About Peterson

WELCOME TO PETERSON

Started in 1945, Peterson Manufacturing is a family-owned business that has become an industry-leading innovator in the design, building and delivering of vehicle safety lighting and harness systems for trucks and trailers. They have built their reputation by providing solutions to their customers’ most difficult challenges. Company take pride in using the latest technologies and automated assembly equipment to provide quality products with maximum value. They also work hard to provide world-class customer service to support their customers around the globe – you are not just a number at Peterson.

Millions of vehicles around the world transport people and cargo every day – their goal is to make the roads safer for everyone. They believe that a total commitment to quality products and services is the surest way to provide their customers maximum value while making the roads safer for everyone.

Quality is at the heart of everything they do. That’s why they never stop improving their materials, technology, processes, training, and customer service.

Vertical integration, speed to market and learning

Their vertically integrated approach means every facet of their operation is all within walking distance of one another to provide control over the entire process from design, to production, to delivery, to providing exceptional quality, speed, and award-winning customer service. Their onsite tooling and plastics divisions work with customers in multiple, high-precision industries, which brings additional knowledge and innovation to Peterson and their customers in vehicle safety markets.

Significant Customer Awards

“Quality Assured Supplier” from Caterpillar, Inc
“Targets for Excellence” from General Motors
“Preferred Supplier” from John Deere
Their exceptional team of employees

Peterson has extremely low turn-over and long tenure, giving them the ability to innovate and build quality products for their customers. Over 650 associates continue their tradition of “Made in USA” quality, innovation, and customer service. Let them put their quality and innovation to work for you.

Annual turnover rate is around 1.5%
Average length of employment is over 13 years
Many associates have been with Peterson over 25 years
Multiple second and third-generation family members employed.

HISTORY

Peterson has kept “Solutions on the move” in the vehicle safety lighting industry since they opened their doors in 1945. Over the years, they have grown from a tiny manufacturer to a multi-industry corporation. Company have introduced some of the best-selling lighting and harness innovations ever designed and built customer relationships that span oceans and decades. When the Armacost family acquired Peterson in 1956, then-president and CEO Don Armacost, Sr. set the company’s course on honest, fair dealings with customers, suppliers, and employees. “Our goal is not to be the biggest,” he said. “Just the best.” His successor, Don Jr., holds to these same values in guiding Peterson today.

Peterson’s history boasts an ever-growing list of innovative safety lighting solutions. They have the focus, engineering skills and manufacturing capabilities that keep new products moving to the marketplace and bring real solutions to their customers. Since their last catalog release in 2013, they heave launched over 300 new products—many unique to the industry. They have geared to meet specific customer challenges with speed, automated precision and top quality at very attractive prices.

PM strives to keep top quality, USA-made products the company-wide standard. They engineer products to exceed federal minimums by 25%, and deliver those products with an industry-leading 98% fill-rate. They were the first North American lighting manufacturer to receive ISO 9001/QS-9000 certification. In addition to U.S. markets, Peterson’s growing global footprint serves customers across Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, South America, China, and the Middle East.

A proud history of innovation delivering many industry firsts:

1st US lighting manufacturer to earn ISO 9001/QS-9000 certification
1st multi-function Strobe & Turn LEDs for the refuse industry
1st single diode 4” LED round lights for intermodal chassis industry
1st to utilize insert-molding technology in trailer lighting and harness systems
1st guaranteed moisture corrosion-proof harness and lighting technology for trailers
1st open source whole-trailer telematics with real-time monitoring for drivers and fleet managers

Today Peterson headquarters on a 44-acre corporate campus in Grandview, Missouri, housing its vertically integrated operations in a 670,000 square-foot facility staffed and equipped for state-of-the-art core manufacturing and marketing. That includes engineering and design, photometric and environmental testing, tool and die production, harness and wire manufacturing, plastic injection molding, final assembly, warehousing, sales and customer service.

