larry Bell in the border city of Buffalo, New York, in 1935, the company made the move to Texas in 1951.

After decades of success as one of the industrys original airframe manufacturers, Bell established its presence in Mirabel on Sept. 29, 1986, following an agreement with the Quebec and Canadian governments for financial support. It was a manufacturing facility at the time, spanning 436,000 square feet (40,500 square meters) on 151 acres of land.

The facility has gradually expanded over the years to now cover over 650,000 square feet alongside Mirabel airport, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest of downtown Montreal. Such is the flow of helicopter traffic at the facility that it has its own control tower that looks out over its flight line of 17 helipads and two runways.

Over the past 34 years, more than 5,000 helicopters have rolled off its production lines, and today, it contains the final assembly lines (FALs) for the light single 505 Jet Ranger X, intermediate 407, light twin 429, and medium 412. This represents the entirety of Bells current in-production commercial product line. The facility also performs customization, engineering, type certification flights, support and services, and composite manufacturing.

Its the only site where almost everything is vertically integrated, said Steeve Lavoie, who has been CEO and president of the Mirabel facility since May 2019. From design, to manufacture, production, customization, painting, and delivery, everything can be done here. Its the only [Bell] site that can do all this. We have a broad spectrum of capabilities.

The facility was initially slated to produce variants of the Model 400 TwinRanger (a twin-engine version of the 206L LongRanger), but benefitted from Bells decision to split its helicopter business in 1986. Production of all its commercial lines was to be moved to Mirabel, while the manufacture of its military products would remain in Texas.

The first helicopter assembled at Mirabel was a 206B JetRanger, which was the best-selling light single-engine helicopter in the world at the time. Other notable first builds over the following years included the 206L-3 LongRanger (1987), 212 (1988), and 412 (1989).

Annual production grew above 200 for the first time in 1991, and the following year, Bell secured a huge contract from the Canadian government for 100 CH-146 Griffon helicopters (based on the 412EP) for the Canadian Armed Forces.

In March 1992, the facility recorded its first type certificate approval, with Transport Canada certifying the 230 a light twin-engine aircraft developed from the Bell 222.

The 1,000th Canadian-built Bell helicopter rolled off the Mirabel production line in 1994, and by this point, the facility was producing about one-third of the commercial turbine helicopters being sold worldwide. The year also saw the launch of two new types: the 407 and the 430.

The 407 is a derivative of the 206L-4 LongRanger, bringing that airframe together with the four-bladed soft-in-plane main rotor developed for the U.S. Armys OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. The aircraft was designed, developed, tested and certified in Mirabel; it recorded its first flight at the plant in June 1995, gained certification from Transport Canada in February 1996 (Federal Aviation Administration approval followed later that month); and the first of the type was delivered later in the year. The 407 has proven to be a huge success for Bell, with over 1,500 delivered since 1996.

The 430, a four-bladed evolution of the 230, also went through the various stages of its development in Mirabel, receiving certification from Transport Canada shortly after the 407 in February 1996.

Another notable aircraft developed at the facility was the 427 (a twin-engine aircraft based on the 407), which would later give way to the 429 GlobalRanger. The latter, originally envisioned as a stretched version of the 427, ultimately employed a clean-sheet approach, with a modular airframe concept, extensive use of composites, a large cabin with clamshell doors, advanced rotor blade design, a glass cockpit, and was certified for single pilot instrument flight rules (IFR) operation.

The 429 first flew at Mirabel in February 2007, and received certification from Transport Canada and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in July 2009. The first delivery took place almost immediately following certification, with Air Methods (for Mercy One) taking receipt of the landmark aircraft.

Today, the 429 is one of four types produced at the Mirabel facility, along with the 407GXi and 412EPI (the latest versions of the storied types), and Bells new light single 505 Jet Ranger X.

Bell first revealed the 412EPI at Heli-Expo 2013 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The aircraft features enhanced performance with Pratt & Whitney PT6-9 Twin Pac engines, and has upgraded avionics in the form of the integrated Bell BasiX Pro, which provides single-pilot IFR capabilities and incorporates the Garmin GTN 750 touchscreen navigators with four 10.4-inch (26.4-centimeter) LCD displays. Deliveries of the new variant began in 2013.

