Both Kay Industries and Phazpak Technologies are owned by Rohenas. Kay Industries serves as Rohenas’ commercial and industrial line of phase converter branded as Phasemaster®.

Phazpak Technologies serves as the agricultural, petroleum exploration and militarily defense line of 3ph capacitors and converters branded as Kandlestick, Phazpak, and AMG Bolting.

Although they exist under the same umbrella company, each has its own headquarter in Indiana brands.

Likewise, Kay Industries is made in separate manufacturing facilities. Most Kay Industries newer models like TMA and WMA come from facilities in Wisconsin, while the Indiana branch creates the heavy-duty model MA and T for broadcasting, and the Utah plant makes the Phaseperfect® branded as E-Phase digital exclusively.

In 1960 the legendary single phase to three phase converter branded as the Phasemaster® was first introduced into production. by Buffington & Payne. While Arco and Ronk also existed, it was the Phasemaster® which set the standard for perfection.

One of the most active customers of the Phasemaster® was Kay Industries founded by Aaron Katz.

Back in 1946 Aaron opened a self-service laundry in River Park, which grew into Kay Supply and Equipment. Since, most laundry equipment required 3 phase power distribution. In 1972 with the passing of James Buffington of Plymouth, Indiana, Kay Equipment and Supply made an offer to purchase the Phasemaster® brand from Mrs. Buffington.

The Katz family, grow the company within the commercial laudry industries until suddenly in 2012 the unaccepted happened.

On May 13, 2012 Aaron Katz died, leaving his son Stephen Katz in charge. Just over three months later on August 20, 2012 Stephen Katz passed away.

Larry Katz, another one of Aaron’s son decided to resign from Westinghouse as a Senior Electrical Engineer, to operate the family legacy business.

He quickly shutdown the laundry operations and applied laser focus on developing new features for the Phasemaster® as well as introducing the 3 phase converter into other industries.

In 1972, Kay Industries became the first to offer automatic controls for the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning industries thermostat operated units.

Under his leadership, the Phasemaster® Model T began to dominate in the Broadcasting industries powering transmitter towers across the world. By 1977, Kay Industries had ninety-seven percent of that market.

In 1979, the company gained Independent agency approval of CSA/NRTL.  By 1980, Kay Industries a global 800 toll-free number an impressive milestone achieved in little then ten years. Kay Industries remained the top-selling three phase converter brand in the United States until the recession 2008 – 2010.

In 2010, ABB acquired Baldor an began manufacturing 3PH ready motors. This single event removed the barriers of entry into the three phase converter industry. Soon, everyone capable of building an electrical control panel and capacitor box was building phase converters.

Fortunately, not everyone that builds a converter fully understands the application and the proper sizing of a rotary phase converter. It is here that Kay Industries accels, in 2012 it hired Monkeyhouse Marketing to build a website. Slowly, the company recaptured market share and by 2018 it returned as the world leading brand in three phase converter, yet it struggled in the United States. In 2019, Kay Industries decided it invest heavily in digital marketing.

Crisis ensued again. On March 15, 2020 the Covid-19 epidemic stopped everything. Kay Industries received a government loan to help subsidize employee payroll, but vendors and logistic partners who were also hurting began to apply pressure. The company GM Greg Schoff called Monkeyhouse Marketing to shutdown its website. What happened next it quite similar to the 1970’s when Aaron saw an opportunity to buy low.

When Greg mad the call to Monkeyhouse that day, he had know idea the President of Rohenas, owners of DIR Incorporated, and newly acquired Monkeyhouse Marketing would answer the phone.

A pitch was made to acquire the Phasemaster® which according to Google data gathered by Monkeyhouse appears to have value. The idea interested the GM, who had also been wanting to retire. Larry had a different idea. Perhaps, Rob Rohena could take over as the Chief Marketing Officer, and learn more about phase converters before taking a leap on a brand solely based on statisical analysis of web search. 

By October of 2023, Kay Industries searches has dropped down to the 5th page of Google, cashflow was bottlednecked to near suffocation, digital converters started to become more in demand, and most significantly, Larry Katz retired and sold his Kay Industries stock to Rohenas.

The first matter of business has been fixing the financials. As Keith Cunningham says “The reason companies lose relevance, go broke, or fade into the sunset is because they continue to grow, but fail to evolve.”

In addition, to negotiating with vendors, collectors, and bankers, it was also important to address the rapid changes in technology. Rohenas held meeting with its friendliest competitors. NAPCES, Parrish Electric, and later Phase Technologies. Working together Models WMA, TMA, TPI have been introduced. Further, the brands Kandlestick® and Phazpak Technologies, and Miniphase® have been born, or reborn.

Next, month the E-Phase division (an idea floated by Chairman Emeritus Larry Katz) will open up offering Phaseperfect® Digital Converters.