I have probably around 2,000 blades of many different types. Mostly Russian produced of Gillette or one type or another. I'm thankful I discovered the RR GC razors because for some reason blades like Sharks, Treets, and Vokshod which I disliked previously work well with the GC. I find it to be a blades agnostic tool that works and now I'm set for years. Even if Nacets, Gillette Silver Blue, Perma-Sharp, and Platinum hypothetically stopped being produced as they have been in terms of quality I'd be OK. I also recently discovered Ladas blades and could manage with them too.
Gillette DE blade production moving??
- Thread starter Slock
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Thanks! Good to see that they are available again. Just ordered 100.
Actually there are plenty of companies that offer a standard line of equipment for razor blade manufacturing - some examples below. Some manufacturers, such as Dorco when the moved DE production from Korea to Vietnam, have recently built all new production facilities with new equipment as part of a strategy of pivoting from the U.S. to Asian markets such as India.
Note that I suspect that much of this investment is going towards shaving systems versus DE blades as manufacturers seek to migrate consumers to higher profit cartridges.
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They opened the plant over 20 years ago so much of the investment there could be fully amortized/depreciated.
Per the Boston Globe about a year ago Gillette/P&G had 70% of the Russian shaving market. Doubt the plant or equipment will move anywhere. Best guess is this is more a question of ownership going forward and alternative sources for products that used to be exported from Russia to Europe or places like South Africa. China an unlikely place for new investment given geopolitical issues there.
Actually there are plenty of companies that offer a standard line of equipment for razor blade manufacturing - some examples below. Some manufacturers, such as Dorco when the moved DE production from Korea to Vietnam, have recently built all new production facilities with new equipment as part of a strategy of pivoting from the U.S. to Asian markets such as India.
Note that I suspect that much of this investment is going towards shaving systems versus DE blades as manufacturers seek to migrate consumers to higher profit cartridges.
Sputtering Machine | Sputtering Deposition | Sputter Deposition Machine
Sputtering Machine. Supplying sputtering deposition machines. If you are looking for a sputter deposition machine, we have expert engineers ready to help you.www.svs.co.uk
A sputtering machine is not a machine to make razor blades. Sputtering is one step in the production of some razor blades, and that occurs after the razor blades have already been made.
In the early 90s I had a job where I would design equipment and machinery for automatic assembly. That automatic assembly equipment is a lot like the equipment used to make razor blades. Of course razor blades are a single part that's progressively stamped on coil stock, so in some ways they are quite simple because no feeding and orienting of parts is required during production. However, in other ways razor blade manufacture is much more complex because various grinding steps and heat treatment are required.
Even with a much more complex automatic assembly process, there are parts of the machinery that are fairly standardized. If a vibratory bowl feeder is needed to feed and orient a screw, for example, making that feeder and tooling from scratch is a lot like re-inventing the wheel. There are standard off-the-shelf solutions available that will feed and orient screws quite well. The reason these standard solutions exist is because there is a fairly large market for that type of equipment. But when a custom made part needs to fed and oriented, that feeder and tooling will also be custom made. Also, all of the machinery that uses the feeding and orienting equipment, including the standard screw feeders, will be a custom made one off type of production. Generally, custom made machinery will usually incorporate some standard off-the-shelf pieces, even though the machines are largely custom made. And even the standard off-the-shelf pieces often require custom made fixtures or other tools to help incorporate the standard piece into the overall machinery.
Sputtering is a rather common process that's used for a lot more than just razor blade production, so there's a large market for that type of equipment. I doubt very much that there is a large enough market for blade making machinery that standard off-the-shelf solutions exist. Not to mention that most blade makers have methods of blade making that they would consider trade secrets. They certainly would not want those trade secrets to become common knowledge. For those reasons, and probably a lot more, it's very likely that blade making equipment is custom made.
I have plenty but thinking l will grab another 100 of the Silver Blue while l can.
What is your source, if you don’t mind me asking? I just bought some and I wasn’t overly thrilled with the state they arrived in.
Yes, but they built the plant first, before relocating their operations there.
No one really knows what exactly Gillette does own as far as the plant and equipment is concerned. There are also skilled individuals that cannot be relocated.
My understanding, reading it in one of the B&B threads, is that only Sputnik and Rubie blades from the PPI plant are sold on Russia. All of the other blades are produced for export.
Ebay. Heathcareplus1 is the seller l just ordered from. I dont think its the same one l bought from before.
Sounds right. I looked into it also a few years ago.
Mike M
...but this one IS cracked.
The chances are that if it comes to it they will use a similar method to get products out of the country as they use to get products in.
"Sell" the Russian operation to a newly created "Russian" company. The Russian company then sells to an intermediate company say in India or Bulgaria and then the intermediate sells to the parent organisation or directly to retailers.
It does necessitate an increase in prices due to the extra sales steps, but it will do until P&G do create new manufacturing facilities elsewhere to replace the ageing Russian ones.
"Sell" the Russian operation to a newly created "Russian" company. The Russian company then sells to an intermediate company say in India or Bulgaria and then the intermediate sells to the parent organisation or directly to retailers.
It does necessitate an increase in prices due to the extra sales steps, but it will do until P&G do create new manufacturing facilities elsewhere to replace the ageing Russian ones.
Hi tube_guy,
Yes sputtering is just one step in the process used as an illustrative example of the off-the-shelf equipment available in my above post.
Take a second look at the Milman link in my original post - they are offering a standard off-the-shelf sputtering solution specifically for razor blade manufacturing in various configurations for different volume levels (as well as sputtering equipment for many other items). The second link below, from Scientific Vacuum Systems LTD in the U.K., also sells razor blade manufacturing specific mass production coating systems. Additionally see the Berger Group link below where they offer a variety of off-the-shelf equipment for razor blade grinding and processing. Lots of similar equipment is available from China.
