ITASCA, IL — February 6, 2015 —
Contact: Mike Dakin
Recently, Kester announced organizational changes that will allow them to optimize their business and invest in future capability and capacity. These changes position Kester to make investments in our people and operational capability to provide best-in- class services and product to our customers globally.
In 2015, Kester’s new facility in Wujiang, China will be fully operational. This plant with best-in- class equipment and automation processes will expand Kester’s global capacity. Later this year, Kester will also develop a new manufacturing facility and distribution hub to service and support the European market. This facility is based in Gernlinden, just outside Munich, Germany. Kester has also been adding resources to their sales and technical support team in key regions, including Asia-Pacific and Europe.
These changes will position Kester for strong growth by eliminating fragmentation and creating more scale and capacity globally. The investments in manufacturing along with strengthening of their R&D, technical support and marketing capabilities will result in a Kester that is even better and stronger for our customers and our sales channel partners.
###
Kester is a global supplier of assembly materials for the Electronic Assembly and Semiconductor Packaging industries. Kester is focused on delivering innovative, robust and high-quality solutions to help our customers address their technological challenges. Kester’s current product portfolio includes soldering attachment materials such as solder paste, soldering chemicals, TSF (tacky solder flux) materials, and metal products such as bar, solid and flux-cored wire. Kester is an Illinois Tool Works (ITW) company. ITW is a Fortune 200 company that produces engineered fasteners and components, equipment and consumable systems, and specialty products. It employs approximately 49,000 people, and is based in Glenview, Illinois, with operations in 57 countries.