Waxman Industries Inc

What Waxman Industries Inc does

Waxman Industries, Inc. is a US-based, privately-held consumer hardware company headquartered in Bedford Heights, Ohio. Founded in 1934 as Waxman Plumbing Supply Co. and incorporated in Delaware in October 1989, the company historically designed, manufactured, and distributed a broad portfolio of home hardware products including plumbing, shower and bathroom accessories, floorcare and surface protection, organization and cleaning solutions, and smart home water protection. In approximately 2022, Waxman divested its plumbing/shower lines (to Homewerks Worldwide) and its floorcare/surface protection line (to Shepherd Hardware), retaining only its leakSMART® complete home water protection system and a small industrial sales operation.

The retained core product, leakSMART®, is a patented smart home system that detects water leaks, automatically shuts off the water supply, and alerts the homeowner in under three seconds. Waxman also markets the Kleen Freak® sub-brand for cleaning and organization products. Manufacturing is conducted through wholly-owned subsidiaries — TWI International Taiwan, Inc. in Taichung, Taiwan, and Waxman Technology China in Dongguan, China — while the US distribution footprint is anchored by an award-winning facility near Columbus, Ohio, with additional satellite offices in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Charlotte.

Waxman distributes through a multi-channel model: historical reliance on big-box and regional retailers (stated to include many of the largest US retailers), its own Waxman.com e-commerce site, the Amazon Marketplace via the Amazon Associates affiliate program, and a digital marketing stack spanning Google Analytics, paid social remarketing, and influencer sponsored content. The company is family-controlled (Laurence S. Waxman as President and CEO; Melvin Waxman as Co-Chairman), is non-reporting since its 2004 OTC-BB delisting, and has not paid a dividend since 1993 under a bank agreement restriction.

Name

Waxman Industries Inc

Legal name

Waxman Industries, Inc.

Website

https://waxman.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1934

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Waxman Industries is a US-based private company that designs and distributes home hardware products, retaining the patented leakSMART® smart home water protection system and a small industrial sales operation after divesting its legacy plumbing, shower, floorcare, and surface protection lines in 2022.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Smart Home Water Protection

NAICS

Soap and Cleaning Compound Manufacturing (32561)

SIC

Soap, Detergents, Cleang Preparations, Perfumes, Cosmetics (2840)

akta.pro primary industry

Water & Home System Care (Water Softeners, Septic Treatments, Drain/Openers, Appliance Cleaners) (CRADAKAK)

Keywords

• Smart home water protection
• Leak detection systems
• Automatic water shutoff
• Home organization products
• Surface protection products

Headquarters

HQ city

Bedford

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Product Sales: Waxman generates revenue through the sale of consumer products including smart home solutions (leakSMART), plumbing products, bathroom accessories, surface protection products, and organization/cleaning solutions. Products are sold through retail distribution and direct-to-consumer channels.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Waxman Industries designs, develops, and distributes consumer home products, with its current core being the patented leakSMART® Complete Home Water Protection System—a smart home solution that detects water leaks, automatically shuts off the water supply, and notifies the homeowner in less than three seconds. Supporting offerings include the Kleen Freak® organization and cleaning solutions sub-brand and other Smart Home Solutions. The company manufactures products domestically and through subsidiaries in Taiwan and China, and distributes them via major US retailers, its own website, and Amazon.

Product overview

Waxman Industries Inc operates as a smart home solutions provider offering a unified product portfolio anchored by the leakSMART® complete home water protection system. This core system is complemented by Smart Home Solutions product category and the Kleen Freak® sub-brand for cleaning and organization products. The company designs, develops, and manufactures patented smart home solutions focused on water leak detection and automated shutoff to prevent household water damage.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Leaksmart®: Complete home water protection system that detects leaks, shuts off water, and notifies homeowners in less than three seconds
• Kleen Freak®

Products and services

• leakSMART® Complete Home Water Protection System Patented smart home water protection system that detects water leaks, immediately shuts off the water supply, and notifies the homeowner in less than three seconds, designed to prevent water damage to floors, furniture, countertops, and walls for residential homeowners.
• Smart Home Solutions Patented smart home solutions category delivering automated leak detection and water shutoff for homeowners seeking peace of mind and home automation integration.
• Kleen Freak® Organization and Cleaning Solutions Consumer organization and cleaning product sub-brand offering solutions to eliminate and simplify everyday messes and clutter in the home.

Quantifiable outcome

• Leak detection and water shutoff in less than three seconds

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Emerging players

• iDevices: iDevices (a Hubbell company) sells connected home products including water-leak detection and shutoff solutions, comparable to leakSMART® as a smart-home IoT player targeting homeowner protection use cases.
• Orbit Irrigation: Orbit makes residential water-management products (faucets, timers, leak-detection-adjacent items) sold through the same home-improvement retail channels as Waxman. Smaller and more irrigation-focused, but adjacent in home water management.

Direct peers

• Flo by Moen: Flo by Moen (a Fortune Brands Innovations brand) is a smart water monitoring and automatic shutoff system aimed directly at homeowners for leak detection and prevention — the same use case and customer as Waxman's leakSMART®.
• Phyn: Phyn sells smart water monitoring and leak-detection devices for homeowners, including automatic shutoff — a direct product and channel competitor to leakSMART®.
• Elexa Consumer Products (Guardian Leak Defense): Guardian Leak Defense Systems (an Elexa Consumer Products brand) markets a complete home water leak detection and automatic shutoff system — a head-to-head competitor to Waxman's leakSMART® in retail and online channels.

Broad incumbents

• Resideo Technologies (Honeywell Home): Resideo markets the Honeywell Home smart-home portfolio including water leak detectors and shutoff valves. It is a broader incumbent that overlaps with leakSMART® in smart home water protection but offers a much wider product portfolio.
• Watts Water Technologies: Watts provides plumbing, flow control and water safety/residential water management products. It overlaps with Waxman's legacy plumbing franchise and current leakSMART® water-protection positioning at a much larger scale.
• D-Link: D-Link sells smart-home water leak sensors and broader networking/smart-home devices. It competes with leakSMART® in retail smart-home leak detection as part of a much wider connectivity portfolio.

Regional players

• Shepherd Hardware: Shepherd Hardware acquired Waxman's floorcare and surface protection line in 2022, making it a direct consumer-products peer in the same categories Waxman has historically served through big-box retail.
• Homewerks Worldwide: Homewerks Worldwide acquired Waxman's plumbing and shower product lines in 2022, giving it direct overlap with Waxman's former product portfolio and a comparable consumer-plumbing go-to-market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/waxman-inc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Waxman Industries Inc