After offering electrical contractors an innovative advancement in the way branch circuit wiring is installed, Southwire’s SIMpull® WireBARREL™ wire drum has been named the  Wire & Cable Equipment category winner in the annual Product of the Year competition hosted by Electrical Construction & Maintenance magazine.

This marks the fourth time in seven years that one of Southwire’s SIMpull Solutions products and services has received such an honor.  A panel of 12 judges – including electrical professionals representing the design/engineering, contracting and facilities/maintenance industries – reviewed and voted on 160 entries in 46 categories.

The SIMpull WireBARREL wire drum provides a solution that can increase productivity, while offering yet another way for contractors to manage installation costs. It essentially replaces the wire cart and multiple reels used during home run pulls, thus removing the difficulties associated with maneuvering the cart and repeatedly handling heavy reels.

The SIMpull WireBARREL wire drum improves home run circuit installations from the moment wire arrives at the jobsite until final installation. The package includes NoLube® SIMpullTHHN® wire made available for the first time in circuit-sized conductors paralleled in the barrel package and is transported easily around the jobsite by the SIMpullTM WireBARRELTM Hand Truck. You simply roll the SIMpull WireBARREL wire drum into place – even through narrow electrical room doors – and you’re ready to start your pull.

“The SIMpull WireBARREL wire drum is a jobsite game changer – it’s got more wire with a smaller footprint, in an easy-to-transport, easy-to-use  drum,” said Phil Tuggle, SVP of Marketing and Business Development for Southwire’s Electrical Division. “For almost a decade, our SIM Technology® innovation has proven to reduce installation steps and make the pulling of feeder-sized conductors easier and more efficient. Now we’ve extended this benefit to circuit- sized wires and combined it with a unique packaging and transport option. That means fewer steps, less complexity for branch circuit installations, fewer heavy reels to lift and significantly less effort required to pull the wire through the conduit instead of pulling from reels on a wire cart.”

The SIMpull WireBARREL wire drum is just one example of Southwire’s revolutionary combination of wiring, materials, equipment and services that have earned Southwire’s SIMpull Solutions products and services many awards for being a smarter, faster and safer way to handle the wire and cable installation process. Southwire has won NECA Showstopper Awards, tED’s Overall Supplier Award and several honors from EC&M, including:

• The wire and cable category winner and second runner up overall for product of the year in 2011, which went to the SIMpull  STACKTMreel. It combined multiple parts on one single reel, with up to six conductors for up to five pulls, depending on the size of the cable and the length of the pull.

• The top product in the tools (accessories items) category in 2010 for the SIMpull HEAD® pre-installed pulling devices. The pulling heads, which are installed in the factory by Southwire and guaranteed not to pull off during installation, feature a staggered design to assure that conductors can easily be pulled through the conduit. Making up pulling heads manually in the field takes an estimated 55 minutes for each head, according to contractor interviews and time studies, and wastes three feet or more of cable for every circuit.

• A wire and cable category winner in 2008 for the SIMpull THHN cable – the industry’s first commercial cable product that could be pulled into conduit without external pulling lubricant. With its patented SIM Technology, SIMpull THHN cable helps contractors speed up installation time, create a safer work environment, and move on to the next job more quickly.

“SIMpull Solutions products and services offer a start-to-finish installation process that can be customized for jobs from the small to the super-sized,” said Stuart Thorn, Southwire’s President and CEO. “It’s safer, faster, smarter and streamlined.”

To learn more about the SIMpull WireBARREL system, please visit www.SimpullSolutions.com.