Fictiv CEO Dave Evans appointed president of MiSUMi Americas

“Fictiv will play a key role in MiSUMi’s strategy by extending our platform beyond standard parts into custom manufacturing, while keeping the same focus on quality, reliability and precision," explained Evans (Figure 1). "By integrating Fictiv’s digital capabilities with MiSUMi’s scale and catalog depth, we can create a unified platform that supports engineers across a much broader range of use cases.”

Under Evans' leadership, the integrated platform, harnessing MiSUMi's portfolio of configurable components and Fictiv's digital manufacturing platform, will be designed to deliver faster innovation cycles from prototype through production. Key sectors for this include factory automation, climate technology, robotics, medical tech, electric vehicles (EV) and aerospace.

“Building Fictiv taught me how engineers actually work when speed, complexity and uncertainty are real constraints,” said Evans. “That experience, connecting digital tools directly to manufacturing outcomes, will be incredibly valuable as we scale MiSUMi’s offerings across the Americas. It’s about pairing MiSUMi’s strength in standard components with a deep understanding of custom manufacturing and modern supply chains.”

In his expanded role, Evans will continue to oversee Fictiv while also serving as president of MiSUMi Americas to ensure tight operational and strategic alignment.

"We are entering a new era of manufacturing strength in the Americas," said Evans. "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 United States can move from idea to production faster than ever before."

 

Leadership transition

Evans succeeds Nobuyuki Ashida, who has led MiSUMi USA over the past decade.

"It has been an honor to lead MiSUMi USA," said Ashida. "Dave brings the vision, energy and digital leadership needed for our next phase, and I will support a smooth transition through the end of February as he takes on this role. I am confident he will accelerate our mission to serve customers with speed, quality, and innovation."

At Fictiv, Evans helped pioneer the digital manufacturing marketplace model, building a global network of vetted manufacturing partners and launching cloud-based tools that reduced the complexity of sourcing custom mechanical parts. Under his leadership, Fictiv produced more than 40 million commercial and prototype components for companies worldwide.

“Our most important focus is helping customers move faster and with more confidence, from early design through production, by simplifying how they access both standard and custom manufacturing," explained Evans. "That means investing in systems, data and partnerships that reduce friction across the entire supply chain, not just optimizing individual steps.”

The move comes as MiSUMi Group is rapidly expanding its digital model business, which digitally connects everything from quotation through order placement for manufacturing companies. The company is growing its product lineup, investing heavily in artificial intelligence and leveraging its acquisition of Fictiv to accelerate innovation across standard, custom and mass-production parts and assemblies.

“Our goal is to meet engineers where they work today, whether they need a standard component off the shelf or a highly customized part built to spec," said Evans. "Bringing those capabilities together on a single platform allows us to support the full lifecycle of product development in a much more integrated way.”

MiSUMi's digital model business, led by services such as meviy, is expected to grow significantly, with strategic plans to increase business by more than 200% by fiscal 2030. “The Americas are one of MiSUMi's most important growth regions,” said Ryusei Ono, representative director and president of MiSUMi Group. "By expanding our digital model business, investing in AI in the United States 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."

Each day, roughly 10,000 CAD files are submitted through digital services creating one of the richest manufacturing design datasets in the world and powering AI-driven quoting, manufacturability analysis, and process optimization.

“AI is most powerful in manufacturing when it’s applied to real constraints, like manufacturability, lead times and supply risk," explained Evans. "By combining MiSUMi’s data and scale with Fictiv’s digital infrastructure, we can give engineers better insight earlier in the design process and help them make decisions that hold up in production.”

 

Japanese precision

MiSUMi's heritage is rooted in Japan's manufacturing excellence, precision engineering, tight tolerance control, operational rigor and continuous improvement.

"Dave represents the spirit of innovation we see accelerating across the Americas," Ono continued. "By bringing together MiSUMi's foundation of precision and quality with Fictiv's digital innovation, MiSUMi Americas is positioned to lead the next generation of manufacturing. We are proud to support the growth of the American industry while continuing to deliver the exacting standards of Japanese manufacturing that customers trust worldwide."

MiSUMi Americas will support east–west growth through locations in the San Francisco and Chicago metropolitan areas. Growth will come from connecting American and Mexican customers to the global MiSUMi network serving more than 323,000 companies worldwide, processing over 200,000 shipments per day, and building on Fictiv's digital manufacturing platform.

"Our mission is to make manufacturing faster, smarter, and more accessible," said Evans. "From climate tech to aerospace, robotics and med tech, innovators need a partner that delivers precision and speed at scale. MiSUMi Americas will be that partner."