ElectriCord

Each month, we recognize one of the region’s top
manufacturers with the aid of NEPIRC, the Northeastern
Pennsylvania Industrial Resource Center. Since 1988,
NEPIRC has been working with manufacturers to improve
their productivity, profitability, competitiveness and
long-term viability through consultative services.
Electri-Cord Manufacturing Inc. – helping power the world
Their products can be found
in operating rooms across the
country, on the battlefields in Iraq
and Afghanistan, and in homes
throughout the United States and
many other countries.
For nearly 70 years, employees of ElectriCord Manufacturing Inc. have been making
cords that power everything from small
appliances to medical equipment in operating
rooms to complex critical military equipment
that our troops rely on in the field.
The company was launched in 1946 by
Charles Wexler in Brooklyn, N.Y., where it
operated until 1963, when Jerry Samuels took
over as president and moved operations from
New York to the small borough of Westfield
in Tioga County, population 1,072 as of the
year 2012.
Ownership of Electri-Cord changed hands
in 1972 to TFI and then again in 1982, when
the company was purchased by Leucadia
National Corporation. One year later, Samuels’
son, Mitch, was named president. Then, in
1997, Mitch Samuels purchased the company
An Electri-Cord employee inspects a wiring harness.
Electri-Cord President Mitch Samuels shows one of the wiring harnesses manufactured in Westfield.
and still owns it today.
Electri-Cord employs 84 people at its factory
in Westfield and another 16 people at a facility
in Minnesota. The company also operates a
facility in Mexico.
Most of the company’s more complex
assemblies are manufactured at the Westfield
facility. Electri-Cord manufactures turnkey
electronics and is a leading supplier of wiring
harnesses, cable assemblies, box builds,
power distribution units, power cords and
products for data centers. The company
serves military, medical, alternative energy,
telecommunications, transportation and
commercial markets around the globe.
With military contractors being some of
the company’s largest clients, Electri-Cord
was greatly affected by the U.S. government
sequestration in 2013, when military spending
Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal · M ay 2014
came to a near halt for projects
Electri-Cord serves.
“We are still hoping to see a
return to presequestration days,
since military contracts made
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up nearly half of the business
we do here in Pennsylvania,”
said Dennis McDonald,
vice president and general
manager.
With the effects of the
sequestration slowdown,
Electri-Cord is exporing new
product development at the
Westfield plant. “This is where
we see the best opportunities
to diversify and hope that the
new product development
will result in new lines being
added here, which will help us
create more jobs,” McDonald
said.
Training has also been an
important part of continuing
growth at the company.
McDonald said Electri-Cord
has been working with the
Northeastern Pennsylvania
Industrial Resource Center for
a variety of training programs.
“NEPIRC has been a strong
partner and we look forward to
continuing to work with their
programs in the future,” he said.