About Us

Founder, Peter K Muehlan (b. 1939- d. 2021) immigrated to the United States from Western Germany in the mid 1960’s after earning a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering in West Germany. Peter established himself as a control systems specialist after honing his skills at Casale Industries in Garwood, NJ where he wired control panels for air pollution control systems. After a few years, Peter realized the need and potential for a dedicated control panel company to serve process control manufacturers. Around the same time, a personal friend of Peter’s (also from Germany) worked for United Parcel Service and had just started UPS’s National Plant Engineering Department at the 43rd Street location in New York City. The two contemporaries worked together to streamline and standardize package conveyor equipment at UPS to the mutual benefit of both companies. The relationship between PKM and UPS has thrived, and continues to this day.

Peter Muehlan, circa 1980s.

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Wallace Toto started working for PKM part time during high school in 1973 and stayed on through college. Full time employment began in 1978, as an entry level assembler and wireman. Wallace continued his education in the evenings (NJIT- Electrical Engineering) while working during the day. After a few years, Wallace was entrusted to manage the day to day operations of PKM while Peter took a step back and concentrated on sales and customer service.

Wallace Toto, circa 1980s.

The opportunity arose in 1984 for Wallace to purchase PKM and the transfer of ownership was completed on June 1 that year. Peter stayed on as a consultant for a few years while Wallace grew the business. Sales doubled in the first two years, partially due to UPS’s tremendous national growth in the mid 1980’s. Hard work and exceptional quality lead to consistent growth over the years with a signature achievement in 1993-1995, when PKM was awarded a 3.5M project from UPS, for the CACH automated air hub. The project procured over 2,500 Control Panels and PKM and staff rose to the occasion completing the project 6 months early. At the time, the mechanization of this air hub was the largest automation project in the country.

As a service to our customers who operate around the clock critical path processes, PKM schedules staff to meet emergency repair and overnight manufacturing control panel requirements.

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