Cable Industry Insider: Substandard Cables Made from Waste Copper and Old Plastic
A few tile-roofed houses, an investment of several ten thousand yuan, hiring two or three workers, collecting waste copper and old plastic is all it takes to produce and process electric wires and cables. Recently, an insider from the wire and cable industry revealed that the industry is plagued with numerous "small workshops" that counterfeit, falsify, underweigh, and imitate famous brands.
"The threshold for entering this industry is low; for just three to five ten thousand yuan, you can produce 'famous brand' cables," said Liu Yuan (a pseudonym), the director of a cable production factory in Liaocheng, who recently exposed the black幕of substandard cable manufacturing. Liu has been involved in wire and cable production for over a decade. He mentioned that around 2007, the phenomena of counterfeiting and imitation of famous brands became rampant, causing great distress to their legitimate factory.
Liu explained that cable production is concentrated in Wuxi, Jiangsu, Hebei, and Shandong provinces. Within Shandong, the main areas are Jiaozhou in Qingdao, Yanggu in Liaocheng, and Tai'an. In Yanggu alone, there are about fifty to sixty large and small cable factories, but only a handful, around five or six, are of significant scale.
"Small factories mostly produce for others under their labels, some even imitate famous brands," Liu noted. He pointed out that there are more instances of counterfeiting in Hebei and Jiangsu, where almost every household engages in such activities. There are also some small workshops within the province that manufacture and sell substandard wires and cables.
"The industry threshold is relatively low. These workshop-style factories are quite small, consisting of just a few tile-roofed houses. An investment of three to five ten thousand yuan allows them to purchase some eliminated equipment from larger factories and bring in low-quality copper wire. With just two or three people on one production line, they can start producing," Liu described.
"Many construction units have complained and reported issues. On some days, we receive over a dozen complaint calls," said Li Yuezheng, the director of Yanggu Lican Factory in Shandong, revealing that their cables being counterfeited is now commonplace. "Some small manufacturers imitate our certificates of conformity, trademarks, and colors perfectly. They even register phone numbers with 114 directory assistance. When customers inquire, they are directly transferred to these counterfeiters' phones."
The quality of substandard cables is significantly worse. The lifespan of the outer skin of substandard cables is merely one-tenth of that of qualified products.
In recent years, accidents caused by substandard cables have occurred frequently: A fire in a Jinmine cable in Zhaoyuan resulted in sixteen deaths; a fire caused by an unqualified cable in Dongxing Coal Mine in Xinmi, Henan led to the death of twenty-five miners... The manufacturing process of some substandard cables is alarming.
The production technology of cables is not complex. It requires two materials: conductor copper or aluminum, and the plastic that wraps around the outside. To save costs, some counterfeiters tamper with the raw materials.
"Many manufacturers use waste copper instead of good copper. Good copper costs around sixty thousand yuan per ton, while waste copper is only fifty-four thousand yuan," Liu said. Good copper is directly extracted from ore, has a low resistance value, and meets national standards. Waste copper contains red copper and impurities, has high resistance, and severely affects the performance and lifespan of cables.
Liu further explained that to deceive, some counterfeiters even wrap bad copper with good copper, or use copper-clad steel or copper-clad aluminum to make cables.
Substandard cables and wires are difficult for the average person to identify. For instance, household wires sometimes use brass as the conductor, which has a very high resistance. Such substandard wires are hard to distinguish even by professionals without instruments.
"As for plastic, counterfeiters find ways to cut corners, purchasing cheap medical waste like used drip bottles and tubes, or imported waste plastic," Liu stated. Qualified products can last two to three decades without any issues with the outer skin, whereas substandard plastics will age and fall off within two to three years.
Additionally, waste plastic contains iron shavings, copper shavings, and other impurities. If used for buried cables, it easily causes water seepage and electrical connection, leading to serious safety hazards.
To save costs, some cables are made "thicker at the ends and thinner in the middle."
"Tricking customers has become common practice in the industry. Shortchanging on cable weight has become an ordinary matter," Liu said. Some small factories without well-known brands tighten the molds during production, creating cables that are "thicker at the ends and thinner in the middle."
For example, a cable comes in three sizes: 95, 70, and 50 square millimeters. This unevenly sized cable can differ by one size category, making it hard for customers to detect during use.
Not only do they play tricks with thickness, but also with length. Some manufacturers control the bundling of cables using a metering device, skipping several meters with each press. For instance, jumping from 66 meters straight to 70 meters. "Within the industry, a difference of 2% in a 100-meter cable is considered acceptable. However, usually, there's a shortage of several tens of meters, with wires differing even more drastically. A 100-meter wire typically measures only seventy to eighty meters."
During construction, cables are cut to use, and when settling accounts, discovering insufficient meters makes tracing back impossible, allowing counterfeiters to act more brazenly. "The phenomenon of cables being shorter than labeled has become an industry unwritten rule. It's slightly better in provincial capitals, but in county towns, the problem of shortchanging is much more severe," Liu said.
"Currently, the persistent issue of counterfeiting in this industry has yet to be eradicated. Some local protectionist behaviors allow counterfeiters to act with impunity. The industry needs further regulation," many cable enterprise directors expressed during investigations.