Snapon ,everything backordered

[yellowbox]

I seriously want to get a new toolbox and service cart, yet almost everything is on months long back order
Yeah yeah I know covid ....
But seriously snapon can't be selling everything so fast
What the hell is going on ?
If I was a dealer I would quit , how much in sales have they lost ?
Can't get box i want so ask about s.s. top for my current box.......on indefinite back order ....********!!!

 

[Buckgnarly]

Snap On could not fulfill my school's DTAC Elite order that was almost 2 years old....I lost out on like 3.5k of grant money on that one. They cannot get the chips to produce them.
Almost EVERYTHING I order tool wise takes weeks or months lately.
Our industrial rep said its going to be 7 years or more before we get back to "normal".....if ever.
Life is good, right?.....

 

[d.mcfarland]

Let's just close this one before it takes a turn for the worse.

In my opinion, it's a paradigm shift from having warehouses full of inventory to just producing what items are needed right on time.

There's geographical, political, economical, etc issues all at play. None of them more important than another.

My 5/8" wrench warranty via the 800 number was in stock.

The first world problems we deal with these days...

 

[Fedwrench]

Maybe your dealer needs to pay their tool bill.

I think for large items like carts and boxes, many of the truck brands are building what's ordered first rather than for stock so, they could have lots of orders needing to be filled.

 

[BarrelRoll]

My rep usually has a couple new lower boxes and carts in stock. The story is snapon does a large runs of particular boxes reps can pickup at a reduced rate. These for stock boxes may be getting priority over single order boxes from dealers. My rep is always trying to push these boxes vs. ordering you a box. This method pushes the expenses of maintaining inventory on the reps instead of it sitting in a snapon warehouse. It's also cheaper to manufacture a large run of the same thing vs. a bunch of different boxes order 1 at a time.

I ordered a master series top box in November, snapon canceled the order in May because of a design change that wouldn't match the bottom box my rep had in stock I was trying to match.

My coworker ordered a "stock" 40" green cart, I think it was 2-4 months for it to come in.

My dealer picked up an epiq to replace the master series order that was canceled at the Snapon show in August, it's "supposed to be here any day now", I'll be happy if it's here by the end of the year.

Pocket pry bars were probably my longest wait for a tool, I think it was April to August though I've been waiting on a blue crack torch for a long while now.

 

[Indexmill]

Yeah, yeah, Covid. And the chip shortage is real... But, last I knew tool boxes don't use chips... **** waiting for tools that don't have chips.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Yeah, yeah, Covid. And the chip shortage is real... But, last I knew tool boxes don't use chips... **** waiting for tools that don't have chips.

Sadly there are shortages of a lot of stuff. I have to deal with it daily. But my problems are nothing like my friends who are purchasing agents who are trying to keep production lines running. The lead times for materials, especially stainless steel, is crazy long.

 

[Indexmill]

Sadly there are shortages of a lot of stuff. I have to deal with it daily. But my problems are nothing like my friends who are purchasing agents who are trying to keep production lines running. The lead times for materials, especially stainless steel, is crazy long.

Of course you are correct Scrounge. My point was that there are enough tools that are immediately available that to wait on Snop On or anybody else is dumb. Maybe well learn that other brands are as good as Snap On at a fraction of the price and with immediate availability.

 

[southalabama]

In September Federal ammunition broke ground on a new warehouse to house raw materials. They apparently foresee continued supply chain disruptions and are building a warehouse for lead and brass. Can’t make ammo without components.

Just in time works when everything flows smoothly. When there is a disruption it becomes chaotic.

Contractors also face logistics nightmares on materials to complete houses.

The world hasn’t been normal for a while and isn’t likely to return anytime soon.

Welcome to the new normal.

 

[gatewaysysop]

As I recounted in past threads, I've had to give up looking for the Cornwell stuff I wanted, at least from the dealers. Picked up the ratchets used but like-new on eBay, but no dice on the cart so far. The dealers couldn't even begin to estimate when anything would be in stock, including the items they made domestically themselves. As others have hinted, I think one problem is that too many people leaned in (pun definitely intended) to lean manufacturing and as soon as the **** hit the fan, they were screwed. Those kind of problems are not easy to fix.

 

[BarrelRoll]

Yeah, yeah, Covid. And the chip shortage is real... But, last I knew tool boxes don't use chips... **** waiting for tools that don't have chips.

Some of the covid side effects is revamped business models. If boxes and carts are still selling well without keeping inventory and people are willing to wait 6+ months for a particular box why would you keep a couple each of 40 models of tool boxes in 10 different colors each in stock when you could do a run of 500-3,000 of the same box in the same color passing them directly to dealers instead of warehousing for who knows how long?

