The original KEY-BAK self retracting key reel was invented by the founder of our company in 1948. Russ Lummis saw the need for railroad switchmen to have a safer way to carry their keys. Dangling key chains could catch as they mounted and dismounted moving rail cars to attend to their duties. Mr. Lummis' story is one of American ingenuity and entrepreneurial spirit. The product and industry he started in his garage in Pasadena, California is internationally recognized and one we think he would be proud.

The company quickly grew out of Mr. Lummis' garage but stayed within Pasadena, at the center of the high tech industry of the day; aerospace. With nearby Caltech, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratories and major aerospace manufacturers West Coast Chain Mfg. Co. (WCC) had access to the best engineering, tooling and materials available. This proximity led to an early adoption of technology and a rapid improvement of the original self retracting key reel from a garage built and designed product to a high quality product engineered with the best materials available anywhere in the world.

By 1985 WCC had outgrown its facilities in Pasadena and moved 40 miles east to Ontario, California following a workforce out priced by the rapidly escalating housing prices nearer to Los Angeles. Ontario is a major transportation hub with convenient access to one of the busiest ports in the world, United Parcel Service's second largest US hub located at the Ontario International Airport within 5 miles of our factory, two major interstate highways and railroads. While technology has allowed business to be efficiently transacted anywhere in the world it's a fact that proximity to transportation is a requirement for efficient trade of goods and manufacturing.