KEYTON, a combination of design, comfort and high technology
May 11th, 2005
Expansión Newspaper

Keyton designs, manufactures and commercialises massage chairs. Its commitment to R+D has resulted in it taking out over one hundred patents and has made it competitive in the marketplace.

J.JARDÓN. Madrid

Eurokeyton is a family business that was founded in 1989. After attending an electronics trade fair in Las Vegas USA in the 1980s, Keyton’s founder, Enrique Cantó, saw massage chairs for the first time and decided to become their Spanish distributor. Leaving his audio-video business, Cantó entered this market, a market that gave greater margins and profits. At first he began as a distributor of massage chairs imported from Japan but he soon considered the option of designing and manufacturing them himself.

Today the Alicantean company has a staff of ninety. Its headquarters is home to both its production centre and Innovation Department with a staff of seven. “Competition in this particular market comes from Japan and China and it is in constant renewal. “We have decided to make a firm commitment to technology and to offering a more European design” explains Pedro Alvado, Keyton’s CEO.

Seventy percent of the Company’s production is exported to over forty countries and is commercialised under the Keyton brand. “World leaders and celebrities have purchased our chairs. We have discovered that the late Pope John Paul II bought one and so did Tony Blair’s wife”, says Alvado. He also states that this year the company will start to work in the United States, opening a headquarters where the Company will have a warehouse and commercial agents. “Although we have sold some chairs there, the US market is wary of imported products that are not physically present in the country”.

The Alicante-based company regards R+D as being essential but it also recognises that undertaking projects needs important financial support. Keyton, with over more than one hundred patents in its possession, has developed three projects with the help of the Centre for Industrial Technological Development (CDTI).

In 1997 the CDTI granted the Company a zero-interest rate loan to develop a complete massage system in its chairs. In 2003 Keyton again availed itself of this type of aid to develop a product that incorporated a Shiatsu massage system and last year it also received CDTI financing in order to undertake an international technological promotion of this type of massage system. “The soft credits that we have received from the CDTI and other bodies have enabled us achieve what we have done so far.” Alvado comments.

"Our aim over the next few years is to continue growing in new markets and to establish the Keyton brand” the CEO continues. “Therefore with regard to our R+D, our efforts will be directed at the spa market. We want to offer special models for spas, areas that are becoming an important attraction in hotels, areas that are dedicated to offering clients the chance to relax. We also want to undertake a programme of product diversification and as this will be a high-cost programme, we are going to try and obtain all types of financial support” concludes Alvado.