About QTL | A Commercial Lighting Manufacturer (2024)

30 plus years ago we started with a simple goal; to provide superior power solutions. Since then, we’ve established our place as a leader in architectural lighting. It’s time for our brand to reflect on the dynamic and forward-thinking company we are today. We are QTL.

Enlightened Thinking

QTL=Quality

We set the standard for excellence, proudly ensuring that our products and services are the best they can be.

Our Facilities

Illuminating Innovation

We champion a culture of curiosity and continuous improvement, allowing new ideas to light the path to innovation.

Award Winning Projects

Power in Partnership

Together, we get the job done. We tackle challenges head-on, are always ready to lend a hand, and deliver on our promises.

Careers at QTL

Integrity First

We embody honesty and trustworthiness, treat everyone with respect, and hold ourselves accountable for our actions.

Social Responsibility

Bright Futures

We strive to protect human health through offering sustainable products, minimizing the environmental impact of our operations, and practicing efficient manufacturing processes.

Sustainability at QTL

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The Tremaine Family's Legacy

Over 130 Years in Lighting

1889

A decade after Edison invented the lightbulb, Burton G. Tremaine Sr. (BGT Sr) founds the Fostoria Incandescent Lamp Company in Fostoria, Ohio. It is one of the first companies in the world to make incandescent light bulb lamps.

1901

With financial backing from General Electric, Tremaine establishes a new company called The National Electric Lamp Company.

1906

The National Electric Lamp Company undergoes a name change to become The National Electric Light Association (NELA).

1910

Tremaine and his partner, Franklin Silas Terry, begin Building what will become a revolutionary corporate campus. Located in East Cleveland, Ohio, Nela Park was the first industrial park in the world and now serves as the headquarters for GE's Lighting & Electrical Institute.

1920

NELA is dissolved and becomes part of GE. BGT Sr. remains on the board of GE until his death in 1948. BGT Sr. on far left.

1924

BGT Sr. purchases Edward Miller and Company, a highly respected manufacturer of lighting products based in Meriden, Connecticut. Shortened to The Miller Company, it becomes the Tremaine family business through three generations and is sold in 2000.

1930

Burton G. Tremaine Jr. (BGT Jr.) takes of management of the Miller Company.

1941

Wide-scale manufacturing of florescent light fixtures begins. The Miller Company pioneers the continuous wireway for florescent light system.

1947

Burton G. Tremaine III (BGT III) joins the company as a management trainee. / BGT Jr. becomes executive vice president.

1955

BGT III becomes president of The Miller Company and his father, BGT Jr. becomes chairman of the board.

1965

The Miller Company breaks ground for an expanded factory in Meriden, Connecticut. designed by Phillip Johnson.

1970

BGT III's twin sons John and Tony (BGT IV) start at the Miller Company. Tony in the Mill division and John in Illuminating division.

1972

John Tremaine moves to Atlanta to work in sales representing the company.

1975

Tremaine starts a lighting sales agency called Star Lighting Sales to boost the sales capabilities of the company.

1977

Fascinated by new lighting technology that The Miller Company is not exploring, John leaves the family business and goes to work for SPI Lighting.

1978

Newly married and a father of two sons, John moves to Connecticut and works in sales management for SPI Lighting. Photo of John holding future QTL CEO Gean.

1985

John opens a high-tech lighting showroom called PRIMO in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is the first European-style lighting showroom in the U.S. and includes a lighting design firm, Tremaine Lighting Design to provide customers with creative alternatives to functional lighting.

1990

Seeing performance and quality flaws in the existing lighting power supply centers, Tremaine designs a low voltage power supply that eliminates noise and heat, enhances the quality of light output, and is safe, reliable, and convenient. The resulting product is the patented Q-Tran Power Supply Center.

1993

Q-Tran is incorporated as a business. Until 2000 it is located in the basem*nt of PRIMO, operating as a separate company.

1995

Q-Tran power supply centers start national distribution, and international shortly thereafter.

1998

After serving as a sales manager for Stran & Company, where he won an award for achieving significant annual revenue in 1997, John Tremaine Sr.'s son, John Tremaine Jr. ('Gean'), joins the company as National Sales Manager, becoming the fifth generation of the Tremaine family to be a part of the business.

2000

Q-Tran moves its operations to Bridgeport, CT and expands to 12,000 sqft.

2000

After 77 years The Miller Company is sold. BGT Jr, BGT III, BGT IV collectively guided the company through three wars, 7 decades and were continuously in the forefront of the changing technology.

2003

Q-Tran wins IES progress Award for its Two Tap Toroidal Transformer.

2004

Gean Tremaine is named Q-Tran's Vice President of Sales and Marketing.

2008

Q-Tran wins IES progress award for it's Q6 Six Plane Mounting.

2008

Q-Tran wins The Design Excellence Lightfair Innovation Award and Best of Category Innovation Award in Landscape, Pool and Fountain lighting products, for its Direct Burial Q-Set and Q-Vault Series in Q-Scape, the first electrical infrastructure for landscape lighting.

2010

Q-Tran moves to Milford, Connecticut, where it is still located today. Q-Tran develops the QT series of LED power supplies, designed to be the quietest, most efficient, safest, most versatile, and longest-lasting power supply in the industry.