Western Forge Closing Down

[lwlobo]

Looks like bad news for Western Forge.


https://www.usnews.com/news/best-st...l-manufacturer-to-close-lay-off-164-employees

Paid article: https://gazette.com/premium/western...cle_738fa25e-526d-11ea-a120-a3b37992bc12.html

They have been a landmark in CO Springs for many years, and pumped out unknown quantities of craftsman and other brand hand tools for years.

I got to do a complete behind the scenes tour there as a part of the 3 interviews I did for their Engineering Manager job a while back. They never hired the position, and now maybe this is why. It is quite a complex, I think in their peak they employed about 1500 people. They had a vision to update the forging operations and stabilize the business but obviously they eventually decided not to do it.

They made forgings and parts for lots of domestic hand tool brands, adjustable wrenches, pipe wrenches, pliers, combination wrenches, screwdrivers, you name it. I think this loss of US manufacturing capability will have a significant ripple across the domestic tool supply chain.

 

[bobcatdan]

Your link doesn't work and when I google it, I can't read much of the post as the paper wants money for me to see it. Since I can't read the article completely, I'm going to make a guess that Idea is consolidating WF operations with SK. If the SK factory can make a wrench, I would think they can make an adjustable wrench. What I wonder, will WF continue to be a supplier for other brands or is it going to be solely SK ot Ideal products.

 

[The Fall]

What a bummer. I really liked their pliers and the CMan Pro screwdrivers.

 

[neophyte]

Your link doesn't work and when I google it, I can't read much of the post as the paper wants money for me to see it. Since I can't read the article completely, I'm going to make a guess that Idea is consolidating WF operations with SK. If the SK factory can make a wrench, I would think they can make an adjustable wrench. What I wonder, will WF continue to be a supplier for other brands or is it going to be solely SK ot Ideal products.

If the SK factory can make a wrench, I would think they can make an adjustable wrench.

The problem with shutting down a tool manufacturing facility, to consolidate operations at another location, is that the manufacturer needs to coordinate the move incredibly well, or the consolidation winds up being a complete disaster.

Stanley tried consolidation manufacturing facilities involving MAC Tools a few decades ago, and wound up not being able to set up the new manufacturing in time, resulting in MAC dealers not being able to get inventory, which resulted in a lawsuit, and a website called “Mac Tools ****” or something like that.
While MAC is still around, it’s not as prominent as it once was, and the move really screwed things up.

Armstrong/Apex/Danaher/Gearench/ whatever it was/is called, tried the same thing with the manufacturing plant for their Armstrong tool line, which also made Matco tools.
The move was a disaster, the new plant got flooded or something,
once tool production got up and running, which took an extra year or something, there were problems with quality control,
Then the plant basically got shut down or changed to a distribution center.
The Armstrong Brand was killed off,
And now, all the Apex tool brands are being made overseas, except maybe the actual Apex bits and maybe screwdrivers.

One major issue with shutting down a major facility like this, is that most workers don’t want to have to move to keep their jobs, and either they do move, and are possibly pissed off or less motivated, or they quit.
This results in a loss of the people who know how to setup or keep the nachinery running, and requires training a whole new batch of workers, which results in production tricks being lost.

 

[woody 73]

Bummer indeed, back in the day WF made a lot of craftsman tools (by the truck load 24/7). I so hope Ideal keeps them going.

 

[Professional Tool User]

I'm not surprised. Now that Stanley owns Craftsman, they don't have much of a reason to order WF marked screwdrivers and other tools. And then there's Ideal Industries. If they are managing their other brands as poorly as SK is being managed right now (quality control, product releases, and distribution), this further adds to the problem.

