- Joined
- May 1, 2014
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- 890
........ depends upon what everyone regards as "large" or "small" and which reference points are taken into consideration. I have no figures of other manufacturers, which I would consider as "large", like for instance Benchmade, Spyderco or KAI (with Kershaw and ZT). I would expect their numbers will be considerably higher than those of CRK. But whether that makes CRK a "small" or maybe a "middle size" knife manufacturer? Who knows? Make up your own mind. Here are some numbers:
In 2009 Anne Reeve gave us some indication by stating that their staff contained 18 people, that time including Anne and Chris. In 2008 they made approx. 7,600 knives in total. More than half of this number was fixed blades knives, as those days the One Piece Knife range was still there and selling well, plus the Yarborough knife for the Special Forces graduates and that kind of stuff.
In 2016 their total output was around 15,000 knives. As you know, their product range has changed since 2008/2009 considerably. The One Piece Knife range was discontinued in 2010. The Inkosi has been introduced.
So doubling their output from 2008 to 2016 is already an achievement. But having your product mix shifted towards folders, which require a more complex manufacturing process, means that you have to expend your staff capacity as well as continuously striving for increased manufacturing efficiency and I believe this is also strength of CRK, besides their high engineering skills. The staff capacity has indeed been increased considerably since 2008/2009, up to today’s level of 44 people.
Their facilities expend over an area of approx. 15,000 square feet, where one building hosts the machining and assembly area and the other building marketing, conference, business administration.
I received the numbers from Anne and also her approval, to publish this information over here. Hope it is interesting for you.
Stefan
In 2009 Anne Reeve gave us some indication by stating that their staff contained 18 people, that time including Anne and Chris. In 2008 they made approx. 7,600 knives in total. More than half of this number was fixed blades knives, as those days the One Piece Knife range was still there and selling well, plus the Yarborough knife for the Special Forces graduates and that kind of stuff.
In 2016 their total output was around 15,000 knives. As you know, their product range has changed since 2008/2009 considerably. The One Piece Knife range was discontinued in 2010. The Inkosi has been introduced.
So doubling their output from 2008 to 2016 is already an achievement. But having your product mix shifted towards folders, which require a more complex manufacturing process, means that you have to expend your staff capacity as well as continuously striving for increased manufacturing efficiency and I believe this is also strength of CRK, besides their high engineering skills. The staff capacity has indeed been increased considerably since 2008/2009, up to today’s level of 44 people.
Their facilities expend over an area of approx. 15,000 square feet, where one building hosts the machining and assembly area and the other building marketing, conference, business administration.
I received the numbers from Anne and also her approval, to publish this information over here. Hope it is interesting for you.
Stefan
