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We promised some follow up on the Shark Tooth blade a little while back…

York Saw and Knife recently assisted a major consumer products, pressure-sensitive adhesives and materials producer in creating a new cut-off knife for a Winder/Rewinder machine.

The company developed a new, very tough film that typical knife designs could not cut cleanly and completely, resulting in a shredded, undesirable edge. Aware of York Saw and Knife’s free test cutting a perforating services (of flexible films utilizing a plunge cut with a straight, serrated edge blade), the company contacted York Saw and Knife and we quickly started to tackle the challenge.

York Saw and Knife engineered and constructed a unique, serrated edge knife to accommodate the film. Our client sent us their new, very tough film to begin test cutting. Utilizing the correct combination of materials, sharpness and cutting forces, YSK was able to generate and consistently replicate a clean cut.

Due to its intimidating look and ultra sharp blade, we nicknamed the cut-off knife the Shark Tooth.

We shipped a blade set to the company to use on their new, very tough film in their Winder/Rewinder. The Shark Tooth blade worked magnificently. In fact, the company commented “the cut was so clean that you can see the serrations from the knife very clearly in the cut.” Shortly thereafter, YSK received an order for the Shark Tooth cut-off knife. Another win-win resolution for York Saw and Knife. And our test cutter (Ol’ Cutty)!

***As stated, York Saw and Knife offers free test cutting and perforating of flexible films utilizing a plunge cut with a straight, serrated edge blade. Our applications engineers will test cut or perforate your material on our on-site test cutting equipment. We will return the sample cuts to you, along with a quotation for a knife determined to have the optimum cutting edge for your particular application.

If you are interested in utilizing YSK’s test cutting capabilities, email York Saw & Knife and get the ball rolling.

The following was a special April Fools’ email sent to our monthly email members. If you would like to subscribe to the YSK monthly email, email us and include your contact information.

York Saw and Knife continually searches for new materials and methods to manufacture our leading-edge cutting tools. Our applications engineers recently completed a three month working vacation in New Mexico working on - in conjunction with a private entity - a breakthrough, game-changing material.

As a result, York Saw and Knife is pleased to announce the release of FiberX. FiberX is an extremely lightweight, bendable “metal” that is virtually indestructible to any abuses, mistreatment or harsh environmental conditions. In addition, FiberX holds an edge significantly longer than any terrestrial high carbon and tool steels, and can be applied to any cutting, slicing, perforating, etc. application.

“We’re very pleased with the results of our engineers and working, grey-area partnership,” stated Michael Pickard, President and CEO of York Saw and Knife. “The FiberX technology delivers a superior blade and clearly provides YSK a definitive leg up on the industry, and quite possibly the universe.”

York Saw and Knife will begin taking orders on FiberX blades starting April 2…

Happy April Fools’ Day!

FiberX and the mysterious “grey-area partnership” are fictitious - an April Fools’ Day joke. But York Saw and Knife’s high quality, precision and tough blades are not.

Tough material or film affecting your production and wrecking your bottom line? Or just giving you a headache you don’t need? The YSK shark tooth will be the topic of an upcoming post.

Stay tuned…

Apple has the iPod nano. An Indian car maker (Tata Motors) launched its Nano this week.

Related, there’s buzz building re: nanotechnology in some of the industries York Saw & Knife serves. But, it’s only buzz, and it’s only building.  Packaging World notes a January report on nanotechnology in packaging by the Swiss Center for Technology Advancement TA-SWISS.

From PW, the Swiss group noted nanotechnology:

“…is already incorporated into some food packaging, for example in films, nano-silver layers or layers in PET bottles to improve barrier properties. They even cite greenhouse gas reductions associated with ‘nano-PET bottles.’ The study recognizes that there is a huge market potential for nano-materials in packaging.”

A very interesting read detailing the Swiss group and writer’s wrestling with the balance of potential and benefits of new nanotech versus the extent of regulation and safety a new technology warrants.

We welcome the opportunity to design a cut-off knife, straight knife or circular knife that would efficiently and effectively score a nano-material film, or slice a nano-material bottle. And if feasible - down the road - developing cutting tools utilizing nanotech.

