Case Knife Factory in Bradford, Pennsylvania Set for Expansion

When a company that prides itself on expert craftsmanship, and generations of history and experience decides to hire close to one hundred people, it takes some intensive training strategies to bring the new hires up to speed.

That’s just what W.R. Case and Sons Cutlery had to do after a 2007 expansion that brought 98 new people on staff. Administrators launched “Case University” so that the new hires could be taught the skills needed to make knives, and so that the workers could learn what Fred Feightner calls, “Case Pride.”

The Case University training program will continue at full steam this year, as an estimated 80-90 people could get hired on in 2008 as well.

Consumer Marketing Coordinator Fred Feightner said, “Bringing in 90 people presents a lot of challenges, because, first of all, we didn’t have room for them to work.” Case spent a lot of time restructuring their workstations and work flow to make room for more employees to be able to make knives.

With a similar increase predicted this year, more room may be necessary. Feightner said that he couldn’t comment on a rumored physical plant expansion, but indicated that more information may be forthcoming.

The biggest challenge in bringing in new people is more intrinsic, according to Feighter. “Taking 90 people and giving them a sense of what Case is all about is a huge challenge. The reason it’s a steady and good place of employment is because we have generations of people from the same families that have worked out here. It’s been going on since Case started. We want to instill a sense of ‘Case Pride’ in our workers. It’s what’s behind the brand.”

Part of instilling Case Pride involves taking pride in the workers themselves. The consumers identify with a working person who gets up every day and punches a clock and does their job and does it well and does it with owndership and pride and the company’s interests in mind.

That concept has been injected into all of Case’s marketing, featuring photos and quotes of the workers in many of their catalogs and promotional information.

The Case Website has started to reflect the same strategy, by allowing many of the knifemakers to be featured on the site through a Blog. Workers explain the part of the knifemaking process that they complete, and their own thoughts about their knife artistry.

Feightner says that Case has also started a line of knives called the “Case Classic”, where each knife is named for one of their craftsmen, and features a photo and biographical information with the packaging.

Case launched its “:Make a Case for America” campaign with Country music stars Brooks and Dunn in late 2007, which emphasizes the American craftsmanship that Case takes pride in.

“You guys make absolutely the best knives in the world. But it’s bigger than that. This is so America, so real, so down to earth, so much quality. It’s bigger than what you hold in your hand. You are doing something special,” Kix Brooks told Case employees in a factory visit in November.

Case intents to launch a new products this year. The Swayback Jack patter was designed in collaberation with knife artists Tony Bode from Indiana. The Swayback won’t be available until the second wuarter.

They continue to offer liscenced products in partnership with Johnny Cash, John Deere, Ducks Unlimited, and the Boy Scouts.

The Case Vault program will also start up this year. Several collectible knife patters will be taken out of production this year for three years, which makes room for futher production, but it also makes knives like the Cheetah, The Doctro’s Knife, and the Executive Lockback very collectible this year.

Feightner said, “We have brought a slew of new patterns out this year. We have to bring out different types of materials and equipment, and this gives us the opportunity to remove some of those variables, and gives the collectors a chance to catch up on some of the patterns.”

Human Resources Director Bunny Comilla said that Case will be hosting Recruitment Fairs in conjunction with the McKean County Careerlink in March and June, with a goal of starting employees in July.
Comilla says they are looking for workers with a strong work ethic. “Case is a skilled environment, but we’ll teach that skill. We want someone who wants to learn and create. We’re looking for more of a character trait than a skill. We’ll teach you how to make a knife.”

Original Reporting by Josh Hatcher