TIMELINE

1945: Wilbur Peterson sets up shop at 14th & Chestnut in Kansas City. Early products include “Big Pete” tire pumps for Western Auto’s famous Western Flyer bikes. In response to growing demand for aftermarket vehicle lighting, Peterson manufactures their first taillights.
1956: Don Armacost Sr. buys Peterson Manufacturing; annual sales are $750,000.
1960: The growing company moves to a 35,000-sq.-foot. facility.
1961: Peterson innovation makes industry news with the VIBAR® socket –– first to protect fragile lights from vehicle vibration.
1968: Company welcome Anderson Marine and Mission Plastics to the corporate family.
1970: Rapid growth dictates another relocation to their current site in Grandview, Missouri.
1974: The first of several major plant expansions boosts their warehousing capacity for finished goods.
1991: Further expansion increases their production capacity and makes room for Mission Plastics North. Company acquire Transworld Products to meet the growing global demand.
1995: Peterson leads the industry in earning ISO 9001/QS-9000 registration. Company introduce their first Piranha®-style LED light and launch a 39-LED round S/T/T with innovative lens optics.
1996: The efficiencies of their vertically integrated corporate campus are enhanced significantly with the addition of Vector Tool & Engineering. World-class design technology and mold-building expertise are now part of the family. This same year, Peterson partners with Alloyd in launching an automated blister packaging system.
2003: A 60,000-sq.-ft. warehouse addition ensures their ability to maintain an industry-leading 98% fill rate on orders. Company launch their multi-function Strobe & Turn LED for the refuse industry –– another lighting first.
2005: Their custom wiring harness subsidiary, Maxi-Seal, moves into a state-of-the-art 65,000-sq.-ft. addition.
2006: High demand for their lights and growth in Peterson subsidiaries prompt expansions that bring their 44-acre Grandview campus to over 670,000-sq. feet under roof.
2007: Peterson receives Caterpillar’s Silver Award, becoming the first lighting supplier ever to earn such an award.
2009: Global expansion marks their year as Peterson Europe adds over two dozen countries to their list of international trade partners. They join Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and South Africa in handling their ECE product line.
2010: Peterson’s subsidiary, Maxi-Seal, launches the Defender® System in the truck-trailer industry –– specifically designed for fleet dry van, reefer, flatbeds, tankers, and grain trailers.
2011: Peterson continues automation and equipment expansion with the purchase of SMT technology, allowing them to populate their own LED boards. Mission Plastics introduces an industry first with insert molding technology.
2012: Company introduce their LumenX® LED line, including S/T/T lights, turn signals, and backup lights. LumenX® are
brighter than standard LEDs, and brighter is safer!
2013: Grandview’s “Quiet Giant” is now a quarter-billion-dollar corporation of 11 companies and more than 3,000 people working in global transportation-related industries.
2014: Peterson launches their first LED headlight, a 7” round, Par56 unit which earns a HDT Top 20 products award.
2015: The Defender® System surpasses 4 billion miles of over-the-road performance –– virtually maintenance-free.
2017: Peterson continues manufacturing excellence with the upgraded ISO9001:2015 certification.
2018: Company launch their intelligent trailer system, Peterson PULSE ® at the 2018 TMC Show in Atlanta; it’s named to HDT’s Top 20 new products list.

CUSTOM SOLUTIONS

If you are having trouble finding off-the-shelf lighting and harness solutions that meet your needs, let the experts at Peterson help you create the perfect solution. They work with many OEMs in a variety of markets to help develop and build solutions to their most difficult challenges.

Peterson has a proud history of working with their customers to develop innovative lighting and harness solutions to meet their needs. They welcome the challenge to develop products that help their customers solve their biggest problems and work reliably in their most demanding environments. In order to build custom solutions, they need to have a strong engineering team that has experience working with OEMs – big and small. Here are some highlights of the engineering capabilities they bring to your table:

DESIGN

Intelligent engineering geared towards innovative and high-value LED lighting solutions
Collaborative systems-level integration with vehicle manufacturers
Concept generation and feasibility assessment
Solid and surface modeling using 3D parametric design software
Design for manufacturability and assembly
Cooperative development of stylistic features
GD&T and tolerance stack-up analysis
Research and development
Participation in industry-related technology expositions

ANALYSIS

Thermal performance simulation on components and systems using FEA software
Structural integrity simulation on components and systems using FEA software
Analysis of customer specific application loading requirements
Analysis of manufacturing processes and assembly loads

OPTICS

Optical design and ray-trace analysis using state-of-the-art lighting software
Refractive, reflective, TIR, scattering, free form, poly curve, collimating, and light guide optics
Rendering and appearance simulations

ELECTRONICS

PCB, circuit, hardware, and firmware development using groundbreaking software
Specialized solutions focused on reliability, cost, and manufacturability
Electronic circuit functional simulations
Partnered with multiple leading electronic solutions suppliers

REGULATORY

Design for global regulatory compliance
Self-certified for FMVSS108 and CMVSS108
Affiliated with multiple governing bodies including ECE, CCC, ADR, and AIS
Committee participant for SAE and ECE standards development

PLASTICS

Dedicated plastic engineering resources
Moldflow simulation and optimization
Warpage compensation, insert molding, and in-mold-label design methods

PROTOTYPING

PCB same-day prototyping and quick turn production quality prototyping
Appearance and functional mockups
3D printed preliminary sampling
Multi-axis CNC machining

VERIFICATION

Photometry and metrology laboratories
Environmental and mechanical laboratories
Infrared thermal imaging and thermocouple sensing
Partnered with external electrical validation laboratories