Another evolution of the 412 the 412EPX has been launched in partnership with Subaru, and will be the platform for the new utility helicopter for the Japanese Ministry of Defence. The aircraft features a more robust main rotor gearbox dry run capability, an increased internal maximum gross weight, and increased mast torque output below 60 knots.

The 407GXi was announced in 2018, with first deliveries beginning later that year. An evolution of the 407GXP, which provided enhanced hot and high performance, the GXi has upgraded Rolls-Royce M250-C47E/4 engines with dual channel FADEC, providing enhanced redundancy and improved range and fuel consumption. It also features Garmins G1000H NXi integrated flight deck for cutting-edge avionics.

The newest entrant to the Bell production fleet is the 505, which was announced in low-key fashion during the Paris Airshow in June 2013. Powered by a single Safran Helicopter Engines Arrius 2R engine, the 505 fills the void in Bells product line that was created when the Bell 206B JetRanger ceased production in 2010. The 505 has a useful load of 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms), a range of 340 nautical miles (630 kilometers), and has been certified at a maximum cruise speed of 126 knots.

It features the Garmin G1000H integrated avionics suite withdual 10.4-inch displays, and uses the same rotor system as the 206L-4 LongRanger retaining that types autorotational characteristics.

The five-seat aircraft, which aims to build off the legacy of success established by the Bell 206B JetRanger in the lightsingle-engine market segment, was originally to be producted in a brand new 82,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette, Louisiana. However, in May 2016, less than a year after it opened, Bell decided to bring production of the short light single up to Mirabel.

The move came at a time when the general industry downturn had forced Bell to make sweeping cuts to its workforce around the world. There were around 2,200 people working at the facility in Mirabel in 2010, but by 2016, just 900 remained.

I saw people crying [when the 505 production move was announced] because they were so happy to have good news about something, said Francis Tessier, senior manager of manufacturing. But it came with a lot of challenges, because they decided they would transfer the line right away.

The facility was already intimately familiar with the type, having been the base for its development and testing; the 505 had completed its first flight in Mirabel in November 2014, and the aircraft received type certification from Transport Canada in December 2016. This was followed by production certification in February 2017, with the first customer delivery to private operator Scott Urschel, based in Chandler, Arizona in March at HAI Heli-Expo 2017 in Dallas. FAA approval followed in June 2017.

The challenge we were having with the 505 was the [required] pace of production, said Tessier, noting the over 300 letters of intent the aircraft had received before it was certified. We were still in the industrialization phase, in the learning curve, and we had to ramp up pretty fast. Last year we were able to produce an aircraft every 1.5 days. It was amazing to see how we did that in less than two years.

The global 505 fleet passed 20,000 flight hours in August 2019, with more than 215 deliveries completed to customers around the globe.

While all Bells current production helicopters are built in Mirabel, that will change once its upcoming 525 Relentless super medium is certified. Unveiled at Heli-Expo 2012 in Dallas, the 20,500-lb. (9,300-kg) gross weight 525 Relentless will become the first commercial fly-by-wire helicopter when it is certified, competing against the likes of the Airbus H175 and Leonardo AW189 in the super medium category. The engine powering the aircraft the General Electric CT7-2F1 was certified by the FAA in March 2019, but Bell has not released a date for anticipated regulatory approval of the aircraft itself (see p.32).

The Mirabel facility has been involved in the aircrafts development, with the structure designed by its engineers, as well as providing composite parts for the first prototype aircraft and hosting flight tests.

Practical reasons lay behind the decision to locate the 525s production line in Amarillo, Texas, explained Tessier. The 525 doesnt fit in this facility we would have to expand our building to be able to produce it. In Amarillo they have the room for it.

The manufacturing work in Mirabel is split into three divisions: final assembly and flight tests; customization work; and composite creation.

