Kaas Tailored is an American furniture and upholstery manufacturer based in Mukilteo, Washington.
| Formerly | Kaasco International, Inc., Kaasco Inc. |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1974 in Everett, Washington, United States |
| Founders | Larry Kaas and Allan Kaas[1] |
| Headquarters | 13000 Beverly Park Rd., , |
| Owners | Jeff and Stacey Kaas[2] |
Number of employees | 200[2] |
| Website | kaastailored |
Background and history edit
Kaas Tailored was founded by cousins Larry and Allan Kaas in 1974 under the name Kaasco International, Inc.[1] The company operated out of an old barracks building at Boeing.[1] The cousins later had a falling out, and in 1980 Larry Kaas reformed the company on his own, naming it Kaasco, Inc.[1] In 1981, Nordstrom placed its first order with Kaasco, and the company began providing furniture for Nordstrom's shoe department.[3] In 1984, Kaasco began producing for the aerospace industry. Kassco moved to Mukilteo, Washington in 1992.[1] In 1997, Larry Kaas' son, Jeff Kaas, took over the company.[1] In 2000, the company was renamed Kaas Tailored after the name caused confusion with Costco.[1]
In the 1990s, Boeing, a client of Kaas Tailored's, adopted the Lean manufacturing philosophy and encouraged other companies to adopt the philosophy.[1] In 1999, Jeff Kaas toured Toyota Motor Company factories in Japan which were using The Toyota Way.[1] Kaas Tailored adopted kaizen principles at its factory.[1][4] Kaas Tailored began providing tours to other companies such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Boeing, Providence Medical Group, Amazon and Microsoft.[4][1] In 2017, the company began providing consulting services for other companies such as Nordstrom.[3]
2020-present edit
In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Kaas Tailored was one of the first manufacturing companies to pivot from their usual operations to producing personal protective equipment.[3] Kaas Tailored worked with Providence Medical Group to lead the "100 Million Mask Challenge."[5][2] The company switched from making furniture to making masks and face shields for Providence Medical Group hospitals[2][6] and Swedish Health Services.[7] Kaas Tailored also sent a prototype to a company in Holland, who began making masks for its local hospitals.[2] Jeff Kaas also coached health care systems in South Africa, Albania, Ireland, and the Netherlands in his model for manufacturing personal protective equipment.[4] The prototype and instructions were also posted online along and sent to companies in 25 states so that others could join in to produce masks.[2][8] Nordstrom worked with Kaas Tailored to begin producing masks at its factories as well.[3][9][10][11][12] Kaas Tailored worked with partnership companies, Alaska Airlines and Boeing to ship personal protective equipment,[3] and partnered with the Washington Aerospace Training and Research (WATR) Center at Edmonds College, which produced face shields.[13] The company manufactured about 4,000 masks per day.[14] In the last two weeks of March 2020, the company manufactured more than 100,000 masks and 30,000 face shields.[3][4]
Awards and recognition edit
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Sasseen, Jennifer (July 25, 2016). "Mukilteo's Kaas Tailored learned from Boeing". The Everett Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Lindblom, Mike (March 23, 2020). "Mukilteo furniture maker converts factory for '100 Million Mask Challenge' to fight coronavirus". The Seattle Times. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Guevara, Natalie (September 6, 2020). "Kaas Tailored's quick pivot provides hundreds of thousands of masks to front lines". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ a b c d Payne, Patti (April 1, 2020). "Mukilteo furniture builder turns out 100,000 surgical masks and counting". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "La guerra delle aziende di Seattle contro il Covid". Fortune Italia. August 10, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "Coronavirus spreads across the U.S." Reuters. March 26, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "Mukilteo man protected by Mukilteo company". Mukilteo Beacon. May 13, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
- ^ Cates, Lindsay (March 27, 2020). "How 10 Small Businesses are Fighting Coronavirus in Creative Ways". U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "How to buy face masks, according to medical experts". NBC Nred. May 8, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Penrose, Nirisha; Weaver, Hilary (May 21, 2020). "How The Fashion Industry Is Stepping Up To Fight COVID-19". Elle. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Dornfeld, Ann (March 22, 2020). "Furniture manufacturer near Seattle turns into mask factory for hospitals during coronavirus pandemic". NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ Ausley, Christina (June 25, 2020). "Seattle Nordstrom, REI, Anthropologie open for in-store shopping". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "Edmonds College prototypes, manufactures face shields to meet COVID-19 needs of health care workers". My Edmonds News. April 25, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
- ^ "In the United States, the private sector on the war foot against coronavirus". Wire News World. March 30, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.