Milwaukee Tool has announced that they will be expanding their USA footprint with another new manufacturing facility in Clinton, Mississippi.
The new 357,000 square-foot facility is being described as an expansion of the company’s current facility in Jackson, MS.
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Milwaukee Tool has not shared any details about their plans for the new manufacturing facility. Our notes show that step drill bits are manufactured at Milwaukee’s Jackson, MS location, and so it is possible that the new facility will also be used to manufacture power tool accessories.
The company has 3,659 employees in Mississippi as of 2021, and they have recently pledged to create 1,200 new jobs in the region within 8 years.
Milwaukee currently employs more than 7,600 people in the USA, and has invested $368 million in domestic expansion projects in the past 5 years.
They recently announced plans for a new manufacturing facility in Grenada, Mississippi, and work has been progressing on a new hand tool manufacturing plant in West Bend, Wisconsin. The new West Bend facility is expected to open in 2022.
Milwaukee currently has a manufacturing, distribution, and operations presence in the following states and cities:
- Mississippi
- Greenwood
- Olive Branch
- Grenada
- Jackson
- Clinton (coming soon)
- Wisconsin
- Brookfield
- Menomonee Falls
- Milwaukee
- Mukwonago
- Sun Prairie
- West Bend (coming soon)
- Indiana
- Greenwood
- Tennessee
- Cookeville
This seems to be a continuing – and welcome – trend for Milwaukee Tool. They announced job-creating expansion plans several years ago, and have continued with that trend, investing in both new and existing facilities.
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Milwaukee Tool press materials add that “U.S. manufacturing has been, and will continue to be, a critical part of the company’s global footprint,” and this seems to be a rare example of a company backing up its talk with action.
Jared
Interesting news. I often see comments like “I’m not buying from Milwaukee, they’re a Chinese company”. I’m sure there are reasons to buy or not buy from team Red, but that one always feels way too simplistic. This is a good reminder of what all goes on with a big multinational company like Milwaukee.
Jim Felt
Especially given “Milwaukee” was founded by a German living in Hong Kong and his first breakthrough sale was to the old Chicago based Sears.
Alan
Jim, where do you get your information? Milwaukee Tool was founded in 1924 by Albert F. Siebert who was born in Dayton, Ohio in 1879 and as far as I can tell resided in the USA his entire life.
As far as the company itself:
Milwaukee tool changed hands a few times, but was an entirely an American owned company until 1995 when sold to the Swedish company Atlas Copco. It wasn’t until 2005 when the Chinese company Techtronic Industries purchased it.
I know many people that work there and they all say they are allowed to run as an independent company regardless of their ownership. They do have some manufacturing overseas, including Europe and China (which I believe existed before the buyout) but I’m pretty sure the majority is made in the USA. Their website used to list all of their manufacturing facilities, but for some reason it doesn’t anymore, probably because people got upset about them having any facilities in China.
For most stuff I can’t get a definitive breakdown of where it’s made, but their batteries and the tools that use them I know ARE made in China. There are very few Lithium battery manufacturers in the USA and I don’t think any can make huge quantities needed for the tools, yet. But, Milwaukee has many large manufacturing facilities in the USA and are both expanding existing facilities as well as building new ones. I really don’t know what the breakdown is as far as percentage made in America, but I’d say they’re more American than most companies these days.
Frank D
Speech to text or the handwriting recognition is failing a bit. “ Out notes shoes that … “
😉
Stuart
Thanks! No, that was me getting lost in my fact-checking and hitting the wrong keys. I proofread and everything somehow still looked hunky-dory.
fred
Good news.
If that puts you in the mood to buy Milwaukee:
ToolUp is having a 20% off on all Milwaukee accessories sale – use coupon code ACC20 – for 48 hours only
https://www.toolup.com/
and ToolNut – seems to go one better – – with 20% Milwaukee – on purchases over $150, 15% off on $100 to $149 and 10% off $50 to $100 with free shipping on accessories – but the sale ends noon EDT on 8/24
https://www.toolnut.com/
rob
Nice. Ohio Power Tool is doing a few deals too. 20% off certain kits when you buy an $8 pair of sunglasses and 15% off two bare tools and 20% of three bare tools. In some areas, HD is selling the a three piece kit with the combi drill, impact and grinder for $369.