The FALs sit either side of a wide central aisle, with the workflow bringing the aircraft towards the center as they are completed. They are then taken down the aisle to the completions section of the facility next door.

All the different products have different strategies in terms of how they are manufactured, Luc Bachant, director of manufacturing in Mirabel, told Vertical during a recent visit to the facility. The 412, for example, is the only product that still has its structural assembly completed in Mirabel. The aircrafts various components are first spliced together in a large fixture, and then other elements, such as the wiring harness, are installed at each subsequent station. It requires about 4,000 hours of work to bring a basic 412 through the FAL and to complete flight operations at Mirabel, he said a workload that could be doubled with particularly complex completions, such as that required for the Canadian Coast Guards new fleet of seven 412EPIs.

The 505, on the other hand, arrives at the plant in the form of a complete cabin structure from an external supplier. It follows a U-shaped production line, and Bell has the ability to install some kits into the aircraft as it is assembled, making its progress to delivery that much more efficient. Each aircraft typically spends a month on the FAL, said Bachant, with one aircraft finished every 1.5 days.

In terms of manufacturing, Bachant said the biggest challenge was the flow of components from suppliers. The flow of parts sometimes can be an issue because some suppliers have some capacity constraints, especially as the industry is picking up, he said. We have a base of close to 800 different suppliers. When you are creating an aircraft with so many different components, a delay with just one can stop everything.

Customers have the option of having their aircraft completed in Mirabel, which has similar capabilities to Bells completion center in Piney Flats, Tennessee. The company offers kits produced by Textron sister company Able Aerospace, as well those produced by third parties, such as DART Aerospace. These can range from air conditioning, to high skids, float installation, and mission-specific offerings like medical interiors, hoists, and cameras. Mirabels engineers can also create a customized solution to meet a customers requirements.

The facility has extensive paint capabilities, allowing it to provide liveries ranging from the basic one-color finish to intricate designs, completed in one of its five paint booths.

About 40 percent of Bells commercial deliveries are performed in Mirabel, with most of the rest in Piney Flats.

The plants composite work has increased dramatically over the last couple of years, said Bachant, driven by a desire to bring previously outsourced work in-house, and a general growth in the market.

Typically people know the site here for the assembly of the commercial products, but they might not know that the composite center is close to half the operations we do here internally, he said.

The team now makes over 600 composite parts, ranging from vertical fins, to the 429s cabin, to the 525s beany the disc that sits on the center of the main rotor head.

While the vast majority of Bells military work is completed in Texas, Canadian programs are managed in Mirabel.

In 2019, Bell began work on a major new project to upgrade and extend the operating life of the Canadian Armed Forces 85 CH-146 Griffons, known as the Griffon Limited Life Extension (GLLE) program. The Griffons, which entered service with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) between 1995 and 1997, provide a number of functions as a multi-purpose utility helicopter, providing tactical troop transport, reconnaissance, escort and surveillance, casualty evacuation, disaster relief, special operations aviation support, and search-and-rescue. In terms of aircraft numbers, the Griffons represent about 60 percent of the Canadian Department of National Defences rotary-winged fleet.

Under the GLLE program, the aircraft will receive upgraded avionics, engines, and sensor systems, with the aim of keeping the aircraft operating until at least 2031. Bell is currently in the definition phase of the program, which could ultimately be worth about $800 million. According to Francis LeBlanc, director for global fleet services at Bell, the company is working in conjunction with the Canadian government to develop a solution, with three prototypes expected within three years.

Itll be a new Bell 412 heavily based on the EPI/EPX model, said LeBLanc. Itll be an EPI base with some of the EPX features and added military equipment, such as a defense suite, satcoms and other things.

The company already supports the CH-146 fleet, which is spread over 10 bases, as part of a $100 million-a-year contract. This support spans program management, engineering, parts, and maintenance.

A high-profile military acquisition south of the border could also provide a huge boost to production in Mirabel; Bells submission for the U.S. Navys new helicopter trainer is the 407GXi, which received FAA certification for IFR flight (a Navy requirement) in August 2019. The Navy is expected to soon announce the award of the contract for 130 aircraft, with the entire fleet to be delivered by 2023. As commercially-based aircraft, they would be initially produced in Mirabel, before being shipped for final completion in Ozark, Alabama.