 

[LB-1911]

Your link doesn't work and when I google it, I can't read much of the post as the paper wants money for me to see it. Since I can't read the article completely, I'm going to make a guess that Idea is consolidating WF operations with SK. If the SK factory can make a wrench, I would think they can make an adjustable wrench. What I wonder, will WF continue to be a supplier for other brands or is it going to be solely SK ot Ideal products.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — The owner of a Colorado hand tool manufacturing plant plans to close and lay off all of its 164 employees.

Ideal Industries Inc. confirmed Tuesday that the company will close Western Forge after 54 years in Colorado Springs, The Gazette reported.

The company has not yet set a closing date, but will continue operating the plant until current customer orders are filled, an Ideal Industries representative said.

The closure resulted from retail giant Sears selling its Craftsman tool division nearly four years ago and moving tool manufacturing operations offshore, the company said.

Ideal plans to consolidate manufacturing at its SK Professional Tools plant in Sycamore, Illinois, west of Chicago, where the company said it plans to add employees.

Western Forge employees can move to other Ideal plants and will be given priority consideration if they are qualified for open positions, the company said.

Employees who are laid off are expected to receive severance packages that include salary, health care and outplacement benefits if they do not leave before their separation dates, Ideal said.


Source
https://apnews.com/85079198b456f5b120129e26c03fe814

 

[lwlobo]

Your link doesn't work and when I google it, I can't read much of the post as the paper wants money for me to see it. Since I can't read the article completely, I'm going to make a guess that Idea is consolidating WF operations with SK. If the SK factory can make a wrench, I would think they can make an adjustable wrench. What I wonder, will WF continue to be a supplier for other brands or is it going to be solely SK ot Ideal products.

I put in a different link now and be aware the Gazette link is behind a paid firewall. Looks like they plan to move some operations and possibly personnel to SK in IL.

My understanding (possibly incorrect) was that SK in Illinois didn't do forging, or not above a certain size or something, and that WF did a lot of the forgings for SK.

A lot of the WF operations, especially forging, needed significant investment and updating, so maybe the new, updated forging operations will go into the SK operation?

I heard Ideal bought WF for a song and I know they have operated under heavy losses for years now, especially since the Sears/Craftsman business went away.

I understand why they're closing, just a hard hit to see local manufacturing jobs being lost and domestic tool manufacturing capacity going away.

 

[Downwindtracker 2]

The loss of the "$20 a hour " factory jobs hurts the community as well as the guys and gals that had them.

 

[Wamsutta]

It's getting to the point where the only way to manufacturer tools in the USA is if you market your wares to a customer base who demands high quality and is willing to pay for it. Medium quality at a medium price has too much competition from China and Taiwan. You've got to go into a different marketing segment.

 

[The Fall]

It's getting to the point where the only way to manufacturer tools in the USA is if you market your wares to a customer base who demands high quality and is willing to pay for it. Medium quality at a medium price has too much competition from China and Taiwan. You've got to go into a different marketing segment.

A lot of it has to do with fiscal policy and the FIRE sector (finance, insurance and real estate) sopping up too much money from the productive economy. It really bothers me when a company like Western Forge goes out. They held it down for decades. And for the price, the guys and gals at the company made great tools. I genuinely enjoy using their CMan re-branded pliers. Thanks to WF employees, past and present.

 

[Fedwrench]

This is just the other shoe dropping. SK started expanding their current factory more than a couple of years ago with the plan of consolidating what western forge did into that location. The two largest blows to US tool manufacturing was the closing of the Armstrong Factories and the expansion of Gearwrench/SATA.
Who will be next? Wilde?

 

[paulsomlo]

Wasn't there a forum member recently asking about starting his own tool company? Here's his big chance.

 

[BigBoreFan]

Am I correct that these screwdrivers are made by WF, as well as the corresponding Craftsman line of the same style? I really like these SK drivers, and the Craftsman lineup had a huge selection back in the day. I also like my WF Craftsman branded pliers.

 

[jeffmoss26]

yes, those green/black SK drivers were WF

 

[Farmall450]

That's a real shame. Fortunately, should the demand ever come back, it'll probably be turnkey less what gets shipped to Sycamore.

