When you think of old-line Chicago companies, the names Sears, Motorola or Wrigley might come to mind. Probably not S&C Electric, although it’s hardwired into our lives.
S&C makes the equipment that makes the electric grid smarter and more reliable. Many of the megatrends in our world are converging to help its business. Think of the move to electric vehicles, all the data centers to serve our insatiable online appetites and more instances of severe weather and wildfires.
It all compounds the normal pressure on utilities to modernize grids. Add it up and you get high-powered demand for the fuses, switches, software and other products that employee-owned S&C provides. After several years of higher volumes, including 20% revenue growth last year, a company known for its workplace culture is hiring in a big way.
President and CEO Anders Sjoelin said the company has 350 open positions, including about 200 it will hire for a new operation in Palatine, where it has acquired a 275,000-square-foot building at 200 Sellstrom Drive. The new building is on what was a Weber Grills campus. Sjoelin said he hopes to have production at the site in early 2024. The company has posted job openings across its operations, including assembly, fabrication, cybersecurity and engineering. Worldwide, S&C has about 3,500 employees.
S&C is moving some capacity and employees from its longtime base in Chicago’s Rogers Park at 6601 N. Ridge Blvd. But Sjoelin said S&C isn’t cutting back in the city. “This is not a zero-sum game,” he said. The Rogers Park site is landlocked and the expansion to Palatine will free up space that can be redesigned for efficiency and more output.
“We want to continue to be a resource to promote manufacturing in Chicago,” Sjoelin said.
More than 2,000 S&C employees work in Rogers Park on a 47-acre site said to be the biggest industrial operation in the city limits other than the Ford Motor Co. factory on the Southeast Side. S&C is deeply but discreetly planted in a residential area; shrubs, lawns and flowering trees on the perimeter signal intentions to be a good neighbor.
The company goes back to 1911, the early days of widespread electricity use when utilities had a nettlesome problem of fires at substations. Commonwealth Edison asked Edmund Schweitzer and Nicholas Conrad to create a safer fuse. Their design included a tube filled with carbon tetrachloride that could snuff out its own fire before it became a problem.
It was a breakthrough and they started the company on the product. Today, about 80% of S&C’s business is with utilities but Sjoelin said demand also has grown from commercial and industrial users.
Among the company’s products is a system called EdgeRestore for underground residential circuits that isolates faults and reroutes power in less than a minute. Florida Power & Light has relied on the system and other S&C equipment to restore service more quickly after hurricanes. The utility has said the technology helped reduce customer complaints even as the number of connections in its territory grew.
“S&C will continue to be a key partner for ComEd when it comes to transforming our grid with innovative digital technologies that will contribute to record-breaking reliability and better service for our customers,” said Bill Fluhler, vice president of engineering at ComEd. Fluhler said S&C’s expansion allows for more collaboration around the goal of clean energy.
The company has won several “top workplace” awards. Its reputation in the area comes mostly from the commitment of John Conrad, son of co-founder Nicholas Conrad. John Conrad ran the company for decades, was determined to keep it out of the hands of Wall Street and felt a responsibility to his workers. After his death in 2005 at age 89, the company converted to employee stock ownership.
Even in his 80s, Conrad was known for zipping around the facilities in an electric cart, saying hello to people and making sure everything was just right. Company executives say S&C has never laid off an hourly employee. Sjoelin, who joined S&C three years ago just as the pandemic hit, said he’s heard stories about times when orders were slow and Conrad, rather than let people go, had them paint a building or otherwise spruce up the place until things improved.
As companies in the tech field dismiss staff or cut employee perks, S&C offers benefits like a roughly two-week break for the year-end holidays in addition to regular vacation. Sjoelin said there’s usually extra time off around July 4.
Sjoelin said employee ownership has made a huge difference. “I see a deeper commitment to the company. I see people are more invested in S&C. They care and understand that its success is their success,” he said.
