Eland Cables’ SWA Cable enters the Premier League

When the new football season starts in August, Eland Cables will be paying close attention to the Villa Park ground. I’d like to say this has something to do with the recent signing of Emile Heskey or news of Aston Villa’s pre-season friendly against Fiorentina. But, given we’re an electrical cables company with more than our fair share of Arsenal fans – it’s the closest ground to our London HQ – our interest is purely professional!

It’s the pitch and not the play we’ll be tuning in for this summer. That’s because we’ve just supplied some of our hard-wearing SWA Cable to the club, to power the water irrigation system. With its steel wire mechanical protection, SWA Cable is designed to survive even our great British weather, so we’re confident the pitch at Villa Park will be looking green all season.

Would you like to find out what cables are used in your favourite sporting activity? Post here and our electrical cables blogging team with investigate.

Elandflex Cable takes the boating world by storm

Ask most sports fans about high-powered boating events – such as the 2009 Solar Splash World Championship – and they’ll talk about the thrill of the chase and the speed and manoeuvrability of the boats. That is, if they don’t work for Eland Cables. For when our team heard about the results of the recent solar-powered boat competition they only had one thing on their minds – Elandflex Cable.

Back in May, Team ‘Tarka’ from Southampton University took to the water at the annual university solar-powered boat championships held in Fayetteville, Arkansas. (You can find out all about the team’s trials, tactics and Telemetry on their race blog http://tarka.ecs.soton.ac.uk/blog.php). As the first UK team to enter the long-running sustainable technology event, we were really excited when they approached us about becoming sponsors and using our Elandflex Cable in the electrical systems on board Tarka. Being one of the only UK cable suppliers with IS014001 environmental accreditation, we were only too happy to support a team committed to doing their best for the UK and the environment.

By connecting the battery to the motor, our PVC flexible cable helped the team overcome a whole host of water-based challenges to finish in 10th place overall – scooping up the Teamwork Award, the Sportsmanship Award, and winning ‘Best Score for a Rookie Team’ along the way. Admittedly, team members Dirk De Jager, Karim El-Shabrawy, Rich Bowen and Peter Wilson should take most of the credit for achieving such a great result on their first attempt – but we do believe Elandflex had a crucial part to play.

We’re pretty proud of our Elandflex Cable – not to mention the few connectors we sent for good measure – for picking up a string of awards at the competition. We hear it’s still making the most of its newfound fame – it was last seen on its way back to Southampton where it will be appearing at the Boat Show, before doing a tour of local schools to promote engineering as a career. And Team Tarka is already planning next year’s race, so Elandflex could be making a return to the water as early as 2010.

For those of you inspired by Tarka and tempted to put a length of this single core PVC flexible cable to the test, we’ve got a 3D model on the Eland Cables website and a downloadable spec sheet to keep you entertained. Or, if you’ve used our other cables in something equally exciting, why not tell us about it? It’s time the rest of our electrical cable range got to share the spotlight.

The Reel Life Pub Quiz: Railway Cable answers

Now you’ve had the chance to swot up on your railway cable knowledge, it’s time to find out whether you’re as quick as a bullet train or stuck on a red signal.

1) A: Signalling Cable Type A, D and E
2) A: On the London Underground
3) B: Points Heating Cable
4) A: Black
5) B: Power Cable
6) A: Bare conductor

How did you do?
0-1: Stuck on red: your railway cable knowledge won’t get you far
2-3: On the right track: you’ll be a railway cable expert in no time
4-6: Bullet train: what you don’t know about railway cable, isn’t worth knowing

The Reel Life Pub Quiz: Railway Cable

We’ve probably all taken one, many of us need one to get to work every day, and some of us even make a hobby out of spotting one (or two)! But how much do we really know about trains and, in particular, the railway cables that power, heat and direct them. Take our quick railway cable quiz to see if you’re on the right track or off the rails…

Question one: What types of Signalling Cable are designed for use in tunnels, equipment rooms and public areas (clue: low smoke cables are specified for these locations)?

a) Signalling Cable Type A, D and E
b) Signalling Cable Type A, B and C
c) Signalling Cable Type B, E and D

Question two: Where might you find a Section 12 approved cable?

a) On the London Underground
b) Beside Section 11 Cable
c) On an overhead line

Question three: Which Railway Cable helps ensure trains can continue to operate in extremely cold temperatures?

a) Underfloor Heating Cable
b) Points Heating Cable
c) Extremity Warming Cable

Question four: The sheath on an RIA21 Railway Cable is which colour?

a) Black
b) Blue
c) Florescent yellow

Question five: What type of Railway Cable is Trackfeeder Cable?

a) Bus Cable
b) Power Cable
c) Overhead Line Cable

Question six: Which Railway Cable consists of a single stranded aluminium core?

a) Bare Conductor
b) Naked Conductor
c) Aluminium Conductor

Clue: all the answers can be found on the Eland website! Check out our Railway Cable at www.eland.co.uk/railwaycable/

Best Company, best ranking for a cable company… ever!

There is so much good news coming from Eland’s offices at the moment, that it’s hard to believe we’re in the grip of the dreaded ‘credit crunch’. It seems like only a few days ago that we were cracking open the champagne to celebrate our coveted ‘Three Star Status’. And now, we’ve just received the highest ever ranking for an electrical cable company in the prestigious ‘Sunday Times Best Company to Work For’ awards.

The awards, which were held on 25 February in Battersea, are based on the biggest survey of workplace opinion in the UK. As you can imagine, we are so proud of our 12th place in the 50-249 employees category (out of 997 entrants) – up against everyone from charities to financial and legal institutions. The Sunday Times gave us a lovely write up, and I hope if you haven’t already got a supplement from last Sunday’s paper, you find someone who does. I am not sure they were too fond of our delightful orange carpet, but the bread, cheese, vitamins, smoothies, art, baking, personal training, dog, the leadership and the management – not to mention the professional and supportive working environment – got a big thumbs up!

We even baked a cake in the shape of a tri-rated cable for the occasion, so we thought we’d share it with you.

It has been a wonderful year for Eland so far. Long may it continue…
Check back soon for more updates.

Eland models make it to page 3

Stripping the 3D cables on the Eland website is now so popular, it’s made it to page 3. Ok, so February’s Electrical Review magazine is not quite page 3 of The Sun, but you don’t have to be a cable enthusiast to see that stripping down the layers on any power cable, control cable, BS 7211 cable and 6491 cable – or any cable for that matter – is rather entertaining.

Have a play now and remember to let us know what you think by voting in our latest poll!

Could Eland Cables be the best cable company ever?

Ok, so you can probably tell by the nature of the headline that this isn’t going to be a particularly objective article. But, given that we’ve just received the prestigious ‘Three Star Status’ at the Best Companies to Work for Accreditation 2009 event, I hope you will forgive us.

In Best Companies Accreditation – a scheme designed to reward businesses for achieving a high level of workplace engagement – three really is the magic number. Companies across the UK strive to earn those three stars (the top award) and only 55 managed it this year – including one cable company (US!).

It’s a big deal for us and it shows that we’re not your average cable company. We’re a group of individuals working hard and having fun along the way. And those three stars mean we’re doing something right!

We want to hear what you think makes us a great company. Why not post and tell us your thoughts?