1984
With the help of John Tyson of Sunray Lighting, brothers Mike and Tom Reagan left their humble beginning as pig farmers and formed ATR Lighting with the goal of providing specialty light bulbs to the aviation industry.  Operating out of their parent’s attic with only one phone line, the brothers were able to gain a foot hold by purchasing “Buy-Out” inventory and reselling it at or below the market value.

1985
As sales began to grow, ATR developed their first catalog and shifted its focus to the Electrical Wholesale market.  They moved the operation to their first office of 1,500 sq. ft. and hired their first part-time employee.  A second phone line was added to keep up with the call volume.

1986
Philips Lighting was the first major lighting manufacturer to make ATR a distributor of their products.  In addition, ATR was also able to secure special pricing on airport lamps from Philips.  Determined to increase sales, Mike and Tom focused their efforts on developing miniature and photo lamp pricing.

1987
Sylvania became the second manufacturer to make ATR a distributor and give them price support on airport lighting.

1988
Increases in inventory and call volume forced ATR to move into a 4,000 sq. ft. building and add four 800 lines.  The first full-time employee was added in order to keep up with growth.  Furthermore, the business was incorporated to ATR Lighting Enterprises Inc.

1989-1992
Rapid growth of sales meant adding twelve full time employees and increasing the 800 phone lines to ten.  ATR also expanded operations by purchasing a 32,000 sq. ft. building.

1993-1994
ATR became a distributor for General Electric and expanded its focus on stocking specialty “large lamp” bulbs.  Marketing the company’s products and services became a major focus for ATR so a Marketing department was added and given the task to develop catalogs and flyers.

1995-1996
By this time, ATR had established itself in the lighting industry as a source for specialty and hard to find light bulbs.  With the growth of the “world wide web”, ATR saw the possibility for growth so it launching atrlighting.com.

1997-1999
25,000 copies of the new Distributor catalog was dispatched around the world.  Demand for specialty painted lamps rapidly increase so an EPA approved, state of the art, climate controlled painting facility was added to keep up with demand.

2002
On October 1^st, a fire caused by a faulty air conditioning unit destroyed ATR’s office and warehouse.  With the incredible efforts of employees and leaders in the community, ATR would be back in business the next day to take phone calls.

2004
In July, construction was completed on a new 56,000 sq. ft. building that contain the main offices and warehouse.  With hard work and a few late nights, all inventory and office equipment was relocated in a single weekend.

2005
Tom and Mike travel to Japan and China to finalize the production of Industrial Performance branded lamps.  In December, ATR Lighting West opened its doors to better serve west coast customers.  It is located in Fountain Valley, CA near Los Angeles and employs many former Sunray Lighting employees.