I wonder who will make Martin's adjustables, etc now. It's unfortunate b/c their quality yet affordable US made tools stayed well after much of the rest (Cman) left.

 

[3baygarage]

Ah, more sad news in the tool world. I feel bad for the workers and the families. Lots of history there.

 

[Skin]

WF made tons of striking tools and pliers. Other than crescents I was surprised they even tooled them up to make wrenches for SK (briefly). As far as im aware combination wrench production moved to IL with an expansion a few years ago. Wonder if they're actually moving all the rest to IL or if they'll just buy from other suppliers like Mayhew and Wilde. Hoping for the former but suspecting the latter.

Im not really convinced SK has been the boon ideal wanted it to be mostly owing to the fact that their new product expansion has been so damn slow since acquisition.

 

[davethorik]

WF made tons of striking tools and pliers. Other than crescents I was surprised they even tooled them up to make wrenches for SK (briefly). As far as im aware combination wrench production moved to IL with an expansion a few years ago. Wonder if they're actually moving all the rest to IL or if they'll just buy from other suppliers like Mayhew and Wilde. Hoping for the former but suspecting the latter.

Im not really convinced SK has been the boon ideal wanted it to be mostly owing to the fact that their new product expansion has been so damn slow since acquisition.

Well as far as the adjustables go, I don't think there is anyone else in the US that makes adjustable wrenches on a large scale with WF out of the picture. I wonder if SK/Ideal will continue to make them. They were contract-made for many brands, I don't see how they couldn't make a profit there in the future.

What did Ideal do with Pratt-Read? Are they still standalone or did they get assumed, too?

 

[bob15]

And then there's Ideal Industries. If they are managing their other brands as poorly as SK is being managed right now (quality control, product releases, and distribution), this further adds to the problem.

Quality issues? Not anymore than any other company.

Product releases: what exactly should they be making or releasing that constitutes a management problem?

Distribution: What are you seeing as being poor?

 

[lardy1]

I wouldn't ring the death knell just yet. The haters all like to point out SK's quality issues (I have tons of SK with zero quality issues), their slow release of new products, etc. What the naysayers seem to overlook is just how far SK was run into the ground when Ideal took over.

Retooling and reorganizing take time. They could have lightened that load tremendously by moving operations to China. But...…….they didn't.

 

[seber]

Imagine being told that to keep your job you must move from the foot of the Rockies to the suburb of Chicago. I'll become homeless instead, thank you.

 

[lardy1]

That deserves commentary. I'm from 35 miles from Flint and Saginaw Michigan. We've spent the last 20 years watching families separate and income levels seriously plummet. My heart goes out to the employees and families of Western Forge.

 

[mikeinri]

Can't say enough bad things about how corporate America treats workers in these situations. If you stay to the end, you get severance. If not, you get nothing. Meanwhile, management gets huge bonuses.

The worst one of these I saw was a company closing two sites in one state, and opening a new site several states away. The company made huge press announcements about how many jobs they'd be creating at the new location. Then, they chose a select few for (paid) relocation, the rest were told to look at the openings and apply if they saw one they liked, but they were on their own for relocation. This is something that should be offered to all employees, period (most people won't make the move due to family, etc.). It's stressful enough to go through this, this just sends an awful message.

I hate that doing the right thing goes no further than a short-term look at a bottom line.

Mike

 

[Farmall450]

Imagine being told that to keep your job you must move from the foot of the Rockies to the suburb of Chicago. I'll become homeless instead, thank you.

Well, Sycamore is a far cry from a Chicago Suburb. Nice rural area. But, yeah, I wouldn't reset my life for a factory job.

 

[MarvinBerry]

Who did western forge make tools for besides Sears? Had to check Wikipedia but apparently they only made things under thier own name for a couple years in the 70s?

