Read the history of Kyocera Unimerco, from small
beginnings to an international technological company.

In 1966, we began to supply tools to the woodworking industry. This marked the commencement of the development of our extensive range of cutting tool products, including refurbishing blades so that customers can use their tools again and again. 

In the same year, Unimerco moved from Lind to Sunds.

In 1976, profit-sharing was introduced, based on the idea of Kenneth Iversen, who succeeded Hans Foxby as CEO. Iversen grew up in a Danish fishing community, where profit-sharing and co-ownership are used as motivation factors and the model for a gradual succession process. The idea is that the more effort you put in, the more everyone in the business benefits. Kyocera Unimerco still practises profit-sharing today. 

We introduced a new ownership structure the following year, offering all employees Unimerco shares. Consequently, Unimerco gradually became wholly owned by its employees and management.

As the first step in a strategy to become a global group, we established a sales company in Sweden in 1991. This was followed by the USA, Norway and the UK in 1995, 1996 and 1998, respectively. International growth led to more focus on new customer groups, primarily in the automotive, aviation, telecommunications and wind turbine industries. 

Unimerco also expanded its range at this time with measuring tools, calibration services, a coating department for surface treatment, a training centre for the sale of courses, and a test centre for testing newly developed tools.

In 2000, we acquired Dandia Industridiamanter in Rødovre. This gave us vital expertise in the production of advanced diamond cutting tools. This period saw many acquisitions, and in line with many customers outsourcing production to other countries, such as China, we opened our first sales office in China in 2005. 

In 2008, we acquired the tool company Derek Walmsley & Co. Ltd. in Sheffield, a consultant and supplier of tool solutions to industry in the UK, including the aviation, offshore and medico industries.

July 2011 marked the end of an era as an employee-owned company and the start of a new chapter. Unimerco became part of Japanese Kyocera Group with more than 71,000 employees. The sale was the result of the desire to find an industrial partner able to accelerate our growth and global presence. It also entailed a larger product image, geographical expansion and more employees.

In 2015, we established companies in Lithuania, Italy and Turkey. 

In 2018, Shoji Gotoda became CEO and President of the entire Kyocera Unimerco Group, and in 2020 a new strategy was launched to optimise our overall business, speed up growth and implement 'One Kyocera Unimerco' across companies and national borders. 

In 2022, we reported the best ever annual results.