Abstract: An apparatus (10) is provided for automatically cutting strip materials (22) into slats (20) for a venetian blind. The apparatus (10) has a feeding station (12), a cutting station (14), a punching station (16) and a laddering station (18). Strip materials (22) for the slats (20) are stored in a magazine (24) of the station (12) and they are fed one at a time to the cutting station (14) for cutting into slats (20) of preset length after slots (46) have been punched. The slats (20) are then fed to the laddering station (18) for assembling into blinds. A sensor (56,58) is positioned to sense remnants of the strip material (22) and the remnants are automatically moved back to the feeding station (12) where they are lifted off the feeding path for ejection by a following strip (12).