The two companies have had a close technology and distribution partnership since 1980. BIG Daishowa produces Kaiser boring tools under a license agreement and sells under the brand BIG Kaiser in the Asian market. In June of 2003, BIG Daishowa expanded its strategic alliance to Kaiser's North American operations near Chicago, and that company was renamed BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc.
"During the past 10 years, our partnership has steadily increased through the creation of two joint ventures in the U.S. and Germany and an exclusive distribution arrangement for BIG products in Europe," says Kaiser CEO Peter Elmer. "Today the distribution channels are practically grown together and the combined products are an excellent portfolio."
Fellow CEO Chris Kaiser, who will oversee North American operations, says "Our family has been working for some time on a succession plan to ensure the continued growth and success of this company," says Chris Kaiser. "With 35 years of successful collaboration with BIG Daishowa, we are confident KAISER is in the right hands for the future."
The strengthened alliance is expected to help the company balance manufacturing resources and market and currency fluctuations around the globe. Customers will benefit from a fully consolidated portfolio of tooling solutions and ancillary products. Following the alliance, BIG Daishowa will have approximately 900 employees.
BIG Daishowa was established in 1967 and offers tool holders, boring and tapping systems, angle heads, cutting tools and probes.
It has licencing arrangements and sales tie-ups with other European companies, including Tekusa and Heule of Switzerland, Sandvik Coromant, Erix Tool and Alfa Laval of Sweden, Komet, Paul Horn and Lang Werkzeugtechnik of Germany, Nedap of Netherlands and Speroni of Italy.
It sells to North America, Europe and Southeast Asia. In addition to European and North American operations, it has subsidiaries in China (Big Daishowa Seiki Trading (Shanghai) and Thailand.
