Nehring Electrical Works celebrates 100 years

DeKALB – As the president of a company that has been embedded in the community for more than a century, Ray Hott attributes its success to hard workers, good management and positive market forces.

Nehring Electrical Works Co. on Feb. 10 celebrated its 100th year in business – an anniversary met with a recent $8 million expansion and a growing workforce.

The wire and cable company, which caters largely to utility companies, was established in Sycamore in 1912 by Paul A. Nehring. It was originally established as Nehring Insulated Wire Co., and a few years later changed to Nehring Electrical Works Co. Nehring led the industry by covering copper wire with braided cotton. Today, wires are covered with a plastic coating.

The company moved to an old barbed wire facility in DeKalb in 1916, where production doubled in a few years. Julie Smith, who’s part of the company’s sales team, spent time researching the company’s history for the 100th anniversary.

She said what surprised her most was that, while the economy was fairly stagnant in the 1930s, Nehring Electrical Works Co. grew at a rapid pace thanks to rural electrification. Throughout the 1930s, the company added employees and purchased additional factory spaces as it expanded.

The company caught another market edge in the 1950s, when many primary metals producers got out of the wire and cable business.

“That created a lot of opportunity of someone like us to grow,” Hott said.

Today, Nehring Electrical Works Co. employs 117 people who mainly work out of two manufacturing buildings on East Locust Street. Of those employees, 86 percent are from DeKalb County, Hott said.

“It’s something we take pride in,” he said.

After outgrowing 150,000 square feet of space in copper wire production, the company opened another manufacturing space across the street in 2009. The new 65,000-square-foot space is dedicated to aluminum production, which gave the company another market advantage.

“What’s unique about Nehring is that there’s really only one other competitor that does copper and aluminum,” Hott said.

Up until the new facility opened, Hott said aluminum made up about 20 percent of the company’s production. Now, it makes up half. The majority of aluminum and copper products used there are recycled. Most of the company’s sales are in the United States and Canada, with some in Mexico.

But copper is still being used in new technologies and can be found in windmills, including those in DeKalb County. Though wires are being applied to new technologies, Hott said the means of producing wires has changed very little in the last century. A stranding machine from 1942 is still in use today, he said.

“Our product is pretty basic,” he said. “The machinery hasn’t really changed dramatically since the [1930s].”

Unless there’s a major change in electrical technology and the way power is transferred, Hott said he doesn’t see the company slowing down any time soon. He expects updates to the country’s aging electrical grids and new technologies such as wind power will keep Nehring Electrical Works Co. strong down the road.

“I don’t see our business changing dramatically,” he said.