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Worldwide Relationships
In the 1950's, Senco embarked on a bold move to look beyond the borders of the United States to expand its business, since there was the concern that U.S. markets for automotive, furniture, and bedding would become saturated. With a name provided by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Senco began corresponding with a distributor in France, Sofragraf, which became SENCO's first European distributor and today is still SENCO's exclusive distributor covering France.
Highlights:
1953
Senco was introduced to Jack Poppers, owner of an office stapling business in Amsterdam, Holland, who became one of the key individuals leading SENCO to worldwide growth.
1956
Mr. Heinz Bühnen met Senco through Jack Poppers. Bühnen's business in Germany included manufacturing of mattress and bedding products, along with a distribution business for hand tackers and fasteners.
Cerclindus, owned by John VanAerden, joined SENCO's fast-growing European distribution network with a territory assignment for selling SENCO's products in Belgium.
1957
In just four years SENCO's second major geographic market was Europe, with a distribution network including 11 independent, exclusive distributors:
Poppers-Holland
Ottensten-Denmark
Rosenheim-Scotland
Albertson-Sweden
Bühnen -Germany & Austria
Michelin-Finland
Rogers-Jenkin-South Africa
Sofragraf-France
Maestri-Italy
Cerclindus-Belgium
1960s
Growth continued with independent distributors added in Switzerland (J.P. Mueller & Company), Spain (Simes), and Greece (Vamvacas).
Distribution was expanded further into the Middle East, Far East, Central America, South Amercia, Mexico, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea and other countries.
Centralized tool supply out of the Cincinnati facility was the preferred course of action, but fasteners were a different story. Due to prohibitive costs to ship the boxes of thousands of fasteners and very high import duties, an alternative fastener supply plan of action was chosen - a network of licensees, partnerships, wholly-owned subsidiaries, and strategic alliances to produce fasteners.
In 1961, SENCO formed a partnership with its Canadian distributors to begin operation of a fastener manufacturing operation near Toronto. This operation remained in business until 1992, when the Free Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Canada reduced the trade barriers for imported fasteners.
SENCO and the Meiho Fastener Company became partners in SENCO Japan Ltd. in 1968, with a manufacturing operation managed by Senco Japan and a distribution arrangement for Meiho, covering Japan. When this relationship ended, another independent distributor, Ryobi, ultimately became SENCO's major distribution channel in this market area.
SENCO and the owner of its Germany/Austria distributor, Heinz Bühnen, joined as equal partners for a manufacturing business in Bremen serving Germany, Austria, and other parts of Europe. This partnership, Deutsche-Senco Industrie-Erzeugnisse GmbH & Co. KG (DSI), has continued to operate to this day.
1970s
SENCO acquired Verpa, owned by Rudolph and Ralph Timmerbeil, in 1972 and Hein Fredericks became its Managing Director. This relationship was arranged through Jack Poppers and Verpa remains a wholly-owned subsidiary of SENCO.
1980s
In 1989, a joint venture for manufacturing fasteners was established between SENCO and Je il Steel Company (Jisco) in South Korea for both domestic sale and export, mainly to Japan. This partnership was dissolved in 2000, with SENCO selling its interest to Jisco and forming a Korean trading company, South Korea Distribution Company (SKDC), to handle sourcing and trading transactions for SENCO and some of its distributors around the world.
With the growth of the company's Latin American business and the prohibitive tariffs and freight costs throughout that region, SENCO and the Mejia family established a joint venture operation in Colombia to supply fasteners throughout Central and South America in an affordable and timely manner.
Today
SENCO has developed product supply relationships with companies around the world who will be instrumental in SENCO's continued success as SENCO faces the challenges and opportunities of its global marketplace. These relationships include companies such as DePoan, Tech Tronics Inc., Min-Ming, and others.
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