Goldsmith & Eggleton: Critical Power Recovery Achieved Through Holiday Challenges

When a fire struck Goldsmith & Eggleton’s Wadsworth, Ohio, plant in September 2024, the event left the facility struggling to maintain production on one of its key lines. A critical 1,250HP motor rebuild and extensive water damage from the fire had already slowed operations, and by Thanksgiving the plant had another major setback — a failed variable frequency drive (VFD) for the 1,250HP motor.

The replacement time for the “exact” replacement drive was estimated to be over a year, threatening valuable production time and business continuity. With a shared goal of getting production back on track by January 6, 2025, the team had to think outside the box to procure whatever replacement parts were readily available to run the 1,250HP motor and restore production.

With the clock ticking and limited internal resources readily available, Goldsmith & Eggleton turned to Harrington Electric Co. for assistance. Jerry Strand, Harrington’s vice president of electrical construction, and his team were called in to assess the job, develop a solution, and execute the plan – all within an incredibly tight two-week window that just happened to play out during the holiday season.

The Harrington team arrived at the project site on December 17, 2024, racing against time to restore power and keep production on track. The job required the project sourcing “what was readily available” and installing an emergency 2000kVA utility transformer in the parking lot with new primary and secondary cabling.

Finding the right materials in a short timeframe was no small feat. A specialized armored cable needed for the project was ultimately located in Houston late on a Friday, ordered immediately, and arrived on-site by the following Monday. Meanwhile, custom electrical enclosures—measuring 48”x48”x24”—were manufactured in just two days, picked up (while the paint on the enclosures was still drying) and taken direct to the site for installation.

The work involved running a 220-foot, 4,000-pound cable feed through multiple plant levels, cutting through walls and coring through floors in order to connect the 2000kVA transformer to the replacement VFD. Once installed, an outside third-party firm was brought in to test the high-voltage cables, ensuring the system was safe and reliable.

The Season Brings Its Own Challenges

Executing this kind of project under normal circumstances is complex, but doing so over the course of two weeks, and during the unpredictable year-end holidays made it even more challenging.

Harrington Electric’s team of five electricians worked every day except Christmas and New Year’s to meet the aggressive project deadline. Their expertise in high-end industrial electrical work—far beyond standard maintenance—was critical to the project’s success.

“I have to admit, the team hit this project right out of the park,” said Jerry Strand. “We have a group of very highly skilled electricians, without which we would have never been able to tackle this complex project. This wasn’t your everyday go-change-a-lightbulb type of work. It involved some highly specialized talent and a ton of skill.”

On January 2, 2025, right on schedule, the Goldsmith & Eggleton team and out of state support engineers commissioned the new VFD allowing production to resume as scheduled on the 6th of January.

The successful completion of this high-stakes electrical recovery underscores Harrington Electric Co.’s ability to handle critical power response projects under the most demanding conditions.