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.
| Rank | Primary Industry | Name | 2021 Revenue (in millions) | 2021 Profit Margin | 2021 Net Income (in millions) | 2021 Revenue Growth |
| 17 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | General Electric Co. | $74,196 | -8.79% | -$6,520 | -2.2% |
| 62 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Whirlpool Corp. | $21,985 | 8.11% | $1,783 | 13.0% |
| 78 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Emerson Electric Co. | $18,236 | 12.63% | $2,303 | 8.6% |
| 79 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Wesco Int'l. Inc. | $18,218 | 2.55% | $465 | 47.8% |
| 182 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Rockwell Automation | $6,997 | 19.41% | $1,358 | 10.5% |
| 267 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Hubbell Inc. | $4,194 | 9.53% | $400 | 13.9% |
| 268 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Lennox International Inc. | $4,194 | 11.06% | $464 | 15.4% |
| 276 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Diebold Nixdorf Inc. | $3,905 | -2.02% | -$79 | 0.1% |
| 297 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | A.O. Smith Corp. | $3,539 | 13.76% | $487 | 22.2% |
| 302 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Acuity Brands Inc. | $3,461 | 8.85% | $306 | 4.0% |
| 309 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Middleby Corp. | $3,251 | 15.03% | $489 | 29.3% |
| 325 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Energizer Holdings Inc. | $3,022 | 5.33% | $161 | 10.1% |
| 326 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Spectrum Brands Holdings Inc. | $2,998 | 6.32% | $190 | 14.3% |
| 331 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | EnerSys | $2,978 | 4.82% | $143 | -3.6% |
| 333 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Atkore Inc. | $2,928 | 20.08% | $588 | 65.9% |
| 334 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | First Solar Inc. | $2,923 | 16.03% | $469 | 7.8% |
| 364 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Belden Inc. | $2,408 | 2.65% | $64 | 29.3% |
| 380 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Woodward Inc. | $2,246 | 9.29% | $209 | -10.0% |
| 392 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Edgewell Personal Care Co. | $2,087 | 5.61% | $117 | 7.1% |
| 411 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | John Bean Technologies Corp. | $1,868 | 9.44% | $176 | 8.1% |
| 443 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | Franklin Electric Co. Inc. | $1,662 | 9.26% | $154 | 33.2% |
| 449 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | iRobot Corp. | $1,565 | 1.94% | $30 | 9.4% |
| 456 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | SMART Global Holdings Inc. | $1,501 | 1.42% | $21 | 33.7% |
| 462 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | IPG Photonics Corp. | $1,461 | 19.06% | $278 | 21.7% |
| 479 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | SunPower Corp. | $1,324 | -2.83% | -$37 | 17.7% |
| 497 | Electrical Equip., Appliances | GoPro Inc. | $1,161 | 31.97% | $371 | 30.2% |
Data provided by Seeking Alpha and S&P Global.
