Acme Wire Products’ hometown, Mystic, CT, is usually host to Tall Ships and tourists, however, on Sept. 23 and 24, Mystic and Acme Wire Products will play host to a group of wire forming manufacturers from across the U.S.

While in Connecticut for its annual meeting, the Wire Fabricators Association will tour our Broadway Extension production facility, which handles CNC stamping, wire forming and fabrication, robotic welding equipment and conveyorized powdercoating and fluid bed finishing lines.

The association also will tour Apco Products and sister company, Goal Sports of Essex, CT, owned and operated by Morton Reich.

Goal manufactures and sells a line of goalposts and sporting equipment to school systems, local governments and teams throughout the United States. Apco Products is a wire fabricator specializing in wire forming and the fabrication of custom wire and mesh baskets.

Their recent acquisition of John P. Smith Wire Products of Branford, CT, also gives Apco additional capabilities in producing mesh components and mesh assemblies.  Their in-house powdercoating equipment is capable of finishing up to 500 pieces per hour.

In between the tours, Acme Wire Products will host a picnic and lobster bake for association members.

“Hosting the WFA gives Acme Wire Products the opportunity to showcase the full range of our wire forming capabilities, which is particularly exciting this year, as we mark the 40th anniversary of our company’s founding,” said Acme VP Operations Michael Planeta, also a former WFA president.

“We’re also pleased to give the membership the opportunity to experience Mystic’s unique character during its first-ever annual meeting in New England,” he said.

Besides the typical industry-specific activities and presentations, the WFA’s annual meeting will include a relaxing cruise down the Mystic River on the Sabino, a 102-year-old coal-fired steamboat, designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1992.

Acme Wire Products, which has been located in Mystic since 1979, produces custom engineered steel and stainless steel wire and metal components.  Founded by Edward Planeta, the wire forming company is run by the second-generation sibling team of Edward Planeta, Jr., Michael Planeta and Mary Planeta Fitzgerald.

More than 50 North American companies, representing over 5,000 employees, constitute the Wire Fabricators Association. Members manufacture items as diverse as shopping carts, sink accessories, industrial baskets, laboratory equipment, and sporting goods.  Other applications range from hooks and store fixtures to tomato cages, barbeque grills and machine guards.  WFA associate members supply raw materials and specialty equipment.

For more details on meeting events, contact Mary Fitzgerald at Acme Wire Products by phone at 860-572-0511 or via email at [email protected].