Stanley Black & Decker buys Craftsman

[Jon_E]

For all those allergic to non US made tools:

"To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S. This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40% in the past three years."

-James Loree, Stanley Black& Decker CEO

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-sears-sells-craftsman-stanley-20170105-story.html

Too bad Stanley couldn't reopen the old Eagle Square plant in my hometown (Shaftsbury, VT). Could certainly use the manufacturing jobs again.

 

[Parrothead]

Re: Craftsmen going to Black and Decker?

There's at least 3 other threads on this already, but I think it's actually a promising outlook for the brand given other possibilities.

I suspect there will be more before this is done. I did a quick search when I started this one though.

*I noticed the threads were combined. Nice job mods!

 

[Fordman7795]

Now is the time to buy up all the chinese craftsman for pennies and swap it out for USA made after the takeover is complete.

 

[6PTsocket]

Well, it is interesting that this deal is spread over 15 years. A big payment at closing, a big payment in three years, and royalties paid back to Sears for 15 years.

How would this work with a liquidation event? Perhaps they really are angling to make Sears an online-only store. Or maybe just keep some sort of skeleton operating to collect that revenue for the next decade.

Good point. Their on line operation is really screwed up and mall stores are too expensive to maintain. Maybe the money just goes to Sears Holdings, whether they have an operation or not. I don't see Sears surviving much longer and this looks like a move toward liquidating whatever they can to offset their losses. They just launched some other type of store under another name that was built onto my local Sears.They may be planning to ditch Sears entirely.

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[ludakris04]

I dont know if this is good or bad. Stanley has a decent presence in MD and it sounds like they are trying to bring manufacturing back in some part, but I don't feel like they have done a lot of good with the Stanley name.. You would think if they are going this deep in tools, the Stanley name would have been priority one....

 

[Doohickey]

A lot of Stanley's Dewalt line of power tools are 'made in USA from global materials' and has been expanding in that area lately - and especially marketing it - after having been moving in the other direction for a decade or so.

So I'd add to that the possibility that Stanley's plans with this Craftsman purchase to "expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S. This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40% in the past three years" may be more focused on their cordless and corded power tool lines, and less so if at all on the hand tools. I'm just sayin'

Yes, I could have kept going with more examples, such as switching from Techtronic to DeWalt. Many more non-Stanley/B&D manufactures will be affected.

 

[kctyphoon]

Not sure why some people are even speculating on a big "change in quality" over the hand tools. CRAFTSMAN is a successful brand AS IS. If it werent, then another huge tool company wouldn't have just paid close to a billion dollars for it. Maybe as they said MORE manufacturing will take place in the states, but the overall quality will remain the same or similar to how things are currently priced FOR THAT BRAND'S market.. if the chrome looked a little nicer inside the sockets, most people would praise how the quality is better, but more than likely the metals and molds will be the same, and the functionality will not change. The tools are not nearly as horrible as people in here make them sound. A socket or wrench shows up without the size on one side, and a thread gets created how "everything is junk" cause 1 $2 socket in a 250 piece set isn't perfect in every way.

You can pretty much bet it won't become a tool truck type brand, and t won't end up in a dollar store either.. the warranty will likely stay the same since that's what helps drive initial tool sales. The sale will likely open up the possibility for more retailers to carry the products, and helps eliminate that brand name from suffering like it's been since the retail chain of Sears and Kmart had become a parasite off the success of the craftsman sales. It allowed them to gain capital, and buy some time to probably try to help save the bigger sinking ship.

Big companies do this type of thing all the time. It puts money in the bank and helps them focus on where there are bigger problems, but overall nothing really changes as far as the customer is concerned. It's pretty much a given Craftsman will remain a "general public" type brand, the overall quality and pricing will remain similar, and at most maybe it'll see a "made in USA" stamp again that still won't be enough to satisfy the critics in this forum, but most of the world doesnt spend a few hours on tool forums every week.

If Stanley had any desire to create a new premium brand, they would probably just make their own instead of spending 900 million to acquire a successful brand, only to tear it apart and price the new product line above what the people that have been buying the productz would be willing to pay..

 

[sberry]

I heard a blip on biz news about a mortgage loan and stock going up, figured something had to be in the wind. I doubt the warranty is a huge deal. Yo can buy Sears sockets for .75 a piece in sale sets, that's retail. They are not replacing items at the single list prices.

