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Stanley Black & Decker SB&D is closing their York County, North Carolina, factory after seven years and laying off 192 employees. SB&D built the 345,000-square-foot facility to manufacture and assembly DeWalt brand cordless power tools. The $31 million investment was originally expected to create 500 jobs. According to the layoff notice, the decision to close the Fort Mill site followed an "enterprise-wide assessment" of Stanley Black & Decker's manufacturing operations. SB&D wants to eliminate about $2 billion in expenses by 2025 through supply chain transformations that include closing or consolidating some of their business locations. SB&D is laying off the entire workforce at their Mission, Texas facility. The 300,000 square-foot facility was built to manufacture DeWalt tools. SB&D told the press that despite the layoffs, the plant itself would be repurposed, but provided no further details. TTI/Techtronic Industries Annual sales for 2023 rose 3.6% to $13.7 billion. TTI reduced inventory by $987 million. The Milwaukee Tool business grew 10.7%, with sales overall improving in the second half of the year. Both Chairman Horst Pudwill and CEO Joe Galli said they are relentlessly focused on developing cordless tools with advanced electronics, cutting-edge motor technology, and artificial intelligence. FY 2023 Conference Call Several TTI executives were on the call along with Chairman Horst Pudwill and Group CFO Frank Chen, including Group CEO Joe Galli and Senior Group President of Milwaukee, Steve Richman, Shane Moll, Group President of Milwaukee Power Tools and Tim Albrecht, Group President of Hand Tools, Storage, Personal Protective Equipment and Channel Marketing. Milwaukee grew by 12.7% in the second half and delivered full year sales growth of 10.7% in local currencies. Milwaukee is the largest professional power tools company in the world and Ryobi is the largest consumer power tools company, according to TTI. They have been focused on dominating the cordless power tool market for 17 years. They reduced total inventory by $987 million (31 days) and reduced finished goods by $949 million (29 days) to 84 days. Raw material inventory was also reduced by $43 million (2 days) to 22 days. Total inventory turnover days was at 109 days in 2023. This year is off to a great start, and they expect to outperform their projections. They made major investments in the US. As an example, they added 300 heavy-duty centers in Home Depot stores featuring 10-meter displays and staffed with a TTI full-time Milwaukee rep. Aftermarket battery sales are very profitable, and Milwaukee has a much higher margin than the business overall and they expect Milwaukee to outgrow the rest of the company. They believe they will generate $1 billion in free cash flow this year. Selling interchangeable batteries and chargers makes it much more likely people will be brand loyal. Their largest customer, The Home Depot, has stated they are focused on cordless as well. Milwaukee is the leading power tool brand with over 450 unique cordless solutions across their three complementary voltage platforms, M12, M18 and MX Fuel. Internally developed artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms bring AI functionality and productivity to their end users. AI was able to save one contractor more than $1 million on one job alone. They believe the outdoor power market is worth $15 billion and the opportunity for cordless tools is virtually untapped. They will be featuring different executives on their regular calls. They believe their top 100 execs are the best in the industry. © Robert Bosch Tool Corporation. All rights reserved, no copying or reproducing is permitted without prior written approval.
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