What happened to the Allen/Armstrong Closing thread?

M6erfan · Jan 12, 2017

Original thread deleted? Wonder why?

Anyway...

SUMTER COUNTY, SC
APEX Tool Group will cease production of its Armstrong and Allen lines of hand tools, a move that will end employment for 170 workers at its Sumter plant, said APEX Communications Director Kelly Rhoads.

"This is a difficult announcement for us and our associates," Rhoads said. "We can confirm we are reducing employment there (in Sumter) by 170 positions.

She said production of the Allen and Armstrong lines of hand tools will end by March 31

zoomieport · Jan 12, 2017

I was just thinking the same thing...?

Here is the link...
http://www.thestate.com/news/business/article126068444.html

6MocoA · Jan 12, 2017

Someone's still **** hurt over their gal.

bcexplorer · Jan 12, 2017

That *****.

Ohmthis · Jan 12, 2017

Damn! This *****!!! Are we going to have one huge monopoly (Stanley) making tools now??? I have both of those tool companies and liked them.

upgrading · Jan 12, 2017

Cool logo.

Bad news.

I am glad I have some of their wrenches.

Never had money to get their ratchets or screwdrivers.

Local · Jan 12, 2017

Sad to hear that.

metaldad · Jan 12, 2017

yes, this is sad news. 2 more old names being erased.

gdocktor3 · Jan 12, 2017

It most definitely *****, but I always thought Armstrong was overpriced considering the average quality of most of their tools. Their stuff is great, but a lot is Gearwrench quality with a USA stamp and a bigger price tag.

6PTsocket · Jan 12, 2017

Ohmthis said:
Damn! This *****!!! Are we going to have one huge monopoly (Stanley) making tools now??? I have both of those tool companies and liked them.

No we still have Apex with all their brands minus Armstrong, their premium offering. That leaves Stanley with their Proto division. At that level you are right, just Stanley among the big guys. So much for any attempt at quality by Apex. I always liked Armstrong but I don't know if it sold well. I am sorry they did not sell it, instead. There is still the independent quality brands like SK, Wright and Martin.

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Loscaldazar · Jan 12, 2017

Wonder if this means Menard's master force will also be discontinued/replaced with gear wrench clones.

Also, to be fair, besides the 88T ratchets, I'm not going to miss Armstrong. Might buy another set of the 1/4 flex and straight, because I prefer the dual 80s in 3/8 and 1/2.

Apex has royally screwed up the last few years. I forgot that it was TWO years ago they consolidated their plants. They still hadn't gotten their entire line back up and running at the end of 2016 (which caused Matco to switch to AJ manufacturing for the ratchets, and Armstrong has not made Matco sockets for decades).

I bet they just gave up on trying to get Armstrong/Allen up and running and decided it would be cheaper to end those brands. Apex has just made mistake after mistake the last few years.

firworks · Jan 12, 2017

Loscaldazar said:
Wonder if this means Menard's master force will also be discontinued/replaced with gear wrench clones.

Also, to be fair, besides the 88T ratchets, I'm not going to miss Armstrong. Might buy another set of the 1/4 flex and straight, because I prefer the dual 80s in 3/8 and 1/2.

Apex has royally screwed up the last few years. I forgot that it was TWO years ago they consolidated their plants. They still hadn't gotten their entire line back up and running at the end of 2016 (which caused Matco to switch to AJ manufacturing for the ratchets, and Armstrong has not made Matco sockets for decades).

I bet they just gave up on trying to get Armstrong/Allen up and running and decided it would be cheaper to end those brands. Apex has just made mistake after mistake the last few years.

My local Menards has already replaced a good deal of their Masterforce with GearWrench.

B_Bimmer · Jan 12, 2017

Wow, good payoff for stanley already.

dsmnickk90 · Jan 12, 2017

That socks I loved their pin-less impact sockets along with their 88t ratchets. USA made tools resume going to be harder and harder to find.

carcajou · Jan 12, 2017

Parts availability afterwards?

KM223 · Jan 12, 2017

carcajou said:
Parts availability afterwards?

Good luck. I have Snap On tools that I can't get parts for anymore and as we all know Snap On is going and will continue to go strong.

M6erfan · Jan 12, 2017

I was looking into getting a set of the Armstrong 54-609 ratcheting box ends recently and honestly I was concerned about Armstrong's future/support so I never pulled the trigger.

Screen Shot 2017-01-12 at 6.41.12 PM.jpg

Bummer because these were the only ones I could find of this type that were a "normal" length.

