There were three petals that were modeled by the designer (Heatherwick Studios) with long, slender extensions. The Fort Miller Group would not have been able to manufacture, ship, and install these pieces without inevitably breaking the extension at some point. They proposed splitting the petal into 2 pieces and shipping them separately to NYC where they would be installed and connected using the NMB splice sleeves.
The Fort Miller Group used 24 total NMB sleeves (Model 6U-X), there were 8 sleeves in 3 different petals. It was a custom solution to a unique manufacturing / shipping issue.