Craftsman News

[Coach James]

I got this in my email today. I know all the C-man negative stuff, the brand should die, they sold out, it's all ****, etc. This is still nice to see more manufacturing coming back to the states.

https://www.craftsman.com/whereitsm...eral&utm_content=employeeappreciation+mar2020

Coach

 

[Professional Tool User]

The made in USA with global materials label is why I have a minimal level of respect for Stanley. If it just said assembled in USA on it, I can at least give them some credit for not being pretentious. So far, all I am seeing in terms of Craftsman tools with that label are tools that are already available under other Stanley brands. If Craftsman is redundant, the brand is going to be in trouble. We shall see if that changes.

 

[Farmall450]

The made in USA with global materials label is why I have a minimal level of respect for Stanley. If it just said assembled in USA on it, I can at least give them some credit for not being pretentious. So far, all I am seeing in terms of Craftsman tools with that label are tools that are already available under other Stanley brands. If Craftsman is redundant, the brand is going to be in trouble. We shall see if that changes.

So you'd prefer it made AND assembled in China? This is old news; it's well documented they're building a TX plant for the production of hand tools as well.

You guys sure are picky.

 

[nickleone]

Western Forge in Colorado announced it is closing. They make Craftsman hand tools.

Nick

 

[Farmall450]

Western Forge in Colorado announced it is closing. They make Craftsman hand tools.

Nick

Different Craftsman.

 

[_brian_]

They did formerly, but as I understand it, they have not made Craftsman tools for a few years now. They were big on the screwdrivers for sure.

Western Forge is for sure closing though. They tried to sell the factory and had no luck. Now, it is simply shutting down.

Western Forge in Colorado announced it is closing. They make Craftsman hand tools.

Nick

 

[Terry D]

Dewalt says the same thing

 

[Georgewerr]

I like how they list the city that each item was made not just (Made in the U.S.A.). When I open the link to the snow blower it says made in Willard, Ohio.

Correction - Not all of there products are listing which plant made them.-

 

[LB-1911]

Western Forge in Colorado announced it is closing. They make Craftsman hand tools.

Nick

Once upon a time.

Ideal said the closing was triggered when troubled retail giant Sears sold its Craftsman tool division nearly four years ago and moved tool manufacturing operations offshore.

The company said Western Forge employees tried to “streamline operations and offset the loss of the Craftsman volume for years but were not able to offset the loss enough to sustain the plant.”

Ideal said it tried unsuccessfully to sell the Colorado Springs plant.


Source of above @
Feb 18 2020
Western Forge to end 54-year run in Colorado Springs, lay off all employees


Previous thread
Western Forge Closing Down

 

[kythri]

Once upon a time.

Ideal said the closing was triggered when troubled retail giant Sears sold its Craftsman tool division nearly four years ago and moved tool manufacturing operations offshore.

The company said Western Forge employees tried to “streamline operations and offset the loss of the Craftsman volume for years but were not able to offset the loss enough to sustain the plant.”

Ideal said it tried unsuccessfully to sell the Colorado Springs plant.


Source of above @
Feb 18 2020
Western Forge to end 54-year run in Colorado Springs, lay off all employees


Previous thread
Western Forge Closing Down

Ideal/Western Forge chose not to renew Sears/Craftsman contracts.

Not suggesting that those contracts would have been worth a lot, long-term, but Ideal/WF complaining suggestively, insinuating that it's all because of the Craftsman sale to SBD, rather than their own choice to cut their losses is, well, disingenuous at best.

Sears/Craftsman wanted to renew the contract, and intended to renew the contract. It's Ideal/WF that shut it down, not Sears/Craftsman or SBD/Craftsman..

 

[monster1]

Do you remember when they scoffed at us consumers and said the average consumer doesn't care where their tools are made? Pepperidge Farms remembers.

 

[neophyte]

The made in USA with global materials label is why I have a minimal level of respect for Stanley. If it just said assembled in USA on it, I can at least give them some credit for not being pretentious. So far, all I am seeing in terms of Craftsman tools with that label are tools that are already available under other Stanley brands. If Craftsman is redundant, the brand is going to be in trouble. We shall see if that changes.

The first Craftsman/Stanley utility knives that Lowes had, used the same basic design as some of the Stanley utility knives, but the knives were made in China, and seemed to be lighter in weight for some reason than the Stanley versions.
If the newer Craftsman knives are assembled in the USA, then they might be closer to the USA made Stanley knives, which I like.
The red Craftsman tool color can make the tools easier to find in dome situations, as well as allows easy identification of different utility knives if you keep different knives set up with different blades gor different tasks.
As far as the assembled in USA, the tapes appear to have blades made in the USA, but it’s possible screws or some other parts are imported, making it illegal to label the tapes “Made in the USA” in states like California.

 

[yrly]

Ideal/Western Forge chose not to renew Sears/Craftsman contracts.

Not suggesting that those contracts would have been worth a lot, long-term, but Ideal/WF complaining suggestively, insinuating that it's all because of the Craftsman sale to SBD, rather than their own choice to cut their losses is, well, disingenuous at best.