Double bummer because I think Gearwrench is overrated, average at best, (yeah, I know, flame suit activated...) and it's likely that GW will be pushed by Apex more than ever now.

Wonder how Matco will handle their rebranded Armstrong tool support. Replace with GW? No thanks.

More off shoring, Race to the bottom indeed.

T45 · Jan 12, 2017

"This is not manufacturing that is moving anywhere else, it is not going to another facility. We are not going to be selling these products," she said.

She said APEX will focus on its GearWrench brand, which has seen strong growth in the past couple of years.

"By streamlining our mechanic's hand tools portfolio, we can invest in and grow one [offshore] brand for this market segment," Rhoads said.

wow. typical corporate doublespeak.

This also seems to be defacto aknowledgement that the sale of cman (and the loss of cman usa production--never coming back to apex) will have ripple effects on us manufacturing base.

Those dealls 100% off the table with stanley as the parent, must have been writing on the wall here. No ability to scale without people like cman/sears and the military buying up big lots of usa tools at middle pricepoints.

Spdfreak91 · Jan 12, 2017

dsmnickk90 said:
That socks I loved their pin-less impact sockets along with their 88t ratchets. USA made tools resume going to be harder and harder to find.

their gearwrench pinless should still be made here ?

T45 · Jan 12, 2017

Spdfreak91 said:
their gearwrench pinless should still be made here ?

Presumably they shared the production line with Armstrong and the Craftsman ones. Maybe someone can chime in with more specifics. I want to say some rumour was that they were being offshored tho.

a52-830 · Jan 12, 2017

i'll miss armstrong. i like the "hourglass" ratchets, although i likely have all i need, with the exception of an 88t 1/2" flex ratchet. they are still around, although at insane prices. i was waiting for the next wave of them to depress the prices a bit, but i suppose that will never happen now.

in these situations, what happens to all the tooling and fixtures? will the warehouse them? sell them? melt them down?

ihateminimumwage · Jan 12, 2017

That's too bad to hear.

On a positive note, I'll be eagerly awaiting them to dump all the leftover stock on Cripe and HJE...

neophyte · Jan 12, 2017

ihateminimumwage said:
That's too bad to hear.

On a positive note, I'll be eagerly awaiting them to dump all the leftover stock on Cripe and HJE...

Vulture!

kctyphoon · Jan 12, 2017

I know this is not related, but since the topic is hovering around some brands names disappearing, I recently heard that Polaris will soon completely stop its production of Victory Motorcycles. I heard they want to concentrate more on the Indian brand which is more profitable and stop competing against themselves with two lines of similar style bikes.

Just thought I'd throw that in the mix..

Askme42 · Jan 12, 2017

Wish they could merge what was acceptable in the closed thread with this one.

Skin · Jan 12, 2017

T45 said:
Presumably they shared the production line with Armstrong and the Craftsman ones. Maybe someone can chime in with more specifics. I want to say some rumour was that they were being offshored tho.

The Sumter plant is not closing so presumably domestic manufacturing for some tools will remain produced by demand through third party contracts. I doubt that will last though. Companies like Matco are probably going to move production of the rest of their tools as fast as possible to avoid another "ratchet" fiasco. Sumter plant will probably be shuttered entirely within the next few years. Way to go Bain Capital; they will have buried a major hand tool manufacturer in less than 10 years.

Its very telling to me that they didn't even want to keep Armstrong around for bidding on military contracts. Basically says they don't care at all about domestic production.

a52-830 said:
in these situations, what happens to all the tooling and fixtures? will the warehouse them? sell them? melt them down?

Auctioned off. Wouldn't surprise me if the China or India swoops in and buy the machines for pennies on the dollar. In a fantasy world it would be nice if a domestic player like Ideal (SK) had the cash to buy the plant and IP outright.

southalabama · Jan 12, 2017

Two years ago Apex must have cleaned out some warehouses. A bunch of miscellaneous Armstrong and Allen stuff showed up in a liquidator named Dirt Cheap. I ended up with a bunch of armstrong screwdrivers, Lufkin tape measures, American made crescent wrenches, Nicholson files. Even got an Armstrong top box.

boomer12831 · Jan 12, 2017

I read the other thread this afternoon and now its gone. What happened ? I have a complete set of Armstrong wrenches in both SAE and metric and they have never let me down. I also have a couple of their ratchets that I love.

Empty Pockets · Jan 12, 2017

It's sad to see Allen and Armstrong go. While the spokesperson said that they are not sending the brands offshore, if memory serves, GW is made off shore.

Who you gonna believe? Her or your lyin eyes?

woody 73 · Jan 12, 2017

Very sad news not only for the workers but for the tool community as a whole.

