Judd Wire Celebrates 60 years

Judd Wire celebrated 60 years in business Aug 14, years that have seen the company grow from two employees turning out wire for vacuum cleaner hoses to about 500 employees in two plants on either coast reeling out thousands of pounds of wire a day for airplanes, cars and consumer electronics.

"If you fly in Boeing airplanes not only in the US but all over the world you fly with us, and if you drive a car made by GM, Ford, Toyota, Honda, such and such, you drive with us, and also if you enjoy music on your Bose speaker you are listening with us," said former company president and current Executive Advisor Hidetoshi "Toshi" Kinuta. "We are very proud of these things."

The anniversary celebration also marked 25 years under the ownership of Sumitomo Electric Industries of Japan.

Kinuta was a member of the Sumitomo acquisition team in 1988 and has been with Judd since, for the past 13 years as president.

"In 25 years Judd has had good times and also bad times and we have experienced three major recessions, and without the support of our good employees and our good community Judd would not have successfully overcome them," Kinuta said.

State Rep. Stephen Kulik, State Sen. Stan Rosenberg and Mark Fairbrother, chairman of the Montague Board of Selectmen, were among those who turned out for the anniversary lunch in front of the Turnpike Road factory.

"Judd Wire has always been one of Montague's most important businesses, providing good paying jobs, generating significant tax revenues for the town, and equally important, making major contributions to the development of our community," Fairbrother said, wishing the company continued success.

Fairbrother said that Judd's 270 employees make it the largest employer in town, wages are among the highest in the region at an average of $16 an hour, Judd is the third largest taxpayer at nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually and recently became a partner in the town booster program Turners Falls RiverCulture.

Both Rosenberg and Kulik presented company president Hiroyuki "Hiro" Watanabe, appointed as Kinuta's successor in April, with citations from their respective houses of the Legislature and thanked the company for keeping jobs in the community after the acquisition and continuing to grow in place.

"How long have we been hearing that manufacturing is going elsewhere, around the world, to the cheapest, lowest- cost place one can find? And to look out here to see this plant, to see all of you that work here to make a product that you can be proud of and stand behind really shows that that doesn't have to be true," Rosenberg said.

source from wireworld