Sears/Craftsman wanted to renew the contract, and intended to renew the contract. It's Ideal/WF that shut it down, not Sears/Craftsman or SBD/Craftsman..

Well Sears is sourcing the acetate handle screwdrivers from Great Star now and frankly they are better made than the WF ones.

Sears didn’t close hundreds of stores until well after this and still had well north of 1000 stores at the time, they paid the biggest important vendors out after Fast Eddie won control in bankruptcy so WF probably wouldn’t have gotten screwed in the deal either. Those would not have been small orders. Wonder if things would have turned out better had they continued the contract.

WF’s pliers were better than the replacement source Sears used for the most part but whoever made the replacements had a couple of more unique designs.

Without the Sears contract though I’m not sure who’d have bought them. Stanley used Sears’ sources to fill holes in the line after the sale, so one could assume had WF still been producing those lines for Sears and were already tooled for such that Stanley might have simply stepped in and bought the factory.

 

[lardy1]

Did anyone read the contract offered to WF or are we happy just jumping to conclusions?

 

[lardy1]

Thank you. But I'm still reserving judgement. I don't fault anyone for not doing business with Sears.

Ideal is trying to save what they can of the operation, by what I've read. It was obviously an aging and not a high profit facility to begin with. Gambling that Sears was going to be good for the money would not have been a good decision. Gambling (perhaps) that the aging facility could produce at a profit would not have been a good decision. Making efforts to save the operation by moving it into a more modern facility makes more sense to me. We don't know their intent. Maybe all they want is to provide their own SK brand until they prove they can operate at a profit.

I don't find it easy to criticize a domestic tool manufacturer for restructuring in order to compete with Asian competition. In fact, I support their effort 100%.

 

[Fedwrench]

Not to derail this thread any further but, I seem to remember that Western Forge was on borrowed time once Ideal broke ground on the current SK factory's expansion The goal for SK/Ideal was always to bring the production capabilities under a single roof at the SK plant.

Back to the topic at hand, the current line up of Craftsman mechanics hand tools that Lowes hawks simply ****. the ratchets are bulky and over priced for what they are. However, I think the pricing is high so that, if SBD ever makes Craftsman mechanics tools in the USA, they won't have to increase pricing much.

I have more tools than I'll ever use in my lifetime so, I'm not really vested in Craftsman's future. I have plenty of US made craftsman from my younger years to last me.

What really irritates me though is that since SBD Craftsman's release, the quality of Dewalt Mechanics tools declined. Current Dewalt chrome sockets transitioned to that double detent **** retention system just like craftsman so, there's quite a bit of socket movement on the drive tool.

 

[kythri]

Did anyone read the contract offered to WF or are we happy just jumping to conclusions?

I'm not jumping to any conclusions. I'm pointing out that Ideal/WF whining, blaming Sears selling the brand to SBD as the reason they're closing the factory is disingenuous.

Further, I wouldn't fault Ideal/WF or any other manufacturer for not wanting to maintain contracts with Sears They're far from the only manufacturer who did this.

Just don't blame them for why your factory has no business and has to close, when you're the one that chooses to not renew the contract.

 

[1982fxr]

I'm not jumping to any conclusions. I'm pointing out that Ideal/WF whining, blaming Sears selling the brand to SBD as the reason they're closing the factory is disingenuous.

Further, I wouldn't fault Ideal/WF or any other manufacturer for not wanting to maintain contracts with Sears They're far from the only manufacturer who did this.

Just don't blame them for why your factory has no business and has to close, when you're the one that chooses to not renew the contract.

Wow.

Sears own reports doubted they could stay in business. Ideal wanted to get paid for their tools and instead Sears sued them.

 

[kythri]

Wow.

Sears own reports doubted they could stay in business. Ideal wanted to get paid for their tools and instead Sears sued them.

Look, I'm not faulting Ideal/WF for ending the contract. I'm not faulting any Sears supplier for doing the same.

As far as Sears suing Ideal, Sears sued over an interpreted breach of contract. I don't know the details of that particular instance.

All I'm saying is that for Ideal to opt to not renew the contract, and then claim they have to close WF due to the Craftsman sale to SBD being the reason they don't have contracts to build for Sears, that's just nonsense.

 

[1982fxr]

Is it possible that the sale of Craftsman was indeed the reason?

With Stanley acquiring it and now competing with Sears, as Sears subsequently went down the ******* and wouldn't agree to a new contract, how much smaller would their orders have been?

Possibly reduced enough so that it led to the closing of the plant? Just like they said?

 

[kythri]

Again: Ideal/WF themselves, already earlier admitted that it was they themselves that opted not to renew the contract.

Now, years later, they're shuttering the factory, and amidst all the bad PR that generates, they're trying to shift the blame.

The sale of Craftsman to SBD might very well be the reason that Ideal/WF chose not to renew a contract, but it's still on them.

