Milwaukee bringing some manufacturing back to Milwaukee

[Biggie]

Well not exactly Milwaukee but looks like Milwaukee tools is opening a manufacturing plant in West Bend Wi. Google recommended this article to me.  I don't know that it's anything real significant but just thought it might be of interest to some guys on here.

https://www.washingtoncountyinsider.com/manufacturing-returns-as-milwaukee-tool-announces-plans-to-build-in-west-bend/

[paulengr]

Milwaukee has always been the world’s machine shop. You’ve got two huge mining equipment companies, a major gear box company, an electrical parts company, plus countless smaller ones. I love visiting there. Brewer stadium is nice too. The only thing close to it is Stihl in Virginia Beach that occupies multiple city blocks and makes not only their own stuff but a lot of other brands too.

[Framer joe]

The city is not the company..TTI that owns Milwaukee makes 99% of their tools in China. I applaud TTI for building a plant in the USA and giving jobs to 50 Americans., awesome. Any American job is great...

[OldDominionDIYer]

On 1/30/2020 at 8:42 PM, Framer joe said:

The city is not the company..TTI that owns Milwaukee makes 99% of their tools in China. I applaud TTI for building a plant in the USA and giving jobs to 50 Americans., awesome. Any American job is great...

Not true, nowhere near 99% of the tools are made outside the country, you're just a Milwaukee Tool Company hater. 

No reason to make up untruths about information you don't possess.

Facts follow for those that care for them:

"Milwaukee Tool is also expanding their manufacturing footprint in the U.S. In December 2017, they announced a significant expansion of their Mississippi factories, creating over 600 new jobs in those cities – this was their fourth expansion since 2012 in that state. They also seem to be very committed to keeping strong roots in Wisconsin, with recent expansions to those facilities as well. Now they've announced the groundbreaking of another brand new manufacturing facility just outside Milwaukee, it seems their reinvestment in USA manufacturing continues. "

Some Milwaukee tools are still made in the United States, and the majority are assembled in the United States. Because of the global marketplace, some Milwaukee items are sourced overseas, as are parts in just many items you purchase today, from automobiles to consumer electronics.
Selective outsourcing helps to bring more products to market faster. As a result, we are able to serve our customers with a strong, comprehensive product line at competitive prices.
Keep in mind these tools are still designed by our engineers to Milwaukee’s exacting standards. When we do manufacture a product overseas, be it at a sister company in Europe or elsewhere, we do so to the highest standards of quality. These tools are backed by our Five Year Limited-Warranty that is second to none.

[paulengr]

Just to follow that up in the US we tariff imports not exports by law, THEN sales tax on top of that no matter the source (depending on state laws), and then tax the US manufacturer. So the current tax avoidance scheme practiced by Apple is they make iPhones by Apple HK. They “charge” Apple USA around $950 for a phone they sell for $750. So Apple USA “loses” money on every iPhone they sell and conveniently moves some AppStore profit overseas too so that they pay $0 corporate tax to USA for years. Tariffs put a stop to that nonsense because they tax imports rather than corporate profit. We did it to ourselves by slowly moving from import taxes to mostly income taxes. Now that is reversing the incentive is going away. There are obvious ways around this. You can make the parts in Asia then assemble it in the US but this only avoids the import tariff but corporate taxes still apply.

Aside from the artificial tax implications, labor costs are about 1/3rd in Asia compared to North America but don’t stop there. Shipping is a major cost too. So that effectively kills moving production to Asia for any products that weigh a lot. Cell phones and computers can be made anywhere but say gear boxes are not so easily made and imported. By way of example small electric motors sold by Westinghouse under say 50 HP are made in Korea and imported. Large ones are still made in Round Mountain, TX.

Second issue is automation. Highly automated production actually favors North America. The reason is simple. Sure the value of cheap labor goes away. But if tech breaks in the US you can get a tech on it in a few hours and parts generally within 24 hours before it is back up and running. In Asia first the tech takes 36+ hours to fly from the US then identifies the issue and it’s another 36+ hours for the parts to arrive so realistically downtime is around 5 days on every breakdown compared to 1-2 days in the US. Even though the part might actually be made in Asia!

