Research & Development

Prysmian has always attributed key strategic importance to Research & Development in the management and development of its business. The Group has: 7 Research & Development Centres (Italy, France, UK, Germany, Spain, United States and South America) with headquarters in Milan; established collaboration agreements with major universities and research centres (including the Polytechnic of Milan and the National Research Council of Italy - CNR); more than 400 skilled professionals; over 3,000 patents granted or filed. In 2009, Research & Development investments amounted to approximately Euro 43.2 million.

2009 Main Achievements

• In the field of high and extra high voltage cables, continued development of extra high voltage direct current cables with certification of the first 300 kV submarine cable; also certified were the first 220 kV cables produced at the new Abbeville plant in the United States and the 500 kV cables produced at the Baoying plant in China for use in local projects.
• Certification of the new P-Laser cable, for the entire range of medium voltage products up to 30 kV, developed at the Pignataro plant and the first prototypes were also produced of high voltage P-Laser cables for both direct and alternating current.
• Development of new Third Generation Afumex cables (A3G).
• New "Intelligent Protolon" system, designed for applications in the field of port logistics.
• In the area of optical cables, development of a new range of high fibre density cables that can contain up to 96 fibres with external diameters of 6 mm and up to 720 fibres with diameters of 16 mm thanks to the use of latest-generation micro-modules.

Protection of intellectual property rights
Protecting its portfolio of patents and trademarks is a major part of the Group’s business, particularly due to its strategy of growth in high technology market segments.
At 31 December 2009, the Prysmian Group owned 3,025 patents and patent applications throughout the world covering 456 inventions. At the end of 2009, the Prysmian Group also owned 2,230 trademarks for products or product lines.

Quality at every stage of the production cycle
The quality of all Prysmian products is ensured by strict monitoring of every stage of the production cycle, from the procurement of raw materials to the delivery of the finished product, by means of an extensive system of control for each specific stage of the cycle.
In raw materials procurement the focus of controls is on the selection of suppliers, thus assuring the quality of individual supplies that have to be accompanied by the relevant certificates showing their compliance with the standards established at the contract.

High standards of customer service
To ensure a high standard of customer service, Prysmian has since 2003 commissioned outside consultants to conduct a series of customer satisfaction surveys and take monthly measurements of service indicators.