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Colchester, Vermont - April 2, 2010

"This is a Dodge Caravan," Dick Hall said.

Hall is not a car salesman, but his company has a hand in dozens of automobile models.

"As you open it up," he explained, "there's a track on the bottom here it has our wiring in that."

Wires that form car electronics systems are just some of the products made by Champlain Cable.

"We sell worldwide," Hall said.

The Colchester manufacturer is a standout in the wire and cable industry. Lots of firms make wire, but Champlain makes it differently: with an in-house lab producing insulating coatings that are radiated to ensure strength and performance.

"We provide a high-quality product so our customers can provide a high-quality product," Hall said.

Hall's customers are carmakers, solar panel manufacturers, military contractors and more. Champlain Cable doesn't get much name recognition with the public, but the supplier knows its products wire the world.

"What's fun is we're problem-solvers," Hall said.

Champlain started in 1955 wrapping wire with fabric in the former textile mills in Winooski. When plastics became industry standard, the company moved to Colchester, occupying nearly three and a half football fields worth of space, going through an average of 600,000 pounds of copper each month.

"It's a very good place to work," John Bruley said.

At 45 years on the job, Bruley is the company's longest-serving employee out of 130 workers. He's seen the plant go full-tilt.

"I'm talking seven days a week, 12 hours a day, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of feet out the door!" he said.

But when the automobile industry tanked in 2008 and 2009, business here slumped, too. Champlain Cable had layoffs, furloughs, and wage cuts.

"The good news is we survived that," Hall said.

The company hired back staff and now predicts $50 million in sales this year-- a 50 percent increase over last year. The growth is bolstered by hybrid vehicles, solar arrays, and cell phone towers. The end products may be made far from here, but Champlain Cable is proud of where its key technological components come from.

"It's all made in Vermont!" Hall said.

Jack Thurston - WCAX News - Made in Vermont