By
Brenda K. Bredahl
bbredahl@thebusinessnewsonline.com
 |
Mike Kasun, who founded K-Sun Corp. in 1978 stands by a dispaly
of some of his Somerset company's products.
Business News photo
by Brenda K. Bredahl |
When Mike Kasun founded K-Sun Corp. in 1978, he never imagined the
profound impact that competition from overseas manufacturing coupled
with rapid advances in digital technology would have K-Sun's main product.
For almost two decades, K-Sun manufactured and distributed replacement
cartridges for the Kroy labeling machine. At one time the company had
more than 500 employees making the cartridges in Stillwater, Minn.
"I've never seen a product last that long; it's the end of an era,"
says Kasun of the Kroy machines and supplies. "At one point we were
making hundreds of thousands of cartridges a year."
In 1987, the Stillwater plant closed and K-Sun moved to a smaller plant
in Somerset, Wis., as manufacturing of the cartridges began to be done
overseas. While this summer K-Sun's final replacement cartridges have
been boxed, labeled and shipped, for more than a decade the industrial
labeling and marking solutions products of K-Sun Corp. have been strong
and growing.
In the early 1990s, the company launched its LABELShop
line of industrial labeling printers and supplies, which are a mainstay
of industrial, hospital and laboratory markets and industries that
require OSHA or other labeling standards. This fall, K-Sun's newest
LABELShop product marks the company's first product specifically for
consumer, small business and school markets.
"We're really excited about getting a buzz going with the new LABELShop
BEE3, and have launched several national "free
bee" promotions
to introduce the product to various markets, " Kasun said "It's
a sweet deal. If you buy the bundle, which includes two supply cartridges,
a power adapter, batteries and a wrist strap, we include the printer,
which is backed by a three-year unconditional warranty, for free." The
kit including the printer, valued at $75, and accessories, valued at
$95, retails at around $94 for a limited time." The free
BEE3 is not some cheap little label maker we're giving
away free, but another in the line of our industrial K-Sun
LABELShop brand printers," K-Sun said.
The new labeler had been in development, but when Kasun watched a television
program on bee colony collapse disorder (BCCD), he was inspired for both the
name of the new product and a limited-time promotion that will help beekeepers
and research into BCCD, a little understood phenomenon in which the number of
wild honeybees and cultured colonies is rapidly decreasing.
"We've partnered with a Wisconsin honey producer to include a free jar of honey
with the purchase of each kit,"Kasun said. "We also plan on donating
a portion of the sale of each kit to a national apiary organization for research
into bee colony collapse disorder and other issues."
An accomplished painter who studied economics at St. Olaf College in Northfield,
Minn, after college Kasun ended up working for Adm. John Hyland Jr., commander
of the U.S. Pacific Fleet during the Vietnam War.
"It was a fluke; I was reassigned to Admiral Hyland as his public affairs officer,
which was an anomaly in the Navy back then," Kasun said.
As a public affairs officer, he was in contact with everyone from Elvis and President
Lyndon Johnson to national media and company executives including Burt Cross,
chairman of 3M's board, and 3M President Ray Herzog.
That chance meeting with 3M executives put Kasun, who joined the U.S. Naval
Reserve after discharge, on the path to business. "I had dated Mr. Cross's daughter,
Nancy, in college, and the Admiral gave me permission to take them out in his
gig [yacht] when they requested a tour of Pearl Harbor," Kasun said. "I greeted
them in my whites, and Cross asked, "This isn't your normal tour is it?' and
I answered, "No, and how's your daughter Nancy by the way?' "
Both 3M executives were pleased to meet a fellow Minnesotan, and so taken with
the tour that Kasun was invited to apply with the company upon discharge. In
1969, he joined 3M, and then joined UFE Corp. in Stillwater and helped form a
division called Pierce, named after the Wisconsin county in which the division
was located.
As vice president of UFE's Pierce division, Kasun, with his colleagues, changed
the name to Kroy Corp., named after the St. Croix River, and launched the Kroy
labeling machine and supplies.
Kasun saw Kroy up through the company's public
stock offering in the early 1970s, and having been bitten by the entrepreneurial
bug, he launched K-Sun Corp. to compete with Kroy in the supply cartridge business.
"Most of our current employees
have been with us
for an average of 16 years.That's pretty impressive."
— Mike Kasun, founder of K-Sun Corp., Somerset |
In 1987, K-Sun branched out from the manufacture and distribution of the Kroy
replacement cartridges to include computer-compatible and stand-alone portable
and desk-top industrial labeling printers as well as software and supplies. It
partnered with Brother International, and for a time K-Sun was the exclusive
distributor of Brother's
P-Touch labeling machines.
Kasun, however, was eager
to develop his own brand. "Around 1993, I was at a trade show when another
company approached me with an exclusive deal under the K-Sun brand. It's really
the best of both worlds."
The K-Sun
LABELShop products were the result of that partnership. In addition
to the new BEE3, one of K-Sun's newer products is the LABELShop
2011XLB, a portable
industrial labeling and bar code printer and the 2011XLB-PC,
which includes MaxiLabel® Pro Windows Software works with a PC. Other new models,
the 2012XLST and the 2012XLST-PC, can also print on heat shrink tubes for wires
and cables. Costs range from $349 to $499.
In 1997, K-Sun acquired Reno, Nevadabased MaxiSoft,
which has a line of industrial identification software and Scottsdale, Ariz.-
based AzCoat Inc., which manufactures specialty coated supplies and adhesive
technology suitable for ink-jet, laser, thermal transfer and other printing technologies.
"One of the advantages of our newest printers is that they can also trim the
tape so that the corners of the label are round," Kasun said
"That might not
sound like much, but every time a label peels off it is because the corner catches.
When you round the corners, it produces a radius so you can't catch the corners.
We call this trademarked feature 'PeelGuard.' "
Another feature is that the printer
power adapters do not draw energy from an outlet unless the machine is turned
on. "This complies with the new California Energy Conservation Requirements that
went into effect this July," Kasun said.
Staying abreast of changes and challenges
is essential to survive, he said. "We are the only company to have put the new
Homeland
Security Symbols into our labeling software," Kasun said
Today, some
29 employees are committed to diversification, lean principles as well as crosstraining
in various operations among the business divisions. "Most of our current employees
have been with us for an average of 16 years," Kasun said "That's pretty impressive."
Click here to download this article in PDF format
For More Information Contact:
Linda Law
K-Sun Corporation
370 SMC Drive, P.O. Box 309
Somerset, Wisconsin 54025
1-800-622-6312 Ext. 214
Fax: 1-715-247-4003
info@ksun.com |
