How cable management solutions are evolving in the 2020s

As the world tilts toward automation, new cable management solutions are increasingly available to make wire and cable management more comfortable than it is today. New cable management solutions and accessories are making their way into every market segment, whether it's residential, commercial, or industrial cabling. This article provides an overview of the latest cable management solutions, with a focus on residential and industrial solutions, as well as the accessories we sell at ZMS cable.

Under-Table Cable Tray. Instead of your standard cable tray, this is a basket that is stored under the table to prevent messy communication cables.

Runway Kit. This is a universal tool for organizing cables in the home and office. It is a flexible rectangular system with multiple round openings for each type of cable. All you need to do to organize the cables is to run each cable through a hole at the top. This popular solution is often used in drawers under desks and home entertainment systems.

Wrap cable ties. The best solutions on the market are often the simplest. If you store cables in a drawer, use wrap-around cable ties to keep them organized and provide you with long service.

Other homes and office solutions include plenty of clips, wraps, and brackets, including rubber clips that can be easily fastened to the wall.

Bundling items that hold cables in one place, including ties, lacing, fasteners, rings, and hangers.

Cable sleeves for external cable protection. Subtypes of sleeving include, but are not limited to, tubing, braided sleeving, sleeving providing additional thermal protection, metal sleeving, fireproof sleeving, and fiberglass sleeving. Protective covers that provide protection against abrasion and mechanical damage are also part of this category.

Innovative cable accessories sold by ZMS

Flexible Conduit

Flexible conduits are additional armor used externally with the cable. They present a cable management solution for protecting cables and wires and providing them with structural support from damage. These conductors can be sheathed metal, unsheathed metal, and non-metallic.

Sheathed flexible conduits are corrosion resistant and are used when strong metallic power is required to protect the cable. Unjacketed metal flexible metallic conduit typically has greater flexibility than a jacketed metal conduit. Both products are UL and CSA rated. Non-metallic flexible conduit is a good choice when the environment is highly corrosive to the point where metal conduits cannot withstand it under any circumstances. They are also suitable for applications where high flexibility is required. 

Power Connectors

A common power connector is a lug made of aluminum or copper.

What is the purpose of cable lugs?

Cable terminal lugs are metal connectors that join two cables together when permanently connecting them or when connecting cables to other electrical devices. They look like a small piece of tubular metal, with a tube and a flat section with a round hole in the middle of the flat section.

Cable lugs are made of either copper or aluminum. While copper is often considered a premium material for all types of wire, copper, and aluminum lugs are used for the same purpose. When choosing between the two types of lugs, your main concern may be money, as aluminum lugs are much cheaper.

Cable connectors

Cable sealing sleeves often called connectors, grids, or fittings, are a cable management solution used to connect wires to the connecting devices at their ends. Cable lugs and seal fittings have very different shapes. The main difference between them is that a gland is only used to connect a cable to an electrical device and never actually connects two cables. In addition, the gland is only attached at the end of the cable end.

Cable glands are used exclusively for almost all types of industrial applications. Depending on whether the accessory is used for power, control, communication, or other common types of applications, different sealing sleeves may be preferred. At ZMS Cable, we sell a variety of cable sealing glands, including armored, unarmored, braided, suitable for explosive environments, flexible, and more. The main cable glands we sell are steel and aluminum armored.

Grounding Rod Accessories

Ground rods are the type of electrical system solution that connects a building's grounding system to the earth. The purpose of a grounding rod is to minimize the risk of electrocution or other electrical accidents in your home. Some older homes do not have a ground rod, in which case the best solution is to install it.

Some innovative accessories for existing ground rods sold by ZMS Cable include a ground rod clamp for connecting two ground rods, a grounding plate that holds the ground rod and is used for direct burial, and an additional clear PVC grounding cable.