KS Tools on the road to success

KS Tools on the road to success

Orhan Altin, the Managing Director of KS Tools, is a man with a mission. “We want to communicate with our customers in all world languages ​​by 2020 at the latest,” he says, presenting a group photo of a colorful team of mostly young people at the company headquarters in Heusenstamm, Hesse. “In order to achieve this goal, we take on employees from a wide variety of countries and cultures,” says Altin. The idea behind it is as simple as it is ingenious: If a craftsman somewhere in the world discovers a tool whose product description and instructions for use are carefully written in his native language, he feels like he is being taken seriously and doesn't have to worry about a sloppy translation from the computer. Conclusion: The global and multicultural approach is showing success. KS Tools already delivers 36,000 items to specialist retailers. 80 employees currently work in two shifts over five days in the 9,000 square meter warehouse to ensure that orders are processed quickly. In order to cope with the rapidly increasing demand, KS Tools is planning to expand its logistics center to a total of 20,000 square meters. From 2020, 150 employees will work in three shifts on six days in Heusenstamm near Frankfurt, supported by an army of automatic shelving robots. “Anyone who grows faster than they can deliver will have problems - with our new building that won't happen to us,” says Managing Director Altin confidently. The processing of orders will also be accelerated: If orders have to be received by 1 p.m. today so that they arrive the next day, the deadline will be 6 p.m. in the future.

QUALITY FROM GERMANY

40 percent of the tools traded by KS Tools are manufactured in Germany, the rest come from Turkey and Taiwan. For automotive workshops, the offering includes standard tools and a comprehensive range of special tools. These include, for example, a practical tool for crimping brake lines, which can also be used to easily work on thin-walled steel, aluminum and copper lines. The tool set called “Flarefix” can be used directly on the vehicle; the user does not need any additional tools. KS Tools is also currently experiencing strong demand for its high-voltage tools, which are manufactured by a traditional manufacturer in Wuppertal, Germany. “Every screwdriver and every socket is double-coated by hand, because faulty insulation can endanger the user’s life,” explains Boris Peters, regional sales manager for the passenger car division at KS Tools. Before delivery, each individual high-voltage tool is also tested for 10,000 volts after spending 24 hours in a water bath and also completing a cold shock test. Orhan Altin explains why KS Tools supplies its special tools exclusively to specialist retailers and not to end customers with a coherent logistical argument: “We would need several hundred field staff for that, we couldn’t handle that.”