Posted on 05/29/2019 4:12:53 AM PDT by BeauBo
Automated Texas factory to produce wrenches and sockets at costs similar to work now done in China.
Stanley Black & Decker Inc. plans to move production of Craftsman wrenches from China back to the U.S., the latest manufacturer looking to use automation to increase domestic output as tariffs raise the cost of imports from overseas.
Stanley is investing $90 million to open a plant in Fort Worth, Texas, by late next year that will employ about 500 people to make 10 million Craftsman wrenches and ratchets and 50 million sockets annually. Robots and fast-forging presses will help boost output about 25% above the older forging machinery now used to make Craftsman wrenches in China, helping keep production costs at the new plant in line with those in China, Stanley said.
The company’s strategy mirrors moves by other manufacturers in recent years to bring some foreign production back to more automated factories in the U.S. Whirlpool Corp. WHR -1.91% is making some small KitchenAid appliances in the U.S. again after they were made by a contractor in China for years. Caterpillar Inc. has moved the assembly of excavators and small bulldozers from Japan to new plants in the U.S. to free up production capacity for the Asian market.
“We’re pushing very hard to manufacture where we sell it,” Stanley Chief Executive James Loree said in an interview.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
IRWIN(the new vice grip pliers) needs to follow suit.You can tell the difference in American made and chicom made pliers.
Most manufacturing is not labor intensive and can be made in the USA. This is why tariffs work for all Americans!
Wonderful. Whenever I go to the hardware store I look for made in USA tools, but most are from China or elsewhere.
The quality of Craftsman tools has gone steadily downhill for decades. Stanley tools never were good mechanics tools. I bought most of my mechanics tools 40 years ago. There is a difference. ( snap-on was the best at that time but Craftsman was second and you could run to sears and get them almost any time)
Gee, thanks, Stanley Black & Decker.
Nice to know we are now good enough to make the stuff you sell us.
Will the tools have their traditional lifetime warranty?
What Free Traitors™ and the Wall Street Globalist Nazis want you to think is that a pair of pliers made in the USA would cost $5,000/pair.
I inherited a sizable amount of Made In USA tools from my father, and used them many years. I just passed them on to my son who is a Master Mechanic who was also very delighted. The tools were all SAE and so might not get too much use as metric dominates... but those Snap-on and Craftsman hand tools certainly held up well over the years.
Will the tools have their traditional lifetime warranty?
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depends.
how long is your life?
Go to estate sales and buy the Craftsman tools made 30 or 40 years ago marked with Made in USA. You might even be able to find all-metal toolboxes instead of the flimsy plastic ones. These are usually way better than anything you can buy in a store today, except check the ratchets to make sure they still work.
40 year old Craftsman sockets, ratchets and wrenches still being used.
Not as pretty as SnapOn, but a truly affordable value.
Harbor Freight sockets? Stripped or broke with second use.
Black and Decker? Screwdrivers twist, strip out or snap.
Love finding old Craftsman hand tools at garage sales for pennies a piece.
Will the tools have their traditional lifetime warranty?
I was in Lowes yesterday where Craftsman iare sold and all the packaging labels had lifetime warranties advertised. Thats been their trademark for decades. Would also think hey’ll use US steel instead of China steel? China steel suxs.
“The quality of Craftsman tools has gone steadily downhill for decades. Stanley tools never were good mechanics tools. I bought most of my mechanics tools 40 years ago. There is a difference. ( snap-on was the best at that time but Craftsman was second and you could run to sears and get them almost any time)”
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Yeh, many of my tools are Craftsman. In fact, being my dad was a Craftsman guy and has passed I have his tools too. Some are at least sixty years old. I can’t attest about quality as I haven’t found it necessary to buy a tool except drill bits and such for many years. If Sears goes into bankruptcy though I hope some company will be Craftsman and continue the brand.
There’s a guy in the house behind me that has a Cornwell Tools truck. Not being a mechanic, I’ve never heard of them. Are they any good?
Back in the fifties, my dad would take me along to the Sears tool section, where you could buy the forged Craftsman box wrench or crescent wrench and sockets in the size that you needed. The aisles with bins of individual wrenches was awe inspiring. Now one has to buy a whole set of crap, most of which will never be used.
Still have all of his tools...and use them.
I’m in Lowe’s every other day and have watched the Craftsman display slowly grow. Started as an end-cap to an aisle...now it’s a complete aisle in the tool section. Kinda strange, but glad to see it. Haven’t paid attention to the labels but good to hear the lifetime warranty is there.
They're not bad, not Snap-on either. I would put them in the MAC category and Craftsman tools from the 1970’s. Serviceable, but not really flashy. They beat the heck out of anything from Harbor Freight.
I view this as a good sign. However, I see a more complex picture than what is being presented in this article.
In order for the United States as a whole to benefit from this move, the company should not EMPLOY ANY WETBACKS FROM MEXICO.
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