Kaas Tailored
FormerlyKaasco International, Inc., Kaasco Inc.
Founded1974 in Everett, Washington, United States
FoundersLarry Kaas and Allan Kaas[1]
Headquarters13000 Beverly Park Rd.,
Mukilteo, Washington
,
United States
OwnersJeff and Stacey Kaas[2]
Number of employees
200[2]
Websitekaastailored.com

Kaas Tailored is an American furniture and upholstery manufacturer based in Mukilteo, Washington.

Background and history

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

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

  • 1996 Boeing Supplier of the Year
  • Business Journal's Covid Relief Champion Award for PPE[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Sasseen, Jennifer (July 25, 2016). "Mukilteo's Kaas Tailored learned from Boeing". The Everett Herald. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 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.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Payne, Patti (April 1, 2020). "Mukilteo furniture builder turns out 100,000 surgical masks and counting". Puget Sound Business Journal. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  5. ↑ "La guerra delle aziende di Seattle contro il Covid". Fortune Italia. August 10, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Coronavirus spreads across the U.S." Reuters. March 26, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Mukilteo man protected by Mukilteo company". Mukilteo Beacon. May 13, 2020. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  8. ↑ Cates, Lindsay (March 27, 2020). "How 10 Small Businesses are Fighting Coronavirus in Creative Ways". U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  9. ↑ "How to buy face masks, according to medical experts". NBC Nred. May 8, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  10. ↑ Penrose, Nirisha; Weaver, Hilary (May 21, 2020). "How The Fashion Industry Is Stepping Up To Fight COVID-19". Elle. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  11. ↑ Dornfeld, Ann (March 22, 2020). "Furniture manufacturer near Seattle turns into mask factory for hospitals during coronavirus pandemic". NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  12. ↑ Ausley, Christina (June 25, 2020). "Seattle Nordstrom, REI, Anthropologie open for in-store shopping". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
  13. ↑ "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.
  14. ↑ "In the United States, the private sector on the war foot against coronavirus". Wire News World. March 30, 2020. Retrieved October 13, 2021.
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