Southwire: latest investment is part of a bigger overall plan

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Southwire: latest investment is part of a bigger overall plan Earlier this year, Southwire announced that it would build a new copper rod manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Georgia, that would feature an SCR-9000S Copper Rod System that would be the most advanced such system ever.

That was big news, but the company notes that this is being done in conjunction with other non-production initiatives that it considers equally important.

Southwire is building a new rod mill in Carrollton, Georgia, that will host the company’s most advanced SCR system.

“Southwire is investing in a multi-million-dollar modernization initiative that will allow us to best serve our customers, increase our efficiency and introduce newer and better equipment, systems and technology,” said Southwire’s President and CEO Rich Stinson. “We’re reaffirming our commitment to providing a work environment that supports the well-being of our employees, our communities and the environment, for today and for the future.”

Stinson observed that installing a new SCR system is an important part of the company’s overall plans “as copper rod is the start of the manufacturing process for many of the products that make Southwire an industry leader.” Southwire started operation of its current copper rod system in Carrollton in 1980, and four decades later, copper continues to be the primary source of metal for the company’s wire and cable operations.

Construction of the new plant is underway, and production should begin in the new facility by the end of 2022.

When the construction project is completed, the current plant—which has 42,000 sq feet of manufacturing space and 24,500 sq feet of warehouse space—will be decommissioned.

The new 100,000-sq-ft facility will be located on the same property as the existing manufacturing plant, and will utilize the company’s patented Southwire Continuous Rod (SCR®) technology, which transformed the wire and cable industry in the early 1960s and is still the preferred system around the world. The new SCR system in Carrollton, designed to produce 60 metric tons per hour, will have the

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capability to produce more copper rod than any other SCR rod system in the world.

“To put the technology itself into perspective, fifty percent of all copper rod made in the world passes through one of our SCR systems at some point in its lifetime. That’s significant,” said Charlie Murrah, executive vice president of metals. “Our copper rod manufacturing plant in Carrollton is more than 40 years old, and it is the right time to upgrade to a new, state-of-the-art SCR system for continuity and efficiency of our processes. Having a new SCR system in place for Southwire’s copper rod production will help keep us strong and sustainable for decades to come.”

The new plant will embody Industry 4.0, which at Southwire is called the Connected Enterprise. Southwire Senior Vice President William Berry said that the company’s existing rod systems are connected through the SCR data acquisition system as a stand-alone operation. “The Connected Enterprise will connect the data for the new copper rod system to the wire and cable plants that use the copper rod. This tie will allow us to use AI to determine the best rod parameters for the specific wire and cable application, OEM fine wire, building wire, industrial power, etc.”

The other initiative Southwire wanted to focus on includes its ongoing commitment to remain generationally sustainable for the next 100 years and beyond. The company continues to pursue its commitment to Growing Green. In support of Southwire’s Carbon Zero initiative to achieve 100% carbon free energy for its operations by 2025, Southwire is partnering with Carroll EMC to use all renewable electricity for the facility.

“We’re excited about the future of our Carrollton copper rod manufacturing facility, and we are proud to partner with Carroll EMC as we pursue our Carbon Zero initiative,” Stinson said. “We remain focused on our modernization strategy and strategic efforts, but we are taking steps to make operations generationally-sustainable.”

Southwire is also partnering with Standard Chartered, a leading international trade bank whose values are expressed simply in its brand promise, “Here for good,” by investing in sustainable deposits with a focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). Aimed at supporting the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Standard Chartered uses contributions that it receives from participating organizations—what it calls sustainable deposit—to finance projects related to SDGs in countries across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. The projects and outcomes tied to sustainable deposits help to address some of the world’s biggest challenges, including climate change, renewable energy, education and diversity.

As Southwire’s website notes, “These sustainable deposits and the goals that they support align with Southwire’s five core tenets of sustainability: Growing Green, Living Well, Giving Back, Doing Right and Building Worth.”

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