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Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

toolguyd.com

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Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#21

Post by nimbius »

Someone1234 wrote: post #8

Milwaukee's battery tools are pretty great (M12 and M18 lines), but their hand tools aren't particularly good in my experience. So "raising the bar" for them would be just making hand tools that people want to buy over the competition. Made in the US is fine/good/whatever, but what I want to see from them is tools that are just good in their own right. I want to see their hand tools top Project Farm charts like their…

i apprenticed on armstrong and milwaukee tools and can confirm about 15 years ago they spun off a cheap Chinese line that was complete garbage compared to the USA line. good enough for tightening the occasional bolt but fell apart under daily use.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#22

Post by stacktrust »

Country-of-Origin (CoO) metadata can influence some buying decisions.

https://www.madeinamerica.gov/

> When the U.S. government spends your tax dollars on American goods, we ensure our future is made in America. “Made in America” policies are designed to increase reliance on domestic supply chains and ultimately reduce the need to spend taxpayer dollars on foreign-made goods ... Various laws and regulations establish requirements for U.S. government procurement and assistance to support American manufacturing.

https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/complying-ma...

> The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is charged with preventing deception and unfairness in the marketplace. The FTC Act gives the Commission the power to bring law enforcement actions against false or misleading claims that a product is of U.S. origin.

April 2022, https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/04/ftc-charg...

> FTC charges battery maker in first case under Made in USA Labeling Rule ... the order prohibits them from making unqualified U.S.-origin claims unless they have proof that the product’s final assembly or processing – and all significant processing – takes place in the US and that all or virtually all ingredients or components are made and sourced here ... The order further requires that any qualified Made in USA claims include clear disclosures about the extent to which the product contains foreign parts, ingredients, or components, or involved foreign processing.

Some ecommerce tool sites have reliable CoO metadata and search filters.

https://www.harryepstein.com/

https://madeinusatools.com/

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#23

Post by JumpCrisscross »

stacktrust wrote: post #20
googlryas wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ever try to get something built in China, you really need to know what you're doing, or the manufacturer will violate your specs all over the place in order to profit an extra 1/10th of a cent per unit. But, big companies don't really have that excuse, because they should know what they're doing.

Milwaukee (TTI) is vertically integrated, i.e. they own their factories in China.

> they own their factories in China

This isn’t as protective as one would imagine. Unscrupulous floor managers will still swap materials, run the crap and sell the good stuff.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#24

Post by kube-system »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #3

hope it sticks! Sears/craftsman tools were well respected before they dumped production overseas.

Craftsman tools were always just rebranded tools from other manufacturers. You can still buy many similar tools from the same US manufacturer with other names stamped into them.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/threads/craftsman-hand-t...

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#26

Post by stacktrust »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #23
stacktrust wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Milwaukee (TTI) is vertically integrated, i.e. they own their factories in China.

> they own their factories in China This isn’t as protective as one would imagine. Unscrupulous floor managers will still swap materials, run the crap and sell the good stuff.

Wow. How would floor managers benefit from that kind of swap?

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#27

Post by cplusplusfellow »

_Adam wrote: post #9

I don't think this will make much of a difference aside from the branding advantage. The quality of a mass-produced product like a consumer hand tool isn't a function of the country in which it is made but rather of its design. All the decisions made during that process and all the cost / performance considerations made are what determine the ultimate outcome. It's common to blame Chinese manufacturing for cheap tool…

I tend to disagree with this in many ways. Chinese products are often made from subpar raw materials like steel, which can be much more brittle than steel sourced from US, Germany, and Mexico.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#28

Post by mmsimanga »

_Adam wrote: post #9

I don't think this will make much of a difference aside from the branding advantage. The quality of a mass-produced product like a consumer hand tool isn't a function of the country in which it is made but rather of its design. All the decisions made during that process and all the cost / performance considerations made are what determine the ultimate outcome. It's common to blame Chinese manufacturing for cheap tool…

I don't know anything about manufacturing but I wonder if problems associated with outsourcing IT overseas are not also experienced in manufacturing.l? Wouldn't having the factory closer give you same benefits as being able to walk across to a fellow developer and discuss some issue.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#29

Post by umeshunni »

stacktrust wrote: post #26
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> they own their factories in China This isn’t as protective as one would imagine. Unscrupulous floor managers will still swap materials, run the crap and sell the good stuff.

Wow. How would floor managers benefit from that kind of swap?

They sell the higher spec ones on the side to their buddies?

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#30

Post by lumost »

_Adam wrote: post #9

I don't think this will make much of a difference aside from the branding advantage. The quality of a mass-produced product like a consumer hand tool isn't a function of the country in which it is made but rather of its design. All the decisions made during that process and all the cost / performance considerations made are what determine the ultimate outcome. It's common to blame Chinese manufacturing for cheap tool…

Is this really true? Cutting quality doesn't buy you much if your cost per unit is primarily driven by labor. If you manufacture in a high cost country, you may be forced to compete on quality.
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