In North America, traditionally the largest market for WÜSTHOF products, the company operates two local distribution subsidiaries.

[2][8] Johann Abraham Wüsthof's Solingen "Shears factory, steel and iron works" is first mentioned in local records in 1814.

The factory, one of many of its kind at the time, operated out of a so-called 'Kotten', a small grinding workshop with water-driven grindstones.

In 1881, Robert Wüsthof took a selection of shears and pocket knives to New York and established the company's first trade relationship with the USA.

However, the firm's outdated equipment and reliance on manual labour proved to be a liability; in the 1970s, WÜSTHOF replaced the old factory building with new facilities with partially-automated production lines, removing pocket knives, shears and cutlery from its product range and concentrating on knives for professional and home use.

[9] It operates three production facilities and an R&D department in the "City of Blades",[3] where the WÜSTHOF knives are designed and manufactured.

[8][10] The company's international distribution network spans over 80 countries; around 80% of WÜSTHOF's revenues are generated outside Germany.

[14][15][16][17] The WÜSTHOF production facilities in Solingen are highly automated, with more than 100 robots performing many steps in the knife-making process, while specific tasks such as the finishing of the edges and surfaces, and the final honing of the blade, are still completed manually.

[20] All WÜSTHOF knives, except for the Silverpoint series (made with steel grade X46Cr13), have the formula "X50CrMoV15" etched into their blade, signifying that the single block of corrosion resistant steel alloy it is made from contains 0.5% carbon, 15% chromium and unspecified smaller amounts of molybdenum and vanadium.

The product range comprises honing steels in various lengths with handle designs to match some of the knife series, steel sharpeners coated with industrial diamonds, sharpeners with a ceramic shaft, whetstones and ceramic knife-sharpeners with pre-set angles.