Why America's Largest Tool Company Couldn't Make a Wrench in America

Why America’s Largest Tool Company Couldn’t Make a Wrench in America​

A highly automated Texas factory was supposed to bring the manufacturing of Craftsman mechanics’ tools back to American shores. The $90 million project was doomed by equipment problems and slow production.​

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Not a WSJ subscriber--what were the production problems?

Edit--think I found the rest of the article...

The world’s largest tool company couldn’t figure out how to make a wrench.

Stanley Black & Decker built a $90 million factory on the edge of Fort Worth, Texas, intending to burnish the Made-in-the-U.S.A. luster of the Craftsman brand by forging mechanics’ tools with unprecedented efficiency. But the automated system was a bust, and the tools that were supposed to be pumped out by the million are so hard to find that some consider them collector’s items.

In March, 3½ years after breaking ground, Stanley announced it was closing the factory. The property is now being advertised for sale.

The Craftsman plant was a high-profile example of a drive among U.S. manufacturers to bring offshored plants back home. Government incentives and a desire to shorten supply chains have sparked a factory-building boom. The high cost of American labor makes automation critical for plants to turn a profit.

Turning manual tasks over to machines, which are supposed to churn out goods with minimal human involvement and maximum productivity, poses its own challenges. The Craftsman factory’s first-of-its-kind system was supposed to make tools so efficiently that costs would be on par with China, but ex-employees said it had problems that couldn’t be fixed before the company decided to pull the plug.
 
tworley said:
Not a WSJ subscriber--what were the production problems?

Edit--think I found the rest of the article...

The world’s largest tool company couldn’t figure out how to make a wrench.

Stanley Black & Decker built a $90 million factory on the edge of Fort Worth, Texas, intending to burnish the Made-in-the-U.S.A. luster of the Craftsman brand by forging mechanics’ tools with unprecedented efficiency. But the automated system was a bust, and the tools that were supposed to be pumped out by the million are so hard to find that some consider them collector’s items.

In March, 3½ years after breaking ground, Stanley announced it was closing the factory. The property is now being advertised for sale.

The Craftsman plant was a high-profile example of a drive among U.S. manufacturers to bring offshored plants back home. Government incentives and a desire to shorten supply chains have sparked a factory-building boom. The high cost of American labor makes automation critical for plants to turn a profit.

Turning manual tasks over to machines, which are supposed to churn out goods with minimal human involvement and maximum productivity, poses its own challenges. The Craftsman factory’s first-of-its-kind system was supposed to make tools so efficiently that costs would be on par with China, but ex-employees said it had problems that couldn’t be fixed before the company decided to pull the plug.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that’s a good summary. Automation didn’t work/produce as expected, lower yields and lower quality tools.
 
Apparition said:
I’d venture to say that the drive towards American made died November 2020.
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I was reading this article today at lunch.

Lego is working to build its first U.S. based factory here is Richmond. I think largely due to what happened during 2020. I hope it isn't a similar story to this when it gets up and running.
 
These days I am questioning whether or not "made in America" is all it's cracked up to be anyways.

Yes I support this country, but I'm not going to pay more for what is often times poor quality craftsmanship.

The good news is that the lockdowns have a lot of companies thinking about bringing production back to the U.S., which is what needs to happen.
 
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Longwhitejeep said:
I was reading this article today at lunch.

Lego is working to build its first U.S. based factory here is Richmond. I think largely due to what happened during 2020. I hope it isn't a similar story to this when it gets up and running.
Click to expand...

I’d love for it to work. Honestly I think it was less political and more pie in the sky “automation and computers” will make everything better. And not paying attention to the actual skills and legacy knowledge to be successful
 
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Contrast Craftsman with Bath and Body Works (link should work for everyone)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bath-b...2jcq1c6w27n&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

A Soap Maker Cracks the Code to ‘Made in America’​

Bath & Body Works persuaded companies throughout its supply chain to move to an Ohio city near its headquarters​

Bath & Body Works decided it needed to get new products to market more quickly. The result was a production initiative with little parallel in corporate America.
 
red02tj said:
Contrast Craftsman with Bath and Body Works (link should work for everyone)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/bath-b...2jcq1c6w27n&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

A Soap Maker Cracks the Code to ‘Made in America’​

Bath & Body Works persuaded companies throughout its supply chain to move to an Ohio city near its headquarters​

Bath & Body Works decided it needed to get new products to market more quickly. The result was a production initiative with little parallel in corporate America.
Click to expand...

Bath and Body Works is currently in bankruptcy. Can't see the article to see what it says.
 
Chris said:
These days I am questioning whether or not "made in America" is all it's cracked up to be anyways.

Yes I support this country, but I'm not going to pay more for what is often times poor quality craftsmanship.

The good news is that the lockdowns have a lot of companies thinking about bringing production back to the U.S., which is what needs to happen.
Click to expand...

The Japanese make some good stuff....
 
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Shank said:
I never thought I'd say it but I've seen a lot of high quality things from them and I could see shifting some purchases to their products.
Click to expand...

I own a number of Japanese guitars, they never disappoint.
 
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Some of our Japanese production equipment was twenty plus years old and just keeps on producing. When we needed technical help on some of the repairs and we asked them to explain how it works they would respond with “you dont need to know, it just works”
Lots of moves from plant to plant but just keeps on ticking.
 
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