Craftsmanship and efficiency are at the heart of Blade-Tech Industries' products.

"We are efficient, period," Ryan Preece, the company's corporate sales and media relations manager, told me as we walked through the spacious and well-organized plant. "And the craftsmanship we put into our products is second to none."

Loquacious and knowledgeable about the business, Preece was only too happy to show me around.

Locally owned and located at 5530 184th Street East, Suite A in Puyallup, Blade-Tech is the leading manufacturer of custom, production thermoplastic, injection molded tactical holsters, knife sheaths and magazine pouches.

The company also produces its own line of high-quality field knives.

Quality is the defining word.

Preece pointed out that management's offices are simple and located on the production floor. "This business is focused on the customer; it is not about fancy offices," he said as we walked past a board holding hundreds of different plastic guns used in making holsters.

Blade-Tech currently runs two eight-hour shifts and has about 50 full-time employees to keep up with demand.

Nothing is wasted; everything - from cardboard to plastic - is recycled. That demand centers on the company's thermoplastic products. Kydex - a federally registered trademark - is the primary plastic component of the company's trademark holsters.

Through the use of computer aid design (CAD), molds of specific weapons are created to manufacture holsters. "The molds are mirror images of the weapon it is to carry," Preece explained as he held a piece of Kydex. "Then, the specific holster for the specific gun is made, and we make more of these holsters than anyone else."

Blade-Tech currently has more than 300,000 different holster combinations on hand to work with guns. The holsters are light and comfortable, tough and waterproof, and the culmination of rigorous field testing by law enforcement and military personnel from all points of the globe.

All tooling for Blade-Tech's products is done in this country, as are 95 percent of all items used in manufacturing.

"To all active duty and retired military, discount of 10 percent," Preece said as our tour ended.

For more information about Blade-Tech, visit www.blade-tech.com or call toll-free (877) 331-5793.

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