Southwire Upgrades Heflin and Breaks Ground on New Copper Plant
Heflin plant modernization efforts involve increasing medium voltage product capacities.
As part of its ongoing modernization efforts, Southwire has announced the installation of new medium voltage production technology at its manufacturing facility in Heflin, Ala. The upgrades are focused on increasing productivity and velocity, eliminating waste and becoming leaner, which will set the Heflin Plant on course to becoming a world-class medium voltage facility.
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| As part of its ongoing modernization efforts, Southwire has announced the installation of new medium voltage production technology at its manufacturing facility in Heflin, Ala. |
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| Southwire broke ground on the construction of its new copper rod manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Ga., in August 2021. |
The Heflin Plant was established in 1996 to increase the company’s medium voltage capacity, as well as high voltage production. It remained Southwire’s only facility devoted to high voltage production until the company purchased the Huntersville facility from ABB in 2015. The modernization efforts involved increasing medium voltage production at the facility through the expansion of the Continuous Vulcanization (CV) tower. This expansion allowed for the implementation of four CV lines, a Jacket line and a Test Set.
These upgrades allow greater flexibility to extrude both cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) and ethylene propylene rubber (EPR) insulation for medium voltage products at the Heflin Plant.
Also, in support of its long-term modernization strategy and building on its goal to remain generationally sustainable for the next 100 years and beyond, Southwire broke ground on the construction of its new copper rod manufacturing plant in Carrollton, Ga., in August 2021.
Today, construction is progressing at the plant, and the project should be complete by late 2022. The steel for the furnace bay and most of the equipment have arrived, and pipe work to connect the facility’s important systems continues. Most of the office areas have been covered in drywall, and both air conditioning and exterior concrete should be completed soon. The new facility will also feature a pedestrian bridge, which will allow for safer access to and from the building for its employees.
“Supply chain issues have slowed down the construction progress some, but our contractors have assured me that our planned commissioning time will be on schedule,” said Doug Teate, director of SCR Project Management. “The team is working very hard to achieve this goal.”
In 1981, Southwire started the operation of its current copper rod system in Carrollton, and four decades later, copper continues to be the primary source of metal for the company’s wire and cable operations.
The plant will contain an SCR-9000S Copper Rod System and 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.
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