Gaming cabinet suppliers Cole Industries, Inc. and Kepro International Company, Ltd. have teamed up to form Cole Kepro International LLC, effectively increasing the size and scope of both companies’ operations.
Las Vegas-based Cole Industries has developed a strategic partnership with Kepro International, which has 10 facilities in Taiwan and mainland China, over the last several years, and both companies are seeking to capitalize on their close relationship and individual successes in their new joint venture.
Cole founder and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Cole first began working with Kepro as a representative for the company before launching his own gaming cabinet supply business in 1993. The two companies have continued to work together over the years, with Kepro manufacturing many of the components that Cole uses in its gaming cabinets.
“With the change in the climate of the competition coming from offshore from different manufacturers trying to come into the marketplace, what we decided to do is join forces,” Cole said. “Basically, we’ve worked out an arrangement where we’re going to be working together, so we’ll be able to bring the product in at a much more cost-effective way, and in a more complete way.
“We can work together and move that work where it’s done most efficiently, and service the customer. It allows us the continuity of designs; it allows the protection of the patents we have in the United States and other areas. It really makes a lot of sense that we’ll be able to then service our present customers and customers that have come to us that want us to build larger quantities.”
One of the first orders of business for the new company is the construction of a manufacturing facility near the East Coast in order to better service Cole Kepro’s clients in North and South America. The new facility, along with the 10 facilities in Asia, will enable Cole Kepro to build cabinets and ship them more quickly and more cost-effectively.
Cole President and General Counsel Glenn Wichinsky said the partnership will also change customers’ perceptions of both Cole and Kepro, who will now have a truly global presence.
“We will be utilizing both companies’ synergies, bringing those synergies together for both companies from the standpoint that they need more of an American presence and we want the international presence, which makes us more of a global supplier,” said Cole Chief Operating Officer Stan Banks. “Collectively, we’re able to market the companies and be more cost-effective to everybody long-term.”
