The manufacturer/user relationship in the development of accessories and fittings for overhead lines

Adoption of insulated overhead line conductor systems are symptomatic of the exposure to which UK users have become as to how other nations engineer their distribution networks. For UK manufacturers, servicing these new innovations with accessories becomes a real challenge for the following reasons: we have equipped our production units to efficiently and economically produce connectors for traditional open wire, bare conductor installations; for the insulated conductors, not only is the production tooling investment mostly inappropriate but also the R and D test equipment; and conversely, the manufacturer in the countries from which UK users are taking the new technology have for some years built up their production units and R and D facilities, for what is to them standard product. The author discusses wider issues involved and the use of standards