 

[WWheeler]

Interesting to note that my local Sears store for the last 6 months has been undergoing a large scale expansion / upgrade, including adding on floor space and switching over to all LED lighting and solar panels on the roof and all new touch screen computer check out terminals and customer price check displays, and a big 'we're hiring' push. They have signs at every entrance detailing all the upgrades and say that they've hired over 100 people so far and are still looking for more.

You'd never know the troubles Sears is having at that store.

 

[openwheelracing88]

exactly, I don't see Stanley suddenly give the consumers higher quality at equal or lower price. Too high end, Craftsman will jeopardize Proto and Mac. Too low end, Craftsman will end up replacing the garbage at Walmart. Either way, there will be some changes, so we better ****** all the good stuff currently offered by Craftsman (like the pry bars).

If I wanted "USA made with foreign parts" drill, I would just get a DeWalt drill. I have no interest in Craftsman power tools especially if I can't have the same accessibility as the network of Home Depot and Lowe's.

 

[tjpavlov]

Interesting to note that my local Sears store for the last 6 months has been undergoing a large scale expansion / upgrade, including adding on floor space and switching over to all LED lighting and solar panels on the roof and all new touch screen computer check out terminals and customer price check displays, and a big 'we're hiring' push. They have signs at every entrance detailing all the upgrades and say that they've hired over 100 people so far and are still looking for more.

You'd never know the troubles Sears is having at that store.

Just curious... can you share where this store is? The stores near me have cash registers that are older than me.

 

[sberry]

I paid 10 for a piece a while back cause I wanted it, probably could have got the set for not much more than that or went to a pawn or even here but wanted to finish it and out of the way. Its the sale they got where it cost a dollar and sold for 10. Most of theirs are not on multiples but so cheap they are on margins.

 

[WWheeler]

Just curious... can you share where this store is? The stores near me have cash registers that are older than me.

Joplin MO

They're still using older registers, but the signs say they are getting new ones, and there's lots of construction and whatnot been going on. Their hiring push seems to be a lot for corporate jobs also, not just floor people, so I'm not sure what all that store has going on besides just the retail consumer side of things. They headhunted an engineer from where I work to do something for them based out of that store. I don't know what, but it's not an on the floor job selling appliances clothes or tools.

 

[6PTsocket]

If Stanley is able to produce American Made Craftsman tools, I will be back to buy more tools from them.

I grew up on Craftsman as a kid/teenager, but can't get myself to buy their non-American produced tools nowadays.

If current Craftsman is not acceptable and there are other American made tools currently available, why would you have an artachment to a tool produced by somebody else just because of a name stamped on it. I cannot understand this devotion to a brand that hasn't made a decent product in years. Many collect old Craftsman. There is some logic to that. Trying to transfer that old quality to somebody elses product is something I cannot understand. Buy SK, Wright or a lot of Williams if you want made in USA.

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[Loscaldazar]

Re: Stanley Black & Decker buying Craftsman brand from Sears

Interesting Read.

Doesn't appear to affect the in store tools.

http://tinyurl.com/hfkufu8

That seems to indicate that there will be TWO separate craftsman lines. One sourced mostly from Apex (with some WF, wilde, etc spread about in there) and sold in Sears/Kmart and a Stanley made line of tools (which SBD seems to be implying will be USA made in part or whole). Wonder how the warranty will work between the two companies.

 

[6PTsocket]

I forgot the name but it's another company that makes the tools for both Ryobi and Craftsman...

Really I think a lot depends on how Stanley/B&D wants to focus the product line... B&D already has a lot of cheap cordless power tools that you see in Walmart... I don't see them expanding the C3 line to all the products Ryobi has, but hopefully they will continue to come out with newer and better things as other companies do, especially with brushless motors and more power.

If they do start selling in Walmart, I can only expect quality to take even more of a dive... So cheap that the factories in China will outsource it to some place that can make it for even less... lol.

TTI makes the Ryobi and the C3 products now. What difference does it make where you get comperable stuff?

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[woody 73]

Sad but we new it was coming so no big surprise...

I am not a Stanley B&D lover because I have lived to see them kill off some good names all in the name of make it cheaper and they will come.