Nathan
so where then are their hand tools made.
and what power tools do they make in America. I see some of their accessories are made in America and their other brand purchases like Empire products.
but I’ve not picked up a Milwaukee cordless power tool that was made in the US. one of my bigger pet peeves. and yes despite the worker pay – the profit of the company goes elsewhere.
Not saying they make bad products, in some cases they make class leading products. but despite the news I don’t see much out of it.
Chris S
*most cases…
fred
If the company profit is shared with the company’s stockholders – then the profit goes to a pretty broad group of investors (including a wee bit to me through my shares in Vanguard funds and through investments with JP Morgan that both own a small percentage (5.4% combined) . While Horst Pudwill and his family may be the largest (about 22% ownership) stockholders – they do not hold a controlling interest.
https://www.marketscreener.com/quote/stock/TECHTRONIC-INDUSTRIES-COM-1412810/company/
Stuart
Their hand tools are usually made in China or Taiwan, and certain upcoming (or existing?) tools will be made in the USA at the new facility.
Corded Sawzall reciprocating saws s are all made in the USA, I don’t know about others.
A lot of their power tool accessories are made in the USA – replacement utility knife blades, reciprocating saw blades, hole saws, step drill bits, and oscillating accessories via Imperial Tool.
Many Empire products are still made here, Milwaukee’s trim and rafter squares too.
Their parent company is publicly-traded. You can say “the profit goes elsewhere,” but are you just guessing or have you really thought about it? Part of the profits go to shareholders via dividends and part goes towards expansion projects like this.
They of course pay all of those thousands of US employees, and those workers have to eat and live, putting money back into the economy and supporting other industries.
Where is the money coming from to buy the land and pay the builders for the new facilities?
With all the sales revenue in the US, that also means domestic taxes need to be paid.
They don’t have to expand their US footprint. There are some other power tool companies that don’t have R&D here, nor do they have any production, they’re simply marketing companies.
I see a lot of commentary online about where people believe Milwaukee “sends their profits,” but I’m sure none of those people have ever stepped foot at any Milwaukee-owned facility. I have.
A few years ago, I was impressed that Milwaukee had an on-site electron microscope for failure analysis. Then I was impressed at their huge prototyping machine shop. At my last visit, we toured one of their expanded battery tech labs, and I was shocked at the level of scientific equipment they brought in. They weren’t just testing and characterizing battery packs anymore, but doing fundamental research and analysis way beyond what I had expected.
After Milwaukee acquired Empire Level, they invested in their facility to modernize and expand their capabilities.
Sure, Milwaukee Tool might be owned by a publicly traded company that’s headquartered overseas, but tell that to them, because they certainly don’t act like it.
In the past year, they’ve announced 3 new USA manufacturing facilities, and I’m sure they’re not done yet.
Paul
Did I miss something here? I thought I read that Milwaukee or SBD closed their last plant just outside of Hong Kong?
Multinational relations can get strange. In China the Chinese government by law must own 51% of a corporation. So in the case of Ford as an example yes it’s a publicly traded company but there are two classes of common stock. The Ford family owns one and has controlling interest. Chinese companies are similar.
But the big question in these relationships is how much influence the controlling interest has. Is Milwaukee USA essentially independent or does China dictate terms. I would like to think that the Chinese government is passively involved but it’s hard to tell,
Gary
This is false. In many industries, foreign companies must partner with a local (Chinese) company who has majority ownership. However, the Chinese government does NOT have any ownership in most Chinese companies or JV’s.
With regard to Milwaukee’s “Chinese” owners, take a look at the Board of Directors … https://www.ttigroup.com/our-company/our-board/
fred
Like Oscar Hammerstein had the King of Siam saying in the King and I : “Its a puzzlement!” It is certainly a complicated world. I don’t have the data – but it just might be that the largest American tool company (SBD), because of its larger size and production in and parts sourcing from China, may provide as much (or even more) revenue to China as does TTI.
