KBC Tools and Machinery, Inc. was founded by Karel Bass back in 1965 with the original company name being “Kabaco Tools”. The wholesale distribution company is still headquartered in Sterling Heights, Michigan and their original motto “We Will Not Be Undersold” is still the guiding principle of this discount seller of machine tools to the metalworking industry.
During the decde of the 80’s Karel found new opportunities to help the company grow and bought a supplier’s business located outside of Sand Fransciso. This drove the opening of the first branch of KBC and from there on John Earles VP and Karel Bass figured out how to duplicate the business in other places. When it became clear there would be free trade between Canada and the US in the late 80’s they opened their first Canadian branch.
KBC today remains committed to their original goals of outstanding customer service, top quality tools and competitive pricing. The company has many long term clients that the staff recognizes by voice when they call. The personalized service and relationships developed with customers’ remains a hallmark of KBC Tools and Machinery Inc. In 2010 they celebrated 45 years in business.
Where KBC Began
Originally started as a catalog company, KBC is still a catalog driven company. They work with many different manufacturers and carry an extensive range of products including over 100,000 sku’s of MRO supplies. Their catalog encompasses over 1,000 pages and features name brands customers have trusted for decades including Niagara, Kurt, Titex, Bison, Toolmex, Kennedy, Waterloo, Black & Decker, Makita, PDT, Starrett and Mitutoyo among many others.
KBC works with a broad range of industry market sectors including agriculture, construction, consumer products, culture, environment, fisheries, forestry, Information technology and communications, manufacturing, chemicals, medical and biotechnology, mining, petroleum and gas, service industries, tourism, transportation, wholesale/retail, aerospace, defense, automotive, food & beverage, furniture and wood products, pulp & paper, plastics & rubber, primary and fabricated metal. Electrical equipment and textiles & clothing.
Cutting Machinery
Their range of cutting tools includes bandsaw blades, boring bars, broaches, burrs, carbide drills, carbide endmills, center drills, counterbores, countersinks, high speed endmills, high spped steel drills, hole cutters, milling cutters, reamers, roughing endmills, saws, spade drills, tapping heads, taps and dies, toolbits.
Carbide tooling includes boring bars, carbide inserts, countersinks, cut-off and Grooving, drills, end mills, face mills, threading and toolholders.
Their machine tool lines feature a full range of horizontal and vertical bandsaws, centerless grinders, Cut-off saws, circular saws, cylindrical grinders, drill presses, dust collectors, ironworkers, CNC Lathes, manual lathes, manual lathes with DRO, CNC milling machines, manual milling machines, manual milling machines with DRO, manual and automatic surface grinders, sheet metal machines, and sanders.
Other Equipment They Offer
In addition to machine tools they also offer a large selection of abrasives, fluids, measuring and inspection machinery, hand tools, power and air driven tools, tool room accessories and work-holding accessories.
In order to view the pricing of KBC tools and accessories you must shop online and place your products in the cart before you can see the price. This is irritating when you are trying to compare multiple machines for both pricing and features. If you do not want to place every item you are interested in into the cart to see prices you can download the master catalog as well as their sales flyer direct from the website. This saves a lot of time and hassle.
There is an option to register and create an account on line and take advantage of their tool crib. This feature allows a user to create a list of frequently used tooling so that one need not search for the same tools every time you visit the website. It also provides for faster checkout and notification of special sales promotions including limited quantity closeouts, overstock blowouts, special buys and more.
ISO Certification
Quality is a key principle for KBC Tools and Machinery, Inc. They hold a 9001 ISO certification and they provide their customers with a 100% satisfaction guarantee. In 2010 they unveiled a new 100% satisfaction guaranteed logo. If a customer is not 100% satisfied with their purchase for any reason the customer can return the unused item or items within 30 days along with the receipt to receive a replacement, exchange, full credit or refund. This is an unusually generous guarantee for a machine tool supplier but it has been their policy since the company started.
KBC president Paula Bass had the following to say about the new promotional effort stressing their quality guarantee: “We’ve always stood behind our products and we’ve aimed to delight our clients every time out. 100% KBC satisfaction guaranteed is our way of reminding customers that we are not satisfied until they’re satisfied.” When a customer returns an item KBC ensures a quick and painless process. Normally a customer can expect a full credit or refund within 24 hours of KBC receiving the returned item.
KBC can offer this guarantee because they are in a unique position to support it with a product return system that runs extremely smoothly. When a product is returned KBC inspects it and examines the same product on the shelves at all branches to ensure it meets the company’s strict and demanding quality standards. This can be done because KBC has very few returns. It actually boasts one of the lowest return rates in the industry.
Another important feature of the KBC website are the links to manufacturer websites where you can view details of the manufacturer, their company and their products apart from KBC information. They provide links to all of their suppliers.
KBC Tools and Machinery, Inc. has three US branches in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Detroit and well as a machinery division in Sterling Heights, Michigan.