bought some ratchets with a cool story today

[davestlouis]

Well, shoot, I'll just keep buying up old Armstrongs...they're a hell of a lot cheaper than Snap On at the used level, and if the guts are the same, why not? Should I assume that the "Danaherized" Armstrongs now use the corporate Danaher ratchet guts? Seems like the Kobalt square handle and Armstrong square handle would be made a similar way.

 

[krusty the clown]

AFAIK they still sell the old style armstrongs as they have always been made. the new MAXX ratchets are the typical danaher fare.

 

[davestlouis]

So Danaher and Snap On share(d) an OEM vendor who made/make the gearsets and other guts. Somehow I pictured Snap On doing their own thing and purposely being different than everyone else in the market. Interesting incestuous relationships these "competitors" have.

 

[krusty the clown]

So Danaher and Snap On share(d) an OEM vendor who made/make the gearsets and other guts. Somehow I pictured Snap On doing their own thing and purposely being different than everyone else in the market. Interesting incestuous relationships these "competitors" have.

why does that surprise you? remember tough that armstrong ratchet pre-dates danahers involvment with armstrong. i'm just assuming that they had to complete a contract with the vendor before they released the corporate design. look at other products that snap on, mac, cornwell and others sell that are scourced from other danaher owned companies.....as my old district manager for matco said "the tool business is whored up"

 

[davestlouis]

No different than the car business, with GM and Ford sharing automatic transmissions, etc. Or BMW using French-built GM transmissions from Hydromatic division. Danaher really does have their tentacles spread far and wide. If I were Snap On, I'd be afraid of that monster, for fear that they would become strong enough to elbow me out of the way. You could argue that Danaher is diversified enough, just within the hand tool market, to be much stronger than Snap On or Cornwell or Wright, or any of a number of smaller players. They are strong in the consumer market, as well as the professional market, Stanley is the only other player with that strength.

 

[krusty the clown]

IIRC stanley is the largest producer of hand tools with danaher as #2 and snap on #3. cornwell and wright are small players although they are good tools.