Gilbert Cruz
Author Malcolm Gladwell says that “ten thousand hours is the amount of practice you must put in to attain mastery”. With 31 years of experience and having delivered more than 10,000 cable assemblies, Gilbert Cruz, can rightfully take his place as Ashtead Technology’s leading expert in subsea cable moulding.
Gilbert is responsible for the production of high-specification subsea cables that connect critical subsea survey and intervention equipment at water depths of up to 3,000m. These customised interconnectors are designed to operate in a harsh underwater environment where the cost of failure is significant and reliability is vital.
“The most important factor in cable moulding is precision and attention to detail” shared Cruz, “every cable is different and has a different set of specifications and requirements. We pride ourselves in the quality and consistency of our products.”
Based in Houston, TX, Gilbert has delivered products to a global customer base and has designed procedures and facilities for Ashtead Technology around the world. From Singapore to Norway, Gilbert has been involved in making sure that the company delivers to the highest standards and that our workshops are designed to enable maximum efficiency.
While the majority of cables tend to be around five meters long, Gilbert has been involved in producing a range of products to meet client requirements with the longest being a 500ft umbilical for offshore operations.
Gilbert has also played a key role in introducing innovative moulding techniques. “Certain cables require specific chemicals to bond and I take pride in having applied my expertise to bring a distinctive rubber-to-polyurethane moulding method to Ashtead Technology that adds value to what we offer our customers.” Gilbert is also one of a handful in the region who is certified to Eaton standards having completed their training on moulding of their connectors.
With quality and reliability at the forefront, cables produced by Ashtead Technology go through a rigorous testing and verification process to ensure that they are fit for purpose. “We test the assembly to make sure that the connectors meet the specification, then we are focussed on ensuring that there is clear continuity in the cable, that there is consistent resistance across the length of the assembly and that it is presented at the highest quality” said Cruz. “After 31 years of delivering these types of products, our customers know that when they come to Ashtead Technology they will get a high quality product and it is my job to makes sure that continues to be the case”.
As well as quality, responsiveness has been a key differentiator for Gilbert and his team. “We have the ability to respond extremely quickly to customers requirements. We have had situations previously where a customer has been in a pinch and we have been able to deliver a quality product to them that very same day” said Gilbert, “nobody else in the market can respond that quickly. We deliberately keep significant component stock levels in our facilities so that we can move extremely quickly when we need to”.
With so much experience, Gilbert has seen some interesting and unusual things: “I once built a cable which was used for a ride at Disney World Tokyo and I recently saw some of our cables on the Hollywood movie The Last Breath.”
And after all of these years, what keeps Gilbert going? “I really enjoy cable moulding and testing new methods. There is always something different – a different challenge for every cable.”
For more information about bespoke cable moulding from Ashtead Technology visit our dedicated cable moulding webpage.