And then a few years ago Sears sued them because they refused to sell em more product? Possibly because they were getting stiffed on payment? What I read seemed really goofy.

Anyway, main question is was there much of a company outside of supplying Sears?

 

[Farmall450]

Who did western forge make tools for besides Sears? Had to check Wikipedia but apparently they only made things under thier own name for a couple years in the 70s?

And then a few years ago Sears sued them because they refused to sell em more product? Possibly because they were getting stiffed on payment? What I read seemed really goofy.

Anyway, main question is was there much of a company outside of supplying Sears?

They made every domestically made adjustable left. Read through this thread and you'll see the examples.

 

[Skin]

Who did western forge make tools for besides Sears? Had to check Wikipedia but apparently they only made things under thier own name for a couple years in the 70s?

And then a few years ago Sears sued them because they refused to sell em more product? Possibly because they were getting stiffed on payment? What I read seemed really goofy.

Anyway, main question is was there much of a company outside of supplying Sears?

Depends on the tool but the vast majority of their manufacturing definitely went toward pre-2010 Craftsman. Some screwdrivers for Husky and Kobalt but big box stores are always dumping suppliers for cheaper options so that's not reliable. Cant really recall them catering to anyone elses tool catalogue in a big way until Ideal purchased the SK name.

 

[anndel]

Sad for America

 

[cashishift]

This brings me back to watching "American Factory" on Netflix a bit.. worth a watch.

 

[kythri]

Product releases: what exactly should they be making or releasing that constitutes a management problem?

For me, it's the announcements about new products that end up hitting market two years after promoted target dates.

Distribution: What are you seeing as being poor?

I don't have many complaints in this department, myself, since I buy most of my stuff online, but I will say, there's no place in at least a 20-30 mile radius that carries SK. There's one shop, in the state capitol, that carries a small assortment of SK (35 miles away), which promptly closes at 5pm daily, and isn't open on weekends.

I'd classify that as pretty poor distribution.

 

[finn]

Imagine being told that to keep your job you must move from the foot of the Rockies to the suburb of Chicago. I'll become homeless instead, thank you.

Better improve the education system in Texas to ad geography to the curriculum. Sycamore is next to DeCalb, a sleepy college town an hour and a half west of Chicago.

From what I understand, College Station isn’t in the middle of Beaumont, or some other Texas Hell hole, or is it?

 

[Steve_P]

I'd guess the factory was huge, equipment was old, and it now has tiny demand vs the size of the plant. This equals death. Plus, COS is not a low cost area; you could move it to AL tomorrow and people would work for half the pay. This is bad for the workers there, but not surprising since Craftsman isn't a customer anymore. SKs production today is tiny vs Craftsman 30 yrs ago, so there's no need for such a large facility

 

[seber]

Better improve the education system in Texas to ad geography to the curriculum. Sycamore is next to DeCalb, a sleepy college town an hour and a half west of Chicago.

From what I understand, College Station isn’t in the middle of Beaumont, or some other Texas Hell hole, or is it?

I grew up in Rochelle. Believe me I know where Sycamore is. I guess you haven't been there for a while. I don't know what College Station has to do with anything. We're talking about Colorado Springs.

 

[finn]

I grew up in Rochelle. Believe me I know where Sycamore is. I guess you haven't been there for a while. I don't know what College Station has to do with anything. We're talking about Colorado Springs.

If you grew up in Rochelle, you should know that Sycamore isn’t Chicago, just like College Station isn’t Beaumont or some other polluted oil town.

 

[lardy1]

The good news, at least for me, is that their keeping whatever production remains in the country. I do what I can to support domestic manufacturing. Gets a little lonely at times but I don't mind.

 

[lwlobo]

Well as far as the adjustables go, I don't think there is anyone else in the US that makes adjustable wrenches on a large scale with WF out of the picture. I wonder if SK/Ideal will continue to make them. They were contract-made for many brands, I don't see how they couldn't make a profit there in the future.

