How to strip a ribbon cable?
There are, in fact, ribbon cable stripping tools. For example, see this catalog.

Here's another one:



Typically the tool will come with multiple "blades", or these blades might be available as options. 

My Chinese no-name ribbon cable stripper (approximately $8, local store) came with 3 blades, one for 10 x 2.54mm pitch, one for 16 x 1.27 mm pitch, and one for 8-conductor cable for direct insertion into RJ45 jacks.

For mass production, ribbon cable stripping machines are available, which can place, size, cut, strip and crimp connectors onto ribbon cable without human intervention. Sites like Alibaba.com might be useful to search for them.