DEBRA-BLADES

Our Story

In 1984, master technician Philippe De Brauwer founded De Brauwer BVBA, a one-man business selling bakery machinery and spare parts.
While servicing bread-slicer machines he grew frustrated by the poor quality of replacement blades on the market—so he decided to make his own. The first prototypes were ground and sharpened by hand in a garage workshop, tooth by tooth.

From Handcraft to Full Automation

Encouraged by industrial partners who said “every repetitive step can be automated,” Philippe began investing in custom-built equipment. Demand soared as slicer manufacturers discovered the superior cut of his blades, and in 1993 the company installed its first fully automated grinding cell.

A New Name for a Global Market

To reflect its growing international reach, the company adopted the name Debra-Blades in 2000—“Debra” being a direct nod to the De Brauwer family. The business remains 100 % family-run. In 2008 sons Stijn and Steven De Brauwer joined the firm, doubling down on in-house R&D and production-line automation.

Innovation Without Limits

Every machine that powers our factory is conceived, designed and built in-house, giving us unrivalled control over tolerances and cycle times. Continuous upgrades keep our grind lines at the cutting edge of blade technology.

Sustainable Manufacturing

Innovation also drives our sustainability goals. A roof-wide solar array now supplies the plant’s electricity, and we machine not only the blades but also the mounting hardware—pins, threaded studs and bushings—so that raw steel enters one end of the factory and fully finished slicer sets leave the other.

Four decades later, Debra-Blades still honours Philippe’s original motive: if the perfect blade doesn’t exist, build it yourself—and make it better every year.

DEBRA-BLADES