 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Knipex" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
| Company type | Privately owned |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hand tools |
| Founded | 1882 (Wuppertal, Germany) |
| Headquarters | Wuppertal, Germany |
| Products | Pliers, cutters, crimping tools, wire strippers, insulated tools |
Number of employees | Manufacturing: 1,800 Knipex Group total: 2,600[1] |
| Website | www.knipex.com |
Knipex (English:/kəˈnɪpɛks/;[2]German pronunciation:[ˈknɪpɛks]) is a globally-distributedGerman manufacturer ofhand tools, best known for itspliers. Knipex tools are principally used by professionals in varioustrades but find increasing popularity inDIY andEDC markets.
For four generations Knipex has been an independent, owner-managedfamily company. The company is headquartered inWuppertal,Cronenberg. All manufacturing of core products like pliers takes place in Wuppertal, Germany. Peripheral items such as Knipex-branded leather punches and tweezers are made elsewhere bythird-party manufacturers.
The company was founded as aforge in 1882 by Carl Gustav Putsch in the basement of his family home.[3] The firm began with one employee and two apprentices. Until the 1960s the firm was known as the C. Gustav Putsch Drop Forged Pliers Works (Zangenfabrik-Gesenkschmiede). In its early days manufacture focused oncarpenter's pincers andfarrier's tongs, at first made by hand and then increasingly produced usingdrop forging hammers. At the apex of the company's success under Carl Putsch the forge had 27 employees and finished 7,000 sets of pliers per week.
Carl Putsch ran the company until his death in 1927. In 1942 the second generation of ownership, also named Carl Putsch, registered the "Knipex" brand inGermany. During theeconomic expansion ofWest Germany during the 1950s Knipex has continually added new and more specialized types of pliers to its catalog.
Karl Putsch took over as company manager in 1954. Manufacturing operations were increasingly automated. The development of new tool patents and product specialization was given greater emphasis.
Various subsidiary companies were acquired during an expansion campaign that began in the 1990s, enlarging the Knipex Group. Many foreign sales offices were established. Presently better than 60 per cent of production is exported to more than a dozen countries worldwide. The Knipex group has been led by Ralf Putsch since 1996. He is the great-grandson of founder Carl Putsch.
The tool catalog of Knipex encompasses about a hundred types of pliers, with more than 900 variants in length, handle design and finish. These tools include common items such as side cutters, electricians pliers, plumber's pliers as well as more specialized pliers for use in electronics. The range also includes special electrician's tools for cutting, stripping and crimping conducting wire. The tools specialized for electrical work find application inaerospace,solar power technology andoptical fiber installation. Many of these tools are available in a parallel line of electrically insulated items, designed to protect users from voltages up to 1kV and thecurrents they may induce.
All Knipex products are identified by a decimal system. This takes the form of three groups of numbers, usually stenciled or printed on the tool's handle. The decimals are decoded as follows: the first group indicates the model of the tool (type of pliers), the second its style (variety or shape of its jaws) and the third some measure of its size (length of the tool or whether meant formetric orimperial units).
Knipex has acquired a reputation for high-quality hand tools, some of which are considered best-in-class. Knipex tools frequently mentioned in this sense include:
Knipex's main competitors in the German market areWera,Gedore,Wiha andHazet.
Knipex has pursued a corporate strategy of specializing in pliers combined with complete in-house manufacturing. In addition todrop forges that use company-made dies Knipex's production process also includes in-house machining operations such asbroaching,drilling,milling,grinding and laser machining.
More than 1,600 staff are employed at their Wuppertal factory and offices. This number including more than 40 trainees (Auszubildende) pursuing various apprenticeships. These apprentices labor in a special workshop dedicated to industrial instruction.
Employees of Knipex are unionized within theIG Metall union.[5]
Knipex is the parent company of the Knipex Group. The largest umbrella of the Knipex corporate entity employs more than 1,800 people. These workers are spread over four German production companies as well as in a number of international sales offices located in the United States, Russia, China, the Middle East and Mexico.
In Germany the Knipex group comprises,
Knipex Tools LP is the North American sales and marketing branch of the Knipex Group. It has offices inArlington Heights,Illinois.
The company home in Wuppertal features a two-story corporate museum that houses machinery, tools, preserved workplaces and everyday objects meant to relate working and living conditions during the history of that region's tool industry. The museum is open to the general public once per year as part of the Wuppertal-24h-live event and to groups year-round by appointment.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
51°12′40″N7°08′45″E / 51.21111°N 7.14583°E /51.21111; 7.14583