KH Industries Continues to Be a Leader in Power Products

With a history of innovation and adaptation, KH Industries has grown to become one of the top manufacturers of power products in the United States since its founding over 60 years ago. Over time, KH Industries has expanded its roster of power products to include retractable cord reels, cord reel stations, hazardous location lighting, power pendant outlet boxes, and associated power essentials.

High-impact industries, including aviation and aerospace, mining, energy and petroleum, military and defense, and commercial and retail logistics, find KH Industries’ products relevant and useful. KH Industries’ skilled team of experts designs custom solutions for any customer on any scale. This kind of flexibility and proficiency is fundamental to the company’s dominance in the power products industry.

As KH Industries expands its product line and manufacturing capabilities, it has grown its team of experts. A valued provider of jobs in its region, the company has an ongoing and positive impact on the Western New York community. As a United States manufacturer, KH Industries brings quality craftsmanship and customized, adaptable power product solutions to every client, regardless of size. KH Industries continues to set the bar for quality power products from its expanding central headquarters in Hamburg, New York.

KH Industries Origins and Early Innovations

The origins of KH Industries trace across the Atlantic to Germany, where inventor and manufacturer Karl Baake, Sr., worked as a tool-and-die maker. Baake was first inspired by a desire to protect lights from breaking or malfunctioning when flying sparks spread across his work area. For years, he worked to perfect a design for a shatterproof work light that could be used in various hazardous work locations without breaking.

After emigrating to the United States, Baake finally completed his first successful design. In 1960, he founded KH Industries in Angola, NY. Baake would go on to lead KH Industries’ innovation for more than 50 years before passing in his early 90s in 2014.

Demand remains for many of Baake’s original designs, many of which are still used by today’s industry leaders. KH Industries continues to update and improve Baake’s original designs, and, over time, has expanded to include an array of power products. Inspired by Baake’s original vision of creating safe workplaces for all industries regardless of the challenges imposed by any jobsite, KH Industries has made great strides in cord reel technology, providing safe, reliable power in any environment. 

Pioneering Technologies and Power Product Solutions

After many decades of operations in Angola, New York, KH Industries shifted its primary headquarters to Hamburg, New York, to accommodate accelerated company growth. The new location allowed KH Industries to manufacture power products on a greater scale using state-of-the-art technology and procedures. 

KH Industries has since scaled beyond its core offerings of hazardous location lighting and cord reels. In 2015, it launched its first cord reel power station at Stonybrook University, kicking off a new line of products and a fresh set of capabilities. Continued success led to the purchase of Staub Precision Machines as a partner company, though both companies maintain independent business models. 

In 2019, KH Industries launched a new website to improve customer experience and provide enhanced product data and specifications directly to customers at both the B2C and B2B level. In the same year, KH Industries launched a new line of HazRay C1D1 hazardous location lights, bringing a new wave of innovation to Karl Baake’s original workplace lighting solution.

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, KH Industries accommodated the shifting needs of emergency workers across the country. It produced portable lighting and power solutions for emergency medical shelters en masse, doing its part to combat the problems the US faced.

In 2020, success led KH Industries to acquire assets from Ohio-based Alert Stamping & Manufacturing. This created Alert Reel Manufacturing, which produces light-duty power products and cord reel solutions. With assets from Alert Reel Manufacturing. KH Industries gained the ability to service an even wider variety of customer needs.   

In 2022, Staub Precision Machines received the distinctive AS9100 certification, one of the most widely-recognized certifications in the aerospace industry, further expanding the scope and scale of the industries that KH Industries was capable of servicing. 

In 2023, KH Industries took the next step in its expansion. At its primary headquarters in Hamburg, New York, the company completed an 18,000-square-foot addition to its main warehouse facility, allowing KH Industries to increase staffing and its capabilities in power product manufacturing.

KH Industries’ Future Outlook and Continued Innovation

KH Industries has stood at the cutting edge of power products and hazardous location lighting solutions. Since its inception. In 2024, it launched the retractable EV cord reel, an important step into the electric vehicle market. The company also began construction on a 56,000-square-foot facility located on its existing Hamburg, New York, campus. The new building has an expected completion date of 2025 and will allow KH Industries to manufacture power products on an even larger scale. 

KH Industries remarkable journey has resulted in a long-standing tradition of quality and innovation spanning more than 60 years. From its humble beginnings with Karl Baake, Sr., in Germany to its state-of-the-art facility in Hamburg, New York, KH Industries consistently expands, rising to its role as an industry leader in power products and hazardous location lighting. With an ongoing focus on customer satisfaction and high-quality American manufacturing business practices, KH Industries continues to impact the power product industry today while shaping its future.