The million dollar Answer....

[kartracer55]

Ready?








keep scrolling....











Oh the suspense....












"Dear Jim,

Many of our consumer tool lines are worldwide sourced and manufactured globally overseas. No hiding the truth there. We do stand behind the quality of all of our tools no matter where they are made, but the competitive nature of manufacturing today has forced all of the major tool "players" to cut costs wherever possible to stay on the shelves in the big box retailers do to their price point pressures. A good bit of our manufacturing for tools still happens in the USA at our plants and at our vendors plants. Namely our Proto Heavy Industrial Line along with some products sold into the large home centers as well as the discount retailers. We try our best to ensure that all of our packaging at the consumer level represents honestly to the consumer the country of origin that he/she is making a buying decision about. We thank you for your inquiry and support of the Stanley family of tools.

In case this email does not fully answer your question, or you would like to contact us for any reason, simply reply to this email.

Thank you

Stanley Proto Customer Support"


Well Gee wiz... It doesnt answer my question. Heres how I read this email "proto tools are mostly made in the US, but blackhawk tools are only finished here, and stamped USA... thats why they look so much like the taiwanese husky tools"

How else could they sell a 5pc set of blackhawk 8pt sockets for 8$ when the Armstrong version cost $35? I have very little confidence in the blackhawk brand, I probably wont be buying any of them anytime soon. Proto... maybe, maybe not. SK and Write both claim to manufacture thier tools 100% in the US with US steel, which kicks ass. Too bad I cant find a good source for wright tools, they would get alot of my buisness.


How should I reply?

Discuss...

Jim

[chevy302dz]

Well you could always ask where exactly Blackhawk tools that are branded USA are forged and finished.

[kartracer55]

guess what I just did :-)

I set up two questions one for proto and one for blackhawk. They are Yes or No questions

Cant wait

Jim

[Thumper]

......Stay on 'em.............LOL

[chevy302dz]

:thumbup:

[Bill K]

Bet they can't give a simple yes or no.

[jwh]

[" but the competitive nature of manufacturing today has forced all of the major tool "players" to cut costs wherever possible to stay on the shelves in the big box retailers do to their price point pressures.

Check your local PBS Stations listing for when they do the "Frontline" episode on WalMart again. They dictate what the price will be that they will buy at. If you can't meet it, they won't buy your product to sell in their stores. Simple.

John in Rochester NY

[kartracer55]

[" but the competitive nature of manufacturing today has forced all of the major tool "players" to cut costs wherever possible to stay on the shelves in the big box retailers do to their price point pressures.

Check your local PBS Stations listing for when they do the "Frontline" episode on WalMart again. They dictate what the price will be that they will buy at. If you can't meet it, they won't buy your product to sell in their stores. Simple.

John in Rochester NY

Stanley IS the largest tool producer in the world, followed closely by Danaher (or maybe the other way around, but Im pretty sure stanley is number 1) Price point means nothing to them. They manufacture so many of the cheap tool brands like "workforce" that are sold in these stores, Walmart was few other options, or so I would imagine.


Jim

[kartracer55]

For the Record...

I GET SH*T DONE!!! :rocker: hahaha

"Yes sir, the large majority of the Proto Line is made in Dallas, Texas with American steel and forgings produced in the USA by Stanley and various US vendors based in the USA. Now there are bits and pieces of the SKU's made overseas, and some components in sets i.e. plastics handles, pouches, composites, but the majority of the Proto is forged, manufactured and finished in the USA. That is why many foreign end users demand Proto because it is a majority made in the USA tool line. The Blackhawk by Proto line is also mostly made in the USA as well, with much of the same forging, finishing and assembly happening in the same plants where Proto is produced. BlackHawk by Proto was relaunched in the market place @ 3 years ago at the request of our customer base as they were demanding a quality product to go head to head with Craftsman, Allen, Danaher, etc. So, Stanley being good..........Blackhawk being better.......and Proto being Best. Three price points in the hand tool marketplace to provide all users with the hand tools and chests/cabinets that they feel comfortable purchasing and using. We have been highly successful with our Blackhawk by Proto in the marketplace across the board of our Industrial Users, including Automobile manufacturing/dealerships, Aviation, Petroleum, Chemical, US D.O.D., Agriculture, Mining, Utililities, Telecoms, Transportation along with General Manufacturing and MRO. We took millions of dollars away from our competitors in 2005 and we expect a repeat in 2006. This is all due to the breadth of our product line, the price points across all channels, and the quality that we demand in all of our manufacturing activities across the globe. We apprciate your detailed inquiry and your support of Stanley Tools. It is loyal customers like you that have kept the Stanley Works in business in the USA and across the globe for 162 years. Let us know if you have any further questions"


Ok, Im convinced :lol:

Im buying my 8$ set of 8pt sockets now haha


Jim

[iiibdsiil]

Just remember, whatever you decide to buy WILL be one of the few things made in China :lol:

[kartracer55]

Just remember, whatever you decide to buy WILL be one of the few things made in China :lol:


It wouldnt surprise me the way today is going lol

[chevy302dz]

That's great information, thanks for putting in the effort.

