Made in China

[jrockford]

So you think there is a Craftsman manufacturing facility somewhere? Nope, Craftsman has never made one tool themselves. Always made by another manufacturer and badged Craftsman.

I know companies like SK used to make Craftsman wrenches and sockets, but today or within the last 10 years when they were still selling Made in USA stuff, I am not sure who would have made those.

 

[HanShotFirst]

The Taiwanese tools have been pretty good for a long time now. I have a lot of stuff made by Teng tools. These are made in Taiwan but the quality and design is top notch. I would have them over the Australian made Sidchrome stuff any day.

For larger machinery the Taiwanese stiff is good too. My Lathe and Mill are Taiwanese and the quality is noticeably better than the Chinese equivalents.

That being said the Chinese machinery has improved vastly in the last 10 years....



...People are initially attracted by cheap prices but that doesn't last. They stay for quality.

It's a common company model to start out with a cheap and usually crappy alternative to what is already available in the market. Toyota started selling cars in the US market in the 1950s. They were slow and unreliable compared to the local offerings. Today they are often considered a benchmark for reliability and quality and are one of the largest most popular brands in the US.

Cheers

Spot on! Harbor Freight entered the market being the "Wal Mart" of tools; cheap. I first discovered HF in the early '80's and their tools were pretty darned sketchy. Around '96 I had a bunch of Cman ratchets and sockets stolen from me and I couldn't afford to replace them, so I bought this really nice set from HF. Had everything, metric & SAE, 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2". Most were SK knock off's and came in steel boxes like SK. The quality of the sockets really were first rate; you'd have to go truck brand to beat them. Over the years I've beat the hell out of them and I've yet to kill a single socket (but have killed several US made Cman's in that time). The ratchets were clunky but brute strong.

Since then HF's quality has done nothing but improve. For wrenches, sockets and ratchets HF has Cman beat both in price and quality. For power tools, it just depends on the tool, some are better, some are worse.

One of the things that really made Cman great was the vast expanse of their too line. From mechanics tools, to woodworking, to home machining; they had it all covered. HF is hitting on most of that expanse while their quality just continues to improve. Meanwhile, Cman's line is decreasing while their quality is going down.

HF's quality has improved so much that you're seeing a lot of pro mechanics now have HF stuff in their tool boxes. 20 years ago there was very little of that going on, but now you'd be hard pressed to find a tool box that has absolutely none.

Also in the grand scheme of things Craftsman was never considered the best by anyone. They were good quality tools at prices that were affordable. Back in the 1940's & 1950's metal working equipment wasn't priced to be had by the average garage guy. Craftsman partnered with Atlas who made "cheap" mills, lathe's, drill presses, table saws, band saws, etc., and now the average guy could afford to buy metal working tools for his garage.

The difference today is Cman's quality is now embarrassing. Sure the Atlas lathe's were a bit of a joke back in the 1940's, but who could afford a Logan for home use? And over time the Atlas proved that it was a very capable lathe. Today it's quite the opposite. Cman tools are a bit embarrassing to buy and over time they're proving that you made the wrong decision.

HF today is Cman of yesteryear. When you buy a HF socket set you have this little question in the back of your mind, but over time they're proving to work out just fine...For the weekend warrior. They're not professional grade, and even at it's best neither was Cman.

 

[visionguru]

Nowadays, China is certainly a big force in manufacturing. Some of the commenters seem to think the Chinese workers are slave laborers, actually it's far from the truth. China is experiencing a labor shortage and the wages keeps rising.

In terms of quality, China basically can produce anything within your specification. You want cheap, they can make it dirt cheap. The greedy corporations decides the quality, not the Chinese workers.

I visited China last year. Their high speed train network is really impressive. The quality of their trains are way better. The trains in NYC/Chicago are very shabby in comparison.

Speaking of Harbor Freight tools. Their profit margin should be huge, even with 25% coupon. For example,

The first picture is a 21 piece brake service set. It is sold in China for USD $10, with free shipping.
The 2nd picture is a 13 piece brake service set. USD$5 shipped!

The Harbor Freight is selling a 11 piece set for $49.99