BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling recently celebrated 25 years of North American operations in 2015. Incorporated in the spring of 1990 under the name Kaiser Precision Tooling (KPT), the subsidiary of Switzerland-based Heinz Kaiser AG provided the North American market precision boring tools and modular boring systems. 

“We set out to be driven first by our engineering capabilities,” said Jack Burley, VP of sales and engineering. “We had an expression, ‘give us your toughest boring problem.’ We’ve always believed if we can’t solve it, there probably isn’t anyone else who can. This kind of cooperation has allowed us to relate to customers as peers for the long term, not just as opportunistic, looking to make a quick sale and run.”

Daily orders have gone from the teens to 150-plus in the 25 years. The engineering team is larger by more than ten times, and available parts that numbered around 2,000 in 1990 now exceed 20,000. A catalyst of that growth came in 2003 when KPT formed an alliance with BIG Daishowa Seiki, a Japanese manufacturer of tool holders, cutting tools and measuring accessories.

Acknowledging the importance of the alliance, KPT changed its name to BIG Kaiser Precision Tooling Inc. The partnership enhanced BIG Kaiser’s product offering, allowing the supplier to serve customers more comprehensively. It also injected a global outlook and reach to BIG Kaiser’s vision all while maintaining production and development of two-thirds of the company’s components in the U.S.

In 2009 BIG Kaiser moved to a new 33,000 square-foot facility in Hoffman Estates, IL. Nearly three times larger than their previous headquarters, the location made room for a growing team and features a state-of-the-art showroom, high-tech training auditorium, larger shipping warehouse space, as well as a repair center to save customers time and money instead of sending tools overseas.    

“Quality, innovation and performance — it’s always been about that,” BIG Kaiser President & CEO Chris Kaiser said. “That’s gotten us to where we are today and it will not change. Whether it’s when we walk in to the office tomorrow or we’re looking towards the next 25 years, we’re not going to stray away from those things.”