TTI is closing a Hart Tools facility in Gaffney, South Carolina, with a WARN report saying 114 workers will be impacted.
A reader (thank you, Terry) sent in a tip about the closure. Hart Tools products are exclusively available at Walmart.
According to South Carolina’s most recent WARN report, notice was given on 3/1/24, with the layoffs and closure to go into effect on 5/1/24.
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(WARN disclosures provide advanced notice for plant closures and mass layoffs.)
The report lists TTI Consumer Power Tools as the company, and specifies that the Cherokee county SC location is a “Hart facility.”
A local news report by WPSA confirms this, quoting the Executive Director for Cherokee Country Development Board as saying “it’s a distribution warehouse, what they distribute there is the Hart brand, you’ll find in Walmart.
The same article says that TTI Consumer Power Tools has been at this location since 2019, which is the year Hart relaunched in the USA as a Walmart-exclusive brand.
I could not find a copy of the WARN notice issued to South Carolina; only a summarizing WARN report is available (PDF for the period ending 3/1/24). Reasons for the closure and potential remedies for affected workers are not yet known.
I reached out to a TTI Consumer Power Tools marketing executive for comment, but have not yet heard back.
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Hart Tools Update
Hart Tools provided us with the following statement:
We have become aware of several inaccurate media reports concerning the HART distribution center in Gaffney, SC. The HART Distribution operation is not closing. It is being relocated to Anderson, SC.
All employees have been offered to voluntarily continue employment at other Company locations in Anderson, Wellford, or Greer, SC.
Here’s a Google map of the area, showing the approximate distance between Gaffney (right), and Greer and Wellford (left). Anderson, SC is a bit further away to the southwest.
Jason
Craftsman social media has a chance to do the funniest thing ever
John
#toosoon
Stuart
Hart’s recent social media posts were in bad taste, but nothing about layoffs is ever funny in any way.
its_jake
thank you for always keeping it about as real as it gets, stuart. there are a lot of tool blogs, but this one is among the most objective as well as self-moderating.
Jason
Agreed, bad taste joke on my part. It’s easy to view it as a facility closing and forget about the lives it will affect behind that.
Stuart
This could also be a relocation for growth, consolidation, or other reasons.
I asked a TTI consumer product contact for info, and hopefully they can share more details.
Mark
It really could be a lot of things, id agree. My background in manufacturing Engineering & Mgmt. In Mfg.
Warehouses can be simple places with a couple forklifts and racks, or they can be incredibly complex & contain multi-story material movement systems that are interconnected & report data live to central control areas to the point where automatic feedback signals let handlers know if they are failing behind etc.
Couple years ago, a friend of mine at Milwaukee had their facility close just to move like 30 minutes to a different area – it was to consolidate a couple smaller plants into one place iirc. Because they had a biz unit fragmented between those locations.
It would be nice to get details on the size & capabilities of the new facility from your contacts. Is it a larger facility? Smaller? Is it adjacent to a much better road for distribution ? Property values much lower or a strategic fulfillment partner is much closer now?
Another big one I experienced first hand was the movement of a huge amount of ULINEs business from Illinois to right over the border in my home town of pleasant prairie wi. They built 2-4 HUGE brand new warehouses when the did that as well as moved their corporate headquarters. I’m sure they saved a lot of tax $ and their were incentives in the area at the time too. Some law passed in IL at the time and alot of biz hopped over the border.
With details of the new location tho (say it’s smaller & more basic, for ex. ), it would be easier to understand if this is a reduction of resources across the board of if the move is motivated by other factors.
Daniel
Looks like they are moving to a bigger facility. 1.8 million square feet is a lot of HART tools.
Stuart
That’s what it sounds like, and I’m still looking for confirmation or clarity, which might not be available.
Adam
Seems strange they would have to announce layoffs, when it would appear they would transition them all to the new facility anyway.
Though perhaps if the location is far enough from the original, more than just the workers need to know for economic reasons.
Bonnie
I could be wrong, but even if transferring to another facility they typically have to announce it under WARN if the number of employees warrants it and the previous facility is being closed. The local elected official (mayor or county executive typically) are among the people who have to notified.
Mike
It is a facility closure and likely, being SC with their lack of labor protections, these workers are being offered jobs at the other facilities as new hires they are not transferring. Therefore they are being laid off regardless triggering the WARN act.
MumdaWord
Oh, the facility is indeed far, Gaffney to Anderson is a whole 90 minute to two hour drive
Tom
Hart Tools have been showing up at my local Ollie’s. Not sure what to make of that.
Jamie Lee Davis
I have found Milwaukee tools at Dollar Tree. Just overstock or phase out.
DC
I have a Hart ratchet/socket set because I needed SAE sockets vs. all my metric sockets at home. They work as they should.
Terry
I rarely see anyone buying Hart power tools at my local Walmarts. So, unless a lot of people buy Hart online… I don’t understand where the demand comes from for a 1.8M square foot plant. Will this serve the entire USA and beyond or just the Southeast or East coast?
Steve
It’s 78 miles from Gaffney to Anderson, SC.
These are not union jobs, so I highly doubt there will be much “commuting” going on.
But, given the chance to transfer, the odds will be better to maintain positional stability, and I’m sure a good number of folks will choose that over commuting.
Clown Bombadil
They made a massive investment in a brand new factory/distribution center in Anderson adjacent to the new HQ. Outdoor products had massive layoffs and the facility is not used. No wonder they are consolidating DCs.