To your point this is not likely a large unit volume market so it's likely that this equipment may be built to order versus built to inventory. Additionally where cross-industry standardized machinery is used for razor blades the equipment manufacturers may use postponement where the base units, applicable for many industrial uses, are build to inventory awaiting industry specific configuration or bolt-on modules per actual orders.
You are right that most manufacturers use a mix of off-the-shelf and custom equipment/configuration. Have a look at the Kai razor blade manufacturing process (link below) where they go through each step and note that the razor handle assembling step machinery was custom built in-house.
My sense is that double edge blade manufacturing is so commoditized that almost everything needed is likely available off the shelf for a reasonably modern process. For example Derby touts its adoption of the latest "gothic cathedral" grinding/honing methods that Berger offers via its off-the-shelf equipment. The proprietary manufacturing approaches that require more custom made equipment are likely in the area of shaving systems/cartridges where most global manufacturers are focusing for growth and increased profitability. For example, in addition to Kai, I recall that there is a lot of proprietary technology going into the Fusion cartridges.
Manufacturing processes (RAZOR) | KAI FACTORY | KAI Group - https://www.kai-group.com/global/en/kai-factory/process/razor/
Razor Blade Coating System | Razor Film Deposition System | Blade Coating System
Sputtering machine specialist. Designing and building sputtering machines in the UK. The best engineers in the industry.
Razor blade industry | Berger Gruppe
BERGER Group - grinding, polishing, strip edge trimming, automation for the production of cutlery, handtools etc.
Hi tube_guy,
Yes sputtering is just one step in the process used as an illustrative example of the off-the-shelf equipment available in my above post.
Take a second look at the Milman link in my original post - they are offering a standard off-the-shelf sputtering solution specifically for razor blade manufacturing in various configurations for different volume levels (as well as sputtering equipment for many other items). The second link below, from Scientific Vacuum Systems LTD in the U.K., also sells razor blade manufacturing specific mass production coating systems. Additionally see the Berger Group link below where they offer a variety of off-the-shelf equipment for razor blade grinding and processing. Lots of similar equipment is available from China.
To your point this is not likely a large unit volume market so it's likely that this equipment may be built to order versus built to inventory. Additionally where cross-industry standardized machinery is used for razor blades the equipment manufacturers may use postponement where the base units, applicable for many industrial uses, are build to inventory awaiting industry specific configuration or bolt-on modules per actual orders.
You are right that most manufacturers use a mix of off-the-shelf and custom equipment/configuration. Have a look at the Kai razor blade manufacturing process (link below) where they go through each step and note that the razor handle assembling step machinery was custom built in-house.
My sense is that double edge blade manufacturing is so commoditized that almost everything needed is likely available off the shelf for a reasonably modern process. For example Derby touts its adoption of the latest "gothic cathedral" grinding/honing methods that Berger offers via its off-the-shelf equipment. The proprietary manufacturing approaches that require more custom made equipment are likely in the area of shaving systems/cartridges where most global manufacturers are focusing for growth and increased profitability. For example, in addition to Kai, I recall that there is a lot of proprietary technology going into the Fusion cartridges.
Manufacturing processes (RAZOR) | KAI FACTORY | KAI Group - https://www.kai-group.com/global/en/kai-factory/process/razor/
Razor Blade Coating System | Razor Film Deposition System | Blade Coating System
Sputtering machine specialist. Designing and building sputtering machines in the UK. The best engineers in the industry.www.svs.co.uk
Razor blade industry | Berger Gruppe
BERGER Group - grinding, polishing, strip edge trimming, automation for the production of cutlery, handtools etc.www.bergergruppe.de
How many new DE blade making operations do you believe are created during a typical year, in the entire world? The world population is increasing, so I'm sure new capacity is required every once in a while. But I doubt very much new DE blade making machinery is put into operation in a typical year. I'd guess it's in the low single digits, on average. During most years, I'd bet it's zero. That doesn't sound like a market where off-the-shelf solutions will be available, to me.
I still think if someone really likes the Russian blades produced in the PPI plant, it's somewhat likely that those blades won't be available at some point. If production moves, and the machinery doesn't, the new blades are unlikely to be the same as the old ones. Even if Gillette really wants to make them the same, which is pretty unlikely, I doubt they will be.
If the machinery remains in Russia, along with the expertise to run it, I can also see another outcome where the Russians will go out on their own without Gillette and start making the same DE blades that were once Gillette branded. So it's possible that the world will get blades similar to the Gillette branded blades, without the Gillette branding.
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Mike M
...but this one IS cracked.
It is if you're avoiding sanctions or import/export restrictions and if you think that's difficult to follow just look at large companies tax structures!Perfectly ’straightforward!!’
Agree, not many as noted in my last post that this is not likely a large unit volume market and it's probable that equipment is built to order (only manufactured after an order is received) and not built to inventory (manufactured in anticipation of future orders) with the exception of common components with cross industry demand. Note that built to order would still be considered off-the-shelf.
The fact that Russian blades are still available it great evidence that DE blades are a slow moving item with lots of inventory out there.
I'm not so sure about that one? The PPI factory is huge and blades they produce are available all over the world. With a population of over 8B, that is a lot of shavers!
Interesting. I have a ton of Astra SP and Personna lab blue USA stockpiled and some nacets, but this makes me think I should buy another big pack of Wizamets. I'd hate to have to use Feathers.... 
I'm sure there are companies out there that will build blade making machinery if someone is willing to pay them. I just doubt very much that DE blades are made on standardized equipment. And that means if new machinery is made, it's going to be different machinery. And the blades will be different, as well.
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