York Saw and Knife is now active in Google Maps’ Local Business Center. By searching for or visiting us there, you’ll find our enhanced company listing featuring our contact info, directions, website link, general info and some photos and videos.

The YSK Google Maps business listing is a pretty cool feature, particularly for folks not familiar or previously not aware of York Saw and Knife and our high-quality products and services.

And it never hurts to drop some additional knowledge on the folks at Google.

All across food processing, materials conversion and packaging, folks are trying to cut costs to meet these challenging economic times.  John Henry, Certified Packaging Professional (CPP), suggests looking for ways to increase production line changeover efficiency. Henry notes,

“How much can you save via reduced changeover times? …The lowest number I’ve seen, from a pharmaceutical packager, is $13,500 an hour. A distilled spirits bottler calculates it at more than $32,000 an hour.”

Better quality changeovers, Henry argues, will lead to increased performance and efficiency, going straight to the bottom line.

YSK adds, conversely, going with an inferior part (an industrial knife, for instance) could necessitate more frequent changeovers or repair stoppages, increasing costs and negatively impacting the bottom line.

Earlier this week, we attended a webinar (billed as “From google to twitter”) on the various means of distributing news and information in the ever-expanding social media environment. The speakers discussed the social media press release and the usual suspects of twitter, facebook and LinkedIn, etc.

For a free webinar, it was very interesting and informative. If you’d like to check it out, email me or post in the comments and we’ll forward the powerpoint slides.

We are constantly looking for effective means to reach our customers and people and businesses we think would appreciate our services. Are you tweeting? On facebook? Linked in at Linkedin? We want to be where you are.

We do presently offer a nifty, informative monthly email. Again, email me or leave a note in the comments to be added to our list.

• Congrats to YSK neighbor, Graham Packaging, on getting mentions in the February 2009 Food & Beveraging Packaging (2009 Plants of the Year: Dannon, HP Hood).

YSK is both happy and excited to announce the week of 2/16 - 2/20 brought us more NEW yorksaw.com user registrations than any other week during the site’s existence!

We’re excited more and more people are seeing the value York Saw and Knife provides. And more and more people are becoming invested with YSK to sign up and register, submit RFQ’s through yorksaw.com and keep abreast of the latest news and notes via the York Saw Blog and our monthly *emails.

So thank you to all our customers, all the yorksaw.com website users - old and new, and the York Saw and Knife employees, who make it all happen.

* If you would like to be added to our monthly email list, email us your info and we’ll include you in our next distribution!

We talk to a number of people out there, and visit with others at shows or on the road when we can. We’re unsure, however, how many of you out there are aware of York Saw and Knife’s capabilities to manufacture specialty knives for OEM’s and their end users.

York Saw and Knife can outfit your slitter, scorer, bologna slicer… whatever. Our manufacturing system for producing knives and blades is one of the most flexible in the world, and we can produce premier product prototypes in less time than industry standards.

We also feature no minimum quantity order requirements.

So OEM and end users, this blogger challenges you to stump our customer support team and applications engineers with a blade (that you intend to produce/use). We’re confident we can manufacture any blade you can throw at us (we’d prefer if you just mailed it or sent drawings). Our version will be high quality, economical, tough, precision and feature less lead time. If we can’t, well, I don’t know. You’ll win the challenge and I’ll have to send something your way.

In the latest Food & Beverage Packaging (they’re welcome for the free pub), there’s an interesting roundtable featuring some of the heavyweights of food and beverage packaging (including one - Steve Gaeta of Unilever - who shares the same last name as this mutineer on Battlestar Galactica).

Anyway, the discussion centers on the industry outlook in 2009 and the challenges in creating an aesthetically pleasing, handy package that can be developed economically using principles of sustainability and (preferably) green materials.

Adaptability, flexibility and the openness to new ideas were common themes. The round table discussed the development and implementation of new designs, processes and materials with an eye on value and sustainability.

It’s an interesting read. The article made us consider how well-positioned YSK is to work with the packaging industry and OEM manufacturers. Want to know how? Email us!