The Cutting Edge

A ONCE-THRIVING CUTLERY INDUSTRY, WHOSE roots go back to English craftsmen who came to America in the 1700s, has pretty much disappeared from the landscape. But Cutco Corp., a $184 million company founded in 1949 in the small town of Olean, N.Y., survives and thrives making knives because of management's commitment to manufacture in the United States. Jim Stitt is the president and CEO of ALCAS Corp., Cutco's parent firm.

IW: Why does Cutco manufacture in the U.S.?

Stitt: We purchased this company from the Aluminum Co. of America in 1982 and made the decision to continue the course of where we had been. The company was founded on the [principle] of making a very high-quality household cutlery product that was sold in the home .. . and the best strategy [for us] was to continue the course of high quality and not try to get down and compete on price. We have really said quality is most important ... and we feel we can best do that right here where we have been manufacturing from the very first day in Olean, N.Y., about 70 miles due south of Buffalo. We have the ability to maintain and control our manufacturing process [because it's] close at hand. I can walk out of my office and be on the factory floor in five minutes. We can very easily flex ourselves up and flex ourselves down because we're made right here, and we're delivered right from here. We have the ability to get a good workforce, an energetic workforce that wants to work here in Olean in the U.S.A. We have a principled, strong commitment to being U.S. made. We think it does add value.