Bud Industries is a manufacturer and supplier of electronics enclosures founded by Max Haas in 1928 and based in

Willoughby, Ohio Willoughby is a city in Lake County, Ohio and is a suburb of Cleveland. The population was 22,268 at the time of the 2010 census. History Willoughby's first permanent settler was David Abbott in 1798, who operated a gristmill. Abbott and his ...

near

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. The majority of Bud electronics enclosures are sold through more than 150 independent distributors, including

Digi-Key Digi-Key is a privately held American company that distributes electronic components. Headquartered in Thief River Falls in the U.S. state of Minnesota, the company is the fourth largest electronic component distributor in North America and the ...

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

Allied Electronics Allied Electronics & Automation is a United States based authorized distributor of industrial automation products, electronic components and electromechanical products. Allied is a subsidiary of RS Group, and it is an ISO 9001:2008+AS9120A cert ...

, Master Electronics, and

Mouser Electronics Mouser Electronics is a global distributor of semiconductors and electronic components. With over $3 billion in annual revenue, Mouser is ranked as the seventh largest electronic component distributor in the world. The company has 27 locations ...

History

Max Haas was an electronics salesman who started the company to manufacture an "antenna eliminator" that attached to the back of a

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

and eliminated the need for a rooftop

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

. Later Haas modified the product to fit

automobiles A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

and other devices. The company name came from the nickname of Mr. Haas's son, Alvin. Haas started selling his product in Cleveland, Ohio. Bud Industries expanded into producing radio kits and parts for ham radios, followed by radio coils, condensers and enclosures. By the mid-1930s, the Bud Industries product catalog ranged from small metal relay racks to large electrical mounting equipment. The company expanded into producing mini box enclosures, which became known among electronics students and engineers as "bud boxes." The company also started producing relay

racks Rack or racks may refer to: Storage and installation * Amp rack, short for amplifier rack, a piece of furniture in which amplifiers are mounted * Bicycle rack, a frame for storing bicycles when not in use * Bustle rack, a type of storage bin ...

, cabinets and other enclosures designed to house industrial electronic equipment, a large cabinet rack being called a BudRack. Upon Mr. Haas's death, control of the company moved to his son, Alvin "Bud" Haas, who moved the Bud manufacturing facility just outside Cleveland to Willoughby, Ohio. In 1976, Bud Industries added a facility in Phoenix, Arizona and started to concentrate on designing and manufacturing custom units. In 1992, Bud's son Blair succeeded his father to become the third member of the Haas family to serve as company president. Since that time the company has developed a line of plastic enclosures and a series of NEMA-rated enclosures specially made for harsh environments. In 2015, Josiah Haas succeeded his father as president, leading the company into the 4th generation of family management, a feat achieved by less than 3% of companies. Bud Industries lists over 3,000 standard products on their website. Bud's "Grand Prix" series steel enclosure housed the first

Personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

, the

Kenbak-1 The Kenbak-1 is considered by the Computer History Museum, the Computer Museum of America and the American Computer Museum to be the world's first "personal computer", invented by John Blankenbaker (born 1929) of Kenbak Corporation in 1970, and fi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bud Industries Electronics companies of the United States