 

[sparc]

I think the only things you can hope for is that the current Chinese made tools like the ratchets and sockets get at least made where some of the Dewalt mechanics tools are in Taiwan. Those are better quality.

One thing where they could bring back USA is by rebadging some existing line as Craftsman Professional. Will cost more than their basic line though. but at least they could then claim some stuff is still made in USA.

I don't expect to see the majority of the basic Craftsman line being moved back to the USA from China. Not realistic at the Craftsman price point.

 

[CJM8515]

I dont think it will change much of anything. Craftsmans down fall is they cheaped out so badly that stuff from HF is on par with their quality in many areas. IDK how people can use thier tools, the power tools ****, the ratchets are awful garbage and the tool themselves are uncomfortable to use imho with the raised panels and always have been.

Sears itself is a dinosaur as Ive been saying for the past ten years. They dont sell anything worthwhile really and failed to adapt and basically walmart took over. Sears online system *****, they dont carry anything in the store really and lost out. Im not sure how much longer they have overall, maybe 2-5 years tops. My local sears closed the entire upper portion of the mall location store and another store moved in. Besides a few odds an ends I havent stepped foot in there more than 10x in 5 years.

 

[barks]

Sears is a holding company for real estate. The retail business has been losing money for years--closing onto decades.

 

[6PTsocket]

I forgot the name but it's another company that makes the tools for both Ryobi and Craftsman...

Really I think a lot depends on how Stanley/B&D wants to focus the product line... B&D already has a lot of cheap cordless power tools that you see in Walmart... I don't see them expanding the C3 line to all the products Ryobi has, but hopefully they will continue to come out with newer and better things as other companies do, especially with brushless motors and more power.

If they do start selling in Walmart, I can only expect quality to take even more of a dive... So cheap that the factories in China will outsource it to some place that can make it for even less... lol.

TTI makes both.

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[Bendibal]

Hopefully, this will mean that when I break the Chinese made replacements Sears gave me when my original USA pieces broke, will be USA again.

 

[CSRPenFab]

I did some consulting work years ago for Stanley Tools. At that time, they had recently lost the contract to manufacture many of the hand tools for Craftsman. Not surprising they acquired them now... After that last loss of contract, they moved on to making hand tools for Home Depot's newly launched Husky line.

 

[Super Sport]

That seems to indicate that there will be TWO separate craftsman lines. One sourced mostly from Apex (with some WF, wilde, etc spread about in there) and sold in Sears/Kmart and a Stanley made line of tools (which SBD seems to be implying will be USA made in part or whole). Wonder how the warranty will work between the two companies.

This is interesting. I'm sure Sears has to continue their contracts with current suppliers, but will they switch to SBD products once contracts expire? I don't see them keeping two lines of tools longer than they have to.

One thing where they could bring back USA is by rebadging some existing line as Craftsman Professional. Will cost more than their basic line though. but at least they could then claim some stuff is still made in USA.

As much as I like this idea personally, the Craftsman Professional line just didn't sell. The typical Craftsman buyer didn't care for the upgrade in quality (and price). I don't think Craftsman buyers today are any more keen on the idea, and more than likely less so.

 

[6PTsocket]

stanley sells a ton of **** as well.....

Yes they do but they have the whole market covered from quality to ****. Craftsman was just DIY moderate to low for a long time. I think it unlikely that Stanley will make Craftsman into anything like their Proto . There was a time when you could get good stuff like SK at the local auto parts store.

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[jakemac]

I can see Stanley marketing the Craftsman brand through their relationships with local hardware stores like Sear's did with Ace. True Value and other hardware chains already have a distribution relationship with Stanley/B&D and are already set up to offer this line through their warehouses. Home Depot and Lowes have already pushed Stanley off their shelves and would have to re-negotiate a deal that Stanley/B&D probably wouldn't want anyway.

 

[ssdave]

Not sure why some people are even speculating on a big "change in quality" over the hand tools. CRAFTSMAN is a successful brand AS IS. If it werent, then another huge tool company wouldn't have just paid close to a billion dollars for it. Maybe as they said MORE manufacturing will take place in the states, but the overall quality will remain the same or similar to how things are currently priced FOR THAT BRAND'S market.. if the chrome looked a little nicer inside the sockets, most people would praise how the quality is better, but more than likely the metals and molds will be the same, and the functionality will not change. The tools are not nearly as horrible as people in here make them sound. A socket or wrench shows up without the size on one side, and a thread gets created how "everything is junk" cause 1 $2 socket in a 250 piece set isn't perfect in every way.

