Southwire is positioned at the forefront of the reshoring of US manufacturing, centred on electric wire and cable for construction and to enable the energy transition. 

Southwire, the North American leader in the building wire market, a major copper wire rod producer, and developer of the Southwire Continuous Rod (SCR) technology process, has published its new 2023 Sustainability Report. The privately-owned company, which had sales of US$8Bn last year, employing 8,957 people, is one of the most important copper consumers in North America. Moreover, its highly efficient, large-scale SCR process is the continuous casting technology responsible for 50% of global wire rod production.

2023 was a significant year for the company, marked by several key achievements. Three of its manufacturing plants – Denton, Texas, and Bremen and Lafayette, in Indiana – were awarded the Copper Mark certification. The company aims is for all its US processing sites to achieve Copper Mark compliance in the near future. Early 2023 also saw the successful commissioning of its own new SCR9000S rod mill at Carrollton, Georgia, to replace its predecessor that was installed in 1980. The new mill has a capacity of over 380kt per year, more than 10% greater than the old mill. Both mills operated in parallel throughout 2023 as production ramped up at the new facility. The old mill was decommissioned in 2024.

“Our team is thrilled to evolve the modern assets and technology that have made Southwire an industry leader while, at the same time, advancing our values of trust, empowerment, consistency and inclusion,” said SVP of Modernisation, Will Berry. “This new plant illustrates our longstanding commitment to sustainable growth.” The mill, which uses 100% renewable electricity, also treats all bare copper wire scrap generated from the company’s insulated wire and cable manufacturing. In 2023 this amounted to almost 24kt, up 50% from less than 16kt in 2022. Although the new rod mill can theoretically use up to 20% high-grade copper wire scrap as feedstock, Southwire prefers to use LME grade A cathodes, including some carbon-neutral cathodes produced by BHP in Chile.

Southwire’s commitment to modernisation is a multi-year investment to integrate newer and better equipment systems and technology into its operations, increasing efficiency, focusing on safety, enhancing the company’s competitiveness, and ensuring the operational capability and capacity to support this strategic growth. “The construction of this plant is a key milestone on that journey to create a Strong, Sustainable Southwire. This is a significant investment in our future,” said Rich Stinson, Southwire President and CEO.