History

Initially established in 1968 as the North American supplier of Oshino subminiature lamps, Wamco has grown over the past several decades into a trusted and leading provider of lighting solutions to the aerospace, automotive and medical markets worldwide.

Wamco's ingenuity and vision steadily brought the company much deserved growth and success, and by 1980, became the leader in the development of high-contrast night vision compatible filters. Wamco continued to excel in this realm, constantly engineering new products in offering a wide assortment of high-quality standard and custom filters designed specifically to maximize the performance of light sources, while minimizing interference with night-vision goggles.

Today, Wamco serves its customers through two distinct business units: Wamco Optical Products and Wamco Lighting. Wamco Optical Products offers cutting-edge technologies and solutions in NVIS materials and optical components, while Wamco Lighting continues to supply Oshino Lamps (OL), Direct Filament Displays (KW), and Wamco Lamps (WL) worldwide. At present, we are extremely proud to have our filters on every friendly military aircraft around the globe, and our lights illuminating every Boeing aircraft and GM vehicle.

Our vast talent-pool of experienced and innovative engineers makes Wamco a highly valuable resource in solving difficult lighting challenges. Our engineers have the knowledge and knowhow to solve even the most demanding problems in lighting, optics, NVIS filtering, optoelectronics, material construction, polymeric and glass chemistry formulation, dye synthesis and manufacturing processes. This expertise, combined with our state-of-the-art facilities provide rapid prototyping, optical testing and environmental testing, making Wamco's "full cycle" support of products - from design to production - unmatched in the industry.

	1968 1972 1980 1981 1984 1985 1992 1993 2001 2005 2008 2009 2010 Wamco is established and begins selling Oshino Sub-Miniature lamps under an exclusive partnership Wamco introduces a new product line of Sun Light Readable direct view filament incandescent displays (KW) Wamco becomes the largest supplier of cockpit lighting for both military and commercial aircraft in the United States Wamco moves to its new location in Fountain Valley, California Wamco introduces the first Night Vision compatible filter for incandescent lighting Wamco introduces Oshino Lamps to the automotive market Wamco becomes the largest supplier of Sub Miniature lamps for backlighting of General Motors radios and air controls Wamco acquires Refac line of incandescent displays from ThreeFive Corp Wamco forms exclusive deal with DENTSPLY to supply a Wamco-patented LED curing light for the dental market Wamco expands its polymeric filter capabilities for both night vision and other specialty applications Wamco introduces their "WL" lighted product line to the commercial airline market Wamco completes expansion of its US manufacturing capabilities, adding 10,000 square feet Wamco acquires Micro Lamps Wamco acquires Aerospace Lighting Institute (ALI) Wamco increases their "WL" product offering by adding over 300 new part numbers Wamco introduces LEDGEN product line Wamco introduces new night vision compatible surface mount LED assembly Wamco introduces new LED Energy Star approved product line