Two weeks of bitter cold weather nearly sent Bal Moon back to the Fiji Islands. He arrived in Canada in December 1980 and took a job pumping gas at an ESSO station. Between the relentless line of cars and the freezing temperatures, he quickly began to question his decision to relocate to Calgary. Within two weeks, Bal quit that position and found a new one, this time indoors. That move laid the foundation for the rest of his life.
The job was with a company manufacturing cables and geophones for the seismic industry. Bal stayed for nearly 15 years, gaining deep technical knowledge and industry insight.
“I learned a lot, but the company was focussed on only one industry: seismic,” says Bal Moon, founder and president of Specialty Wire & Cable. “I had a lot of companies looking for specialty cables, but the owners were not interested. One of my clients told me I should start my own company. I realized that the market was huge and we were not tapping into it.”
So in May of 1996, he did just that. Specialty Wire & Cable started with Bal at his kitchen table building the company from the ground up. Early support came quickly. Former clients who encouraged him to strike out on his own were happy to support him with sizable deposits and word-of-mouth advertising to accelerate growth. Within six months, Bal had a staff of 16 to help him deliver quality cable solutions to a growing client base.
Originally operating as Canadian Geophysical Products, the company soon faced a branding problem. The name didn’t reflect what the company actually did. Bal rebranded to Specialty Wire & Cable to highlight the company’s custom capabilities, and he hasn’t looked back.
Today, Specialty Wire & Cable has a team of nearly 40 people operating out of the 35,000-square-foot facility in southeast Calgary. In 2011, SWC expanded into the United States with a Texas location to better serve its American clients.
“No matter what, the SWC headquarters is always going to be in Calgary because of the support I’ve received over the years,” he says. “This company has made it so the things I have dreamed of were actually attainable. It’s a very successful company because of a lot of people, not just employees, but a lot of outsiders who help us, too.”
In return for this support from the industry, Bal makes sure to offer quality products manufactured to the highest industry standards and tailored to clients’ individual needs. Engineers and technicians use innovative technologies and premium materials to design, manufacture and assemble a wide range of cables and connectors. To achieve its goal of total customer satisfaction, each product undergoes rigorous testing to ensure it will perform well no matter the application.
“I’m not much of a front-office guy. I’m more into operations. I want to see that the product is done right and gets out flawless. It has to be a bulletproof product before it goes out the door,” Bal says.
That “bulletproof” standard means no corners are cut and only the best components make up an SWC product. The company produces ruggedized cables for the demanding conditions of oil and gas exploration, uses food-safe materials for agricultural application and builds reliable and durable underwater assemblies. The company also supplies thermocouple strings and molds PCBs and thermistors for a variety of wind, solar, hydro and infrastructure projects.
SWC handles every step of the manufacturing and assembly process in-house, from insulation and twisting to shielding, braiding and final jacketing. In-house machining allows the team to build and modify tools, while the termination team assembles the specialty cable and connectors. This ensures SWC has tight quality control and enables faster turnaround times on orders.
Whether it’s a 1/16-inch diameter medical-grade cable for sleep apnea machines or a heavy-duty 3-inch cable for mining machines, SWC delivers them both, and everything in between. With clients in the mining, transportation, marine and energy sectors, it’s critical that SWC’s products are guaranteed durable and safe to use while also withstanding extreme conditions, tremendous tension and high compression.
Speed is another key differentiator. The company delivers orders quickly to keep clients up and running. Unlike many cable manufacturers, SWC maintains a large inventory of cable and connector components, with wire gauge ranging from 3.0 to 28 AWG to meet any need. Having everything they need on hand and ready to be manufactured drastically shortens delivery time. With in-house manufacturing, assembly, molding and machining capabilities, SWC can meet even the most demanding timelines.
“When you carry the inventory, we can produce cables fast. Nobody can beat us on building,” Bal says. “And if a customer says they need this cable in two days, I’ll build it for them because I have all the ingredients.”
This high level of customer service and responsiveness has helped Specialty Wire & Cable build strong relationships with its roster of long-time clients. Bal and his team pride themselves on never saying “no” so they can provide innovative solutions to all of their clients’ problems. For repeat clients who order often, SWC manufactures custom cables or carries specialty reels so they are on hand and ready to ship in a few days rather than weeks. And while other large manufactures require orders of a million feet of cable before they will build, SWC accommodates smaller production runs of 1,000 feet so clients can just get what they need.
Even with the industry knowledge and customized products, at its core, the company’s success comes down to people. Clients are treated like family at Specialty Wire & Cable, and so is the staff. From the beginning, Bal has treated his team well and made coming to work an enjoyable experience. That philosophy has paid off. Many of his employees have been with the company for 10 years, and some more than 20 years, which is a testament to Bal’s hands-on leadership and workplace culture.
“We have a good group of people who have been with the company for a very long time. It’s not just us that has made the company successful. It’s all the people in the back,” says Deepa Devi, Bal’s sister-in-law and long-time team member.
Employees feel valued, respected and appreciated for all they do, and Bal works shoulder to shoulder with them to create the best possible products. After 30 years, this culture remains the company’s foundation as well as its future.
“Bal has worked incredibly hard for the past 30 years. I don’t know if he’s ever going to retire. I just want to keep the company going, make him proud and work as hard as he does,” says Sheetal Moon, administrator and Bal’s daughter.
Three decades after its humble beginnings, Specialty Wire & Cable stands is a shining example of what can happen when technical expertise meets a refusal to say no to opportunity. With a loyal team, deep customer relationships and a relentless focus on quality, SWC has earned its place as a leader in the industry.