Craftsman - Made in USA (again)

[EdL]

Sears Craftsman tools are/will be different than SBD Craftsman tools, it's already showing up in the new 20v tools....

Ed

[Stwood_]

I've never owned very many sears tools. One router that was returned/exchanged/repaired 4 times, and my current 3" belt sander.
I bought a new radial arm saw in1985?, with the nice big table/cabinet it was mounted to. What a piece of crap that was. I finally craiglisted it to get rid of it.

[Cecil]

I always bought craftsman hand tools, when they were made in the US.  I went to buy some metric stuff in the 1990's, and it was no longer US made.  A friend of mine was selling Easco tools, and he told me that they were the former OEM for Craftsman, and I believed him.  I started buying Easco.  However, they were also bought out.

I have often heard our lack of quality products referred to as the "Race to the Bottom."  It is easy to find companies which compete on price, but more difficult to find companies that compete on quality.

[Handplanesandmore]

I have often heard our lack of quality products referred to as the "Race to the Bottom."  It is easy to find companies which compete on price, but more difficult to find companies that compete on quality.

I read a business report (Wall Street or Fortune?) that while many brick and mortar stores are falling due to Amazon and online shopping, discount/dollar stores thrive, and the owners are opening more and more stores in North America. Like Walmart, most of the products sold are imported (90% from China, my guesstimate). I can find made in USA items now and then there, but you have to look. When the new generation and new families flock to IKEA (which also sells mostly China-made products (70%?)), heirloom quality is seldom a factor in their purchase decisions.

Simon

[GeorgeV]

https://www.craftsman.com/whereitsmade

All my Craftsman tools are made in USA because they are all from the 70s, 60s era, not the Crapsman kind. Yours?

The only thing I don't like about the router is its bushing system. Power-wise, it can compete with the Festool.

Simon

My 1971 Craftsman TS, DP and lathe are still functioning. I did replace the rip fence with a Vega, other than that have only replaced the blade as necessary and change to a link belt.

[hbmcc]

Hmmm, I always read the fine print, so what does "made with Global Materials" mean?  Just final assembly here in the US?

Me too. 

"New CRAFTSMAN products are being engineered and manufactured in the USA, using materials from around the world. "

All that statement means is a pile of stuff comes to the warehouse and local monkeys assemble it. It's nothing more than a cheap shot by the ownership to coerce customers. The statement is a legal way to lie, imply quality, and misdirect people who are politically lulled by "Made in USA". 

Don't expect the quality to be even as good as the boxed set made in Viet Nam, China's "Cheap chinese Source"

Now, regarding "engineered". I saw enough of this horse s**t to know what it meant. Just go to Tools For Working Wood and look up Joel's recent blog posts. That will reveal some of the methods behind quality removal. 

The whole premise of this garbage statement is: "Make and Peddle this filth at the highest 3 digit profit margin so we--investors--can dump the brand before the poor schmuck buyers learn."

One of the best ways to recognize quality, good engineering, and manufacture is to stumble onto it, because that company does not need to pay for advertising. It's too busy producing the product at an economical rate, and "word of mouth" praise to waste the time.

[Phil Thien]

All that statement means is a pile of stuff comes to the warehouse and local monkeys assemble it. It's nothing more than a cheap shot by the ownership to coerce customers. The statement is a legal way to lie, imply quality, and misdirect people who are politically lulled by "Made in USA".

It is actually considered a "qualified made in USA" claim.

They're saying "materials" and not "parts," which I think is a step-up from what we've seen in the past.

In any event, it is more effort than we're seeing elsewhere, so I applaud it.