What did Ideal do with Pratt-Read? Are they still standalone or did they get assumed, too?

I'm not sure about Pratt-Read, but they never got integrated into WF. Probably consolidate it all into SK in IL at this point.

Imagine being told that to keep your job you must move from the foot of the Rockies to the suburb of Chicago. I'll become homeless instead, thank you.

People don't move away from here very easily, and the job market is good here. Unfortunately, not a lot of actual manufacturing left, so the skills might not all translate very well.

Can't say enough bad things about how corporate America treats workers in these situations. If you stay to the end, you get severance. If not, you get nothing. Meanwhile, management gets huge bonuses.

The worst one of these I saw was a company closing two sites in one state, and opening a new site several states away. The company made huge press announcements about how many jobs they'd be creating at the new location. Then, they chose a select few for (paid) relocation, the rest were told to look at the openings and apply if they saw one they liked, but they were on their own for relocation. This is something that should be offered to all employees, period (most people won't make the move due to family, etc.). It's stressful enough to go through this, this just sends an awful message.

I hate that doing the right thing goes no further than a short-term look at a bottom line.

Mike

From what I can tell, Ideal treats employees reasonably well. They'll have severance, retraining, etc. It is true that few companies will pay to relocate hourly employees.

If Ideal was only looking at the bottom line in the short term, they would have closed WF years ago. The amount they were losing per month was shocking.

Who did western forge make tools for besides Sears? Had to check Wikipedia but apparently they only made things under thier own name for a couple years in the 70s?

And then a few years ago Sears sued them because they refused to sell em more product? Possibly because they were getting stiffed on payment? What I read seemed really goofy.

Anyway, main question is was there much of a company outside of supplying Sears?

They dropped Sears/Craftsman several years ago, worried they wouldn't get paid when Sears went into bankruptcy. They still made a lot of tools, adjustable wrenches, pipe wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, hammer heads, punches/chisels, etc. They made all the Husky USA screwdrivers, etc.

I'd guess the factory was huge, equipment was old, and it now has tiny demand vs the size of the plant. This equals death. Plus, COS is not a low cost area; you could move it to AL tomorrow and people would work for half the pay. This is bad for the workers there, but not surprising since Craftsman isn't a customer anymore. SKs production today is tiny vs Craftsman 30 yrs ago, so there's no need for such a large facility

You're right. The WF complex is huge, 1/4 mile long among many buildings. The equipment is very outdated.

The good news, at least for me, is that their keeping whatever production remains in the country. I do what I can to support domestic manufacturing. Gets a little lonely at times but I don't mind.

True, Ideal has had an admirable commitment to US manufacturing. I hope they grow the SK brand and plant and are able to provide a lot of the private label manufacturing capabilities WF had. Unfortunately, I don't think they will ever have the breadth and production capacity that WF did.

The WF property is huge and could be valuable, but it will be tough to find the right fit and buyer. The property might be more valuable if it was bare ground.

I can't imagine what a surplus equipment auction would be like. I'd pay money just to walk through the facility again.

 

[measuredtwice]

Sad news. American manufacturers could sure use more support on the interwebz.

 

[MJK]

...

They dropped Sears/Craftsman several years ago, worried they wouldn't get paid when Sears went into bankruptcy. They still made a lot of tools, adjustable wrenches, pipe wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, hammer heads, punches/chisels, etc. They made all the Husky USA screwdrivers, etc.

...

My mind could be playing tricks on me, but I thought SBD approached them about making Craftsman USA branded hand tools shortly after they bought the brand and were rebuffed before announcing their new Texas operation.

I can find no reference of this by Googling. Anybody else recall this?

 

[nadogail]

Well we can't have really decent American made tools that compete price-wise with the barely adequate stuff from overseas.

Our American workers will not work for the wages paid in India, Pakistan, China and SE Asia while living in the conditions of those countries.