But there’s another Weber in town—and it, also, happens to be a brand name of meat-oriented equipment, but on a decidedly different scale.

Located along I-29, just east of KCI, is the North American headquarters of Weber, Inc., the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial meat and cheese slicing systems. These are not the countertop slicers used to shave pastrami or provolone for sandwiches at your neighborhood deli. These monster machines are 150-feet long, with the capacity of 8,000 slices of meat or cheese per minute.  

“People have a hard time visualizing the size of our machines,” observes Scott Scriven, 49, Weber’s president and CEO. “At parties I’ll mention that I work for a company that makes meat slicers, and folks will say ‘You know, I could use one of these at home.’ And I always tell them they’d better have a really, really, big kitchen.”

Weber’s North American customers include Hormel, Sara Lee, and Farmland Industries, among other major meat and cheese producers and packagers.

“Our products really are the best. And the market is beginning to respond to the quality we offer,” says Scriven. “We’re coming on strong. Though our market share of installed machines in North America is only 15 percent, currently, of every ten new slicers being sold by all manufacturers, six or seven of those are Weber slicers.”    

Weber was founded in 1981 in Breidenbach, Germany, by Günther Weber, who is the company’s sole owner. All of Weber’s slicing systems are made in its three German-based manufacturing facilities.

Scriven says that the Kansas City operation is devoted primarily to sales and service.

“Our customer base is extremely happy with the level of service we provide,” he says. “I always say that the first sale is made by the sales team, subsequent sales are made by the service staff, based on the quality and speed of their work.” 

Günther Weber chose Kansas City for his North American operation on the recommendation of a friend who lives in Lee’s Summit.

“Günther was looking for a centrally located port-of-entry,” explains Scriven. “And taking his friend’s advice turned out to be an excellent business decision. We’re right where we need to be to meet our customers’ needs.”

In 2006, Weber opened a new 37, 500 square-foot facility in Kansas City, Missouri.

“We’re committed to Kansas City,” Scriven says. “We’ve got the capacity to add another 40,000 square feet at this site if we need to.”