One of the biggest forces in the kiosk industry has made its entry into the European market.
Louisville, Colo.-based Kiosk Information Systems announced that it has begun selling and manufacturing in Larbert, Scotland. Long-time KIS executive Peter Snyder is running the new operation there. According to KIS channel manager Craig Keefner, Snyder has been working intermittently at the overseas office for several months now, and will likely alternate his time between the two locations, with most of his emphasis placed on the European office.
Keefner said that manufacturing in Scotland began about six months ago at the Mack Technologies facility, a 52,000-square-foot manufacturing plant where Snyder's office is located.
"We've got the metals and the schematics over there," said Keefner. "We're manufacturing several of our standard models over there. So we'll be able to do not only integration and support, but we'll be able to do manufacturing over there."
He estimates that international sales so far have accounted for about 7 percent of KIS' revenue, but sees a lot of potential. Reaching those potential customers effectively requires being on the ground there, he said.
"Those places, they're really no different than here," he said. "When we close a deal here, generally (the clients) come here to Colorado. Face-to-face really, really counts. The people in Dubai and the people in Egypt and in the Ukraine, the people in France, the one thing we all do share is that when we do business, it's good to shake your hand and see your face. And it's good to know you've got the facility to support it."
In addition to the boon of face-to-face contact, manufacturing kiosks in Europe offers an added benefit: it opens the door for CE certification, roughly the European equivalent of a UL listing. "Now we can go ahead and get our units CE certified, and that opens up a lot more opportunities. The economics of us manufacturing over there, and delivery times, become much, much better.
"It was time to go ahead as a company," he added. "When you get to the level of revenue that we do, it starts spilling over and you tend to get more serious about markets that have been good to you."