You can pretty much bet it won't become a tool truck type brand, and t won't end up in a dollar store either.. the warranty will likely stay the same since that's what helps drive initial tool sales. The sale will likely open up the possibility for more retailers to carry the products, and helps eliminate that brand name from suffering like it's been since the retail chain of Sears and Kmart had become a parasite off the success of the craftsman sales. It allowed them to gain capital, and buy some time to probably try to help save the bigger sinking ship.

Big companies do this type of thing all the time. It puts money in the bank and helps them focus on where there are bigger problems, but overall nothing really changes as far as the customer is concerned.

I'm going to take advantage of a rare opportunity to agree with kctyphoon. His assessment of the brand acceptance and quality desired by the average consumer is spot on.

We perceive Craftsman as being in the toilet. The general public does not. Craftsman is a very viable and highly respected brand, with great public recognition and trust. Stanley Black and Decker bought it for that reason, and is in the financial condition to capitalize on it. Their best course of action would be to solidify existing and new manufacturing contracts to continue to produce the quantity and quality of tools that Craftsman is selling today. Another major tool company not being able to deliver tools to their market for the past couple years is a great example of what NOT to do. Simultaneously, they need to both push to maintain the current sales outlets (Kmart, Sears, Ace) if their agreement allows that, and to expand that network to replace the disappearing Sears outlets. They need to be the supplier to Sears and ACE of Craftsman stuff, in the interim while they develop new market outlets.

Long term strategies to shore up the brand reputation by solid quality and USA manufacturing may be in order, but that will be a business decision driven by public acceptance and ultimately, cost.

Everybody here on GJ focuses on the warranty. For the company, that will be a very minor consideration. As much as we focus on warranty claims on this board, for most companies, that is less than 1/10 of a percent of their overall sales volume. Realistically, few people break tools, and even fewer bother to warranty them if they do.

 

[-Brent-]

Re: Sears selling Craftsman to Stanley

Hopefully the 40% increase wasnt from 10 to 14 accountants at corporate HQ

This was similar to my first thought.

 

[6PTsocket]

Can't this be interpreted in different ways? A few possibilities:

1) Apex Tools makes many foreign Craftsman tools. Stanley drops Apex, and starts making those same items in the USA.

2) Western Forge makes many USA Craftsman tools. Stanley drops WF, and starts making those same items on their own in the USA.

3) WF continues manufacturing USA Craftsman tools for Sears, but Stanley makes new versions of those same items to supply other retailers.

Stanley drops Apex? Apex is a major competitor of Stanley.

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[Terra Nova]

Craftsman Name Sold to Black & Decker

Looks like all the speculation here that the Craftsman line was being marketed was correct.

Per the article below it was sold to Black & Decker. I have mixed feelings on this.

Sears Sells the Craftsman Brand to Stanley Black & Decker for $900 Million

http://bestride.com/news/entertainment/sears-sells-craftsman

It’s good news for American manufacturing, according to Stanley Black & Decker’s CEO. “To accommodate the future growth of Craftsman, we intend to expand our manufacturing footprint in the U.S.,” Stanley Chief Executive Officer James M. Loree said in the statement. “This will add jobs in the U.S., where we have increased our manufacturing headcount by 40 percent in the past three years.”

 

[wvrailroader]

Interesting to note that my local Sears store for the last 6 months has been undergoing a large scale expansion / upgrade, including adding on floor space and switching over to all LED lighting and solar panels on the roof and all new touch screen computer check out terminals and customer price check displays, and a big 'we're hiring' push. They have signs at every entrance detailing all the upgrades and say that they've hired over 100 people so far and are still looking for more.

You'd never know the troubles Sears is having at that store.

My local Sears stores has had "Now Hiring" signs up for the last two months and still had them up when I went by a few days ago. Only problem is, it is one of the stores on the list to be closed. Liquidation starts tomorrow.

