As we discussed earlier this week, Craftsman has come out with new mechanics tool sets at Amazon.com.
If you had missed a few things, we’re talking about the NEW Craftsman brand, acquired by Stanley Black & Decker, who will be revitalizing the brand name. Stanley Black & Decker has a lot of work to do, as they relaunch the brand.
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The other day, we talked about the very first new Craftsman tools to be released under Stanley Black & Decker ownership. There are some other newly launched products as well, such as a USA-made hand tool box. That tool box doesn’t seem to be a new design, but a Waterloo-made design I had previously purchased through Sears’ Craftsman brand.
As mentioned, there are 4 new Craftsman mechanics tool sets. It looked to me that 2 of the new Craftsman sets were carry-overs from Sears’ Craftsman brand, made by Apex Tool Group overseas, and that the other 2 were perhaps designed in-house at Stanley Black & Decker.
Well, I was right.
The two carryover sets are made in China, but the new gunmental-chrome tool sets, with their new Craftsman 120-position full-polish ratchets, were designed in-house by Stanley Black & Decker and made in Taiwan.
Here is exactly what Stanley Black & Decker said when I asked them about this:
The four mechanic tools available for presale are not made in the USA. Stanley Black & Decker is exploring paths to manufacture key CRAFTSMAN categories in the U.S. such as: hand tools, power tools, power tool accessories, and both metal and plastic storage – all while still focusing on delivering our new, best-ever CRAFTSMAN lineup in 2018.
These sets are just the beginning of the CRAFTSMAN launch and we’ll be unveiling new products throughout the year. The country of origin for the mechanics tool sets available for presale are as follows:
CMMT82335L – CRAFTSMAN 81PC Gunmetal Chrome Mechanics Tool Set: Taiwan
CMMT82334L – CRAFTSMAN 51PC Gunmetal Chrome Mechanics Tool Set: Taiwan
CMMT82330 – CRAFTSMAN 118PC Mechanics Tool Set: China
CMMT82329 – CRAFTSMAN 95PC Mechanics Tool Set: China
We are excited to be increasing manufacturing capacity in the U.S. to support our vision of CRAFTSMAN, and will be localizing as much manufacturing as possible consistent with our operating model of making where we sell.
While I am eager to see what kind of new tools will roll out of USA production lines bearing the Craftsman brand, I can be patient. Stanley Black & Decker pledged to bring production to the USA, and I can’t even imagine the work and efforts that entails. I am eager to see what kinds of tools they will be rolling out with these next few months, and feel relatively comfortable about the two newest made-in-Taiwan sets.
Teaser: A reader asked whether there were Craftsman-branded ToughSystem products coming out. I don’t think so – what I saw looked more like Craftsman-branded TStak tool storage products. More on that soon.