From 2008 to 2011, I was employed with Danaher Tool Group (later Apex Tool Group) in Gastonia, NC. This plant made Craftsman sockets. During my time there, we varied from 140 million to 210 million sockets produced each year. Granted, some of those were for other brands (Napa, KD, etc) but by and large we made Craftsman stuff. I was the engineer over the heat treat, vibratory polish, plating, and painting areas (plus wastewater treatment). During this time frame, the Craftsman brand was evaluating how to drive more cost out of the product by moving manufacturing to China. Since I ran the only salt-spray (corrosion) test chamber in the company, I was directly responsible for evaluating the prototype sockets that arrived from overseas. We tested them (and our own) for corrosion resistance, abrasion resistance, and torque deformation. In most cases, the USA-made products were better, but the offshore products all passed the minimum test requirements (eventually). That plant closed down sometime around 2012-2013, with some of the equipment moving to Sumter, SC, but a lot of it was mothballed. We also had a plant in Dallas (Richardson), TX, formerly known as Kinglsey Tool, but that plant closed in the 2014-2016 time frame, with a lot of the manufacturing moving to the Sumter, SC facility, too. The Kingsley facility mainly made ratchets. The Springdale, AR plant most made wrenches. The Sumter plant originally made Crescent wrenches and Wiss snips, but was rapidly expanding when I left.
From 2015-2016, I worked as the department manager for Stanley Black & Decker in Dallas (Forest Branch), TX. I managed the wrench department, along with the finishing (heat treat, vibratory, plating, painting) department. We made mostly Proto tools, but also Mac and Blackhawk. Towards the tail end of my time there, SBD acquired the Craftsman brand, and the plant loved to talk about how much better they could run if they had the volume to support their operations. However, after having worked at Danaher/Apex, the way that the Proto/Mac plant ran was strictly built for high-quality and low-volumes.
40 years ago, Craftsman tools offered a good product at a fair price with an excellent warranty. Today, there are several brands in the same price-range as Craftsman, and the quality of the other brands is equivalent (sometimes slightly better, sometimes slightly worse). Additionally, places like Harbor Freight and Northern Tool offer tools with a lower cost and with a lifetime warranty, with a loss in quality that most people will never experience. I'm happy that a new facility is opening in Fort Worth and I hope that it is a sign of the times, that manufacturing is returning to the USA.
