American Cutting Edge Blog

The purchase of industrial knives and blades is typically made based on price. End-users know what knife or blade is required for the machine, they look up the correct item number, compare prices and then buy the product that has the best competitive price. Many decision makers are unaware that changing the material of a knife can influence the performance of the blade including better wear resistance, improved cutting performance, and superior slit quality. As we have mentioned in previous blog posts, metallurgy matters when considering the right material for your cutting application.

Looks Can Be Deceiving

ACE's accounting department plays an important role in our organization. Their work touches every single aspect of our business from sales and supply chain management to human resources and marketing and everything in between.

Most people typically think about accounting during this time of year in relation to accounts receivable and tax returns, the accounting department plays a much more central role in our industrial blade and knife manufacturing business than most realize.

Accounting is involved in all the major business decisions we make. They provide information that's vital to the decision making process. Without them, we wouldn't have the details required to accurately analyze which direction we should take, whether we should hire a new person, venture into a new product line, reduce inventory, go with a new supplier, buy a new piece of equipment, and the list goes on and

As a supplier of industrial knives, American Cutting Edge relies on decades of expertise to solve some of the most complex problems facing our customers.

An in-depth understanding of cutting and engineering combined with our hands-on approach provides our customers with all of the benefits of on an on-site engineering team without the overhead.

Here are three stories that demonstrate our ability to bring innovative solutions to our customer's most pressing needs.

If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will. “ Bob Hooey

Translating Needs into Specifications

Recently, a large corporation approached American Cutting Edge with a concern.

The knife used to perforate the bags of their food products was rusting. As a result, the company was changing out knives

One of the goals of the plastics industry is to close the loop of plastic production to increase the use of existing materials and significantly reduce waste. You can't turn around without seeing plastics. They're absolutely everywhere. As far as materials go, plastic is cheap and can be used in seemingly endless applications. It's estimated that a single plastic bag only has a 15-minute lifespan. Brief use of plastic products has become a hallmark of what many consider to be a modern disposable lifestyle in which many plastic products are only used once.

1. Globally, over 1-million plastic bottles are used every minute
2. 5-trillion single-use plastic bags are used annually
3. 300-million tons of plastic waste is produced every year
4. Only 9%

The critical importance of reducing the amount of waste in landfills is more prevalent than ever. As environmental concerns increase, granulating operations globally are growing in number and looking for ways to maximize efficiency by increasing output and reducing costs.

How granulator knives fit and how sharp they are have a significant impact on the efficiency of any granulating operation. Well-maintained knives reduce dust and fine-free, uniform regrinds. Dull blades do the opposite and produce regrinds of various sizes with dust and fines. Granulator blades that are not well-maintained can cause premature wearing of the knives and can make setting the desired gap impossible.

The Gap

The gap between

Quality is everything in a slitting operation. We have talked a lot about blades and material options in our ACE Better Business Blog, but there's definitely more to achieving the perfect cut than those two things.

There's no room for variations in the quality of the cut during the life of your blades. That means the last cut your blades make has to be as good as the first. There's no opportunity to compromise. So what makes a difference between being able to ensure that are no variations in the quality of cut?

Of all of the factors to consider including the skill of your operator and your cutting environment, the quality of any slitting process is the one aspect of your operation that is most directly related to the ability to maintain consistent settings on every single knife holder on the slitting system. This is the only way to obtain the perfect cut.

When reviewing the pneumatic

The history of adding carbon to iron dates back to 400 BC when Indian metalworkers devised the very first smelting method. Known as Wootz steel, the material was shipped across the world and was used to forge Damascus steel swords. Rumored to be sharp enough to cut feathers in midair and slice through a rifle barrel, these weapons were renowned for their toughness, resistance to shattering, and ability to be honed into a resilient, sharp edge while still remaining flexible.

While your skinning knives don't have to cut through a rifle barrel or feathers, they do need to be razor sharp. The accuracy,

With over 55 years in the business of manufacturing blades and industrial knives, American Cutting Edge supports various industries in the cutting and chopping of fiber, textiles, and composites. Our experience and in-depth knowledge enables us to supply the highest quality stock and custom blades to the fiber and fiberglass industry.

It takes 20-years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently. “ Warren Buffet

One of our long-term customers, a global manufacturer of fiberglass components, approached us with an opportunity to support them with a solution to provide a precise cut on fiberglass. Because the fiberglass being cut was exceptionally fine and easily frayed, the blade had to maintain a sharp edge and provide a clean cut over time.

The goal was to provide our valued partner with a solution that would help them accomplish

This week we're taking a deeper dive with ACE's director of supply chain management, Dan Brownfield, who will walk us through the basics of supply chain management. With over 35-years of supply chain experience, Dan brings a wealth of knowledge and business experience to ACE. We're glad he's part of our team and appreciate his expertise.

Breaking down the definition of supply chain management, it's the planning, sourcing, securing, and delivery of products for customers. While that certainly sounds simple enough, there's a lot to it. And, it has a significant impact on the ACE customer experience including pricing and delivery of products.

During his tenure in the field of supply chain management, he's seen a lot of changes including going from manually tracking of shipments and information using spreadsheets to full supply chain software programs that automate reporting.

There's lot of talk about supply chain management (SCM) and how it's critically important to success of a business. Touching every aspect of business operations from logistics and purchasing to information technology, an organization's supply chain and how it's managed can make or break a company.

What exactly is a supply chain and what's so critical about the role it plays in business? Most importantly, why should you care about your vendor's supply chain?

The simple definition of SCM is that it is the handling of the entire production flow of a good or service ” starting from the raw components all the way to delivering the final product to the consumer. Much more than a purchasing and negotiation function, SCM is the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the goal of creating net value.