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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

#151

Post by wrycoder »

fyzix wrote: post #87
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…

Low prices or well paid workforce...Choose one! This is a result of decades of regulations and labour laws. Paying Americans 10x more to make similar quality tools is a terrible business decision. This cannot be fixed without government incentives/handouts (eg. Chips Act)

Fair trading labor is also a terrible idea for our middle class. Not everyone is a technical wizard.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#152

Post by wrycoder »

bityard wrote: post #148

It's not actually too hard to walk into a big box store like home depot or lowes and find US made hand tools. They tend to be higher priced but quality is pretty variable. Almost all the power tools are made in china, though.

Milwaukee is the respected name in professional power tools. It's great to see them opening a plant in the USA.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#153

Post by rayiner »

gurumeditations wrote: post #106
kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That manufacturing process is the result of bean counters determining it's a waste to ship boxed products that are 50% air overseas in a container. Ship the broken down components instead with denser packing and have a minimum wage worker bolt it together stateside. It isn't an enlightened return to domestic production.

American manufacturing looks like low-wage workers making $12 an hour (a few years ago) making windshields. A real American manufacturing renaissance would be German, with high skilled trained professionals designing, building, and operating advanced machines to create complex products. Basically what the Chinese are continually getting better at. There is no hope. America can’t even agree on giving community college…

No post body was provided.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#154

Post by wrycoder »

bombcar wrote: post #62
nimbius wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

It is. I have their battery-powered framing nailer, and the same battery drives the new angle grinder I bought. Both a great tools. You don't really need to buy on sale, because they will last a long time.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#155

Post by [deleted] »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #138
londons_explore wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do spot incoming QA testing. And if you find any issues, you test the whole shipment. And then you compare the results to the outgoing QA test results. And if any results can't be explained by failures relating to shipping, then you fire your supplier. You let them know ahead of time that this is the procedure you'll apply, and then they'll do proper QA testing.

In these industries it might take 5 years to switch suppliers. There are also specs that can't be tested at the finished good level, even destructively.

[deleted]

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#156

Post by rayiner »

fyzix wrote: post #87
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…

Low prices or well paid workforce...Choose one! This is a result of decades of regulations and labour laws. Paying Americans 10x more to make similar quality tools is a terrible business decision. This cannot be fixed without government incentives/handouts (eg. Chips Act)

Or we could just ban importing of foreign tools. Maybe a tariff that ratchets up over time to give industry time and incentive to transition.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#157

Post by ghostly_s »

collegeburner wrote: post #150
dwiel wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what about the highly skilled lower paid workforce also using automation in China? And with fewer safety requirements the machines are cheaper too.

problem is in theory it's "the same quality" but with the amount of shitty chinesium i seen i'm not convinced they're capable of producing anything more than a disposable.

There are countless quality products produced in China alongside the cheap ones; apparently you're just no good at identifying one.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#158

Post by beholdamerica »

lostapathy wrote: post #147
hayst4ck wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unions aren't about more wages. Unions are about checking owner/capitalist/CEO power. Why does the CEO get paid 10-100x more than the lowest paid worker despite working the same number of hours a day? That's the question unions aim to solve. This puzzle revolves around power. Power is the ability to execute force or inflict pleasure or pain. A CEO is clearly capable of painful force against their unskilled labor. A C…

> Why does the CEO get paid 10-100x more than the lowest paid worker despite working the same number of hours a day? Honestly I wouldn’t want to work at a company (of any size) where the CEO was only worth 10x what the lowest paid janitor makes.

I've worked and still work for such CEOs in Australia, where the minimum wage is quite high and CEOs of small and medium companies aren't all quadrillionaires. It's perfectly fine.

I actually value the work a janitor does more than some of my colleagues, in terms of cleaning vs. creating messes.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#159

Post by dmix »

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

DeWalt and Milwuakee are owned by the same parent company.

Re: Milwaukee Tool Raises the Bar with New USA Factory

#160

Post by dmix »

rayiner wrote: post #156
fyzix wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Low prices or well paid workforce...Choose one! This is a result of decades of regulations and labour laws. Paying Americans 10x more to make similar quality tools is a terrible business decision. This cannot be fixed without government incentives/handouts (eg. Chips Act)

Or we could just ban importing of foreign tools. Maybe a tariff that ratchets up over time to give industry time and incentive to transition.

How long do you think it would take for automation to get to 75%+ of the way there in terms of price parity?

It's mostly just a big initial capital investment it seems.

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