Fiber-optic technology distributor Fiber Optic Center, Inc., (FOC) has announced a partnership with Wayne M. Kachmar and his new venture, Technical Horsepower Consulting, LLC, to offer consulting services to FOC's clients.
Kachmar has 35 years of experience in the fiber-optic cable industry and is best known for founding Northern Lights Cable, Inc. (NLC) in 1988. The company produced a wide range of cabling products, from standard cables to military cable designs, custom cabling of specialty fibers, and specialty products such as furcation tubing. It also offered such services as independent testing and private labeling. After a series of acquisitions, NLC is now part of TE Connectivity. Kachmar was named a TE Fellow in Electro-optic Engineering in 2012.
Kachmar has now started his own consulting business to share his expertise, which FOC believes can be valuable to its cabling customers.
"Wayne has always confronted problems and challenges in his own fresh and creative way. If Wayne is on the job, it will get done in a cost-effective and efficient manner, even if no one has ever been able to do the particular task before him. His set of skills and experience is unique," said Neal Weiss, founder and president of FOC.
According to a FOC press announcement, over the course of his career, "Kachmar has provided optical cables for diverse environments such as the underwater ROV that penetrated the Titanic, as well as sensing sub-atomic particles in the Antarctic ice. He has developed unique concepts and products which use optical fibers as both information carriers and as the sensors themselves: e.g., fiber laser ring-gyroscope components and acoustic sensors for terrestrial and underwater applications. As a principal investigator for government-sponsored projects, Kachmar developed cable designs that significantly reduced costs of materials and processes. To date, Kachmar has over 50 granted patents in fiber-optic cables, connectors and tools, and over 60 patents published or in process."
Weiss added, "FOC is primarily a distributor, not a manufacturer, but in some areas – connector polishing, adhesives, testing – we are ‘at least as technical as the manufacturer.’ This really means that we know more about the practical use of equipment we sell than the people who make these excellent products. With the addition of Wayne's services, cablers can now successfully offer new designs in the shortest possible time to market. Wayne not only designs the cable, he can specify the chemicals and components, and modify equipment so that it does exactly what is needed."
Kachmar concluded, “Neal [Weiss] and I have a long history in the fiber-optic industry. Our years together, as both customer and vendor to each other, have shown me the deep commitment that Neal and Fiber Optic Center offer for both. In the past, I have reaped the benefits of the excellent FOC staff knowledge base on connectors and test equipment needed to run a fiber-optic cabling business. I look forward to partnering with the FOC team in providing 'Technical Horsepower' in solving their customer’s needs and problems.”
