Harbor Freight - Kobalt Ratchets

[cburnscrx]

Here's my question...

Kobalt makes a 3/8 flex head ratchet and Harbor Freight makes a flexible ratchet. Both are the same heads with different handles attached. Kobalt also uses the same head to make a standard length ratchet. If that's the case, why doesn't HF? Maybe it's a non compete issue since there's no head to head comparison?

Here's the Kobalt

http://www.lowes.com/pd_337304-22328-85861_4294707904__?productId=3387120&Ntt=ratchet

Here's the Pittsburgh

http://www.harborfreight.com/3-8-eighth-inch-heavy-duty-flexible-ratchet-96369.html

And here's my photo's of the two taken apart. (yes, I turned the Pittsburgh into a stubby)



And finally here's the Kobalt fixed head ratchet...so why doesn't HF make one of these? Certainly would be nice to save a few $$$ buying the HF version.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_337308-22328-85860_4294707904__?productId=3381168&Ntt=ratchet

 

[sberry]

I suspect hf uses multiple contractors, could change designs anywhere along the way on any given day. Its replace vs repair, no one cares if it is standard, could be overuns or sales before a brand is stamped on etc.

 

[DirtRoad]

The lines are becoming blurred lol

It is weird that HF dont carry flex heads. Lowes would be in trouble if they did.

 

[gte718p]

I've said this in other china tool threads. You get what you pay for in China. In college I designed parts that are now made in China, I also just found out my brother in laws company is out sourcing to china.

Here is a quick example my Fluke and my HF infrared thermometer. It is the cheapest one available. Everything is the same except the label. When Fluke outsources they say we will accept 10 defect in 1000 parts and they actually have a QA department. They pay $2 dollars a part. You have a reasonable expectation that it will work out of the box and Fluke or insert any companies name here. The Chinese are not stupid, and they can have decent QA when they want to. If a lot gets rejected or they know it will be rejected it goes to HF's distributor for $1.00 a unit. 9990 of the units may still be good. HF makes enough selling the good ones to cover the bad. Everyone is happy. Talking to my brother in law the Chinese are proud of it.

We have a strong HF good and bad thread. It really does go for anyone outsourcing to the third world. You can find good product from importer, but you accept some more risk then buying name brand.

I suspect HF just hasn't gotten around to buying the flex heads yet.

 

[Kracin]

^ they will make whatever you tell them to make. they aren't a third world country. and the tech required to make tools like these isn't new.

when outsourcing happens, they generally use different materials and different parts that are more readily available in the area to help cut costs even more, and make the final product even cheaper, but still within tolerances.

but it doesn't mean they couldn't make a high dollar, high quality product..... nobody will when the name china has been branded so harshly already. they will put a different country's name on the handle if they want people to think it's a higher quality without knowing if it is or not.

 

[jjjrmx5]

I suspect hf uses multiple contractors, could change designs anywhere along the way on any given day. Its replace vs repair, no one cares if it is standard, could be overuns or sales before a brand is stamped on etc.

^^^^^^^^^^^

I highly doubt HF listens to customer feedback much less responding to customer demands or "wants" re: new products.

If HF can buy tooling for a new tool cheap or have a sub-contrator mfg. the tool for them of = or slightly lesser quality than Lowes then I possibly see it happening. But expanding a tool line up is usually done slowly at HF and again, they stock what the want to stock per thier buying cost, likely not due to savvy product planners and marketing.

Products rotate in and out of HF just like Trader Joe's or Ollie's Outlet. Hell , HF changes suppliers more often than Paris Hilton changes outfits.

Some tools stick around for the long haul. Others come and go, a'la the Good Year hoses and many other good but now gone tools. The composite ratchets have been modified recently and I can only assume with value-engineering in mind.

HF is all about selling in volume and keeping what sells well but then keeping or lowering the per unit cost to them down as low as possible maximizing profit.

Thus why buying a tool one day at HF and then the same tool again 6 months later may yield you a different design and quality of tool at HF.

HF is certainly not an "all inclusive" tool seller at the store level, and "filling in" the ratchets you deem missing in the lineup may be great for us buyers, but if they can't procure those tools dirt cheap for resale then it it likely be kicked down the road until they find such a supplier.

Or at least that's my view on HF.
Cutting edge it is not. Useful at times or in emergencies it certainly is.

 

[cheechi]

Probably they manufactured the shorter ones, Kobalt passed, and HF bought them up.

Kobalt isn't the manufacturer anyway, they're both copies of another design in the first place.

 

[bobcatdan]

I'm pretty sure hf is like craftsman, they don't make anything themself. Hf buys from who gives them the price they want. Kobalt is the same way.

 

[cburnscrx]

Okay, I probably worded the question poorly...

Why doesn't Harbor Freight carry the 72 tooth standard chrome ratchet like Lowes? They clearly carry the same type of ratchet, with minor differences (see handles). What gives? Why wouldn't they carry that ratchet? I think it would sell like hotcakes.

 

[shoggoth80]

This is sorta off topic... but I had the black HF composite 72 tooth ratchet. I used that everyday, day in and out (school + work = 7 days a week wrenching), and I liked it. I have Kobalt and Titan 72 toothers now... but that is because I sent my HF ratchet off in the back of a red Chevy Cobalt after fixing the tail light...
For the price, the HF ratchets aren't bad at all in my experience.

 

[Hootbro]

Okay, I probably worded the question poorly...

Why doesn't Harbor Freight carry the 72 tooth standard chrome ratchet like Lowes? They clearly carry the same type of ratchet, with minor differences (see handles). What gives? Why wouldn't they carry that ratchet? I think it would sell like hotcakes.

You can ask "why?" until the cows come home and it would not matter. They are two different companies with two different marketing strategies. What one has does not necessarily mean the other should be stocking.

 

[fivespdcat]

I've said this in other china tool threads. You get what you pay for in China. In college I designed parts that are now made in China, I also just found out my brother in laws company is out sourcing to china.

Here is a quick example my Fluke and my HF infrared thermometer. It is the cheapest one available. Everything is the same except the label. When Fluke outsources they say we will accept 10 defect in 1000 parts and they actually have a QA department. They pay $2 dollars a part. You have a reasonable expectation that it will work out of the box and Fluke or insert any companies name here. The Chinese are not stupid, and they can have decent QA when they want to. If a lot gets rejected or they know it will be rejected it goes to HF's distributor for $1.00 a unit. 9990 of the units may still be good. HF makes enough selling the good ones to cover the bad. Everyone is happy. Talking to my brother in law the Chinese are proud of it.

We have a strong HF good and bad thread. It really does go for anyone outsourcing to the third world. You can find good product from importer, but you accept some more risk then buying name brand.

I suspect HF just hasn't gotten around to buying the flex heads yet.

This way oversimplifies the manufacturing process. It's not to say any country is incapable of making anything, but it is just not as easy as drawing something on paper and saying "make this!" There is a lot of experience and technical know how required in manufacturing to meet specifications. There is also a lot of technical know how and experience in determining specifications. And yes, there are some plants that just can't make things, it is the way of the world. Some plants/companies do some things better than others. I have plants all over the world that make the same basic process, guess what, only certain ones can make certain things. Is it because of the physical location? No, it's because each location has a basis of technical expertise that allows them to actually manufacture the item in question. This is not a overnight process to transfer that knowledge.

BTT, if HF thinks they can make money on it, they will sell it at some point. Lowes may also have an exclusivity agreement for that particular design.

 

[SMKS]

I've said this in other china tool threads. You get what you pay for in China.

Both the ratchets in question are made in Taiwan, not China.