Stanley Black & Decker filed a WARN notice earlier this month, indicating that it is closing a facility in Fort Mills, South Carolina, with 192 jobs being affected.
According to the notice, layoffs at 4260 Pleasant Road, Fort Mill, SC 29708 are expected to begin on May 10, and end by December 31, 2024.
I reached out to Stanley Black & Decker, and they provided the following statement, with line breaks added for easier readability:
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As part of Stanley Black & Decker’s business transformation strategy launched in 2022, and in an effort to optimize its footprint and better serve customers, the Company in 2023 announced changes to its manufacturing and distribution network. This included U.S. site expansions, site transformations into manufacturing centers of excellence, and site consolidation.
As part of this effort, the Company announced the closure of our CMO, South Carolina manufacturing facility. The Company is focused on providing a smooth transition to impacted employees including options for employment at other Stanley Black & Decker facilities, as well as job placement support services. The distribution center in Fort Mill remains open.
“CMO” seems to refer to Stanley Black & Decker’s “Carolinas Manufacturing Operations.”
It is not yet clear whether this is the same location as the Dewalt assembly and distribution facility I toured 9 years ago. That Dewalt facility straddled Charlotte, North Carolina, and Fort Mill, South Carolina.
See Also: How Dewalt Brushless Drills are Built in the USA, and More from my Factory Tour
Thank you to everyone who wrote in about this!
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Dave
I was fairly loyal to DeWalt and their ‘Made in the USA with Global materials’ stuff until this sort of thing started happening. Now I’ve noticed the M12 and M18 line aren’t only improving specs but they have more tool options. I still like the 12v Dewalt features because I prefer an on battery gauge and slide pack ergonomics. But I’ve started buying into Milwaukee.
eddie sky
Same here. To me, Dewalt seems to be stuck and innovating at either snail-pace, or focusing on its sub-brands and pricing tiers (kowtowing to vendors than customers). Remember the hype on the FlatPack battery tech? Well…those batteries (5Ah) are expensive, still. And not much lighter. And why not replace all the lines with the newer tech? And why not limited editions colors or branding? I’m thinking if I need a newer drill, to move to Makita or Milwaukee or even Festool. I’m not loyal to brand; I’m loyal to a reliable tool and feature.
Jared
I don’t know…. a 5ah Powerstack is $88 on Amazon.com right now, a standard pack is $65. They’re not the same, but it’s not an astronomical leap either.
Also when comparing weights, it’s not JUST a straight AH to AH comparison you should be doing. E.g. the point of Powerstack is that they can sustain higher levels of peak output. That means tools that would otherwise require you to use a large pack can instead be operated with compact ones.
E.g. put a 1.7ah Powerstack on your circular saw instead of a 5ah standard XR pack and the weight difference WOULD be noticeable, yet the saw should perform about the same.
Naturally 1.7ah isn’t going to last as long as a 5ah pack…
MM
I absolutely love the powerstack batteries. They’re compact and they deliver the power of a much larger pack. The feel of the packs are greatly improved with the bit of rubber added, they’re easier to grab and change in the tools if your hands are sweaty.
I’ll agree the MSRP of the batteries is nuts but they aren’t too hard to find for good prices and they have been appearing in a lot of combos & deals.
Jimmie
DeWalt certainly doesn’t seem to be putting any effort into improving their cordless nailers. They feel a generation or two behind Milwaukee (and you could make the argument that they’ve even fallen behind Ryobi).
Big Richard
They have new framing nailers coming out, still the flywheel tech though. It makes them bulky, but lighter than the gas piston models like Milwaukee. The finish nailers will follow shortly, still remains to be seen if they stick with the flywheel with them or follow the design of their 23g pinner.
Nathan
I have to say I backed DeWalt but things like this and the last 2 cordless tools I got were made in China. Where my drill was made in us.
Shame nobody does anything about it
Michael F
Did they get tax credits and/or funds from the state or local government for this plant? I’m starting to think we need to put these companies on vesting schedules for those funds – close the plants within a certain timeframe and you have to pay some portion back. Texas bent over backwards giving Samsung money for its fab in Tyler because of how many “high-tech” jobs it was going to create. Surprise, Samsung just announced they plan for the entire fab to be automated and “zero-employee” by 2028. Now all we’re left with is the multiple times they’ve contaminated the local groundwater. Neat.
Matt
Been seeing less XR USA tools and more Atomic ‘made in China’ tools. Bet they saw that it didn’t statistically hurt sales and said why bother.
Neighbor Joe
SBD stock has been taking a hit before the fiasco at the Fort Worth Texas Craftsman plant. SBD invested over 90 million at that location only to shudder it this year upon revelation the automated tool process they bought from a company in Belarus did not work. They could have bought Western Forge for a third of that price and stocking shelves with tools immediately. Really bad decision making and the workers pay the cost. Their CEO Donald Allan was brought on board in 2022 to right the ship. Shuttering locations and dropping head count always follows.
David
Never buy anything from Belarus.
Stuart
We don’t know the state of things at Ideal/Western Forge.
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/western-forge-usa-hand-tools-sears-craftsman-supplier-closing/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
*Nobody* bought the plant.
Ideal then sold SK to Great Star in 2021.
After Milwaukee acquired Empire Level, they said they pumped money into the company and their infrastructure to modernize it.
It might not have been feasible for SBD to acquire Western Forge.
Michael F
“Right the ship” these days is a dog whistle for “maximize profits, quickly, before the gas runs out.”
MC703
Yep. Extract value for the shareholders, get the leadership team multi million dollar bonuses and payouts and sell it off to the next private equity firm to wring out the next round of diminishing brand value
Mike Neill
So true. Emerson Electric closed it’s Russellville, KY plant. The 3rd that the company built in 1961. All of us were brought in a room on a Friday and told to enjoy our weekend, the plant is now closed. 200 of us are just numbers to the company, no longer people. Happens everyday, unfortunately.
Peter
That is the case for quite some time now.
Might be that we just hear more about it because of the internet and sites like this.
PW
The “assembled in USA” aspect of parts of their 20v line is one reason why I bought in.
After this, and the Texas plant fiasco, I’m ever more sour on this company.
ITCD
I do believe it’s the DeWalt plant, as Texas also had a WARN filed in regards to their Mission TX plant which also did DeWalt power tools or at least aspects of them. Having spoken to someone who “may or may not” (wink wink nudge nudge) work at the SC facility, they mentioned plastic shells being made in Texas that would end up in SC for final assembly. I’m unsure if they ever got around to full production in Mission or if they just acted as an injection molding plant.
Cassey
I see SBD recently moved forward with their plan to close the Kannapolis North Carolina facility, which looks to have been making Dewalt tools. I am assuming this marks the end of made in USA Dewalt power tools.
With all the pending tariffs… this has to be one of the most poorly managed companies in history.