HV Coil: 'This is a company that really did it from the ground up'

NEWCOMERSTOWN − Filling a void left in local manufacturing by the closure of the General Electric facility in Newcomerstown was the goal of some of the plant's former employees.

HV Coil recently received the Small Manufacturer Excellence Award from the Eastern Ohio Development Alliance. It was presented by Newcomerstown Mayor Pat Cadle to HV Coil's President Caleb Munholand at a luncheon in Walnut Creek. The Small Business Excellence Award went to Wooly Pig Farm Brewery of Fresno.

"This is a company that really did it from the ground up. They started on their own," Cadle said of HV Coil. "They've really built something nice."

HV Coil specializes in manufacturing premium high voltage coils for indirect cooled turbo and hydro generator windings. Partial or complete rewind kits and assemblies can be tailored made to meet each customer's needs, according to the company website.

Jobs take about three to five week to complete and ship, said Caleb Munholand of HV Coil. What they do is a niche market with only four companies servicing about 5,500 vendors in North America, he added. They're currently doing a unit refurbishing project for a company in Saudi Arabia. The generator will be in Oman and help power a couple hundred thousand homes.

"Every business starts with an idea and an army of one, normally. The whole challenge is how do you pull it together and get the right people involved," Munholand said. "This is really the culmination of the efforts of about 33 people right now down in Newcomerstown, Ohio. They're making us successful as we continue to grow."

The GE Ohio Coil Service Center in Newcomerstown closed in 2014. Munholand and some others who had previously been employed by the center started a new company doing the same work a few months later. While GE wouldn't originally sell its old building to a competitor, HV Coil is now in the former facility which has undergone renovations, such as a new roof. HV Coil moved into the facility in early 2019.

HV Coil started in the local small business development center and received it's first order in November 2014. Munholand said they added about $1 million in equipment last year and look to do the same this year to double their production capacity, with a push to double their sales.

"It's been a really positive experience," Munholand said of getting HV Coil off the ground and thriving. "This is a really strong community in Tuscarawas County. The people, I can't say enough about the people. This is where I wanted to raise my family."

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: HV Coil manufactures high voltage coils