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Guelph family business has made global connections (8 photos)

After a century of transformation the CEO of Hammond Power Solutions prepares to once again pass the torch to a new generation

The employees of Hammond Power Solutions got together earlier this summer to celebrate the company’s 100th anniversary – a rare event for a Canadian company.

“It is especially rare because we are a family-controlled Canadian company,” said CEO Bill Hammond. “There aren’t a lot of Canadian companies period, but I think certainly there are few in the Canadian electrical industry that can say they dominate the North American market.”

Much has changed since 1917 when Hammond’s grandfather, Oliver Hammond, started OS Hammond and Son out of a shed behind the family home on College Avenue.

The company has survived two world wars, 12 economic contractions including the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2008 as well as the passage of NAFTA, a trade deal that, Hammond said, “devastated the Canadian-based electrical and electronics industry.”

Several of their competitors went out of business or were bought up by large multinationals but Hammond has continued to grow and lead.

“Many things have contributed to our survival and success,” said Hammond.

“The most important reason has been the team work, engagement and passion of our more than 1,300 employees located in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Italy and India.”

OS Hammond and Son started off making tools for the foundry industry and moved on to tube radio sets, battery chargers and other electrical products.

When Oliver Hammond died in 1925 his four oldest sons Len, Roy, Fred and Ken took over the business and renamed the company Hammond Manufacturing.

Demand for their products was on the rise especially during the Second World War when they built transformers and reactors for military communications and radar systems. The company grew from 50 to 300 employees by the end of the war and established itself as an industry leader.

Bill Hammond and his older brother Rob Hammond are the third generation of Hammonds to take the reins of the family business.

Bill was born in 1952, the middle child of Fred and Isabel Hammond. It was always an option but joining the family business wasn’t a foregone conclusion.

“University offered me options to study anything from economics and business to geology and geography and I enjoyed them all,” he said. “I was actually in the middle of a four year program in landscape architecture when my father’s family had an opportunity to buy out an uncle and his son.”

The deal went through and Bill and Rob took over the business in 1978. Three years later, Bill and his wife Karen were married. They have two sons; John, 27 and Michael, 22.

Bill and Rob directed the company through a period of rapid industrial and technological transformation and to raise capital they took the company public in 1987.

“There were a dozen acquisitions in the last 40 years and lastly the spinoff of the company that led to the creation of Hammond Power Solutions in 2001,” said Hammond. “It was an opportunity to create greater focus on the two major businesses that Hammond Manufacturing was in – transformers and enclosures.”

Rob Hammond assumed control of Hammond Manufacturing and Bill Hammond took control of Hammond Power Solutions HPS.

The 100th anniversary party held at the HPS plant at 595 Southgate Dr. allowed Bill Hammond to reflect on the company’s past and celebrate the collective contribution from everyone in the extended Hammond family over the past ten decades.

“It was nice to see three generations of people here,” said Hammond. “There are few companies around that have that continuous knowledge and experience. We have many employees who have served their whole employment life here and I am one of them. I think we have tried to be very loyal to our employees and in return they are loyal to us.”

The celebration was also an opportunity for Hammond to look to the future and symbolically pass the torch to the next generation of Hammonds, his sons John and Michael.

“Dad we are so proud of you for all of your accomplishments,” said John Hammond. “We hope that one day we can make you just as proud of us. We love you.”


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Troy Bridgeman

About the Author: Troy Bridgeman

Troy Bridgeman is a multi-media journalist that has lived and worked in the Guelph community his whole life. He has covered news and events in the city for more than two decades.
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