Craftsman USA factory fail

[gsxr]

I wonder how much the bad timing (COVID) factored in.

Why America’s Largest Tool Company Couldn’t Make a Wrench in America​

A highly automated Texas factory was supposed to bring the manufacturing of Craftsman mechanics’ tools back to American shores. The $90 million project was doomed by equipment problems and slow production.

Why America’s Largest Tool Company Couldn’t Make a Wrench in America …

 

[RicardoD]

My father had horribly made tools from overseas and even my young teenager self (in the early 80s) could recognize they were complete garbage. Then I somehow found the Craftsman aisles at the local Sears and could immediately tell the difference. When I was finally making a bit of money via my first engineering internship at 19, I remember buying my first Craftsman toolset with Lifetime Warranty. I still use those tools today. It never occurred to me that Sears wouldn't be around forever. I know Craftsman is an Lowes but I rarely go there.

For my own son now I simply shop at Harbor Freight and their Pittsburgh stuff is just fine.

This is an incredibly depressing story. Thanks for sharing Dave!!!

 

[gsxr]

I am still using a Craftsman socket & wrench set that I bought probably in the mid-1990's after moving out of my parent's house, and wanted my own tools without borrowing stuff from Dad. It is a bummer to see the quality stuff becoming more difficult to find, and/or cost-prohibitive for the enthusiast.

 

[a777fan]

Thanks for posting Dave! So many good relatable nuggets in here, which many ‘commodity’ businesses in the US are facing:


On technical knowledge retention:

“Stafstrom, who retired in 2021, said the factory’s struggles were exacerbated by attrition among “gray-haired folks” with deep knowledge of tool making, while Felty said turnover at the top of Stanley’s tool division contributed.”​

On oversimplification of the skill level involved with human labor:

“Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor and roboticist Julie Shah said people often have expertise and flexibility machines can’t match. She recalled an aerospace company asking whether it could automate the work of an employee who had decades of experience heat-treating components in precise and varied ways.​

“You dig into it and you’re like, ‘No, that is an extremely computationally complex problem,’ ” she said. “It’s really easy to undervalue the judgment and experience that someone brings to what seems to be like a fairly simple task.””​

And then finally what I perceive to be the reality for the majority of consumers out there:

“Goldman Sachs analyst Joe Ritchie said that the shutdown of the Fort Worth plant is a minor issue in Stanley’s overall business. Shoppers likely will take it in stride if the tools continue to be made overseas, he said, and investors are focused on the broader cost-reduction plan. Shares are up about 27% since the start of the year.”​

And the minority:

“Some consumers, though, were infuriated. Jeff King, a former tech executive who hosts a YouTube review show called the Den of Tools, said his viewers’ excitement about once-beloved tools returning to U.S. production curdled into a feeling that they were misled.”​

Backed up by this:

“Wisconsin carpenter Eric Jacobi got two sets through an online store that serves the military. A spokeswoman for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service said it had acquired 1,200 produced for a retailer that backed out of its purchase.​

Jacobi, who runs a Craftsman fan group on Facebook, said the tools felt sturdier than their Taiwan-made equivalents, though some sockets were overly shallow and not entirely chrome plated.”​

Feelings are quickly overshadowed by actual tactile quality perceptions by most, unless you have a strong emotional swing one direction or the other, which I don’t believe most do.

Also- does anyone else see irony in attempting to equip an ‘American Made’ plant with equipment from Belarus???

 

[LWB250]

A large contingent of my hand tools are either my Dad's Craftsman tools or Craftsman tools I purchased myself for my automotive trade school training. I just bought some rebuild kits for my Craftsman ratchets on eBay, as they're NLA otherwise.

The thing about "tactile" is sooo true, though. I know I've mentioned this before, but...

The first Hazet wrench I owned was a drain plug wrench. I had never held a tool that was better engineered for feel and ergonomics before in my life. That's when I realized there *could* be a difference in tools, not just in build or materials, but in the actual "feel".

Dan

 

[Jlaa]

Also- does anyone else see irony in attempting to equip an ‘American Made’ plant with equipment from Belarus???

