Brad Miller

As an industrial manufacturer, you have a lot of steps in your production process. You might not give much thought to the impact replacement knives, blades, wear parts, and hardware have on your operation. The reality is that balancing the amount of these components to keep on-hand for your cutting operation is a significant challenge. Regardless of the industry, having the right amount of replacement part inventory on-hand can have a significant impact on the business. Working with the right supplier not only helps organizations manage the financial aspects of extra knives, blades, and parts but also helps keep production running in the event of a major knife failure.

Let's start with the definition of a warehouse agreement. Also known as inventory management programs, these agreements come in different forms, which we will cover later in this blog. The

Understanding the many supply chain options available for procuring industrial knives allows businesses to recognize suppliers that are eager and able to provide the best option for their cutting application.

The blade material, tolerances, size, and volume all play a role in determining the most efficient and effective supply chain. Industrial knife suppliers that investigate the needs of their customers and take the time to understand how the knife will be used, inventory demands, and budgetary constraints can leverage this information, their long-standing relationships, and experience to create a supply chain that best meets the needs of the customer.

For industrial cutting applications, optimal sourcing can be just as critical optimizing the design of the blade. From in-house manufacturing to overseas

Many industrial knife customers prefer to order blades that are made in the United States. For most, this distinction connotes quality and provides a sense of patriotism in that American jobs are supported by the order. But, where are your American made knives really from?

However, understanding the origin of your blades is not as simple as a Made in America stamp. True understanding requires taking a deeper dive into each step of the procurement and manufacturing process.

5 Questions to Ask About the Origin of Your Industrial Knives

1. What is the country of origin for your tool steel?

Tool and High-Speed steels are the raw material used to manufacture many industrial blades. Most of this is produced outside the United States. It is only available from within

When was the last time you spoke to your industrial knife supplier or sent out an email to ask a quick question about knife performance? If you can't remember, it has been too long. If you can remember and the response you received was a recorded line or a generic check out our website

Whether you're in plastics recycling, packaging, food processing or other industries that require industrial knives, it is easy to fall into an ordering rut. Instead of evaluating your cutting operation and looking for optimization opportunities, the daily work takes over, and organizations simply order the same knives over and over from the same supplier they have always used. Even as these knives begin to fail or display serious wear issues, provide poor cut quality, or require increased maintenance, businesses continue ordering the same replacement knives. This often occurs because knife users do not have the in-house expertise to evaluate their cutting application and develop improvement plans specifically related to the blades.

Knife manufacturers have the experience and knowledge to evaluate your cutting application and recognize optimization