Next Generation for the Wire Rope Exchange

What started out in 1985 as a simple idea that would promote and serve the wire rope industry has, in recent years, evolved to become a leading resource for news, information, corporate profiles and mass merchandising across a multitude of related industries.  In May of this year, The Wire Rope Exchange (WRE) will reach yet another milestone under the guiding hand and vision of its new owner, Melissa Hood.

In its infancy, the WRE established a new outlet for multiple distributors to promote and sell their products to a specifically targeted market. From its roots as a printed publication distributed bimonthly, eight years later in 1993, the WRE became the first online marketplace for wire companies opening a new buy/sell Internet venue for the rigging industry. The online store, wireropeexchange.com, quickly became an opportune resource where distributors could 24/7 list, connect and move excess inventory.

WRE founder, Pat Poe, has a vast experience in the lifting industry dating back to 1979 when he started Cumberland Sales Company (CSC) in Nashville, TN. From its early start in the wire rope industry, CSC has grown to become more than an industrial wire and hardware company to today manufacturing a top rated equipment line featuring the popular winding machines including the tough load-built take-up machines from the TU5000 to the TU 60,000.  For Poe, his creation of the WRE was a natural spin-off for CSC.

In 2006, Poe’s daughter, Melissa Hood assumed the reins as editor of the WRE. The original focus of the newsletter was to provide and promote a marketplace for overstocked products.  With a degree in communications from Wake Forest University, Hood quickly expanded the popular international sales magazine’s circulation and distribution beyond the wire rope and fabrication field into the related rigging, lifting, load securing and fitting industries worldwide.  The Magazine has grown to become the number-one-desk-top resource for not only products but also the latest industry news, business profiles, innovation and safety announcements, company postings and trade show updates.

In May, Hood will complete the purchase of the Wire Rope Exchange from Poe. Her future plans for WRE include a new Wire Rope Exchange website offering additional resources along with the ability to market products and services and interface companies in the wire, crane and rigging industry. The magazine will also undergo a facelift with a new logo and a more modern appearance.

According to Hood, “I am proud of this opportunity to follow in my father’s footsteps and carry on his legacy of ‘promoting the industry to sell within the industry’”.

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