Originally posted on September 15th, 1993 by James T. Mulder for syracuse.com

At a time when many Syracuse area manufacturers are laying off workers, Northeastern Electronics Co. Inc. in Elbridge is doing just the opposite.

The cable and wire manufacturer has hired 32 production workers since July, bringing the total work force to 75. The company expects to add another 25 jobs by the end of this year.

The growth is fueled in part by a $6 million contract Northeastern recently received from IBM. The contract is for coils used in personal computer monitors.

IBM had been buying the coils from Japanese suppliers, according to Steven M. Peltz, president and owner of Northeastern.

“We went head to head with Japan and we won,” Peltz said.

Northeastern added a second shift in August and plans to add a third shift later this month.

Peltz said the company has been named a quality supplier by several of its major customers, including IBM, AT&T and Asea Brown Boveri.

He said those awards have enhanced Northeastern’s reputation for quality and are attracting a lot of new business.

Northeastern can deliver products to its customers two to four weeks after they’re ordered, less than half the time many of its overseas competitors require, according to Peltz.

“In today’s economy, manufacturers need reduced lead time,” he said.

Peltz, a native of Liverpool, founded Northeastern 11 years ago. In 1989 he moved the company to Elbridge into a 22,000-square-foot plant on 26 acres formerly occupied by Skan-a-Matic, a manufacturer that moved to Florida in 1988.

Peltz opened a second plant in 1991 in North Carolina that makes AC power cords. He set up a separate sister company – Cordset Designs Inc. – to run that operation.

Peltz started a third company last year called ConnSys Corp. which specializes in making computer cables. ConnSys operates out of the Elbridge plant.

All three companies employ 170 people. Peltz said he expects that number to grow to 230 by early 1994.

All three companies are expected to generate sales of $8 million this year and $10 million by the end of 1994, according to Peltz.