Wüsthof (company)

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Wüsthof GmbH

logo
legal form Company with limited liability
founding 1814 (first mentioned as Abr. Wüsthof Scheerenfabrik )
Seat Solingen , Germany
management Harald Wüsthof, Viola Wüsthof
Number of employees 480 (2017)
Branch Cutlery
Website www.wuesthof.com

Entrance to Wüsthof on Kronprinzenstrasse

The Wüsthof GmbH is a cutlery manufacturing family business based in Solingen . The company, which is now in the seventh generation of the founding family, specializes primarily in forged kitchen knives in the middle and upper price segment and is one of the most important manufacturers of chef's knives worldwide . Wüsthof brand products are sold in over 80 countries; exports account for 80% of sales.

Over 90% of the products, including all knives from Wüsthof, are manufactured at the Solingen site in Germany. In 2018, Wüsthof employed around 480 people worldwide, around 400 of them in Solingen.

history

The Abr., Operated by Johann Abraham Wüsthof (1779–1839) . Wüsthof Scheerenfabrik, steel and iron goods in the Weinsberg valley near Höhscheid in Solingen was first mentioned in a local address book in 1814; Johann Abraham's father Johann Wilhelm Wüsthof already worked as a master cutter. In 1832 Johann Abraham Wüsthof moved his residence and work to Höfchen near Widdert , also a district of Solingen. His son Eduard Wüsthof (1817–1876) took over the family business in 1839 and established the manufacture of pocket knives as a second mainstay alongside the production of scissors. In 1869 the Eduard Wüsthof company was founded under the name “Factory & Warehouse of all types of forged scissors, pocket, pen, and dagger knives, table knives and forks, bread, vegetable and. Slaughter knife etc "registered in the Elberfeld company register.

Edward's sons Robert (1858–1914) and Eduard (1856–1936) ran the family business in the fourth generation. They acquired today's company premises on Kronprinzenstrasse and erected a two-story factory building there as well as the double villa that is still preserved today. In 1881, on a business trip to New York, in order to finance the old property in Höfchen, Robert Wüsthof established his first trade relations with the USA. Wüsthof successfully presented its products at national and international trade exhibitions , for example with its own pavilion at the 1902 industrial and trade exhibition in Düsseldorf. In 1914, Robert Wüsthof's son Robert (1887–1967) took over management of the company. In the 1930s, knife production was switched to stainless steel.

In 1960 Eduard Robert (1918–1975) and Wolfgang Wüsthof (1935) took over management of the company. In the 1970s, the company was restructured in view of outdated, mostly manual production facilities. The production of pocket knives, scissors and cutlery was discontinued and Wüsthof specialized in knives for household and professional use. While production was running, a new factory with partially automated production lines was built over ten years. In 1986 the first robot was installed there.

In 1987 Wüsthof a subsidiary in the most important export market, the USA, the Wusthof-Trident of America Inc . The subsidiary Wusthof-Trident of Canada was founded in 2012 .

The company's second production facility in Solingen's Lindgesfeld industrial area started operations in 2003; Another plant was opened there in 2014. Harald Wüsthof, the son of Eduard Robert, became managing partner in 2005. In 2014 Wolfgang Wüsthof's daughter Viola also took over a position in the management.

History of the trademark

Before 1895, Wüsthof marked its products with two crossed arrows. In May 1895, the trident still used today was registered with the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin as a trademark of Wüsthof. The logo, a white trident in a white circle on a red background since 1967, has been revised several times in detail and has been a red trident in a red circle since 2018. Today the Wüsthof logo is legally protected in almost all countries.

Business activity

Wüsthof operates three plants in Solingen at the Kronprinzenstrasse and Lindgesfeld locations as well as a development department. According to the company, more than 90% of the company's products are developed and manufactured here with almost all of their value added .