 

[6PTsocket]

Re: It's Official - Craftsman sold to SBD

Craftsman hand tools has been sold to Stanley Black and Decker. Tools will still be carried in Sears stores (if you can find one). They are closing 150 stores. Probably little hope of bringing them back to MADE IN the USA. We can hope and dream...

http://www.wsj.com/articles/sears-sells-craftsman-brand-to-stanley-black-decker-1483623215

Why does anybody care? They have been on a down hill slide for years. If you are nostalgic for old Craftsman, collect old Craftsman. It is only a name and a totally tarnished one at that. Considering that Craftsman was never more than who Sears was buying from that week it means even less. Sears is now in the hands of a bunch of investment guys that have gone cheaper and cheaper to make a buck so there is nobody to feel sorry for. They are not tool guys like Wright or SK or Snap On that really give a damn about the product and the road to profitability through making better products, not worse. If Stanley makes a good Craftsmsn I will buy it, if not, who cares.

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[franzdom]

Interesting to note that my local Sears store for the last 6 months has been undergoing a large scale expansion / upgrade, including adding on floor space and switching over to all LED lighting and solar panels on the roof and all new touch screen computer check out terminals and customer price check displays, and a big 'we're hiring' push. They have signs at every entrance detailing all the upgrades and say that they've hired over 100 people so far and are still looking for more.

You'd never know the troubles Sears is having at that store.

Wow and all of that in the middle of nowhere

 

[6PTsocket]

Re: It's Official - Craftsman sold to SBD

Been thinking about upgrading my old c3 batteries to li-on, think it might be time to invest in some Milwaukee instead.

Good move. If you want to stay at the same price point, Royobi is comparable and made by the same company that makes the C3 stuff, TTI. They are both aimed at the DIY market. Milwaukee is a pro quality tool in the same market segment as Bosch and DeWalt.

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[rsanter]

Re: Sears selling Craftsman to Stanley

Read the news clip... I think Sears is being a little optimistic that they will still be around 15 years from now... LOL...

Sears will be around for the next 15 years and more. Or I should say that Sears holdings will be.
The Sears stored may very well not be.
Sears holdings owns a bunch of property leased to other stores/businesses.
It is at the point that the Sears stores are a small part of their portfolio and actually a financial drain on the holding company.
They will continue to close Sears stores and lease the ones they own to other companies.
This may be a very good thing for the craftsman brand and likly will be a very good thing for us as we will be able to get and exchange craftsman at other places than Sears.
In the long run it is a bad thing for Sears stores but likly good for Sears holdings as they have cash now.
Sears holdings will survive but will look different than we perceive as we go into the future

Bob

 

[M6erfan]

Another major tool company not being able to deliver tools to their market for the past couple years is a great example of what NOT to do.


Hmmmm....Wonder who that could be....

 

[ishiboo]

This whole deal means nearly nothing. Not nearly enough cash to do anything for Sears, Craftsman quality/COO has been a moving target for years, etc. The only thing this changes is we will see a lot more ****** Craftsman sets in ****** retailers like Walmart now, that already source from SB&D.

It does make financial sense for Sears... they aren't going to be around long enough to have ever seen $900M in profits from Craftsman again anyway.

Zzzzzz

 

[WWheeler]

Wow and all of that in the middle of nowhere

lol. It's actually a 45 min drive from where I live, which is in a neighboring state in what I consider the "Middleofnowhere". We call Joplin the closest civilization. There's nothing much closer to me than Joplin, and it's the only actual Sears option I have. There's a small Sears 'hometown' store just as far in a different direction.

 

[6PTsocket]

Re: It's Official - Craftsman sold to SBD

i had the same choice to make. i went with milwaukee m12 line to replace all my CM power tools. glad i did. wish the m12 batteries where cheaper but thats the only down fall. tools have performed great so far and are alot smaller and lighter then my CM stuff.

You are really comparing apples and oranges. Sears, Ryobi, Skill, B&D are DIY tools made for lighter use. Milwaukee, Bosch, DeWalt, Makita are aimed at the pro and serious tool user. Why wouldn't you be happier with Milwaukee? The C3 NiCd batteries are 1300 mah, the lowest capacity NiCd's made. Aside from paying for the better brand name, you are getting a lot more capacity. Any decent NiCd pack is made with 2000 or 2200 mah.cells.

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[6PTsocket]

Now is the time to buy up all the chinese craftsman for pennies and swap it out for USA made after the takeover is complete.

They are not that stupid. No way that is going to happen. Enjoy your bargain Chinese tools.

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