Catawba Ranks No. 1 in U.S. in Fiber Manufacturing
Published Jul 03, 2008
Perfecting cables at Draka Comteq
Catawba County is home to the nation’s leading manufacturers of fiber optics and telecommunications cable. Three major fiber optics cable companies have made a home in the county. So much cable is produced here that a least 50 percent of all the fiber optic cable in North America comes from Catawba County, says Mike Amicone, CEO and president of the America’s region of Draka Comteq.
Headquartered in Amsterdam, Draka Comteq is one of the largest wire and cable companies in the world. The company based its communications division for North and South America in Claremont. Draka Comteq also has
a plant in Claremont that manufactures glass – the necessary component that allows the speedy transition of massive amounts of data inside the cable.
The Claremont facility has become one of the largest suppliers of fiber optic cable in the United States.
CommScope Inc. is another giant in the fiber optics world. Founded in Hickory in 1976, it is the only New York Stock Exchange company with headquarters in Catawba County. The company generated more than $1.6 billion in sales in 2006 alone.
With more than 2,200 employees in Catawba County, CommScope is the county’s largest employer. However, its employees and offices span the globe.
CommScope is the world’s largest manufacturer of coaxial cable for cable TV and other video applications.
“What we do enables a host of information-rich and interactive services to be delivered to your computer, your TV screen, even your mobile screen,” says Beverly Lampe, manager of CommScope’s corporate communications.
And Corning Cable Systems, a Fortune 500 company, makes its home in the area as well. A division of Corning Inc., based in Corning N.Y., Corning Cable Systems built the largest optical fiber cable manufacturing facility in the world in Catawba County in 1982. The company established its headquarters in Hickory in 1980.
“We offer the broadest range of end-to-end fiber optic and copper product solutions for customers’ telecommunications networks,” says company spokeswoman Patricia McVay.
Catawba County is a good fit, McVay adds. It has solid infrastructure, a family-oriented community, nearby technical schools, a strong workforce and access to I-40 along with close partnerships with government, McVay says.
Story by Sheila Burke
Photo by Ian Curcio
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