 

[CHI_Tool&Die]

Covid has caused some problems for sure, especially for anything Chinese sourced due to their constant lockdowns. But the big problem in the US is labor. Shops cannot produce enough for the demand. Boomers are retiring and there aren’t enough GenXers and millennials to cover the shifts. Our shop is booked out five years for production runs. We are turning out three shifts but all are skeleton crews. We haven’t received applications for months and the tech schools aren’t seeing enrollments like they used to so it’s all falling apart. I know every shop around us is experiencing similar issues. Demographics are changing and it’s going to impacting industry for years. Not to doom here, but it’s going to be bad for a while.

Snap-on, Wright, SK…everyone is backed up on the MiUSA side. It *****.

 

[iamhomeless]

Boxes for all sorts of people are back ordered. I just had a conversation with both my Proto and Lista/Vidmar reps, they were saying 10+ work lead times and were floored that Snapon could get me a new Williams box in 3weeks.

I do know snapon is also looking to dp more stuff either in house or in the US especially for stuff like blow molded cases because of quality and lead time issues.

 

[luvtheheat]

In my opinion, it's a paradigm shift from having warehouses full of inventory to just producing what items are needed right on time.

That 'paradigm shift' has been going on since the late 1990's. What's f'd everything up is the need to fight covid and thus plant shutdowns, etc. The ripple effects affect every aspect of our supply chain.

 

[tool_scrounge]

Boxes for all sorts of people are back ordered. I just had a conversation with both my Proto and Lista/Vidmar reps, they were saying 10+ work lead times and were floored that Snapon could get me a new Williams box in 3weeks.

10 weeks lead time for Lista is consistent with what I saw two years ago from them when I ordered catalog tool boxes in 2020.

 

[iamhomeless]

10 weeks lead time for Lista is consistent with what I saw two years ago from them when I ordered catalog tool boxes in 2020.

I was definitely not expecting that quote for a regular proto tool box.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Via various reps from snap on -

Snap on makes their tool.storage in batches, based on color. This is to reduce down time and waste in the powder coating dept. Thus, if you order a red locker, and they're sold out of red lockers, you need to wait until red is on the schedule to get your locker "produced".

Dealers will also get better pricing, and sometimes basically forced purchases, on specific boxes from the mothership. Districts will also pool resources to buy boxes, for instance a district may buy 24 84" epiqs for a discount.

Finally, the ability to order general tooling is based on an individual franchisees standing with snap on. They can only recieve so much product prior to SO receiving payment. Thus your driver may be up against his limit of purchasing, and be unable to order. This is usually pretty rare unless they're circling the drain.



I'm with you, it blows to have to wait for something that expensive when you're ready to buy.

 

[Steve_P]

The covid excuse is BS, and has been for well over a year. The US doesn't have a zero covid policy like China does, and I've not heard of any major plant in the US stopping production directly because of worker infections- at least any time in the last year. The labor shortage is real as said above. I have a large Denso plant near me, and they pay well and have good benefits- it's definitely one of the better, if not best, manufacturing jobs in the area. Because of that, they have never really needed to advertise for workers until the last year, and now they're running ads on the radio constantly: $18/hr to start and no HS diploma required. This is a relatively low COL area where fast food restaurants now start pay at $12/hr and they are having trouble getting competent workers when paying 50% more than Wendy's does.

 

[VolvoRyan]

Any tool that I needed from Snap-On that was "back-ordered".... became un-backordered within a week.

Boxes are probably at another production facility.... so I'm of no help.

-Ryan

 

[Ton ton]

The last snap on tool truck I climbed on was well-stocked with hand tools. This was 3 months ago.

 

[yellowbox]

Appreciate the responses
Coworker has been waiting for a hutch for 6 months , delivery time keeps getting pushed forward
Seems that harbor freight and strickly toolboxes have plenty in stock and for sale
Just saying......

 

[M6erfan]

Appreciate the responses
Coworker has been waiting for a hutch for 6 months , delivery time keeps getting pushed forward
Seems that harbor freight and strickly toolboxes have plenty in stock and for sale
Just saying......

Where are they made?

 

[Dakotadadv8]

Not too bad bought some SO tools during Covid longest wait time was 2 months in 2021 for a creeper, not an emergency. Most tools arrive within 2 weeks, only a home gamer, pros should be priority they need them for a living.

 

[rharman]

< snip >
Just in time works when everything flows smoothly. When there is a disruption it becomes chaotic.
< /snip >

This pretty much nails it.
Kanban, or Just-In-Time, was/is a big leap forward for many manufacturers.

But, as @southalabama points out, when there's a disruption, everything goes toes up real quickly.
There's no resiliency - stuff either is available or it's not. If not, everything stops **right now**.
In a global economy world, there is a lot of opportunity for disruption.

 

[Ton ton]

Where are they made?

In a good place.

