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Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

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Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#61

Post by bombcar »

mmsimanga wrote: post #28
_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.

This can happen - if the company is setup to allow that. There was some GE product that was brought back in-house next to the developers and the assemblers talking to them shaved 35 steps off manufacturing.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#62

Post by bombcar »

nimbius wrote: post #21
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.

They appear to have really stepped it up on the new hand-tools line.

Not sure it is exactly worth the premium, but the ones I have are very nice (just get them on sale is all).

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#63

Post by bombcar »

walrus01 wrote: post #59

Anecdotal, but the Milwaukee packout modular stacking toolbox/rolling system has become wildly popular with electrical and low voltage + premises fiber contractors. Home Depot and several others have tried to clone it with their own cheaper house brands which are kinda okay, but not as good as the original.

Packout has gone wildly successful, far outstripping what Milwaukee thought it would hit.

There's tons of stuff in the pipeline for it, too.

The other "good" modular storage systems are made by the same subcontractor in Israel it seems.

Though I find packout easier to disconnect compared to toughsystem2 and the systainers are nice but a bit fragile.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#64

Post by systemvoltage »

_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…

> 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.

The point isn't about quality, the point is about having manufacturing capacity to turn these places from making tools to making aircraft parts in a pinch when shit hits the fan.

Having domestic manufacturing capacity of the shittiest tools is far better than only having designers that'd twiddle their thumbs in war time, not knowing how to setup high volume manufacturing capability quickly.

Most people here do not understand how difficult it is to make literally anything in high volume. Take the simplest thing like a puck of aluminum. Now, try establishing a manufacturing chain that can make 8 million of these per week. You'd be on your knees trying to make 1k a week, let alone 8 million. We're note even talking about having SPC or other systems that monitor quality. HVM is the most underappreciated aspect of engineering by far and it is trivialized by clueless media. Even the most educated people appreciate design over manufacturing.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#66

Post by rch »

stacktrust wrote: post #54
blt wrote: post #44

This is good news, but Milwaukee is primarily a power tool company. Bringing power tool manufacturing back to the USA would be much bigger news. Project Farm is a YouTube channel that reviews tools. I've noticed that most of the made-in-USA products are relatively simple - hand tools, drill bits, adhesives, lubricants, and so on. Any complex assembly that includes electronics is almost invariably made in Asia. It fee…

A handful of DeWalt power tools are "assembled from global materials" in USA, https://www.allamericanmade.com/where-are-dewalt-tools-made/ Jackson, TN Air compressors Hempstead, MD Drill and saw components Charlotte, NC Cordless drills, screwdrivers Greenfield, IN Grinder, recip saws, hammer drills

Same for STIHL:

> A majority of STIHL products sold in America are made in America of U.S. and foreign materials.

--https://www.stihlusa.com/stihl-made-in-america/

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#67

Post by juve1996 »

mmsimanga wrote: post #28
_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.

Of course - they can iterate much faster. I know firms in the US that would have to wait 3 months for a prototype to ship for testing. 3 months. Think about how much time is truly wasted?

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#68

Post by systemvoltage »

whilestanding wrote: post #41

Increasingly looking like my decision to give up bootcamping myself into a coastal tech job and come back home to the midwest and work in a factory was the correct choice long term. Plenty of job security with all the onshoring happening. Ironically I'd be worried if I was in tech about the WFH trend and out of touch entitlement of the zoom class bringing about outsourcing again. Oh and the funny money ponzi scheme c…

That's amazing, care to shed light on how you transitioned from tech to manf? What kind of things do you do?

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#70

Post by chaosbutters314 »

whilestanding wrote: post #41

Increasingly looking like my decision to give up bootcamping myself into a coastal tech job and come back home to the midwest and work in a factory was the correct choice long term. Plenty of job security with all the onshoring happening. Ironically I'd be worried if I was in tech about the WFH trend and out of touch entitlement of the zoom class bringing about outsourcing again. Oh and the funny money ponzi scheme c…

seconding as someone interested in your transition.
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