Award-winning company here to serve you

Western Reserve Controls, Inc. (WRC) is a supplier of "blue collar electronics" i.e. Open Architecture I/O, data acquisition subsystems, I/O components and products to the industrial controls industry. WRC markets across the US and in 20 countries worldwide. WRC products expand the economical choice of I/O solutions available for computer based systems, programmable controllers, distributed control systems, or stand alone control systems.

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Company History

Western Reserve Controls was founded in September of 1990 by Jim Barlow and Fred Billock. In 1991, WRC completed the acquisition of the single point, discrete I/O product line from the Allen-Bradley Co. This line is now designed and manufactured in Akron, Ohio in an 11,000 square foot factory.

In December of 1996 and again in 1997, WRC was honored as one of the fastest growing companies in Northeastern Ohio. The "Weatherhead 100 Outstanding Growth Companies" award is given by Case Western University's Weatherhead School of Management in association with the regional Enterprise Development Company. In addition, WRC was recognized as an Outstanding Company by the Cascade Development Authority of Summit County.

January 5th, 2000 was proclaimed Western Reserve Controls Day in the City of Akron, by Mayor Donald L. Plusquellic in recognition of the "unique public-private partnership in forming WRC into a leading manufacturer of industrial controls and in recognition of the growth of the company. "

A review of the WRC product line expansion will demonstrate why WRC has been so successful:

WRC began business in 1991 with discrete I/O and a license to the Allen-Bradley Remote I/O Link.

WRC's SmartMux™ line of remote data acquisition adapters was introduced in 1992 supporting A-B Remote I/O, Optomux, and WRC's SmartMux protocols.

Single point analog I/O for SmartMux, based upon the proven open architecture "5B" series of analog I/O modules, was added in 1993.

In 1994, ASCII I/O field device options were added to SmartMux. WRC was one of the original members in the Allen-Bradley Pyramid Solution Partners program and participates in A-B's ENABLED technology program.

In 1995, WRC introduced very low-cost, thermocouple input panels for use with SmartMux as well as SmartPMux™ high-speed, discrete I/O adapters.

In 1996, WRC added panel-mount, solid-state relays and lower-cost, open architecture "7B" analog modules, as well as temperature sensors. SmartMux was extended to support Modbus protocol and a new high-speed, SmartPMux™ analog I/O adapter was introduced.

In 1997, WRC expanded the SmartMux line to include SmartMux-Lite™ I/O blocks, providing fully self-contained, DIN-rail mounted I/O on DeviceNet™, WRC-CANEXT™ DeviceNet and CAN-Bus extenders, and WRC3B™ series of field-calibrated, analog signal conditioners. WRC also added high-current, dc versions for the panel-mount, solid-state relay line.

In 1998, WRC added the WRC4™ line of discrete I/O modules with integral LED and fuse, the WRC7™ line of differential analog signal conditioners, and WRC1 SmartMux-Plus™ family of high-density I/O on DeviceNet and Modbus. In addition, fiber-optic versions of the WRC-CANEXT DeviceNet and CAN-Bus extenders were added.

In 1999 WRC completed a special version of the WRC1, called SmartDump. On January 5th. 2000, WRC formally introduced SmartDump to the press.

SmartDump provides client security access and control of dumpster compactors in high-volume facilities such as malls. It registers usage by client for future billing purposes. It provides remote, automatic dial-in, dial-out phone-line communications to dispatchers advising them when to pick-up full dumpsters or when error conditions exist such as a malfunction.

SmartDump and related products can be used in a wide variety of stand-alone material handling applications such as water and waste distribution, electrical power distribution, and oil and gas wells.