At the time of Verticals visit at the end of November, Bell was clearing space in its production line to accommodate the anticipated contract award first deliveries by the end of 2020 necessitated the advance planning, said Bachant.

We have contingency plans to make sure when we win it, we are going to be ready to deliver, he said.

The draft request for proposals for another military rotary-wing training program the Canadian Future Aircrew Training (FAcT) program is due later in 2020, and Bell plans to submit the Bell 429 for this. While currently undefined, the program is likely to require more than 20 aircraft.

When Mitch Snyder unveiled the FCX-001 concept aircraft at Heli-Expo 2017 in Dallas, it wasnt to reveal an aircraft that would be rolling off Bells production line any time soon it was to give an idea of the companys roadmap for technological development. It was also a clear announcement of Bells renewed focus on innovation.

The mockup at the show included a fan-driven anti-torque system, hybridized propulsion, morphing main rotor blade tips, an extensive use of glass in the fuselage, gull-wing doors, and the use of augmented reality in the cockpit to control the aircraft.

The announcement of the FCX accompanied the launch of parallel innovation teams in Mirabel and Fort Worth. The two largely work on the same projects, with the division of responsibilities driven by which location has the best match in terms of skills, capability and external funding.

The team in Mirabel has quickly grown from four to 30 people over the last three years. Based in a large open-plan mezzanine that overlooks the final assembly lines on the production floor, the team also works across two secretive labs surrounded by frosted panels (a third lab is being completed). Vertical was allowed entry to one of them during our visit. Two large islands were in the center of room; each one was topped by an unmanned technology demonstrator, with a group of workers gathered around one Bells Autonomous Pod Transport (APT) multicopter making adjustments. At the far end of the room, two 3D printing machines were busily working away; one making plastic parts, the other composites.

They run seven days a week, 24 hours a day, said Michel Dion, manager of innovation at Mirabel. Here, theres people working every day on unmanned vehicles.

But developing unmanned aircraft is just one aspect of the extremely broad mandate for the innovation team, which takes on projects as varied as air taxis, new propulsion systems, advanced flight controls and energy harvesting.

When Mitch unveiled the FCX at HAI, he talked about six things: energy management, advanced anti-torque, advanced fly by wire, autonomous flight and situational awareness, alternate propulsion system, and morphing rotor blades, said Dion. So FCX basically drove the scope of the work that we do. And now were taking those work packages and making sure that also they can support the Nexus and APT programs.

The development of the Nexus, Bells futuristic hybrid-powered air taxi, has been led by the team in Fort Worth, but the team in Mirabel has also been involved. Last year, they built a full-scale version of one of the aircrafts six ducted fans to evaluate its aerodynamic and acoustic performance in a customized wind tunnel at the National Research Councils aerospace facility in Ottawa, Ontario.

If we want to have air taxis in the future being part of our transportation system, social acceptance will be key, and external noise will obviously be a part of that, said Dion, adding that the results of the tests are still being evaluated.

The Mirabel team is also working with Nexus partner Thales on flight controls as part of a five-year government-supported technology demonstration program (TDP).

The TDP is funding various threads of research that see Bell working with 17 partners, from suppliers such as Pratt & Whitney Canada and CMC to universities and research centers. One of these threads is energy management more specifically, Bell is looking into energy harvesting.

When we have an aircraft that is vibrating and were trying to kill the vibration with [vibration control systems], were just basically dissipating free energy in the air, explained Dion. So can we go and harvest that energy back into the batteries?

Exploration of advanced anti-torque and alternative propulsion systems is also being performed under the TDP.

In addition to the various technology elements for larger aircraft, the Mirabel innovation team has been working on smaller unmanned programs: APT and HYDRA (Hybrid Drive Train Research Aircraft).

