Heyco 1/4 drive metric socket set

[Fedwrench]

I noticed that the tool of the day from KC tool for Friday, 8/23/24 wasn't a German made tool but, a rail of Irish made 1/4 drive Heyco six point metric sockets on a nice green magnetic holder. The set included no skips from 4-14 mm with 4.5 & 5.5 included. I was bit taken back by the special price of $99.99 but, the same set today runs $133.43. Hell, the Taiwan made magnetic rail alone runs $56.10 which makes a Vim Magrail a bargain I also didn't know that Heyco made sockets in Ireland, the land of the Titanic and Delorean. Good looking socket set, just not for me.

Heyco Metric Socket Set on Aluminum Rail - 1/4" Drive, 13 Pieces

Heyco Metric Socket Set on Aluminum Rail - 1/4" Drive, 13 Pieces - high quality German engineering at the lowest price

www.kctool.com

Heyco Magnetic Aluminum Socket Rail - Empty, 1/4" Drive

Heyco Magnetic Aluminum Socket Rail - Empty, 1/4" Drive - high quality German engineering at the lowest price

www.kctool.com

 

[KnurledNut]

Wonder if thats a typo. The sockets have Germany stamped on them.

 

[Qualitytools]

I am familiar with Heyco as my BMW tool kit is mostly made by them.

 

[Cc_windsurfer]

I have a Heyco torx and etorx socket set which is my favorite; very nice. Mine were made in Germany.

 

[vssjim]

Didn't know any tools were ever made in Ireland except for the Portisol irons and torches

 

[KnurledNut]

Maybe there is more to this story. Came across this old article in the Irish Independent.

Thanks to infrastructure improvements, Mayo firm still going strong
Wed 5 Jan 2000 at 19:11

Now German-owned, the former Shamrock Forge & Tool is a foreign investment success story, finds Silke Thomas CELEBRATING 25 years in Ballina in 1998, HEYCO-WERK Ireland is the longest established foreign-owned company still operating in the region. The former Shamrock Forge & Tool, which employs 72 people, was incorporated into the HEYCO Group in 1998. HEYCO , based in Remscheid, Germany, has more than 800 employees in Germany, the Czech Republic and Ireland.
At the Mayo plant, tools for the European automotive and DIY industries have been manufactured since 1973; production of plastic components for cars was launched in 1987.
The name "Shamrock'' was chosen because the plant was originally built to serve a customer in the United States. But the company collapsed as a consequence of the 1973 dollar crash, and the former Shamrock Forge & Tool focused on the European market.
But in spite of tax advantages and grands provided by the Industrial Development Authority, circumstances were not always favorable to industrial companies in Mayo. The former Shamrock faced severe problems concerning infrastructure, says Dieter Losleben, managing director of HEYCO-WERK Ireland.
One critical point was communication: until 1987, when a fixed wire was installed, international phone calls could only be made via Castlebar and, later, Dublin.
Water supply was the second severe drawback: Apart from quality problems, water was not available during the day in sufficient quantities. The IDA eventually built a water tank.
Another inconvenience was transportation. Transport of container loads to and from Ireland was slow and expensive. As most of the raw materials like steel needed for production in Ballina are imported from Germany and as HEYCO-WERK Ireland itself is a 100pc exporting company, functioning transport is crucial. The final products are returned to Germany, where the distribution warehouse make assortments which eventually find their way back to Ireland as car parts or DIY tool kits.

A further challenge was to find skilled labour. In the first days, Mr Losleben says that people from the Mayo area were not familiar with industrial machines and "had to be trained from zero''. Since then, he says, very large improvements in infrastructure have been made, particularly in transport and qualification of the work force. Mr Losleben now plans to construct an new unit on already purchased land in the coming years, pushing the work-force from the current 72 to over 100.




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