Every flashlight made by Mag Instrument, Inc., represents an abiding commitment to perfection and underscores the indomitable spirit and prowess of American manufacturing.

A champion of free enterprise and "Made in the U.S.A." manufacturing, Anthony Maglica founded Mag Instrument in Los Angeles in 1955 and designed the Mag-Lite® flashlight, now an American product icon.

Through sheer determination, hard work, and know-how, Anthony Maglica achieved the American Dream when he founded Mag Instrument in 1955. When he went on to design and manufacture a product that revolutionized an industry, he achieved that dream all over again. In his ongoing pursuit of innovative technology, quality products, design and the customer service to back them up, Maglica believes he has found the key to creating worldwide demand not only for his company's products, but for all goods made in America.

Born in New York City during the Great Depression, Maglica was raised in his mother's native Croatia. He was a small child when his mother decided to return to Croatia so that he could be raised close to her family. In 1950, he returned to the United States. With complete faith in the American free enterprise system, Maglica set out to make the most of his training as an experimental machinist, in spite of the fact that he spoke no English. Five years later he had managed to save 5 in order to buy a lathe and start his own machine tool business in a Los Angeles area garage.

Maglica manufactured precision parts for industry, aerospace, and the military, and quickly earned a reputation for quality, efficiency and ingenuity. Mag Instrument was eventually incorporated in 1974. By that time, Maglica had clearly demonstrated his innovative techniques for cutting production costs and increasing quality. Continuous improvement is a talent that continues to keep his company ahead of the competition. Maglica established a hands-on leadership style, as well as a core business philosophy of combining superior quality of all Mag products with unsurpassed customer service.

Often referred to as the "work of art that works", the Mag-Lite and Mini Maglite have been honored by the Japan Institute of Design and the Museum for Applied Art in Germany. Fortune and Money magazines ranked Mag-Lite products among the top 100 products that "America makes best". In 1996, the Wall Street Journal referred to Mag-Lite as "the Cadillac of flashlights", and quoted then-CEO of Apple Computer Gilbert F. Amelio as saying he wanted Apple to be "essentially the Mag-Lite of computers".

Headquartered in Ontario, California since 1982, Mag Instrument has 850 employees and occupies 450,000 square feet of space, including factory, offices and a distribution center. A new fully integrated manufacturing facility, now under construction in Ontario, is expected to create 2,400 additional jobs. This expansion will help Mag Instrument meet the increasing worldwide demand for its products.