Peterson Manufacturing is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year with special events and customer promotions scheduled for summer and fall. Peterson has grown from a small, automotive aftermarket supplier of such items as safety lighting and tire pumps to a quarter-billion-dollar corporation serving transportation-related industries around the world.
“We’re not exactly high profile,” says president and CEO Don Armacost, Jr., son of the Kansas City businessman who acquired the company from Wilbur Peterson. “My father often said he didn’t want to be the biggest in the business, just the best.”
The company has a line of more than 2,200 safety lighting and accessory items for the automotive and heavy-duty truck markets. The company has developed rustproof, stainless steel housings; Lexan lenses; solutions to seal bulbs against moisture and chemicals; and LED optic and circuitry technology.
Peterson Manufacturing is the flagship of the Peterson Corporate Group, which consists of 11 companies and more than 3,000 associates.
