Kader Industrial Company Limited was founded in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
in 1948 by
Ting Hsiung Chao. It was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1985 and presently trades under the name of "Kader Holdings Company Limited".
The company today is one of the world's largest manufacturers of
toy
A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
and
hobby railways, and also has wider manufacturing interests as well as substantial investments in property. The vision of Mr. Ting Hsiung Chao is shared by the Ting family, which continues to lead the Kader Group.
Kader's initial focus product was to manufacture
plastic
Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
flashlights, which at the time were a novelty.
Present day
Today the companies main facilities are located in
Dongguan
Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the s ...
,
PRC
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Manufacturing operations are divided into two categories
Original Design Manufacturer
An original design manufacturer is a company that designs and manufactures a product that is eventually rebranded by another firm for sale. Such companies allow the firm that owns or licenses the brand to produce products while having to engage in ...
(the contract manufacturing of goods for the brand/design owner); and manufacturing of precision model railroads designed and marketed by Kader group companies. ODM customers have included toys for
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
,
Hasbro
Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...
and
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...
; and electrical goods housings for
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
Panasonic
formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Osaka P ...
.
Model Railways
In 1984 Kader acquired its customer 'Bachmann Bros.', which had suffered from falling profits and financial difficulties. Kader changed the name to
Bachmann Industries
Bachmann Industries (Bachmann Brothers, Inc.) is a Bermuda-registered, Chinese-owned company, globally headquartered in Hong Kong; specialising in model railroading.
Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the home of its North American headqu ...
and used the brand to draw in North American customers.
As well as introducing its own brands to North America, Kader under the Bachmann brand built itself up as the largest volume seller of model railways by purchasing other failing companies, using the Bachmann name to front a series of purchases in the rest of the world to combat the then poor perceptions of Hong Kong-based production quality. In 1989 a European division was set up initially reusing the moulds previously used for the
Palitoy
Palitoy was a British toy company. It manufactured some of the most popular toys in Britain, some original items and others under licence. Its products included Action Man, Action Girl, Action Force, Tiny Tears, Pippa, Tressy, Mainline Model Rai ...
'Mainline' UK model railway products to create the
Bachmann Branchline Bachmann Branchline is a British OO gauge model railway brand manufactured by Bachmann Europe PLC a subsidiary of Bachmann Industries, and is used for British outline OO scale model railways.
Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased ...
models. 1992 it bought Liliput of Austria and in 2000 it bought
Graham Farish
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
Graham Farish is a company that produces large quantities of British outline model railway equipment in N gauge.
History
The Poole, Dorset based manufacturer of radio parts and kits entered the model railway busin ...
. In 2007 it acquired the assets of Williams models and launched "Williams by Bachmann".
Kader's
business model
A business model describes how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value,''Business Model Generation'', Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Alan Smith, and 470 practitioners from 45 countries, self-published, 2010 in economic, social, ...
for each take over, from its original purchase of Bachmann to the present day, is to buy a perceived quality brand in the target market or country. The company then closes local in-country production facilities, and then improves quality by re-engineering the models in Hong Kong, and reduces cost by producing the models in mainland
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
Presently Bachmann offers trains in
H0 scale,
N scale
N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...
,
On30
On30 (also called On2, O16.5 and Oe) gauge is the modelling of narrow gauge railways in O scale on HO () gauge track in 1:48 scale ratio by American and Australian model railroaders, in 1:43.5 scale ratio by British and French model railroade ...
, and
G scale
Large scale or G scale (, G gauge) is a track gauge for model railways which is often used for outdoor garden railways because of its size and durability. G scale trains use a fixed track gauge of to accommodate a range of rail transport m ...
around the world, in addition to buildings and accessories:
*North America – Bachmann Industries, Williams by Bachmann
*
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
–
Bachmann Branchline Bachmann Branchline is a British OO gauge model railway brand manufactured by Bachmann Europe PLC a subsidiary of Bachmann Industries, and is used for British outline OO scale model railways.
Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased ...
offer
00 gauge models, while
Graham Farish
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
Graham Farish is a company that produces large quantities of British outline model railway equipment in N gauge.
