Another great tool company (Milwaukee) going down the drain

[Wally]

To all,

Just got the following email from Milwaukee (I'm part of their Heavy Duty Club)... Well, it all depends on how this new acquisition will affect their operations but I hope it won't affect the quality of their producs...

Arrrgh, I bet in a few years from now, they will be all from the same company...

Wally

To all Milwaukee Heavy Duty Club Members:

We have great news to share!

Milwaukee Electric Tool is being acquired by Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd. (TTI), the world's fastest growing power tool manufacturer. Although you may not have heard about TTI, you're probably familiar with some of the brand name products owned by TTI, like Ryobi power tools, Homelite outdoor power equipment and Royal and Dirt Devil vacuum cleaners and floor care appliances.

Joining forces with TTI will allow us to share TTI's research and development facilities. That means we'll have even more engineering and manufacturing expertise to draw on in order to produce the innovative products that you've come to expect from Milwaukee.

We currently employ more than 2,000 people and have four manufacturing plants in Wisconsin, Mississippi and Arkansas, making Milwaukee the only power tool manufacturer with the majority of its tool production in the U.S. Our team will now join forces with TTI North America, which employs 1,800 people in Ohio and South Carolina.

Our products will continue to carry the familiar Milwaukee brand and you'll be able to buy the tools and accessories you need from your favorite retailer or distributor.

At Milwaukee, we're proud of our 80 years of dedicated service to professional power tool users. The product and service levels that you've come to expect from Milwaukee will be the same - if not better

- in the years ahead. As we begin this next chapter, we thank you for your continued support and invite you to keep sending us ideas on how to make Milwaukee power tools and accessories even better.

We fully expect to become a stronger company as a result of this acquisition. This should translate into even more high-quality, innovative power tool and accessory systems from Milwaukee.

Thank you for owning and using Milwaukee Electric power tools.

Sincerely,

Dan Perry, President Milwaukee Electric Tool

[mp]

Interestingly enough, Dan didn't say if they'll continue with mostly domestic tool production.

[Dave Balderstone]

" Our team will now join forces with TTI North America, which employs

1,800 people in Ohio and South Carolina." is sufficiently vague, isn't it?

Betcha somewhere in the neighborhoood of 1,500 layoffs in the next 12 months.

djb

[RonB]

Yeah - This is worth watching. I own some older Ryobi that is pretty decent equipment, but I don't think they are getting any better.

Another tool engineering department run by accoutants?

[Phisherman]

I bet too there will be layoffs. When two companies combine, there will be redundancy with people jobs. I just hope the Milwaukee brand retains their high standards and quality. I have a Sawzall and corded Milwaukee drill that are very well built.

Hey Bush. Where are the WMDs? Where are you hiding your military service records?? And, where are all those jobs you promised (legal) Americans???

[Mike at American Sycamore]

Dear Wally:

Your header upsets me.....how do you know that this is a bad thing? Do you have a crystal ball and can see in the future? Why of cource not.....but that does'nt stop you from stating facts that you do not know anything about.

How about waiting and see....this could be a great thing. I am personally involved with Delta and I am very excited about their future with Black & Decker. What we do not need is people running around like chicken little saying the sky is falling! Mike from American Sycamore

[J. Clarke]

Better question, "Hey Bush, why is the SEC letting this kind of sale go through?"

[Old Nick]

On Sun, 05 Sep 2004 12:03:42 -0400, Wally vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

oh dear oh dear!

From my experience with chainsaws (Huskie) in particular, whenever a good company teams up with a bad company, it foes downhill from there. Economics is everything. That's how the merger happens.

***************************************************** the snappy ones are the best

[Old Nick]

On Sun, 5 Sep 2004 18:35:23 -0500, "RonB" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

HAH! I bought Ryobi stuff because I thought they were decent, but I was thinking of then, before TTI (or whatever anon. company) bought them and all the others.

They are now laughing stock. Huge power. Poor quality.

Bingo!