We better support the few remaining USA tool companies before the fall into the same fate.

Brownsfan · Jan 12, 2017

Wonder what happened to that thread ? There was nothing bad. My guess is it got political.

davethorik · Jan 12, 2017

a52-830 said:
i'll miss armstrong. i like the "hourglass" ratchets, although i likely have all i need, with the exception of an 88t 1/2" flex ratchet. they are still around, although at insane prices. i was waiting for the next wave of them to depress the prices a bit, but i suppose that will never happen now.

Funny, i am in the exact same boat. My 1/4 locking flex is 60t, my 3/8 is an 88t. I have been eyeballing Matco, since theyre very close. They make a 24" locking flex in 1/2. You can get a used Matco for slightly less than the cheapest Armstrong brand new rats on ebay. Also, their repair kits should fit Armstrong ratchets so coverage is there in that regard.

ssdave · Jan 12, 2017

Brownsfan said:
Wonder what happened to that thread ? There was nothing bad. My guess is it got political.

That would be my guess too. When somebody posted a picture essentially blaming the results of the last election for the closing of the plants, I figured the thread would soon be deleted.

Parrothead · Jan 12, 2017

This is really sad. I was counting on Armstrong being around as my replacements for my Craftsman stuff. The sockets were the same so if I needed one...no problem!

6PTsocket · Jan 12, 2017

Parrothead said:
This is really sad. I was counting on Armstrong being around as my replacements for my Craftsman stuff. The sockets were the same so if I needed one...no problem!

Unless your craftsman stuff is very old Armstrong has not supplied Sears in many years and while Armstrong is first quality Sears later sold US and now Chinese hae been on a slide into the dumper for years. Buy SK, Wright,Proto,or Williams and you will be happy with the quality

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Fedwrench · Jan 12, 2017

It's a sad day even though I'm not an Armstrong fan. Many good brands were made in Armstrong factories. Some Gearwrench stuff is good but, it's not great :dunno:

The proswing wrenches(standard length fixed boxed end/ratcheting boxed end wrenches) are my favorite ratcheting wrenches. They will live on in MATCO trim made by Kabo in Taiwan. Only now they will be 90 tooth and spline. They won't be the same but, I have enough of the originals to last me

As for the pinless impact sockets, I expect Gearwrench to drop them or make an imported version.
In a way Armstrong has been dying for a long time. Look at all of the tool brands that were once made in Armstrong factories that are already gone: KD, US made NAPA, Master Mechanic, Craftsman, Kobalt, etc. The death of Armstrong isn't the end of US tool production but, it does reduce your selection a bit. :sad:

kythri · Jan 12, 2017

I thought there was some rather recent US-production Allen stuff - wrenches, etc.

M6erfan · Jan 12, 2017

jeremy v said:
Interesting, I saw that pic in the original thread and interpreted it a completely different way. I thought it was supposed to be a play on the bat signal, putting out a call for someone in particular to come and help prevent the loss of American jobs. Maybe I misinterpreted it.

That's how I interpreted it too. But that "someone" is a political figure, soooo...

anywho, let's keep this thread non political

M6erfan · Jan 12, 2017

Fedwrench said:
The proswing wrenches(standard length fixed boxed end/ratcheting boxed end wrenches) are my favorite ratcheting wrenches. They will live on in MATCO trim made by Kabo in Taiwan. Only now they will be 90 tooth and spline. They won't be the same but, I have enough of the originals to last me

I don't see regular length ratcheting box/box on Matco's website, only XL's. Got any part #'s? I would love to find some regular length proswings...

EDIT: Nevermind, found them, I think. They're not marketed as "Proswing" though...

http://www.matcotools.com/catalog/product/S9GRBLM7/7-PIECE-90-TOOTH-RATCHETING-DOUBLE-BOX-METRIC-SET/

These new ones may not be the same as yours Fed...

Parrothead · Jan 12, 2017

6PTsocket said:
Unless your craftsman stuff is very old Armstrong has not supplied Sears in many years and while Armstrong is first quality Sears later sold US and now Chinese hae been on a slide into the dumper for years. Buy SK, Wright,Proto,or Williams and you will be happy with the quality

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Not that old, in fact I bought a good deal of the USA Craftsman closeouts. I've got an Armstrong combination wrench that's the same as my full polish Craftsman USA wrenches. Reason...I thought I lost my Craftsman so I bought an Armstrong replacement. I found the Craftsman, compared the two and other than the stamping they were identical.

What happened to the Allen/Armstrong Closing thread?

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