Milwaukee Tool now Made in the USA Factory location, 3855 S River Road West Bend Wisconsin.

I had the pleasure of visiting Milwaukee Tool’s new manufacturing facility in West Bend, Wisconsin. Proudly Made in the USA!

Based on what I saw there, I firmly believe that Milwaukee Tool will dramatically change the entire American-made hand tool market. This USA Factory is a bigger change for the Milwaukee brand.

Some might think this is an exaggeration, but it’s not. This new USA Factory forMilwaukee changed everything for the supply chain of tools.

The new Milwaukee USA factory already makes 3 different sizes of pliers, as well as a range of screwdrivers.

Milwaukee released its first screwdrivers 12 years ago. How big is your hand tool store today? What do you think the Made in the USA hand tool business will look like in a few years time?

The new USA factory should decrease pricing; since it reduces the costs of labor and utilities. It is expected that this will result in lower prices for Milwaukee’s products. The company has been operating from foreign countries for many years, so it makes sense that they would prefer to reduce expenses by reducing their operating base. As a result of this, customers can expect much lower prices with the Made in the USA branding on Milwaukee’s tools.

All these tools come with a lifetime warranty. Note the Made in the USA badge. No fine print, asterisks or qualifications.

These tools are made in the USA Factory from start to finish. They are made in the USA from US-made raw materials. American made steel! No global material here!

I missed this machine but was later told that even the screwdriver handle was made on site.

Over the years, I’ve spoken to various tool brands about why certain tools are made overseas. It mainly depends on the cost and how much investment is required to build a new factory.

At the very least you need land, equipment, the right people and technology, which I think is probably the most important.

Expertise determines a qualified tool and a great tool.

On a factory tour led by Steve Lallensack, Milwaukee Tool Hand Tools and Empire VP of Operations, we learned about the competitive advantages of Milwaukee’s manufacturing method.

In each new station, we learn the “what”, “why” and “how”.

The buzzword “Industry 4.0”, which includes “intelligent automation” and similar technologies, is mentioned only once, and it seems fitting.

Let’s take a moment to talk about spell checkers. Years ago, you probably typed something into a word processor and then spell-checked it. This is fine for shorter documents, but longer documents take more time to proofread.

With modern spelling checkers and autocorrect, mistakes are often highlighted in real-time, allowing you to solve problems anytime, anywhere. Wouldn’t it be better to be slimmer? This is what the Milwaukee Hand Tool USA Factory looks like, they monitor and respond to everything in real time.

Every process is automatically measured, checked and controlled.

Even with a high degree of digital network automation, the plant employs more than 150 people – operators, technicians, specialists and engineers.

Yes, there are bots and automated processes, but human involvement has proven crucial.

I spoke to an engineer at Milwaukee Tool and mentioned “aerospace grade tolerances” we learned about during our visit. He told me no, they actually exceed aerospace tolerances.

Of course, the new pliers have perfect symmetry, perfect grooves, comfortable grips, laser-hardened grooves and cutting edges that don’t interfere with the underlying material, and the most perfect anti-theft pin I’ve ever come across.

Even more impressive is how quickly Milwaukee got here. They announced their new factory back in 2020, and now, more than two years after they were scheduled to start work, Milwaukee has new American-made tools that they believe are superior to the competition but at a competitive price.

After dealing with all the new tools, I think they are correct.

Where did this production know-how come from so quickly? Granted, they announced from the start some of the types of tools that would be made at this facility, but it’s hard to optimize manufacturing processes without production cells in place.

With passion, commitment, and vision, they pulled this off. Milwaukee Tool’s capital surely helped accelerate the process, with the new company investing $55 million investment in the new facility.

And now, Milwaukee Tool joins a very small group of hand tool companies still capable of producing pliers and screwdrivers in the USA.

They’re also just getting started. The USA factory was designed and built with easy expandability and scaling in mind. Milwaukee Tool also owns the adjacent land and has right of refusal for an even larger plot in the surrounding area.

Now, I don’t know what other tool factories’ quality and materials labs look like, but I was surprised and happy to see the state-of-the-art equipment at this facility. From what I saw, I’d say that the same equipment and techniques that can be used for quality checks can also be used for manufacturing process developments and advancements.

Beyond the competitively-priced Made in the USA hand tools, I saw a glimpse into the future.

Milwaukee’s determination and drive is going to cause serious headaches for other hand tool makers, and I think competing brands are going to have to improve their game.

It is very clear to me that Milwaukee Tool raised the bar. The question is no longer can they do it?, but what will they do next?

This is great news for everyone.

After the successful launch and rapid growth of Milwaukee’s Packout tool storage system, many other tool brands poured new or renewed effort into their own tool storage products. If you ask me, the same is bound to happen here.

Milwaukee is pouring much energy into USA hand tool production. At the least, users gain access to a new generation of premium Milwaukee hand tools. But more than that, competing brands will have no choice but to meet the new challenge head-on.

I was given the distinct impression that Milwaukee is only getting started, and I cannot wait to see where the company goes from here.