Surface defect detection in cable manufacturing is changing. As AI infrastructure expands, fiber and power cable producers are being pushed to increase throughput while meeting tighter quality standards. Many operations still rely on manual inspection or 2D vision systems that infer defects rather than measure them. Our latest technical white paper examines why those methods struggle to scale and what continuous, full-surface inspection actually requires in high-volume production. It explores how contour-based 3D inspection using laser-line triangulation enables true 100 percent surface coverage, real-time defect intelligence, and earlier detection that prevents costly scrap and downstream failures.