1980
A small rope production facility starts up in the village of Ruisbroek in the Klein-Brabant region in the province of Antwerp specialising gradually in rope based play equipment parts.
1990
The family business becomes a limited company with the name Klein-Brabantse Touwslagerij (KBT).
1994
KBT moves its location to Sint-Amands where the first new facility of 1700 m² is built. The main market is Belgium and in the Netherlands an agent is promoting KBT products.
1995
KBT starts cooperation with CDM trading company (Chris De Mey) and gets its first imports from China. Plastic, metal and rubber items are added to the range of play equipment parts.
1997
KBT invests in production of plastic slides in Leeuwarden (the Netherlands) through a joint venture with 2 Dutch partners.
2000
Chris De Mey (CDM nv) acquires KBT in a joint buy out operation with Fortis Private Equity. KBT becomes part of CDM group and Fortis Private Equity acquires 30 % of CDM group. Aramo holding is established representing interests of Chris De Mey in the group of companies.
2001
KBT develops its sales area further into Europe (France, Germany, UK, …) and the range of products is growing rapidly.
2002
KBT builds a new 1500 m² warehouse opposite the existing one in Sint-Amands. Meanwhile yearly growth is more than 25 %.
2003
CDM Ningbo is established as the first joint venture for production in Ningbo (PR China) in cooperation with a local partner.
2004
KBT Poland is established with a sales office in Warsaw (Poland), with Lukasz Dzienisz in charge to serve Eastern Europe. In the same year KBT wins the “Export Vlaanderen” Export Award for the province of Antwerp. 85 % of the turnover is now for export.
2006
KBT Australia is established as a joint venture with a local partner in Melbourne (Australia). Meanwhile in Belgium a new warehouse and office building is built by CDM group. Total storage area including warehouses in the Netherlands is now 10.000 m². KBT is present in 35 countries.
2007
CDM Far East is established as sales office in Hong Kong to serve the Asian market and to handle overseas exports. Ningbo Best Swing is established as a second joint venture in Ningbo (PR China) to acquire 10.000 m² of industrial area with the purpose of building a new factory. Meanwhile in Belgium Aramo holding of Chris De Mey buys out Fortis Private Equity and becomes sole shareholder of the group in Europe.
2008
KBT Argentina is established as sales office in Buenos Aires (Argentina) with a local partner in order to develop the South-American market.
2009
CDM Uruguay starts up as a hub with the same joint venture partner from Argentina. KBT Poland moves into a central distribution warehouse in Lodz (Poland).
Lukasz Dzienisz, acquires 25 % of the shares of KBT Polska sp. z o.o. in Poland.
2010
KBT discontinues production at Sint-Amands (Belgium) and moves it to Piaseczno (Poland) near the capital of Warsaw. Ningbo Best Swing, subsidiary of CDM Far East, opens a 15.000 m² facility in Liyang (Zhejiang) (PR China) for production and assembly of play equipment components. CDM Far East develops further in FOB business overseas.
2011
Increase bvba is established by Aramo holding as a consulting company within the group with the purpose of product development for the group and for third parties, advisory services regarding standards and certification to the industry and the local authorities.
2012
Ningbo Best Swing strengthens its management with a local factory manager and a European QA/QC manager.
2013
Filip Wauters, sales manager Europe, acquires 20 % of the shares of KBT nv in Belgium.
2014
Aramo holding, CDM and KBT celebrate together with their Chinese long term partner 20 years of presence in China.
2015
Chris De Mey sells the majority of his shares in Aramo holding in an MBO operation involving 3 key managers in the group. KBT ATW nv is established with 4 shareholders with long standing experience in the market of playground equipment.
2016
KBT Argentina, CDM Uruguay and KBT Australia are discontinued and these markets are now served by exclusive distributors. An exclusive distribution deal is closed in Japan to serve the Japanese market.
2017
Blue Rabbit Play, LLC located in Atlanta (Georgia) is established as a distributor for KBT ATW group in the USA. The company is commercialising a range of ASTM certified KBT items customised for the US market.
2018
KBT ATW group acquires its Australian distributor Quality Play and related companies in Sydney (Australia).
Activity Toys Australia Pty Ltd (ATA) is the new KBT ATW group branch distributing the KBT products in Australia and New-Zealand.
2018
KBT Foundation vzw is incorporated as a charity organisation providing playground equipment for children in developing countries. KBT Foundation is focusing on small scale projects in local communities in Asia, Africa and South-America.
2019
The Board of Directors elected Łukasz Dzienisz to take on the role of CEO of the KBT Group, starting October first of 2019. His main target will be to unify the activities of the global KBT branches, to improve our service towards our customers and put KBT on the map as the one innovative leader in playground equipment.
2021
Building on the road to a unified KBT service and the optimization of its logistics operations, KBT established a central supply chain and distribution centre for all European operations. From January 2021, procurement, warehousing and logistics will be managed through a single distribution centre in Piaseczno, Poland.