[l_bilyk]

Jim,

you need to get yourself a girlfriend :lol_hitti

[kartracer55]

Jim,

you need to get yourself a girlfriend :lol_hitti


shes not talking to me hahahaha its a long long story, shell get over it :pimpflash

[l_bilyk]

Nothing says "i love you" like a new ratchet :thumbup:

[bmwpower]

shes not talking to me hahahaha its a long long story, shell get over it :pimpflash

How can she talk to you? You're on the forums all day long.... :bounce:

[kartracer55]

How can she talk to you? You're on the forums all day long.... :bounce:

Good thing were both "in" on verizon or my phone bill would be out of controll. She calls, her friends call, my friends call because they want to get with her friends... Oh, the drama :lol: As soon as I sign on aim I get a million windows popping up at me. Whats worse is im being like stalked by some like 14 year old girl that found me on myspace haha its crazy. Shes my friends cousin or something like that. garagejunkies.net is my little shell where I know they wont be able to find be to bitch and moan about SOMETHING (which they always seem to be able to do).

Then again, being such a :pimpflash doesnt help either

:lol_hitti

Jim

[dink]

Send another email labeled FACOM!!!!

I want to know there outlook with this line

[stimpy]

Jim, you know there some guys down at stanley going ...... Hey its the kid from Jersey again asking about our tools , whos gonna answer it???? ... ( as you hear a stampede for the door ) :lol:

[Jay H 237]

Stanley still does a lot of plastic injection molding for thier tools here in the US. The company I work for builds thier injection molding robots and all of them have been delivered to plants in the US.

Another bit of trivia fact for you is that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in thier plants is painted "Stanley Green". It's what I would call an "apple green" color. We custom paint our robots thier color so they will match the other machinery and even the walls of thier buildings. They have everything painted green since the color green is supposed to keep you relaxed. They do this for thier employees.

Jason

[kartracer55]

Yes, When they see my email come up, all of a sudden they are all busy "helping other customers"

Dink, Ill type the questions but YOU need to use your own email. I doubt they will answer anymore questions from me hahahaha

Jason, would this plant be in New Britain?

Jim

[Thumper]

Jim.........your girlfriends last name wouldn't be ....."Stanley" would it...???.......LOL.

I gotta give it to ya.......You got more tenacity than a Chihuahua on crack.......rofl.

[kartracer55]

Yeah yeah everybody make fun of me lol

The whole reason behind my curiosity is, if Im going to spend hundreds if not thousands on my tools, id like for damn sure to know where they came from!

[Thumper]

Nah.....I never would make fun of a man trying to find out the truth about anything. The dumbest questions are the ones that aren't asked. It's commendable that a young guy such as yourself actually cares about things like that. Keep it up.


" walk softly and carry a Thundergun"

[eschoendorff]

" walk softly and carry a Thundergun"
:lol: :lol: :lol: Score!

[kartracer55]

My thunder gun kicks more ass than :Mr.T:



I pitty the poor fool who dont own no thundergun!!


Haha

[motorheadjohn]

For the Record...

I GET SH*T DONE!!! :rocker: hahaha
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:
We're not worthy! We're not worthy!

[kartracer55]

Hahaha Just goes to prove... if you annoy them enough they will tell you what you want to know

[Jay H 237]

Jason, would this plant be in New Britain?

We currently have a robot in our production facility that will be shipping to London, Ohio in the next week or two. We have sold and shipped robots to New Britian also. New Britian is within an hours ride of me here in CT. We build several robots a year for Stanley.

We did not get any sample parts, toolings or mold prints for this robot so I have no idea what it will be making. It is possible that it will be making more than one part. They could set the mold and robot up to make a batch of parts then change them over to make other parts. The run time on parts will depend on demand. It could run for hours, a day, a week, who knows, until they change it if need be. These robots are capable of running 24/7. I can tell you that with the size of this robot it won't be making those neon colored plastic razor blade scrapers (I have plenty of those!). This robot can handle bigger parts than that.

I also know how curious you are Jim and I will also tell you I currently have no info on this London plant. I don't know how long Stanley has had it, how large it is or what's produced there. This may just be an injection molding plant without any actual tool forging being done there. I could speculate that they could be doing the final assembly of screwdrivers or the like there. In this case the already forged screwdriver shanks (or other tools) would be placed in the mold and have the handles molded on.