Yeah I don't understand this. Maybe there's more to the story ---- maybe not.

It seems like the whole secret-sauce behind the operation was reduced labor costs / automation. Wouldn't you want to at the very least on-shore or bring that secret sauce in-house so that you could rapidly prototype and iron the kinks out of the production process instead of relying on a third party in another country --- a former Eastern Bloc one at that --- to do that for you?

 

[szvook]

 

[kwontumspeed]

Sad news for StanleyB&D.
Great news for my former employer.
Bad news for ‘murica.

No surprise given the segments in which we competed with Stanley. Heavily leveraged in too many verticals choking cash flow. Our PE almost acquired one of their automation divisions but we saw the hemorrhaging and just let them sink and gobbled up their (majority) share.

Here’s my 145pc. She’s almost 21yo. Still complete and, boy, can she tell some stories.

 

[TerryA]

I hate to reveal this but most of my Craftsman tools that I still have were bought in the 60s. 3/8”& 1/2” drive ratchets and extensions with metric and SAE sockets along with combo box & open end metric and SAE wrenches. I still have most of them and still use them. Of course I’ve filled in a lot of stuff sense.

lol

 

[Duh_Vinci]

A sad story indeed. I still remember when I was 19, going to Sears with a little bit of saved money to get some tools and wondered what would be it like to have a full chest loaded with those tools. That was over 30 years ago.

For those who still use Craftsman tools (made in USA), I've recently taken one of my 1/2 drive ratchet to Lowes for exchange, started to get stuck, new, modern made ratchet does not feel the same, does not have the same "girth", new, still lifetime warranty, but not the same...

 

[gerryvz]

Yep, as noted in my COVID Engine Compartment Refresh thread, I have my Dad's early 1960s Craftsman ratchets and most of the sockets and extensions, as well as the Craftsman sockets and ratchets that my folks bought for me in the mid to late 1980s for various birthday and Christmas present. Use all of them and none of them have failed on me, ever. My own stuff has taken some strong beatings over the years. All made in USA.

A few years ago I broke one of my original Craftsman screwdrivers and brought it into the Annapolis Sears store, and they replaced it with no issue. I think I did this in Texas once, as well, with a different tool. The Sears store closed here about 3 years ago. The replacement screwdriver was made in China.

Last year I bought a Craftsman tool box at Lowe's with both metric and Standard tools (allen keys, sockets, wrenches, etc.) for my boat. This is because my boat hull and equipment is all standard, but the Volvo Penta engines/stern-drives are metric. Go figure.

It was a fully Chinese-made Craftsman pre-packaged mechanic's tool box (several sliding drawers in a single box), with mostly everything needed to get me out of a bind if I needed to replace the serpentine belt, or an engine impeller, or a hose, or a fuel-water separator, that kind of thing. The standard tools are handy for tightening up things that start to loosen from banging about out on the water. The door latch handle to the forward head is a particularly irritating thing, because both the inside and outside door handles are attached by Standard-sized allen set screws, and the head gets enough use that the handles loosen once or twice a season.

All of the tools are cheap, but I'd say probably sightly above what you'd see at Harbor Fright (Pittsburg), maybe about equivalent. Good enough. And good enough to get me out of a potential bind out on the water.

I swear to God though, the most-used and handiest tool on my boat is my Leatherman tool, made right in my old home-town of Portland, OR. I love you Tim Leatherman, also a graduate of my alma mater !!!

 

[a777fan]

Wow. Did NOT know that was someones last name. How B.A.

 

[skikrazey]

The tool box my grandfather gave me when I was 7, if memory serves, had used tools in it from ages gone by that were handed down. Still have them and use them, in the same tool box! In the late 80's, I bought a Craftsman Torque wrench. Couldn't afford Snap-On, still have that wrench today, works great; along with wrenches & some other Craftsman tools. Never though Sears would disappear when I was a kid! How times have changed. On occasion, I will buy Snap-On, my impact sockets and ratchet screw drivers & bits are from them. Otherwise, Harbor Freight works for what I need these days.