It has led Bells efforts with the latter an electric 12-motor 55-lb. (25-kg) ring-wing aircraft designed to test and develop electric and distributed propulsion systems. Like APT, HYDRA has the ability to takeoff and land vertically, and transition to airplane mode for forward flight.

Weve been flying in high-wind conditions, just to push the aircraft to its maximum in terms of controllability, and it performed really well, said Dion. The testing will never be complete. Its a research aircraft well always make updates and upgrades to it, for new technologies or to try new configurations of motors and blades.

With such a focus on new and exciting forms of future flight, how does the team balance developing technology for conventional rotorcraft versus newer forms of vertical lift?

Were trying as much as possible to develop technologies in such a way that we could retrofit [them] back into a helicopter program, said Dion. We will continue to make helicopters into the future there will always be missions for which the helicopter is the best solution. I think Nexus or APT are not replacing the helicopter, theyre just an addition to what exists today. They are basically two new transportation systems that we are developing.

For years, Bell has prided itself on the level of its customer support and services. Its product support team sits on the second floor of its facility in Mirabel, and these rooms are staffed 24/7. Youre not getting a voicemail and someone calls you back two days later, you should be getting somebody on the phone right away, said Jason Moir, regional sales manager, Canada. Its very much a family mentality so when customers call, they know who they are getting, [and] theyre on a first-name basis. . . . When you have that familiarity with someone, when youre looking for information, it makes the problem that much easier to solve.

In addition to the centrally-located expertise for customers to contact at the end of the phone, Bell has customer service engineers (CSEs) located regionally around the world.

Support and services has always been our strength, said Moir. The bar has been set by Bell for years in terms of industry standards. We continue to keep that mentality and focus.

The vast experience of the customer support team is reflected throughout the facility. Although Bachant has been with Bell for almost 10 years, he said he is considered new in terms of longevity at Mirabel. People tend to stay a long time which is a good sign! The average seniority in the plant is 21 years, he said, with many people having been there since it opened its doors in 1986. This number is trending down, however, as the staff numbers begin to grow with new hires.

Today, there are about 1,200 employees at the plant, following a hiring surge in 2019. Lavoie said he expects that to continue into 2020, at a rate of about 15 to 20 percent.

A growth in demand is fueling the need for this, he added. The demand is picking up on many models, he said, highlighting the 407 and 429 in particular, with Asia and the U.S. driving this trend.

With that in mind, Bell has accelerated the 407 and 429 production lines, and plans to build 70 407s and 40 429s in 2020.

In an aerospace hub like the Montreal region, Bell is somewhat spoiled in terms of the resources at its fingertips, with nearby schools and universities producing aerospace specialists, and a huge pool of existing aviation specialists working at neighboring companies such as Bombardier, Pratt & Whitney Canada, CAE, Rolls-Royce and Thales. But it also means Bell has serious competition for talent.

Over the coming years, Lavoie hopes to increase Bells brand awareness within the region and across Canada to highlight the capabilities and achievements of the Mirabel facility.

We are in the process of launching a marketing plan to rebrand and reintroduce Bell to the Canadian and Quebec market, said Lavoie. The history of Bell Mirabel is not well known by the average population, and this is something we are working on.

As well as potentially opening up new business opportunities, he said it would also be useful in helping to attract new talent. The facilitys appeal will be enhanced with the potential addition of new products that will guarantee its success into the future.

In a speech at the Canadian Aerospace Summit in Ottawa, Ontario, in November 2016 just over a year after he became Bells president, Snyder said Mirabel would be the base for flight test, certification and final assembly for Bells next new commercial helicopter program.

Lavoie said the strong working relationship the company had built with Transport Canada, having now certified several aircraft with the agency over the years, is part of the appeal for attracting future work from its parent company. And the facilitys broad range of capabilities and expertise make him confident of future growth at the company.

We are very capable and we have a wide range of skillsets here that makes it attractive for Bell to bring new products to Mirabel, he said. We are rethinking the future of vertical lift, and the role of Mirabel is very present in this.

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Thirty years of evolution for Bell in Mirabel - Vertical Magazine