Misumi Group has appointed Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO of digital manufacturing platform Fictiv, as president and CEO of Misumi Americas.
Evans’ promotion follows Misumi Group’s $350 million all-cash acquisition of Fictiv in 2025, a deal that expanded the Japanese industrial components giant’s footprint across the U.S., China, India and Mexico.
Evans to unify Misumi Americas and Fictiv into a single unified AI-powered platform for standard and custom parts serving climate tech, robotics, medtech, EVTOL, aerospace and factory automation.
“We are entering a new era of manufacturing strength in the Americas,” Evans said in a news release. “By bringing these businesses together on a single digital platform, we are giving customers unmatched access to both standard and custom parts, powered by AI, digital manufacturing, and world-class precision, so innovators across the U.S. can move from idea to production faster than ever before.”
Evans succeeds Nobuyuki Ashida, who led Misumi USA over the last decade.
Related: Fictiv acquired for $350M by Japanese components supplier
Cross-border manufacturing at the center
Fictiv operates production and supplier networks in the U.S., China, India and Mexico, giving Evans hands-on experience managing multi-country sourcing at a time when tariffs, geopolitics and nearshoring pressures are reshaping supply chains.
Tokyo-based Misumi Group is one of the largest global industrial suppliers of off-the-shelf manufacturing components. The company has 22 manufacturing sites and 20 logistics facilities around the world, producing and distributing industrial supplies to 318,000 global companies.
Founded in 2013, Fictiv offers on-demand procurement services for custom mechanical components parts for the U.S. manufacturing industry. The company has production operations in the U.S., China, India and Mexico, with a total of 400 employees.
Evans will oversee the integration of standard and custom manufacturing services across the Americas, helping customers move from design through production while navigating customs, duties and fluctuating trade policies across the Americas.
The strategy includes connecting American customers more directly to Misumi’s global network, which serves more than 320,000 companies worldwide and processes more than 200,000 shipments per day.
“The Americas are one of Misumi’s most important growth regions,” Ryusei Ono, representative director and president of Misumi Group Inc., said in a statement. “By expanding our digital model business, investing in AI in the U.S., and integrating Fictiv, we aim to significantly grow this business by 2030. Combining Japanese precision and quality with American digital innovation will create a manufacturing platform unlike any other in the world.”
Misumi Americas will support East–West growth through strategic locations:
- San Francisco — innovation, AI, software, and startup ecosystem; home base for Evans
- Chicago/Schaumburg, Illinois — logistics, customer operations, and Midwest manufacturing leadership
Related: Tariff turbulence deepens uncertainty across US supply chains
Tariffs, nearshoring and Mexico’s growing role
Evans’ expanded role comes as U.S. manufacturers grapple with elevated tariffs on Chinese and Indian imports and growing uncertainty around trade policy.
In recent months, Fictiv executives have described tariffs as the “new normal,” pushing customers to model sourcing decisions more carefully before committing to production in a given country.
Fictiv’s platform already provides live duty-rate visibility and cost modeling as tariffs fluctuate by product category and country of origin, capabilities that are expected to be extended across Misumi Americas under Evans’ leadership.
Fictiv opened a manufacturing facility in Monterrey in 2023, and nearshoring demand has continued to rise as manufacturers weigh labor availability, logistics reliability and tariff exposure alongside cost considerations.
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