The Cable Ferret Company was a NECA Showstopper Winner at the American National Electrical Contractors Assoc. annual trade show in Seattle last month.
The NECA Showstopper Showcase Awards is the most prestigious recognition event in the US electrical construction industry and is designed to highlight new products trending and services to help companies build their business.
Cable Ferret attended the show – the first ever New Zealand company to exhibit at this annual tradeshow - as part of its global expansion plan and to support its entry into the US market, and it paid off in droves. The event is It is the largest annual gathering of manufacturers and distributors focusing on the USD130 billion electrical industry in the United States.
There were 200 products entered into Showstoppers this year and Cable Ferret was among 23 that received an award rubbing shoulders with well-established manufacturers such as De Walt Tools and Power Fastners, Fluke Corp, Greenlee, Hilti, Milwaulkee, and Southwire to name a few.
“Having this kind of recognition from the industry where we were amongst some very well respected and well-established tool brands is a huge accolade for our dedicated team. This will certainly continue to support our brand strategy and product positioning as we engage with key manufacturers, distributors and customers,” said Therese McNaughten, Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy.
The Auckland-based, electronic manufacturing business, is in the process of launching a smart tool in the US designed to help electricians get improved visibility and better clarity when pulling in cables or cutting access holes and ultimately helping them save time and money with improve efficiencies to grow their business.
Cable Ferret’s Showstopper Winner is the FERRET, a multipurpose wireless inspection and cable pulling tool that the company says has changed the way electricians work where there is lack of visibility in enclosed hard to reach spaces.
The small lightweight rechargeable IP67 rated camera attached to a rod or fish stick, easily glides into tight, confined and dark out of reach spaces, providing quality illumination with its 6 bright white LEDs. It comes with a large 4.3” colour LCD display for clarity of picture allowing the user to spot and diagnose problems easier. Providing 10x more reach than regular borescopes, the manufacturer says it allows cable to be pulled in half the time.
The FERRET allows for fast and safe close up visual inspections, providing extra reach, fault finding, cable routing, cable pulling, lighting installations, location a leak, object retrieval, identifying where to cut a hole, data capture and diagnosing and helping to evaluate a problem. Due to its versatility, convenience and affordability, the FERRET lends itself to an emerging list of additional applications, the tool has also reportedly found success amongst plumbers, builders and architects.
CEO and Innovator – Andrew Wigney
Science and electronics runs in Andrew Wigney veins and has been a common denominator throughout his entire life. In his 30’s he graduated to the corporate world and found himself in operations and general management for a data cabling business in Adelaide. Wigney saw first-hand the frustration of trying to run new cable in ceilings and walls where visibility was limited. It’s here he came up with his solution. “I noticed the cablers often had problems pulling in cables in solid ceilings and wall cavities, because they could not see what was there,” he said. Cutting unnecessary holes often caused issues and he says the clincher came when his team was installing cable in a Darwin hotel and drilled through a high-pressure water main. “The whole floor was suddenly converted into a water feature! The technology available the time wasn’t up to the job of seeing into awkward spaces and it was dangerous for us to be putting our heads into these small places. We often used to joke that we wished we could attach a camera to a ferret and put them into the ceiling for a better look”.
He was inspired by this thought but his solution would take five years to materialise, because Ni-Cad battery technology would not give way to lightweight lithium battery technology until after 2010. That’s when Wigney began prototyping his compact, lightweight, wireless rechargeable inspection camera known as the Cable Ferret.
But it wasn’t until early 2014 that his Cable Ferret wigcam, described as a world-first, went on sale through selected electrical wholesalers in New Zealand and Australia. However, the US market was considered the ultimate reach. After attracting financial backing the company is now on its way of achieving its goal of selling internationally to countries that now include Australia, Singapore, United Kingdom and the United States.
The third generation of the inspection camera, the FERRET has now been developed and is being sold and introduced as the FERRET to the US.
Wigney has also created technology for a rechargeable AA/AAA battery that last up to five times longer than standard batteries.
