Q. What do you most want people to know about your company?
A. Larson Electronics’ Magnalight is a premier manufacturer and distributor of heavy duty, industrial grade, and commercial lighting equipment. Magnalight maintains a large inventory of lighting equipment spanning a variety of specialty applications including hazardous location lighting, marine and boat lighting, lighting for military and law enforcement services, and industrial/commercial grade lighting and related accessories. We can supply everything from explosion proof handheld flashlights to extremely powerful mobile light towers capable of illuminating several acres, and ship orders both domestically and internationally.
As well as lighting equipment, we also maintain a large inventory of portable power substations, step down transformers, power distribution stations, AC to DC transformers and power supplies, explosion proof extension cords, explosion proof switches and plugs, and just about any equipment related to industrial lighting and power supply.
Q. Where is your company located?
A. Our company is headquartered in Kemp Texas where we maintain our offices, manufacturing and inventory distribution operations. We also work with a large variety of distributors across the United States and Internationally. Larson Electronics LLC
9419 E US HWY 175 Kemp, TX 75143.
Q. What year was the company founded and by whom?
A. Larson Electronics was started by Ernie Larson in 1973 and bought the Magnalight original handheld, portable lighting line and name from R&L Enterprises. The Magnalight name was derived from the most popular configuration of our handheld light, which at that time featured a magnetic base and the MagnaPak battery pack. Larson Electronics started out supplying high power magnetic mount and permanent mount spotlights and floodlights to the military, utilities, telephone and electrical power industries under the Magnalight brand and has since expanded to serve the federal, public and commercial sectors as well.
Q. What is the company’s primary business sector?
A. Magnalights’ largest areas of service include the petrochemical, industrial manufacturing, military, utilities, and mining industries. We are heavily involved in supplying the petrochemical industries with explosion proof and intrinsically safe hazardous location lighting equipment, and have maintained military contracts for supply of spotlights and gear used in military Escalation of Force kits deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Q. Is your company expanding any of its operations or locations?
A. Our company has grown significantly over the last two decades, and we have recently expanded our manufacturing, inventory and supply capabilities with the addition of larger warehousing and assembly facilities. As a manufacturer, Magnalight maintains a large inventory and services the products it sells, so as our sales and inventory grows we have expanded accordingly. We have seen strong growth in the mining and marine lighting sectors and have expanded our efforts in those areas, and expect further expansion in the hazardous location lighting sector as the petroleum industry continues to put more emphasis on domestic production.
Q. Is the company changing any of its services?
A. We have begun spreading our range of services and products to include more facets of the public sector including hunting and sporting enthusiasts, boaters, and entertainment and events. Our focus in these areas is to make available to the public the same high grade industrial lighting equipment that has typically been available only to the commercial and industrial sectors and provide it at an affordable price. We are also seeing an increasing interest in LED lighting among the petrochemical and mining sectors, and so have begun expanding our line of LED lighting equipment to better service these areas.
Q. What is your company’s main strength or its edge over the competition?
A. Our company holds a very high commitment to prompt and effective service and as a result has built a reputation for extremely fast turnaround and high customer satisfaction. As a manufacturer, we also provide innovative lighting designs and the ability to custom manufacture and tailor our electrical power distribution and lighting equipment according to our customer’s requirements. Larson Electronics maintains a steady dedication to advancing lighting design and its effectiveness and is constantly adding to its extensive inventory with the latest in LED and HID lighting technology advancements.
While maintaining a reliable availability of traditional incandescent and fluorescent lighting designs, we have also worked to provide increased lighting versatility, durability, and improved efficiency in these cost and energy conscious times by incorporating advanced solid state lighting technology into our already effective and trusted fixtures.
Q. What new markets, clients or projects did your company attract in the last year?
A. We have seen a significant increase in sales to the mining and petrochemical industries over the past few years as well as increased interest from the commercial fishing and entertainment industries. Our LED lighting products are becoming very popular in the commercial fisheries due to their extreme durability, high power, and excellent efficiency. Our explosion proof fluorescent lighting equipment and signature magnetic mount spotlights have been used by several entertainment production companies and have appeared in several movies including “The Green Lantern”, “I am Legend”, “GI Joe”, and the upcoming “Dark Knight Rises” series of Batman movies.
Q. What is the biggest challenge the company has had to meet?
A. With new energy standards coming into enactment as a result of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the Energy Policy Act of 2005, the lighting sector has had to make significant changes in order to meet new energy efficiency regulations and requirements. We have not been immune to these new requirements; however, our already established determination to provide the latest and most effective lighting technology available has served us well as a proactive edge in helping ourselves as well as our customers meet these new requirements.
Q. What are the biggest obstacles to completing work the company undertakes?
A. Some of our biggest challenges involve providing custom designed equipment and the delivery of equipment overseas. We often receive requests for equipment that must meet compliance with very specific hazardous location regulations, and requests for lighting equipment that is specifically geared towards a very specialized application. Meeting these requirements takes a great deal of attention to detail and a willingness to work closely with the customer to ensure they receive equipment that will exceed their expectations. We also supply companies around the world, and as a result encounter some unusual and complex issues with foreign governments that require an extra degree of diligence and care on our end to ensure transactions are properly executed and shipped items reach their destination in a timely fashion.
Q. Has your company been involved in any community projects or charities events?
We are proud to say we have a long history of supporting our military service men and women as well as charitable events and organizations around the world. Larson Electronics’ Magnalight has extensively donated to the recent war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan with shipments of heavy duty, high power spotlights and related gear to many US combat units in serious need of lighting equipment. We have also participated in organized civilian efforts to outfit military units with spotlights and searchlights by matching their purchases of our products with our own donations. Some more recent activities have been the donating of lighting equipment to the Marines Helping Marines Foundation in support of their 4th annual fishing tournament, and the donation of our LED spotlights to the National Elephant Conservation Centre in Malaysia in support of their efforts to relocate and protect endangered elephants.
Q. Does your company have a website?
A. Larson Electronics Magnalight.com can be found by visiting www.magnalight.com. We also maintain a Facebook page at www.facebook.com/LarsonElectronicsMagnalight
