MFL Group delivers high-performance PC strand production at COVISA (Chile)
For a leading international manufacturer like COVISA, maintaining a competitive edge in the Latin American market requires balancing massive output with microscopic precision. The production of low-voltage building cables and flexible conductors is a high-volume business where even the slightest inefficiency in energy consumption or material waste can significantly impact the bottom line. COVISA’s challenge was to modernize their copper wire drawing capacity to reach higher speeds without risking wire breakage or uneven annealing.
In addition to pure speed, the facility faced the technical hurdle of “re-stringing” downtime. In traditional multiwire drawing systems, changing a die or switching wire configurations often meant hours of lost production time. To meet the growing demand for infrastructure in Chile, COVISA needed a system that could not only run faster—aiming to push beyond 20 m/s—but also offer the flexibility to handle multiple wires simultaneously with minimal maintenance intervention.
The TM Series multiwire drawing line is available for Copper, Aluminum, Bimetallic and Alloy wires, and it’s supplied in line with the annealer.
Solutions from MFL Group
High-speed wire production requires a synergy of heavy-duty hardware and digital oversight to maintain performance at extreme speeds. By integrating MFL’s drawing and annealing technology, manufacturers shift from manual, error-prone processes to a proactive, automated environment. This ensures every millimeter of the product is scrutinised for physical and metallurgical integrity, maintaining high-performance standards from start to finish.
Frigeco TM Series: A world-class multiwire drawing line capable of speeds up to 35 m/s. It is designed for copper and aluminum, processing up to 48 wires through a compact, energy-efficient footprint that reduces power consumption by up to 20%.
Mario Frigerio IX Series: The global benchmark for low-relaxation PC strand production. It manages the entire process from raw rod to finished low-relaxation strand, ensuring the metallurgical stability required for high-stress construction applications.
MFL X (Acumen & Scout): A predictive maintenance and data-harvesting suite that empowers manufacturers to unlock the full value of their machinery. It tracks Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) and identifies process bottlenecks before they result in downtime.
The Solution
The solution was the implementation of a vertically integrated Frigeco TM Series multiwire drawing line, a flagship technology from the MFL Group. This system introduced a high-speed, 48-wire drawing capacity that operates in-line with an advanced continuous annealer. By utilizing a “quick die change” system and electronic capstan skipping, the facility eliminated the need for manual re-stringing. This allowed COVISA to successfully increase their drawing speed from 20 m/s to a remarkable 28 m/s while maintaining perfect material ductility.
To optimise operational costs, the line was integrated with the MFL X digital ecosystem, providing real-time harvesting of industrial data. This allowed COVISA to track the precise power consumption of their AC motors and vector control inverters. The result was a seamless, automated environment where a single operator could monitor a massive throughput of copper wire, ensuring that every meter produced met the highest international standards for electrical conductivity and mechanical strength.
The Result
The integration of the Frigeco multiwire line provided COVISA with an immediate and measurable leap in operational throughput. By successfully pushing drawing speeds to 28 m/s, the facility managed to compress its production timelines without the traditional risk of wire breakage or thermal inconsistency. This newfound speed, paired with the “quick die change” system, turned what were once hour-long maintenance bottlenecks into minor, minutes-long transitions, effectively maximizing the uptime of the entire extrusion hall.
Beyond the raw increase in volume, the true victory lay in the drastic reduction of energy and material overhead. The stoichiometric precision of the inline annealing process ensured that copper oxidation and scrap rates plummeted, while the energy-efficient AC motor drives slashed the factory’s per-ton carbon footprint. For COVISA’s end-users, this technical evolution resulted in a superior, high-ductility product that meets the most rigorous safety certifications for modern building infrastructure, all while maintaining a highly competitive price.
The Customer
Based in Chile, COVISA is a major international producer of power cables and building wires, with an annual production capacity exceeding 6,000 tons. Their operational philosophy is built on constant technological implementation to diversify their product range and improve performance across the Latin American market. By partnering with the MFL Group, COVISA has not only upgraded their physical machinery but has also secured a technical partnership that provides them with global best practices for high-speed non-ferrous wire production.
The company focuses heavily on the “zero-waste” principle, requiring every meter of copper and aluminum wire to meet the most stringent international standards for conductivity and mechanical strength. Their facilities serve as a benchmark for industrial modernization, demonstrating how a traditional manufacturer can transition into a high-tech specialized producer. This commitment to quality ensures that their products are the preferred choice for major infrastructure projects, from residential building cables to complex industrial electrical networks.
Why this matters for Macotech
The success of international giants like COVISA demonstrates the transformative power of the MFL Group’s “Best Practice Made Perfect” philosophy. Macotech brings this exact level of world-class engineering to the South African industrial sector, offering local manufacturers a “global-local” advantage. We provide the essential bridge that allows local producers to access high-speed, energy-efficient technology while benefiting from a partner who understands the specific challenges of the South African power and gas infrastructure.
By implementing these proven European technologies locally, we enable South African manufacturers to compete on a global scale—reducing energy overheads and material waste while meeting international quality certifications. Macotech stands behind these systems to ensure that South African production lines remain competitive and capable of producing world-class materials. For our partners, this means investing in a decades-long lifecycle of reliability and precision that directly strengthens their bottom line.iciency right here at home.
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The IX Series is designed to produce low relaxation P.C. strand under all the international standards, while ensuring high performance, efficiency, and reliability.