Looking Back

Looking back, I consider myself very fortunate to have represented BIG KAISER in some way for the past 30 years, even before KPT Kaiser was founded in 1990.

In 1990, when Chris Kaiser and Jack Burley approached the distributor I worked for – Ferro Technique – and asked us to represent Kaiser in Canada, we jumped at the chance. I had met Jack several years earlier when he worked for the former U.S. importer/licensee of Kaiser boring tools. 

During the past 30 years, several things have remained consistent and a few have changed. Outstanding product support has always been the hallmark of KPT and BIG KAISER. Both for our customers and for those of us in the field promoting the product lines.

As product lines were added, like Speroni, Innotool and Sphinx, the commitment to providing the very best quality products and the support to match has remained priority one.

Meeting and working with Chris Kaiser, Tim Grosch, fellow rep Steve Larson, as well as the other sales reps and employees has provided many great memories – many made when we are all together at sales meetings in Chicago. I especially enjoyed when my foursome consistently beat Tim Grosch's group at every golf outing after the meetings.

In 2003, when BIG Daishowa Seiki formed an alliance with KPT Kaiser, I was asked by Chris and Jack to become their manufacturer representative for eastern Canada. I was honored to be considered and accepted immediately. I said goodbye to Ferro Technique where I had worked since 1980 and began to learn about the incredible products offered by BIG Daishowa.

I remember the first time Jack came to work with me in Montreal to meet the existing BIG distributors in Quebec. It was the dead of winter and we were pulling our demo cases through the snow in about -30 Celsius temperatures.

Another time, Chris came up for a regional show in Sainte-Hyacinthe, QC and we stayed at Chris's cottage on the U.S./Canada border. That was a lot of fun and a lot warmer.

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been a part of the KPT/BIG KAISER team for 30 years. The loyalty and professionalism shown to me over the years is extremely satisfying and I could not be more proud and grateful to be considered part of the BIG KAISER family.