KBC Celebrates 50 Years

When KBC Tools and Machinery Inc. (Detroit, MI) was founded, the Internet was but a twinkle in the eyes of early computer visionaries. Fast forward half a century, and its fitting that a company that has helped set the pace of the steadily evolving metalworking tooling industry is marking its 50th Anniversary with a major update to its online home, www.kbctools.com.

Already one of North America’s largest catalog houses of metalworking tools and machinery, KBC Tools is celebrating this monumental anniversary by expanding its online presence now with a new website that features a host of useful features: expanded product information (diagrams, manuals and parts lists, enhanced account information, all the fun stuff!), current and sale prices, a spotlight on new products, vastly improved search and navigation functionality, larger images for precise product selection, a quick order pad for speedier shopping, the ability to check real-time inventory status at a local branch, and so much more.

“We’ve completely revamped and reorganized our website to serve you better,” says Paula Bass, the president of KBC. “The site has more functionality, more product information, easier navigation and it`s jam packed with values and savings. The metalworking industry moves quickly, and deadlines are always tight. Our new site will save our clients both time and money; you could say it’s a metalworking tool in itself.”

The huge product lineup has been keeping North America working since Paula’s father and company founder Karel Bass established the first location in 1965. With a Master Catalog featuring over 100,000 items, KBC has long been a one-stop shop for metalworking professionals in North America. Thanks to the new website, access to top notch tooling and machinery at the best possible prices gets even easier.

As Bass says playfully, “Our toolbox is bigger than yours, but we’d like to help you change that!” Indeed, the company is ready to do just that. In conjunction with the new website launch, KBC will begin a competition to see which customer really does have the biggest toolbox, with KBC Kash prizes to be awarded for toolbox size, organization, and inventiveness, money which can be spent on . . . you guessed it . . . more tools!

After 50 years of selling tools and MRO supplies to tens of thousands of industrial users, the company is still a family-owned and operated business built on the simple principle that it will not allow a customer to go away unsatisfied. When you visit the new website, you’ll see the 100 percent satisfaction guaranteed logo prominently displayed, assuring clients that if for any reason they’re not happy with a product, they can return the unused item within 30 days of delivery to receive a full credit or refund.

“We pride ourselves on giving our clients the best options in tooling and stocking a constantly expanding selection of world class tools from more than 700 vendors internationally. We do what we say we`ll do, stick to the prices we quote, and work with each and every client to earn their business one order, one tool at a time,” noted Bass. “With the new website, you can add, one money and time saving click at a time.”

The company’s original home was 1,000 sq ft of rental space on Eight Mile Road. For the next three years, Karel commuted back and forth from London, England to Detroit, MI. In 1968 with the business steadily growing, he hired John Earles as the vice president and decided that it was time to move to the Motor City permanently with his wife Sheila and daughter Paula. Shortly thereafter, the company moved further up Eight Mile Road to more spacious and glamorous digs.

After adding onto the building several times, KBC outgrew its home on Eight Mile Road and moved up in the world to Eighteen Mile Road in Sterling Heights, MI, its current headquarters. With business booming, the catalog grew, more suppliers, products, and pages, and the clients just kept on buying.

Always looking for new opportunities and challenges, John and Karel bought a supplier’s business in the 1980s in California, just outside of San Francisco, and the first KBC branch was born. It didn’t take long for the kinks to be worked out and for John and Karel to figure out that the success of the branch in California could be duplicated in other places. In 1989, with the promise of free trade between Canada and the U.S., the first Canadian branch was opened just outside of Toronto, Ontario. With clients throughout North America, South America, Mexico, Japan, and more, KBC had become international.

In 1990, after the turnover of four managers in one year, daughter Paula became manager of the Toronto branch, and in 1993 Karel passed the presidential reins of the company over to his daughter, what a 30th birthday present!

Guided by a talented management team, KBC Tools has demonstrated a firm commitment to expansion and improvement. The establishment of new branches in Windsor (1992), Vancouver (1992), Chicago (1995), and Los Angeles (1998) strengthened the company’s North American presence while maintaining the commitment to customer service, top quality tools, and competitive pricing set forth by Karel at the outset. Not content to merely establish new locations, the company has continually enhanced older and newer facilities alike.

In 2001, three Toronto branches were amalgamated into a 75,000 sq ft showroom, warehouse, and Canadian headquarters that proudly maintains the coveted ISO 9001 quality management standard. South of the 49th parallel, the Detroit headquarters received a complete facelift from the façade to the warehouse and across the road at the machinery division, visitors to the Chicago branch can admire both the newer building (2005) and the classic 1952 Chevy which graces the premises (not to be outdone, the Toronto branch sports a bright red 1953 Ford truck in its showroom!).

Of course a facility is nothing without its contents, in this case one very impressive tooling and machinery inventory. With top-notch products from around the world, both name brand and generic, the most basic to the unusual, miniature to extra large, each KBC branch is a one-stop shop for metalworkers.

The company’s Master Catalog features over 100,000 items spanning cutting tools, carbide tooling, fluids, work holding, abrasives, measuring and inspection, toolroom accessories, hand tools, shop supplies, power/air tools, and machinery. Customers can choose from good, better, and best calibre products, knowing they’ll receive expert technical support both before and after purchase when needed. The KBC team is always ready to work with clients to determine what is needed and deliver the solution in a timely manner.

www.kbctools.com