The company's sales network spans over 80 countries. Wüsthof has its own sales companies in the USA and Canada. The headquarters of the US sales company Wusthof Trident of America Inc. (WUSA) is in Norwalk, Connecticut . The Canadian sales company Wusthof Trident of Canada (WCAN) is based in Ottawa .

production

Today, Wüsthof knives are mainly manufactured using automated production systems, with work steps such as reworking edges and handle surfaces or fine-tuning the blades on a wet whetstone still being carried out by hand. Over 100 industrial robots are in use in the company.

Wüsthof mainly produces forged and some laser-cut knife series. Their production differs in terms of the steps for producing the knife blank. When manufacturing a forged knife, compression in the drop forge at around 1200 ° Celsius is used to create the shape of the blade blank with the bolster , a thickening between the blade and the handle, from a piece of stainless steel . The blanks of the laser-cut knives are cut from a stainless steel plate with a precision laser. The manufacturing process of the forged knives accordingly comprises around 55 work steps, that of the cut knives around 35 work steps.

The knife blanks are usually hardened to around 58 Rockwell at around 1050 ° Celsius, depending on the intended use, and then go through the multi-stage grinding and pleating (fine grinding) of the blades. The laser-controlled PEtec sharpening process developed by Wüsthof follows the assembly of the handles and several steps for edge and surface processing. Each blade is measured individually to determine the optimum peel angle and then sharpened to an angle of 28 degrees on the wet stone.

steel

All Wüsthof knives are forged from a single piece of stainless chrome-molybdenum-vanadium steel. The formula X50CrMoV15 engraved in the blades is the abbreviation for this high-alloy steel in the European standard EN 10027 , its material number is 1.4116. The alloy contains 0.5% carbon , 15% chromium and unspecified smaller amounts of molybdenum and vanadium .

Products

In addition to knives that are primarily intended for use in the kitchen, Wüsthof offers items for storing and sharpening knives and cutting pads.

knife

The knife range from Wüsthof currently (2019) includes the forged series Classic , Classic Ikon , Classic Icon Creme , Grand Prix II , Epicure and Crafter as well as the lasered series Gourmet , Silverpoint and Urban Farmer with a total of around 350 different knife models. The Classic series includes almost the entire range of over 70 knife types and blade shapes produced by Wüsthof. This includes chef's knife, Santoku knife and other knives in the Asian style ( Nakiri , Chai Dao), peeling and paring knife , paring knife , tomato knife , cheese knife , steak knife, slicer knife, bread knife , pastry knife, slicing knife , fillet knife , boning knife and cleaver .

Classic series tomato knives

The Urban Farmer series, newly launched in 2019 , also includes a harvest knife and machete .

Sharpen

For sharpening and sharpening knives, Wüsthof offers rods made of steel , ceramic or diamond, whetstones and manual and electrical hand tools ( knife sharpeners ) for easy regrinding of knife blades.

Knife storage and cutting pads

The Wüsthof range includes knife blocks , drawer inserts, magnetic holders and various bags, folders and cases for storing knives. Wüsthof also offers cutting boards and pads made of wood or plastic.

Sponsorship

Wüsthof is a partner of the Association of German Chefs , the All Japan Chefs Association and other international chefs associations and thus the official outfitter of the German and Japanese national chefs teams, among others.

Awards

In the years from 2008 to 2016 Ed. At the international trade fair Ambiente in Frankfurt, Wüsthof Dreizackwerk KG was chosen by the household goods / GPK (FHG) group of the Zentralverband Hartwarenhandel eV as the best partner for the specialist trade in the field of household goods. In this choice, the categories of retail loyalty, pricing policy, current products, complaint behavior and market significance are assessed.

Furthermore, from 1998 to 2018, Wüsthof consistently took first place in the biennial election for “Super Partner” (since 2018 “Best Partner”) of the Association for Gastronomy and Large Kitchen Equipment eV (GGKA). Seven categories are assessed here: the four quality categories of execution, complaint behavior, quality and reliability as well as the sales categories of sales policy, sales support and revenue recognition.