 

[ecotec]

This pretty much nails it.
Kanban, or Just-In-Time, was/is a big leap forward for many manufacturers.

But, as @southalabama points out, when there's a disruption, everything goes toes up real quickly.
There's no resiliency - stuff either is available or it's not. If not, everything stops **right now**.
In a global economy world, there is a lot of opportunity for disruption.

In a way, I am curious about how bad it would have to get to move production back to the USA and Canada. Maybe it should get that bad.

 

[RedneckWelder]

even before COVID snap on had long lead times on boxes, particularly custom builds due to demand.

 

[lugnut71]

just curious what box were you wanting to order and what box do you want the stainless top for ?

 

[ecotec]

I think that these back orders are why the vast vast majority of Caterpillar tools are unavailable. Why would they sell Caterpillar tools for much less than Snap-on… when they cannot meet their demand for Snap-on.

Whole categories of Caterpillar tools are unavailable. All of the screwdrivers are gone…

I have said it before… and I will say it again… Caterpillar was one of the best deals in tools. The sockets look just like Snap-on, but with CAT stamping.

CAT on the left and Snap-on on the right.

 

[zendriver]

Americans are in denial about the fact that we no longer live in "the land of plenty!"

Maybe Snap On just needs to "snap out of it"

 

[slowtwitch73]

I went out tool shopping today... more choices and selection than anyone deserves.


'Can't get Snapon when I want it'.... a single tear rolls down my cheek and tiny violins play lol.

 

[yellowbox]

just curious what box were you wanting to order and what box do you want the stainless top for ?

Top for a krl7022
Looking at epic line

 

[brownbagg]

its not just snap on, everybody switching to a supply on demand inventory so they dont have to hold a big supply, some people will say three months on delivery and then other the same product i can have in three days at the house

so your snap on box, it hasnt even been made yet

 

[yellowbox]

its not just snap on, everybody switching to a supply on demand inventory so they dont have to hold a big supply, some people will say three months on delivery and then other the same product i can have in three days at the house

so your snap on box, it hasnt even been made yet

Seems like supply on demand inventory could hurt more than help
What is wrong with having a big supply and inventory ? It's been done in the past
Either way there is no reason to keep pushing delivery dates on ordered products into the future over and over

 

[zendriver]

its not just snap on, everybody switching to a supply on demand inventory so they dont have to hold a big supply, some people will say three months on delivery and then other the same product i can have in three days at the house

so your snap on box, it hasnt even been made yet

In today's world, do they really have a choice?

If SO wants sheet steel, so does everybody else.

 

[rharman]

Seems like supply on demand inventory could hurt more than help
What is wrong with having a big supply and inventory ? It's been done in the past
Either way there is no reason to keep pushing delivery dates on ordered products into the future over and over

Simple answer... $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Purchasing and carrying inventory ties up money.
Bringing it in as needed and turning it around quickly generates money.
But, if any link in the "chain" gets broken... Well, you've seen where that leads.

 

[2ndGearRubber]

Top for a krl7022
Looking at epic line

Do you have a certain color/layout in mind?

I have always gone with buying "in stock" boxes. I get a discount for the little scratches from strapping it on the truck, usually more pricing negotiation, and same day delivery. Luckily I'm into basic red, so both my boxes were "common" and available. I did have to wait for my lockers a couple weeks, those were "new" or "ordered" production.


What's to stop you from grabbing an 60/84 epiq in whatever colors/layout is generally available? Usually they have financing deals 1-2 times per year, so you get an extra discount for agreeing to finance through their credit company over paying on a truck account or paying with cash outright. Often they'll give you "same as cash" deals too for 60/90 days. So finance it, get your 2k discount or whatever, pay it off in 60 days, done.

 

[Snapped-off]

Bluepoint is in stock

 

[yellowbox]

Do you have a certain color/layout in mind?

I have always gone with buying "in stock" boxes. I get a discount for the little scratches from strapping it on the truck, usually more pricing negotiation, and same day delivery. Luckily I'm into basic red, so both my boxes were "common" and available. I did have to wait for my lockers a couple weeks, those were "new" or "ordered" production.


What's to stop you from grabbing an 60/84 epiq in whatever colors/layout is generally available? Usually they have financing deals 1-2 times per year, so you get an extra discount for agreeing to finance through their credit company over paying on a truck account or paying with cash outright. Often they'll give you "same as cash" deals too for 60/90 days. So finance it, get your 2k discount or whatever, pay it off in 60 days, done.

Last 2 I got were on the truck being used to store tools for sale
Got a good deal on both
Been looking on Facebook for the deals , so far nothing good has come up
Tool truck in my area doesn't seem to have any epic boxes right now (odd)

 

[yellowbox]

Bluepoint is in stock

Lol ...no