IW U.S. 500: Top Electrical Equipment and Appliances Manufacturers (slideshow)

Oct. 31, 2022
We didn't set out to make a list where every company was a least a century old, but it turns out that the electrical and appliance manufacturers that laid the groundwork for the U.S. manufacturing boom of the 1900s are mostly still dominating that field.

A century ago, Westinghouse created a division to handle shipping and distribution for its electric equipment, and Wesco International was born. By then, the company that become Diebold Nixdorf was already 63-years-old. The magazine that would one day become IndustryWeek might have covered the Wesco news... in its 40th year in print. 

The IW US 500 list of the largest publicly traded manufacturing companies in the country has a strong mix of old and new with names such as Apple, Dell and Tesla taking top spots. Even with the electrical equipment and appliances segment, Roomba maker iRobot made the list. But the top 10 companies have 1,296 years of experience between them. Only three of the top 10 were founded in the 20th century with the rest coming from the 19th.

And, like most manufacturers, they did quite well in 2021. The electrical/appliance sector reported $194 billion in revenue and $4.4 billion in profits for a collective 2.3% profit margin. And, that low margin was almost entirely due to massive losses at list leader General Electric. Minus GE, the group brought in $120 billion in revenue and $10.9 billion in profits for a 9.1% collective margin. 

With most of these slideshows, we only offer one image per company. Because of the ages involved here, we're using two—the first showing recent products or operations, the other from as far back as we could find pictures. 

RankPrimary IndustryName2021 Revenue (in millions)2021 Profit Margin2021 Net Income (in millions)2021 Revenue Growth
17Electrical Equip., AppliancesGeneral Electric Co.$74,196-8.79%-$6,520-2.2%
62Electrical Equip., AppliancesWhirlpool Corp.$21,9858.11%$1,78313.0%
78Electrical Equip., AppliancesEmerson Electric Co.$18,23612.63%$2,3038.6%
79Electrical Equip., AppliancesWesco Int'l. Inc.$18,2182.55%$46547.8%
182Electrical Equip., AppliancesRockwell Automation$6,99719.41%$1,35810.5%
267Electrical Equip., AppliancesHubbell Inc.$4,1949.53%$40013.9%
268Electrical Equip., AppliancesLennox International Inc.$4,19411.06%$46415.4%
276Electrical Equip., AppliancesDiebold Nixdorf Inc.$3,905-2.02%-$790.1%
297Electrical Equip., AppliancesA.O. Smith Corp.$3,53913.76%$48722.2%
302Electrical Equip., AppliancesAcuity Brands Inc.$3,4618.85%$3064.0%
309Electrical Equip., AppliancesMiddleby Corp.$3,25115.03%$48929.3%
325Electrical Equip., AppliancesEnergizer Holdings Inc.$3,0225.33%$16110.1%
326Electrical Equip., AppliancesSpectrum Brands Holdings Inc.$2,9986.32%$19014.3%
331Electrical Equip., AppliancesEnerSys$2,9784.82%$143-3.6%
333Electrical Equip., AppliancesAtkore Inc.$2,92820.08%$58865.9%
334Electrical Equip., AppliancesFirst Solar Inc.$2,92316.03%$4697.8%
364Electrical Equip., AppliancesBelden Inc.$2,4082.65%$6429.3%
380Electrical Equip., AppliancesWoodward Inc.$2,2469.29%$209-10.0%
392Electrical Equip., AppliancesEdgewell Personal Care Co.$2,0875.61%$1177.1%
411Electrical Equip., AppliancesJohn Bean Technologies Corp.$1,8689.44%$1768.1%
443Electrical Equip., AppliancesFranklin Electric Co. Inc.$1,6629.26%$15433.2%
449Electrical Equip., AppliancesiRobot Corp.$1,5651.94%$309.4%
456Electrical Equip., AppliancesSMART Global Holdings Inc.$1,5011.42%$2133.7%
462Electrical Equip., AppliancesIPG Photonics Corp.$1,46119.06%$27821.7%
479Electrical Equip., AppliancesSunPower Corp.$1,324-2.83%-$3717.7%
497Electrical Equip., AppliancesGoPro Inc.$1,16131.97%$37130.2%

Data provided by Seeking Alpha and S&P Global.

About the Author

Robert Schoenberger

Editor-in-Chief

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/robert-schoenberger-4326b810

Bio: Robert Schoenberger has been writing about manufacturing technology in one form or another since the late 1990s. He began his career in newspapers in South Texas and has worked for The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi; The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky; and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland where he spent more than six years as the automotive reporter. In 2014, he launched Today's Motor Vehicles (now EV Manufacturing & Design), a magazine focusing on design and manufacturing topics within the automotive and commercial truck worlds. He joined IndustryWeek in late 2021.

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