OVERVIEW

COMPANY HISTORY

BIEHN FAMILY GROUP OF COMPANIES

History of CB Mfg. and the Biehn Group of Companies

Charles Biehn, known to most as "Charlie", founded CB Manufacturing & Sales Co., Inc., in January 1965. Charlie was a salesman for a Dayton, Ohio machine knife manufacturer but left on good terms.

CB was started in the basement of Charlie's home with Charlie traveling to broker machine knives. Charlie was an avid pilot and owned a small airplane, and he often said that one of the reasons he started his own business was for an excuse to fly to visit his customers. We're certain that part of the reason for CB's success was the ability to travel easily and thus provide our customers with personal service.

During these start up times, Charlie and his first employee, Sky Livingston, sold almost anything their customers wanted such as saw blades, steel rule dies, butcher knives, tape, and many other odd products. They had created a small warehouse and workroom in the basement but soon found working out of a home too burdensome so the office was moved to a storefront in West Carrollton.

CB setup distributors all over the USA, mainly selling cutting sticks, paper drills, and knives to this industry. They had various domestic factories that made specific knives for CB to sell. At that time, CB did no manufacturing but upon hearing that one of his partner factories was again late and was going to let down his customer, Charlie decided that he must start manufacturing knives himself.

Thus, in 1969, CB moved to a larger building, and bought the first of many machines to come. Charlie knew little about manufacturing but with the help of some new people and some ingenuity, he was soon making various machine knives himself. When Charlie bought his second grinding machine, his father told him he was crazy but Charlie said, "If I only have one machine and it breaks down, how can I serve my customers?" This attitude prevailed for many years; "serve the customer!"

All successful start-up companies have to have some lucky breaks and one of those for CB was when plastics exploded in the 70's. CB learned the technology to manufacture Pelletizer Knives and almost had the business to themselves for many years.

Soon the small factory was crowded with machines and Charlie bought 10 acres of land, outside the West Carrollton city limits. They used to joke that CB was the largest knife company in the country: ¾ all the others were in the city! The new 10,000 square foot building they erected seemed huge and they never dreamed that back then, in 1971, they would some day need ten times that space!

From the start, CB concentrated on servicing their customers and supplying them what they wanted, rather than just trying to sell what they could make. For this reason, CB was always a "full-line" knife company, making industrial knives for the plastic, paper, wood, steel, and many other industries. They began to concentrate on Original Equipment Manufactures (OEM's), producing knives and precision steel specialties, to their customer's specifications. They found that their combination of quality and customer service made them valued vendor for many machine makers.

One of the areas of the company that has always been a nice side of the business is Sub-Contract Grinding. In the manufacturing of knives, large, special grinding machines are required. Most industrial manufacturers do not have this type of grinding machines and thus must outsource this work. CB became a perfect source for this business and it has continued to be an important service that they still provide today.

In 1972, CB started doing their first international business, buying small tungsten carbide blades from a company in Japan. Throughout the 70's, the business grew, mostly through the sales of plastic cutting knives and special OEM knives. CB found that their quality was generally better than the competition and thus could be a better source for the higher quality products that the OEM's needed.

In 1977, the first of Charlie's children officially went to work at CB. Charles Jr. (Chuck) started in the factory as a janitor and general laborer. Chuck worked in the factory for five years and often has said the experience was invaluable to his later, more responsible duties.

Charlie's daughter, Darlene, started working in the office as a file clerk. She later took jobs as a Salesperson, Office Manager, Resale Manager, making trips overseas on behalf of the company. The third child, Joe, also soon started in the CB factory.

During the economic downturn of the early 80's, CB had troubles, like most small manufacturers. For many months, the Management Staff took pay cuts and the hours of the Production Employees were cut back, however, in this way CB was able to avoid laying off any employees.

In 1984, Chuck developed a relationship with the Lutz Company, in Solingen, Germany, makers of thin, razor type blades and through this successful partnership, CB handled all of the USA business for Lutz. In 1989, the Biehn's bought Certified Heat Treating, a company that is still vital in Dayton, OH. This acquisition vaulted them into the commercial heat-treating business in a big way. Joe Biehn was sent to work there and learn all he could and he eventually became the President and General Manager of the company.

Chuck Biehn worked his way through various jobs in the company, such as: machine operator, accounting clerk, purchasing agent, salesman and sales manager. Chuck spent most of his time in the sales arena and this became his area of expertise. Charlie named Chuck President of CB Manufacturing in 1990.

In 1993, the Biehn's acquired E&E Tool, a small cutting tool regrinding house. This business coincided with the heat-treating and grinding services that they offered the Miami Valley metal fabricators. In 1996, E&E bought their first wire EDM machine. Around this time, they formed Certified Industrial Services, this group of companies that provided these valuable services to industrial companies in the Miami Valley. They soon had 10 trucks on the road, picking up grinding, heat-treating, EDM work, and tool sharpening.

In 1997, Chuck Biehn started a new division of CB, American Cutting Edge, Inc., and based it in Centerville, OH. This part of the business has grown to 17 people and the sales have been outstanding.

Since the late 1990's, CB Manufacturing operations was run by Nick Guardiola (General Manager), with assistance from George Kimmel (Vice President of Sales).

Huge investments have been made in the Certified Tool & Grinding Company including a climate-controlled 10,000 square foot building, four new 5-axis CNC grinders, and some state-of-the-art inspection equipment. This company is now a premier manufacturer of metal cutting and wood cutting special tungsten carbide tools, as well as a maker of PCD (Poly Crystalline Diamond) tools, the next generation of cutting instruments.