Excellent series and products

The two knife series Classic and Grand Prix von Wüsthof received the highest ratings from the American magazine Consumer Reports in the November 2005 issue, as well as the highest ratings from Cook's Illustrated magazine .

The Santoku knife with article number 4174 from the Grand Prix II series was awarded a test winner by Stiftung Warentest 01/2008 with a grade of good (1.8). The chef's knife with article number 4582/20 from the Classic series was awarded the grade very good (92.3%) in the 11/2012 issue of ETM-Testmagazin in a comparison test of stainless steel chef's knives. The Slider grinding aid from Wüsthof received the Plus X Award in 2015 in the categories of innovation, high quality, design and functionality.

literature

  • Norman Weinstein: Mastering Knife Skills. The Essential Guide to the Most Important Tools in Your Kitchen. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, New York NY 2008, ISBN 978-1-58479-667-1 .
  • Phaidon Design Classics. Volume 1. Phaidon Press Ltd, London et al. 2006, ISBN 0-7148-4399-7 .

Web links

Commons : Wüsthof knives  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Uwe Vetter: Wüsthof is expanding on Kronprinzenstrasse. rp-online.de, January 31, 2018, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Global Chef's knives Market 2019 by Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2025. gizmotribune.com, May 11, 2019, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Chef's knife in the test. test.de, September 5, 2018, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Tomé Morrissy-Swann: The best chef's knives. telegraph.co.uk, April 24, 2019, accessed July 11, 2019 .
  5. ^ Lesley Stockton, Mathilde Fassin: Soldes: le meilleur couteau de cuisine, pour les chefs comme pour les cuisiniers amateurs. lemonde.fr, November 4, 2018, accessed on July 11, 2019 (French).
  6. ↑ a b Wüsthof - A company in transition with a clear strategic focus. Interview with the management. Press release. wuesthof.com, January 2, 2019, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  7. ↑ a b c The history of Wüsthof - seven generations, one company. (PDF) Anniversary Brochure 2014. Wüsthof, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  8. ↑ a b c Uwe Vetter: Wüsthof produces 8,000 knives a day. rp-online.de, September 17, 2014, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  9. ↑ Kitchen knife and trident - a symbolic story. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  10. ↑ a b Wüsthof - family business since 1814. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  11. ↑ production. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  12. ^ Wusthof-Trident of America Inc. bloomberg.com, accessed July 11, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Wüsthof Trident of Canada Inc. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  14. ↑ a b History of a forged knife. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Uwe Vetter: The knife expert from the niche. rp-online.de, February 3, 2016, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  16. ↑ The steel. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Product overview. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  18. ↑ Overview of our knife series. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  19. ↑ a b c Wüsthof catalog 2019. (PDF) wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Dashing city elite. faz.net, April 12, 2019, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  21. ↑ Sharpening Articles. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  22. ↑ Keep. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  23. ↑ Accessories. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Gourmet partner. wuesthof.com, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  25. ↑ Sponsors - Wüsthof. vkd.com, accessed July 11, 2019 .
  26. ^ All Japan Chefs Association. ajca.jp, accessed on July 11, 2019 (jp).
  27. ↑ Partner of the specialist trade 2007: Committed to the specialist trade . (PDF) In: ZHH Information . No. 03, 2008, pp. 9-11.
  28. ↑ Best partner (formerly super partner). bwb-online.de, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  29. ↑ GGKA trade association honors Superpartner 2016. bwb-online.de, February 3, 2018, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  30. ↑ Best partner 2018/19 awarded. bwb-online.de, February 20, 2016, accessed on July 11, 2019 .
  31. ↑ http://www.testeo.de/testbericht/auf-messers-schneide-89832.html
  32. ↑ http://etm-testmagazin.de/tests/kueche-und-haushalt/kochmesser-im-test-774
  33. ↑ Wüsthof Slider grinding aid. plusxaward.de, accessed on July 11, 2019 .