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Celebrating 20 Years of KEB America in Shakopee, Minnesota

Jake Wattenphul | December 18th, 2024

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since we moved to our current building in Shakopee, Minnesota. When KEB America was established as a joint venture with Tol-O-Matic on February 28, 1979, we could not have anticipated the path we would ultimately take.

From our modest beginnings in Minneapolis to various facilities throughout the suburbs, and now to our present building, we take great pride in our journey and remain committed to leading advancements in industrial machine automation.

As we celebrate 20 years in Shakopee, let’s reflect on our journey to reach this milestone.

KEB Automation Expands in America

In 1979, KEB’s leadership in Germany selected Minneapolis as the home to its North America operations. After meeting several company leaders at a trade show, the paperwork was initiated to form a joint venture with Tol-O-Matic, an established automation product manufacturer. This relationship continued until 1982, when KEB separated from Tol-O-Matic and moved to a new facility in nearby St. Louis Park.

Tol-o-matic manufacturing building in Minneapolis, MN — *KEB’s first partnership in the United States was a joint venture with Tol-O-Matic in 1979. This is original location in Minneapolis, MN*

The Journey to Find the Perfect Space

From 1982 to 2003, we operated under the name KEBCO and relocated to various leased facilities in St. Louis Park, Eden Prairie, and Mendota Heights to accommodate our growing sales. During these two decades, the unique requirements of North American industries created a demand for custom local manufacturing. While KEB Automation in Germany focused on its European clients, KEBCO in America recognized the need to adapt European designs to meet the specific engineering challenges across our continent.

As machining demands and our workforce expanded, we required larger facilities to support this growth. Eventually, we decided it was time to seek a more permanent solution.

Different buildings for KEB America manufacturing and engineering facility — *Different buildings KEB America has used for manufacturing and engineering over its history*

From Leasing to Ownership

In response to the increasing demand for domestic manufacturing and a desire to better serve our valued clients, we set out to establish our own production facility. After an extensive search, we chose Shakopee, MN, based on cost, location, and expandable plot size. Once we secured the site, we promptly began the construction phase.

The construction process began with land clearing, followed by the building’s structural framework and the installation of the outer concrete shell. Excitement grew as the 80,000 sq. ft. facility began to take shape.

*Construction on phase 1 of the KEB America facility in Shakopee, MN.*

The remaining areas of the building were filled with equipment, offices, and machines for manufacturing, engineering, and servicing our products.

KEB History of machining products in Shakopee manufacturing facility — *One area of the brake manufacturing process shortly after moving into the Shakopee building in 2005*

Room to Grow – Building Expansion

After fourteen years of successful operations in our original Shakopee facility, the need for expansion became evident. To accommodate our continued growth and meet the increasing demands of our ISO 9001:2015 certified operations, we embarked on Phase 2 of the Shakopee facility expansion.

This project would increase our footprint from 80,000 to 150,000 square feet, providing much-needed additional space for storage, engineering, service, and manufacturing capabilities. This ambitious journey commenced with the preparation of the land.

After the land was prepped, the foundation was laid and walls began going up to create the exterior structure of the new expansion.

The next phase took the building through roofing, flooring, plumbing, and more.

The new parking lot freshly paved and signage installed on the front corner of the new building

Upon completion of the framework, including the installation of high-quality flooring, we were ready to begin the exciting transition to our new home.

*The upstairs area of the new addition has been fitted with shiny flooring and bright lights*

Today, our new expansion has enabled us to increase the storage capacity for components, allowing us to build our products more efficiently. We now have additional space to create workstations and design automated processes to enhance throughput. Furthermore, we can add staff to oversee quality control, engineering, and support for our extensive range of automation products.

*KEB America’s 150,000 sq. ft. manufacturing and engineering facility near Minneapolis, Minnesota*

Driving Innovation in Industrial Automation

Throughout this journey, one thing holds true, we are driven to meet the needs of our customers. Customized solutions is at the heart of what we do, and our robust global network allows us to provide top-quality automation products throughout North America and across the world.

We are committed to continuous improvement, regularly adding new machines and processes to enhance our engineering, manufacturing, and customer service capabilities. We take pride in the progress we’ve made to grow and serve with confidence.

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