IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - December 2015 - 56
Member and Industry Profile
by Ashok Bindra
NWL: From a Transformer Repair Shop
to Specialty Component Manufacturer
W
hat started as a small
transformer repair shop in
Trenton, New Jersey, in the
1930s is now a leading manufacturer
and designer of transformers, inductors, capacitors, and power supplies
for industrial and military applicat ion s w it h a specia l i zat ion i n
sw itched-mode power supplies
(SMPSs) for electrostatic precipitators (ESPs), electron-beam curing
and melting, and other high-reliability systems. Today, there are four
independently operating production
groups under one roof, with each
producing a family of specialized
transformers and power supplies.
Spread across a 185,000-ft2 facility in
Bordentown, New Jersey (Figure 1),
NWL currently produces over 100
cutting-edge units per month for a
global customer base that has spread
beyond the U.S. shores to Europe,
South America, and the Pacific Rim.
NWL's growth is reflected in the
company's 2014 financial report,
which shows revenues of US$80 million in sales, with over 400 employees
in manufacturing facilities in New
Jersey, Florida, North Carolina, and
South Korea. The corporation also
includes a capacitor division, NWL
Capacitors, that was launched in the
early 1980s. Currently, there are about
60 members in the company's engineering team and 225 employees in
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MPEL.2015.2487158
Date of publication: 18 December 2015
56
IEEE POWER ELECTRONICS MAGAZINE
FIG 1 NWL's modern magnetics and power supply manufacturing facility in Bordentown, New Jersey. (Image courtesy of NWL.)
the production group. Consequently,
NWL considers itself a specialty component supplier with design and manufacturing capabilities.
Humble Beginnings
With no formal education in electrical
engineering, John Nothelfer started a
transformer repair shop in Trenton in
the 1930s, primarily serving the radio
transmitter, electric furnace, machine
control, and research markets. Called
Nothelfer Winding Laboratories, the
focus of the shop was on low-voltage
transformers with 1 5-kV output.
December 2015
However, with some experience and
self-education driven by motivation to
learn, John began to design and build
these transformers by the late 1940s.
During this period, Jim Seitz, an electrical engineer from the University of
Pennsylvania, was working for a local
furnace company, a customer of Nothelfer Winding Laboratories.
By the 1950s, Nothelfer Winding
Laboratories had grown and moved
into a larger building in Trenton.
With this growth came the need for
an in-house qualified engineer, and,
therefore, John asked Jim if he would
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power Electronics Magazine - December 2015
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