LKM: The go-to mould base supplier in Asia

Mr Kazuhide Ishikawa

Founded in Hong Kong as a tool steel trader in 1975 supplying to local mould makers, LKM is now known for its massive manufacturing plants in China, which boasts a factory area of around 500,000 square metres. Dubbed as Asia’s go-to supplier for high-end mould makers, the company is capable of producing 55,000 complete base sets per month, consuming 15,000 tons of steel every month. This is where almost all of the products they export in the world come from.

Thai sales office

With the new Thai sales office, the company strives to create values for its customers through strengthening in cooperation and improving all-round services. According to Mr Kazuhide, Thailand is Asia’s most developed manufacturing market and therefore it is an important marketplace for the company. At this point, he mentioned that they are on the planning stage on how to better assist their growing customers in Thailand.

Mr Kazuhide further mentioned that although products are exported from China and shipped in one week, the company is capable of getting the work done after it receives the drawing from the customer. Having revealed this, Mr Kazuhide is very confident to say that LKM is competitive when matched to its rivals who have factories in Thailand with its door-to-door service.

You will be surprised to know that LKM keeps stock of standardised workpieces required by customers and build the complicated ones on demand. The company’s main business lines aside from standard mould bases are high precision interchangeable plates, custom-made mould bases, precision machining and mould components. So the advantage is there when you gage it with its rivals in the region, Mr. Ishikawa stated.

Vietnam, Europe and America

Last year, LKM established sales office in Ho Chi Mihn in Vietnam. “In the future, we also plan to open sales office in Hanoi as our business in Vietnam grows,” said Mr Kazuhide. When asked about opening an office in Indonesia, Mr Kazuhide said that they already have some business activities going on in the region which is handled by their Malaysian sales.

The company also operates production facilities in other five cities: Heyuan Guangdong, Hangzhou Zhejiang, Tokyo, Taichung and Shah Alam. Beyond Asia, LKM enjoys a strong presence in the European and American markets through a network of business partners.

Capabilities

Mr Kazuhide has detailed LKM’s machining capacity and capability. With an unrivalled portfolio of over 300 CNCs for custom machining, consisting of leading brands, such as Makino, Okuma, Mazak, Kuarki. He said that choosing the correct mould base material can make a huge difference, as an incorrect choice can cause significant long term issues that may ruin months of hard work.

Moreover, the company has implemented an advanced LKM_ID verification barcode system for many years that enables LKM and its customers to trace the source of the special tool steel products. Mr Kazuhide explained that this system prevents mix-ups in inventory and provides all parties with extra confidence.

Another important thing to know about LKM is the fact that it is one of the very few mould base manufacturers in the world to have invested in in-house stress relief furnaces. Stress relief process, involving workpieces heated to below-critical temperature followed by uniformed cooling, is effective in removing internal stress, and is strongly recommended for large complex custom mould bases projects.

In closing Mr Kazuhide emphasised that LKM has been supplying mould base products to international customers for over 20 years, and it’s on a mission to support mould makers worldwide with top quality products and fast delivery services. With two facilities conveniently located close to major ports, such as Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the company is perfectly positioned to support customer’s needs.