***************************************************** the snappy ones are the best

[Morris Dovey]

Hey! Don't pester the SEC - they're busy going after the /really/ dangerous subversives (like that uppity Stewart woman).

[Tom Veatch]

Wasn't Homelite "A Textron Company" at one time?

My employer of 28 years was swallowed by a conglomerate and, like most things that are eaten, turned to s**t. It was quite interesting to watch the upper management being stripped of anyone who displayed any loyalty to the "old" company and replaced with clones from the (censored) corporate offices who seemed to know nothing about our products or processes except how to "improve" them.

They finally cleaned out most of the residual loyalty in the middle managers and first line supervision with a "voluntary termination" and retirement bonus that amounted, in my case, to about a year's salary. I'm thoroughly enjoying retirement from the "new" company, but do sort of miss the "old" company.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

[GTO69RA4]

Homelite was Textron's baby until they pulled a McCulloch--didn't develop new technology, lost pro market to European saws, and had to settle with the Harry Homeowner market. Textron unloaded them to John Deer maybe 10 years ago who dropped all the (outdated) pro models left and concentrated 100% on junk. Deer started getting a bad rep for this so they sold them to Techtronics a couple years ago.

McCulloch swtiched to make crap way back in the '70-'80s, but hung around until recently before going under and being bought by another offshore concern.

GTO(John)

[Old Nick]

On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 04:05:53 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

It's NOT better. It's more reliable. It does not fall to pieces. It does not leak oil. It may well be faster, and quieter and more comfortable. It's also cheaper.

Not sure about handling.

But it's not _better_! ....mainly because it looks like somebody's expensive Falcon (Oz name?)

Japanese bikes are not better than British or Italian (or even US) ones either!

***************************************************** I know I am wrong about just about everything. So I am not going to listen when I am told I am wrong about the things I know I am right about.

[Old Nick]

On 06 Sep 2004 05:38:56 GMT, [e-mail] (GTO69RA4) vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

My fear is that good stuff has come and good stuff has gone (and there was much gnashing and wailing of teeth about a lot of it). But now I wonder if there's any good stuff coming, unless it's so exclusive that only a very few big co's can afford it.

It all feels downhill.

***************************************************** I know I am wrong about just about everything. So I am not going to listen when I am told I am wrong about the things I know I am right about.

[Andy Dingley]

Jaguar and Land Rover were spared the sheer horror that was BL. On paper they might have been, but on the shop floor they avoided nearly all of the disaster. If the "socialized automobile industry" experiment was a failure, it was at the BL / Rover plants where it failed most spectacularly, not at Jaguar.

All three suffered union troubles, from very stupid and pig-headed people running the unions. Perhaps Jaguar suffered the worst in this respect - they were always great cars, but some years of production made more lemons than a Greek citrus grove.

At times, Jaguar had problems - but they were never the unfathomable pit of bad design, pointless products and totally rubbish apologies for cars that went out wearing Austin and Morris badges.

[Old Nick]

On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 14:24:21 +0800, Old Nick vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Sorry. I meant washing and gnailing of teeth

***************************************************** I know I am wrong about just about everything. So I am not going to listen when I am told I am wrong about the things I know I am right about.

[Morris Dovey]

USAnian also - early 60's unibody "compact": coupe, sedan, and station wagon models.

[George]

[patriarch]

"George" wrote in news:413c887c [e-mail]:

This was, except for superficial sheetmetal, the predecessor of the first Mustang. THERE was a triumph of perception over reality. The myth/legend of the early Mustang continues to this day as a fun car. Not really all that specially engineered.

Patriarch

[Old Nick]

On Mon, 06 Sep 2004 09:46:02 -0500, Morris Dovey vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

Ha! Compact! They are some of the biggest cars we have! .....and they might well be the same body!

Mind you, early 60s there were some whopcackers in the US, IIRC.

***************************************************** I know I am wrong about just about everything. So I am not going to listen when I am told I am wrong about the things I know I am right about.