Sears was anxious to sign a contract and continue their business partnership, which would have meant ongoing production at the factory in question. Ideal/WF chose not to, and is trying to play the situation as if they had nothing to do with it, it was all out of their hands.

Forgive me if I'm not accepting their BS.

 

[1982fxr]

According to Sears own lawyers, Ideal simply wanted new payment terms.

According to Sears own lawyers, Ideal would have then continued to fill the orders.

Ideal said they tried for years to streamline operations so the plant could survive, as they knew the loss of Craftsman was coming. They simply could not sustain the plant with the loss of volume.

I suppose they could have spent all that money filling the orders just to likely get screwed, and then still had to close the plant anyway. Would that have been smart management to you? Sounds like they chose to leave the red pen in the drawer.

 

[1982fxr]

Back to the original topic, they are being very upfront about the global materials. And the videos show that they are doing more than putting a screw in as some seem to think that label indicates.

So that's good.

 

[Professional Tool User]

The first Craftsman/Stanley utility knives that Lowes had, used the same basic design as some of the Stanley utility knives, but the knives were made in China, and seemed to be lighter in weight for some reason than the Stanley versions.
If the newer Craftsman knives are assembled in the USA, then they might be closer to the USA made Stanley knives, which I like.
The red Craftsman tool color can make the tools easier to find in dome situations, as well as allows easy identification of different utility knives if you keep different knives set up with different blades gor different tasks.
As far as the assembled in USA, the tapes appear to have blades made in the USA, but it’s possible screws or some other parts are imported, making it illegal to label the tapes “Made in the USA” in states like California.

You are missing the point. For each Stanley brand, the made in USA with global materials is supposed to be the more expensive option. For example, for tape measures, there's the cheaper made in Thailand Stanley Tylon line and the USA assembly fat max line. This carries over into other brands.

My point is, if they want to use the made in USA with global materials label, they demonstrating how opaque they are if they don't state on the packaging where all the materials come from and which assembly steps were actually done in the US.

 

[Professional Tool User]

Back to the original topic, they are being very upfront about the global materials. And the videos show that they are doing more than putting a screw in as some seem to think that label indicates.

So that's good.

That is just Stanley's marketing department being pretentious. Assembled in the USA means exactly the same thing. Those who are truly being upfront like Darex (drill doctor manufacturer) admit that they can't source all their parts in the US like they used to and use assembled in USA.

If they want to put made in USA in big font on the packaging and with global materials in smaller font, I'm going to call their bluff and demand a higher level of accountability. They can go list where every assembly step is done and where all the materials come from on the packaging. If Stanley diverts its marketing dollars towards actually making the tool, it would work wonders.

 

[1982fxr]

I'm not in the market for any Craftsman stuff so don't have a dog in this fight.

Made with global materials typically means some of the raw materials or pre-stamped parts come from outside the USA. ... It's allowed when a product has a significant amount of U.S. content or U.S. processing but doesn't quite meet the “all or virtually all” standard.

I'll leave that up there ^^^^. It's from the FTC.

Rage on.

 

[Farmall450]

Wow.

Sears own reports doubted they could stay in business. Ideal wanted to get paid for their tools and instead Sears sued them.

Yeah, I would not trust Lampert's good will to get paid.

 

[Farmall450]

That is just Stanley's marketing department being pretentious. Assembled in the USA means exactly the same thing. Those who are truly being upfront like Darex (drill doctor manufacturer) admit that they can't source all their parts in the US like they used to and use assembled in USA.

If they want to put made in USA in big font on the packaging and with global materials in smaller font, I'm going to call their bluff and demand a higher level of accountability. They can go list where every assembly step is done and where all the materials come from on the packaging. If Stanley diverts its marketing dollars towards actually making the tool, it would work wonders.

Actually, it doesn't. There are very specific (gov't mandated) thresholds to claim these.

 

[coleman10]

I think there’s a difference between assembled in USA and made with global materials. Years ago pencils would claim Made in the USA, even though the graphite was sourced globally. These days with the new regulations, they can’t claim that anymore. Does it change the pencil or the quality of the pencil? No, it’s still the same pencil.

 

[driftpin]

Recently I've been in both the Ft. Lauderdale and the Miami Sears stores, it's surely a shame to see the shrinking inventory and less floorspace devoted to Craftsman. In both urban areas there have been large Sears stores which have closed, the Plantation FL (Ft Lauderdale area) store is gone, and the Aventura FL (Miami area) store have both closed, they were big ones, and located in prosperous areas. I recall the Aventura store had an auto service building, now-closed.

 

[Vinny]

I always assumed what this meant was they get all the piece parts (motor, plastic housing, electronics, etc.) from China and just screw the thing together. Better than nothing, I suppose.

 

[coleman10]

I always assumed what this meant was they get all the piece parts (motor, plastic housing, electronics, etc.) from China and just screw the thing together. Better than nothing, I suppose.

According to DeWalt’s site:

We source raw materials and components from around the world when they are either not available in the United States or not viable to purchase based on cost, quality, or availability.

So I guess it could be both.