History
The Poole, Dorset based manufacturer of radio parts and kits entered the model railway busin ...
produce British scale (1:148)
N gauge
N scale is a popular model railway scale. Depending upon the manufacturer (or country), the scale ranges from 1:148 to 1:160. In all cases, the ''gauge'' (the distance between the rails) is . The term N ''gauge'' refers to the track dimensions, ...
models under the
Graham Farish
{{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022
Graham Farish is a company that produces large quantities of British outline model railway equipment in N gauge.
History
The Poole, Dorset based manufacturer of radio parts and kits entered the model railway busin ...
name
*Europe – Liliput and
Palitoy
Palitoy was a British toy company. It manufactured some of the most popular toys in Britain, some original items and others under licence. Its products included Action Man, Action Girl, Action Force, Tiny Tears, Pippa, Tressy, Mainline Model Rai ...
*China – from 2000, Bachmann also started producing Chinese outline models under the Bachmann China name, opening the world's first Bachmann speciality retail shop in
Shanghai
Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
in 2005
In November 2008, Kader also took over Sanda Kan, its nearest competitor for precision model railway items in the Hong-Kong based ODM contract manufacturing business. Sanda Kan's biggest client had been Bachmann's dominant rival in the UK market
Hornby Railways
Hornby Railways is a British model railways manufacturing company. Its roots date back to 1901 in Liverpool, when founder Frank Hornby received a patent for his Meccano construction toy. The first clockwork train was produced in 1920. In 1938, ...
, which had concentrated production there since 1997–2001. The company also manufactured for
Lionel, Atlas,
Life-Like
Life-Like was a manufacturer of model trains and accessories. In 1960, the company purchased the assets of the defunct Varney Scale Models and began manufacturing model trains and accessories under the name Life-Like in 1970. In 2005 the parent co ...
,
Brawa,
Märklin
Gebr. Märklin & Cie. GmbH or Märklin (MÄRKLIN or MAERKLIN in capital letters) is a German toy company. The company was founded in 1859 and is based at Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. Although it originally specialised in doll house accesso ...
, and of the order of 50 other model train companies.
However it had been experiencing severe production and debt problems after a takeover by
J.P. Morgan private equity. The
merger
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
was hailed by one producer as "a marriage made in heaven",
although it is not yet clear what long-term effects the concentration of the ownership of production will have. Kader announced that Sanda Kan would continue as a distinct entity, and that Sanda Kan's original owner W.S. Ting had agreed to come back to lead the company. Hornby's managing director pronounced the acquisition "a welcome outcome
hat
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
removes the uncertainty over the future of Sanda Kan". Most Hornby production remained with Sanda Kan until 2015 when Hornby paid £0.5m to end its relationship with the Chinese supplier, and secure the return of tooling and moulds. Hornby had experienced supply chain problems, with as little as 60% of goods being delivered on time.
1993 Thailand factory fire
On May 10, 1993, there was a major fire at the Kader Toy Factory, a joint venture, in
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. 188 people were killed, and over 500 were seriously injured. Most of the victims were young female workers from rural families. More people were killed in this industrial accident than in the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history. The ...
; making it one of the worst industrial disasters in history.
Real estate
Kader also owns real estate in the US, and is the owner of the Resort at Squaw Creek, located at
Squaw Valley Ski Resort
Palisades Tahoe is a ski resort in the western United States, located in Olympic Valley, California, northwest of Tahoe City in the Sierra Nevada range. From its founding in 1949, the resort was known as Squaw Valley, but it changed its name in ...
in
Olympic Valley
Olympic Valley (historically or informally known as Squaw Valley) is an unincorporated community located in Placer County, California northwest of Tahoe City along California State Highway 89 on the banks of the Truckee River near Lake Tahoe. I ...
, California.
References
External links
* {{official, http://www.kader.com.hk/
Manufacturing companies established in 1948
Multinational companies headquartered in Hong Kong
Toy companies of Hong Kong
Model railroad manufacturers
Toy train manufacturers
Hong Kong brands
Model manufacturers of China
Toy companies established in 1948