KYB Celebrates 50 Years Since Entering North American Aftermarket
KYB is celebrating its 50th anniversary by taking a look into its history in a recent press release.
The company first entered the North American market in 1974 with the release of a limited line of Macpherson Strut replacement cartridges, Gas-a-Just, and Premium Heavy Duty shock absorbers. It expanded their reach from Japan to a new continent that KYB would continue to find success in.
The company put focus into optimizing its advertising, sales representatives, and establishing regional distribution centers in California, Texas, the Midwest, and New England.
By the 1980s, KYB would build a 500,000 square foot North American manufacturing plant in Franklin, Indiana, where it has produced OE and aftermarket shocks and struts since 1986. Since then, it’s grown to include a research and development lab, ‘clean’ room for assembling shock valving, and was recently named the 2019 Industrial Plant of the Year for Wastewater Quality.
In 1999, KYB opened a new office in Addison, Illinois, and entered the new millennia with the release of the popular MonoMax truck shock and in 2008 released its Strut-Plus complete assembly.
KYB opened a 275,000 square foot distribution center in Greenwood, Indiana in 2011, nearby its Franklin manufacturing plant. The Addison, Illinois was then relocated to the Greenwood facility in 2014, bringing all of KYB’s North American operations to one area.
Looking ahead to the future, KYB outlined plans for the release of its JAOS lift kit applications, as well as a new product line slated for release next year.