Plus there are tons of problems with quality control, decision making, you name it. Take for example there is a small worm gear box that the entire solar panel sits on top of in a solar farm that costs about $150. They are made by the thousands and it’s very cut throat so shaving even a couple dollars off the cost is a big deal. The panels are assembled on site. Once the panel is built replacement however is basically crazy costly because a crane is needed to lift the now assembled solar panel. There are often hundreds per solar field. An Asian manufacturer screwed up the seals when they translated the dimensions from Imperial to metric and now thousands of gear boxes have to be inspected and repaired because of this mistake, to the tune of hundreds of thousands per year that basically killed the cost savings in outsourcing it. And this is just one example of a simple legitimate mistake without even getting into IP theft, fraud, and other criminal activity. This all greatly increases the risk and costs of global manufacturing supply chains.

I’ve been involved in doing outsourcing just once. It was a total flop that cost the company millions to set up and millions more in write offs to undo it. Don’t think for a minute that TTI doesn’t factor all this in. There is not nearly as much value in outsourcing as people think and not done as much as people think for that reason. Foxconn (Apple iPhone plant) is the exception not the rule.

[Framer joe]

@OldDominionDIYer..your a diy guy..your wrong and you should speak to people that know..the new plant has 50 new jobs. Which I did say is great. I also own more Milwaukee then Dewalt tools followed by makita...I don’t use Milwaukee tools to frame because they suck for that purpose. Nothing still beats flexvolt..

   so to say I don’t like Milwaukee is bogus. I hate anything not made in America,( except German hand tools) if I had a choice I’d buy everything American made, just like millions of Americans feel.....it provides jobs here for Americans...unfortunately most cordless tools aren’t made here.

     . Almost every Milwaukee tool says made in China. As I said some things are made here and I applaud that...every new job for an American is good..

     

[OldDominionDIYer]

On ‎2‎/‎2‎/‎2020 at 10:50 PM, Framer joe said:

your a diy guy..your wrong and you should speak to people that know

Your right I am a DIY guy, but I'm not wrong, and I do speak to people that know. Perhaps you should keep your personal opinions and complete lack of knowledge about me to yourself and stick to the facts which you seem to not be fully aware of.

[fm2176]

18 hours ago, OldDominionDIYer said:

Your right I am a DIY guy, but I'm not wrong, and I do speak to people that know. Perhaps you should keep your personal opinions and complete lack of knowledge about me to yourself and stick to the facts which you seem to not be fully aware of.

 

Fellow Virginian (well, until I carpetbag to the Gulf Coast in a couple of years);

 

To put things in perspective from a (no longer professional) fellow tool user, I guess I could rely on my decades of experience as an Infantryman, Drill Sergeant, and Armorer to discount a civilian AR-15 connoisseur's opinion, but that's putting me on the same level as those who discount "DIY guys" who value good quality tools (regardless of brand) and who bad mouth reputable websites.

 

I truly hate making these posts as I appreciate those who make their living using tools (as I once did -- footers, gutters, framing, automotive, semi-trailers, and material handling equipment).  Why post such negativity in the Milwaukee forum when we could be speaking truth to "More POWA" in the DeWalt forum?

 

 

[OldDominionDIYer]

6 hours ago, fm2176 said:

 

Fellow Virginian (well, until I carpetbag to the Gulf Coast in a couple of years);

 

To put things in perspective from a (no longer professional) fellow tool user, I guess I could rely on my decades of experience as an Infantryman, Drill Sergeant, and Armorer to discount a civilian AR-15 connoisseur's opinion, but that's putting me on the same level as those who discount "DIY guys" who value good quality tools (regardless of brand) and who bad mouth reputable websites.

 

I truly hate making these posts as I appreciate those who make their living using tools (as I once did -- footers, gutters, framing, automotive, semi-trailers, and material handling equipment).  Why post such negativity in the Milwaukee forum when we could be speaking truth to "More POWA" in the DeWalt forum?

 

 

I couldn't agree more, I come here to discuss tools and on occasion offer information and advice not be petty and spiteful to others, that bothers me.  What also bothers me is those that project their personal opinions as fact, it's just irresponsible. I could tell them I run oversight on a 800 person engineering department, built houses and countless big projects all under to DIY tag simply because I choose to earn my living in Engineering rather than in the trades but it wouldn't matter so I don't.