Nathan
I would be surprised if SBD makes more stuff in China than TTI. Than Milwaukee perhaps considering you have to add up all their bits in the umbrella. But I would argue it’s apples to oranges, as comparing SBD to Milwaukee is comparing a parent corporate to a one arm.
Nathan
never said it was a bad thing. but when Milwaukee makes millions in their fiscal year, then TTI makes millions in their fiscal year. and being headquartered in china the first pass on that profit goes to the government of their registry. not the shareholders. they pay the taxes first. Now they share their profits with all their American workers. yes they are paid but again that profit, is after wages which are an expense item.
Then what’s left over goes to the shareholders – but it’s privately traded right. Now I haven’t looked it up but who are those major shareholders.
OK so SBD similar issues but their corporate taxes on their overall profit – are taxes here in the states. and their major shareholders as far as I know are mostly US based too. But again I’ve picked up some of their cordless tools that are made in the US.
Again I’m glad Milwaukee is expanding in the US and I look forward to seeing some more us made products.
Josh`
I’m not sure I agree with your first paragraph fully. I think it’s safe to say that not every cent of profit that Milwaukee makes goes straight to TTI given how much they’re expanding. And given that Milwaukee is headquartered in the US, they may have to pay the US taxes first (not a tax expert in any way, so take that point with a boulder of salt lol). Obviously TTI makes money off of Milwaukee since they are a subsidiary of the former, but it wouldn’t make sense for TTI to bleed Milwaukee dry in order to make a slightly larger profit.
But for the shareholder point, TTI is a publicly traded company and fred linked a site that shows the major shareholders in the company. Definitely worth the look!
SBD does pay taxes, roughly 5% of their profit from June 2020 to June 2021 it looks like.
https://www.macrotrends.net/stocks/charts/SWK/stanley-black-decker/total-provision-income-taxes
Regardless of all of that, and like you said, it’s great to see Milwaukee expanding in the US.
Albert
Milwaukee has a whole bunch of good engineering jobs on their web page, located inside the US, not just the usual, but also for IoT and cameras. I bet they have some very clever products on the way.
Nathan
so a finer point and I’ll start by saying I’m not an accountant, CPA or etc. I’m basing this on what I see in my fortune 500, publicly traded company in the US. With a dash of what I saw in my last company which had foreign corporate overlords.
Parent company and 4 sibling corporate arms. Blue, Yellow, Red and Green. In the annual – Blue turns 1m in profit after expending 3M and sales of 6.2M and whatever else. but 1M profit. Yellow turns 7M in profit after expending 5M . . .
Green turns 4, and red turns -2.5M it’s been a bad year for them.
Now – In the annual report outlines taxes paid the corporate tax on the 9.5M of profit is paid by the parent on the line item. Not individually as those arms are not their own company – yes they have their own accounts but they are completely owned by the parent. That is a key piece. In the case of Milwaukee they are completely owned by the parent.
In my former life I worked for a company that was foreign owned , now note here I say turned a profit. wording is important here. We reported to the home office our expenses vs incoming invoices etc for acconting but we never got to keep our “profit”. Ok so this was a good year and we made 300M, but that 300M is corporate’s money and what they did with it was theirs.
So that’s why I am always leery of the foreign owned company. Sure they look like they are making investments here and there are back door deals where they don’t pay property taxes for 10 years on the shiny new facility and other bits. But as they churn product like we did – the actual money made after expenses (and employee pay is an expense on the ledger) goes off shore.
Yes I’m glad there is something made here – and it makes jobs here I get that and it’s good. But over all for the US populace it could be better and yes I’ll agree that’s true of the US owned companies too.
Stuart
At Milwaukee Tool, you have Steven Richman as the Group President, Shane Moll as President of Power Tools, Tim Albrecht as President of Hand Tools, Storage, & PPE, Paul Fry as VP of Cordless Products.
Milwaukee’s top leaders have been at the helm for the past 14 years, and they oversaw all of the brand’s modern cordless, storage, and hand tool products.
When you talk to these people, it is clear that they take pride in the company. I don’t think they could have been successful at building the brand up like this without having free reign and as much funding as they need.