EAGLEVILLE, Pa. - A reliable hand light is as important to a firefighter
as the glove in which it is held. For that reason Streamlight,
Inc. has worked for more than 30 years to perfect its products
and keep the lights on for emergency personnel.
Since 1973, Streamlight has been making some of the finest flashlights available for firefighters, police officers and
rescue workers from its base in suburban Philadelphia. Streamlight
has earned the trust of emergency workers from FDNY to mountain
rescue teams in New Zealand and 65 countries around the world.
"We make products for the professionals," says Allen Lance,
the Fire/EMS market manager for Streamlight. "When a
cop's or a firefighter's light goes out, it's a lot different
than a light going out on you or me. There's a big difference. People's lives are depending
on our flashlights working all the time."
It's
a tall order to give 100 percent reliability, but that is
the company's goal and Streamlight has earned a reputation so that firefighters don't think twice about their lights - they just grab and go with the confidence that the light
will perform whenever and wherever needed.
"When you buy one of our products, you're not buying
just a light, you're buying the company that stands behind
the product," says Ray Sharrah, the chief operating officer.
He has been with Streamlight for 28 years and personally developed
many of its lighting products. "In a very real way,
you are purchasing a relationship."
Streamlight tests components and products repeatedly to ensure
proper performance and reliability and the company is one of
the few with hand lights that are Underwriters' Laboratories listed.
"We spend every day paying attention to the most intricate
details of building our products," Sharrah says. "You
don't get that with a lot of the other companies." And
then Streamlight helps customers pick the product they
need, know how to use it and how to make it perform to its peak potential.
Attention to the details is what has helped Streamlight gain
market share and grow, almost exponentially, for the last several years.
Four years ago, Streamlight moved into a new 90,000-square-foot
manufacturing plant in an industrial park in Eagleville and
top management is already thinking about knocking out walls and expanding.
Streamlight
introduced the LiteBox in 1980 and it continues to be a popular
light for the fire service. This spring, the classic product
got a new look with the addition of LED taillights that help
firefighters identify and follow each other. Design Engineer
Mike Serban demonstrates the product he helped design with computer-aided drafting tools.
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