Beneke Wire Company was founded in Louisville in January 1968 by aluminum industry pioneer Charles J. Beneke and his son J. David Beneke. Immediately prior to the founding of this Company both Charles and David worked for Reynolds Metals.
J. David Beneke and his father, the late Charles J. Beneke founded Beneke Wire Company in Louisville, Kentucky in January 1968. Immediately prior to the founding of this Company both Charles and David worked for Reynolds Metals.
Beginning with a plant layout made on top of a pool table and an assortment of refurbished wire drawing machines, Charles began producing small orders of extremely high quality aluminum wire. Great attention was paid to the alloy, the finish and the rigid tolerances. More importantly, Charles worked to produce wire that would improve his customer’s production process. By creating the right treatment or finish. Beneke Wire customers could possibly eliminate certain steps in their manufacturing, thus making a better end product at reduced cost.
Charles Beneke
David Beneke
Steve Beneke
Assistant Vice President of Operations
Shannon King
Plant Manager
Kevin Shartzer
Sales Manager
Charles (CJ.) Beneke graduated from Clarkson with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and later was registered as a Professional Engineer by the State of New York. While attending Clarkson, CJ. was a member of the Hockey Team. Upon graduating Charles worked as an engineer for Alcoa and Reynolds Metals Company in a variety of engineering and management positions throughout his career. But was always an engineer at heart. After supervising the building of several wire and rod mills for Reynolds, the most recent in Louisville, KY, Charles retired from Reynolds in the Louisville area.
David Beneke graduated from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Business and joined the sales ranks at Reynolds Metal Company, ending up in the Chicagoland area. David and his father often discussed the need for an independent wire mill to service the cold heading shops and the small screw machine shops that seemed to be popping up everywhere. In 1968, the two founders began Beneke Wire Company with the conceptual drawings and plans being formulated on the family pool table.
Key employees of the company during the early years were George Sublett, a metallurgical engineer from Lehigh University. And Bernard Kosse, a Accountant from University of Notre Dame. These two individuals worked side by side with Charles and David and formulated the philosophy and personality of what is now the leader in aluminum wire production worldwide.
