Here comes the sun

When conjuring up images of those locations where cables are produced, a secluded and quite isolated town nestling on the northern fringes of SW Germany’s Black Forest may not be the first that springs to mind. However, for a company that bears the name sun, Sommer Cable has been quietly getting on with its business of producing high quality cables, connectors, stage boxes and accessories aloft its hilltop retreat for over a decade now. The sun has come out and the company’s unique cable designs, production methods and marketing strategies have found their way into most vertical export markets with some aplomb.

Sommer Cable came into being in 1999, having been founded by the investor and man who bears the company name - Friedhelm Sommer.  Mr Sommer freed up capital in that very year following the sale of the automation specialist Sommer-Automatic GmbH, which he had brought to life in the 1970s. Semi-retired, Mr Sommer convinced a team of specialists and ex-employees, including general manager Rainer Blanck, to work for the new company. The Miguet family – father Celestin and sons Pascal and Thierry – were included in this initial draft.

‘Rainer suggested to me that we open a business manufacturing audio cables,’ explains product manager Pascal Miguet. ‘Friedhelm, Rainer and I are musicians as well as friends and I had also worked for Equinox, a German cable company, for about eight years. So it was a very comfortable proposition for us all really, looking back on it.’

Technical support specialist Martin Elsner had held a senior position at the specialist supplier Studiospares and had taught as an instructor for the SAE. He came into the fold in 2004, and was easily convinced that he was making the right move. ‘This was a company that wasn’t totally driven into making sales,’ he declares in perfect English. ‘The philosophy at Sommer Cable was altogether different and was very refreshing, I must say. The entire team seemed genuinely keen and committed in helping their customers solve problems even if that meant forwarding the sales lead to a competitor.’ It’s a philosophy that has stood the company in good stead as its team has grown, its bonds strengthened, and its sales have continued to rise each year.

Having only appeared in the industry during the last decade, the distinctive green Sommer Cable booth has now become a regular fixture at trade shows such as ISE, PLASA and Pro Light & Sound. Similarly catching the eye are point of sale displays in MI retail stores, alongside the company’s glossy, fact-packed catalogue, which is made available in five languages (English, French, German, Russian and Spanish). But the fact that Sommer has grabbed the attention of A/V specialists, production companies, MI retailers, broadcasters and dealers with its marketing nous hardly fazes the highly experienced team working in spacious, bright offices located in Straubenhardt.

Pascal Miguet adds credence to the fact that Sommer knows how to make cables for its many and varied customers. ‘At first glance, cables all appear the same. However, when you look more closely at the construction, there are differences in the jacket composition, shielding, type of insulation and the inner conductor. For the jacket, Sommer uses a low-temperature soft PVC, without chalk or quarry sand. We also integrate a robust and coated insulation ensuring that the braided shield can't compromise the inside of the cable. For the wire itself, Sommer will only use oxygen-free copper N6 from Chile with a 99.9999% degree of purity. It not only has perfect transmission properties, but it is very smooth, which increases the number of bending cycles. The copper strands are interwoven as concentric stranding to offer better conductivity.’

Initially, Sommer concentrated on OEM bulk cables, but with the acquisition of Zeck Audio, the range was suddenly expanded. Bulk cables remain its best-selling products, but they now also produce pre-made cables, multi-cores and distribution systems, modular Sysboxx systems and a host of peripherals and accessories such as stageboxes. Since 2006, Sommer has produced its own range of Hicon connectors, although it also promotes and uses market-leading brands such as Amphenol and Neutrik, should customers demand them.

‘Designed here in Germany, Hicon connectors are manufactured in Taiwan under an exclusive agreement,’ explains Mr Elsner. ‘There’s no soldering used in the manufacture of the Tricone XXL for example and it features a gas-free connection.’ The range includes jack plugs, XLR’s, RCA’s, and HDMI repeaters, all of which are gold plated with solid pins, offering low transmission resistances. The high plug cycles, reliability and easy handling of these has particularly endeared the range to TV and broadcast stations.

Production company customers in Germany and nearby France enjoy the drop of a hat service they receive when a show demands a full cabling solution within a matter of two to three working days. ‘We can supply a full system from single XLRs to snakes and stage boxes all the way to front of house and back again,’ continued Mr Elsner. ‘Syssbox is a big product for us at the moment. It’s a totally modular system made out of 2.5mm solid panelling for which parts can be bought off the frame and added as plates according to the customisation required.’ Complementing Sysboxx are Syswall, Sysdesk, Sysfloor, Syspanel and Sysboard, all of which can be configured online. ‘If one of our customers requires connection to a mixing board, a beamer, a DMX-controlled coffee maker, two flat PC’s with flat screens and a transmission vehicle up to one box, Sysboxx can do it. Once we get the design through, we make the system and ship it out on the same day.’

While one warehouse is stocked high to the ceiling with cable drums, the other features extensive alphabetically racked components and parts. Around 90 per cent of the bulk cables are produced at the company’s own plants in Germany and Italy. Ready-made cables and looms are made in Germany and at the French branch in Alsace, while connectors are manufactured in Germany, France and Taiwan. The bulk of the production is bound for Europe, but Asia is becoming the next largest market.

‘International distribution has been a focus for this company since day one and we have developed relationships in Asia since the first ever Frankfurt show we exhibited at in 2000,’ explains Mr Miguet. ‘We export directly to some countries such as Russia, UK, Netherlands and France, whilst in other countries such as China, we appoint several distributors who best fit vertical market sectors for our broadcast, live and MI ranges.’

Twice yearly, the international family of distributors together with their own customers are invited to a Black Forest retreat in Straubenhardt. ‘They learn about our new and existing products, whilst we glean feedback from their respective markets, which helps us with the next round of product development. For example, following a discussion with a French broadcaster we produce a special camera cable only for the French market, although we now promote this in our catalogue to all our customers.’

Fibre optics and lighting products are receiving a lot of industry attention at the moment, but for now the most popular cables are in the installation range, followed by live sound and media cables, high-quality video/audio hybrids, highly flexible audio-multi-pairs and special video cables for very cold environments. ‘Especially in the installation and rental business, you will find more applications that work with digital signal management over long distances,’ explains Mr Miguet. ‘So we have to produce more solutions using fibre optics, network cables and the HD-SDI 3G interface.’

Like the product range, the company continues to grow and now has 40 full-time and 10 freelance employees on the payroll, in order to output more than 3,000km of its standard stage cable in a year. Meanwhile, partnerships and alliances with brands such as the HDMI-extension producer Intellix, Kramer and Berlin-based KID Broadcast have greatly enhanced Sommer’s reputation for being a solution provider.

The past decade has witnessed an amazing journey for the green experts from the Black Forest. ‘Above all, we’re a people company and in this industry people like dealing with people they trust and enjoy working with,’ sums up Mr Elsner. ‘It’s the personal service that our customers come back for.’

www.sommercable.com