Just In Case You Wanted to Know Who Owns Who

[Chet]

This was interesting to watch.

 

[Coop]

Cool!

It would have been interesting if it had confirmed the rumor, or at least what I have heard, if the companies that sell their products thru HD, like DeWalt, make a lesser quality model for them? It seems that you can’t find the model number of the tools sold at HD at any other major tool supply company. Even on Amazon. 

[JohnG]

Toro Mowers and Weber Grills used to only sell their low end models at big box stores, and only sold their higher end units to the smaller/dedicated retailers. 

HD does a lot of bundles, and some of those may be HD exclusive combinations or SKU numbers to Make price comparisons more difficult. But HD does clearly list the model number on bare tools, and it is very unlikely that a tool brand is going to make lesser quality versions of the same model number for different distribution channels. It would be a nightmare for warranties, reviews, production, and inventory management.

Manufacturers have to play a lot of games to keep various distribution channels happy. When you are selling to small mom&pop stores, regional and national chains, big box chains, Amazon, and online only dealers, and direct sales from their own websites, there is often a lot of balancing happening in the background to make it possible for each type of reseller to make some money and not start pricing wars at the detriment of certain resellers or for the company. 

[JohnG]

It’s also important to remember that if two tools are made in the same facility, that alone is not evidence that they are the same quality. Some people love to say that X and Y are both made by TTI, so they are the exact same tool but one is 25% cheaper, etc. 

There definitely are SOME situations where they do simply change the color of plastic molding or packaging and sell it as different brands or lines, but there are also a lot of situations where the same manufacturer puts out drastically different quality product from the same facility. 

[Mark J]

@JohnG, you mean two different brands contract with the same factory to make similar products, but to different quality specs.

[Beechwood Chip]

On 7/4/2024 at 8:19 AM, JohnG said:

There definitely are SOME situations where they do simply change the color of plastic molding or packaging and sell it as different brands or lines, but there are also a lot of situations where the same manufacturer puts out drastically different quality product from the same facility. 

Or make one product but put different models through through different levels of quality control.  For example, test every unit, vs testing one in a hundred or one in a thousand.  There's the physical design of the unit, then there's the design of the manufacturing process, then there's the design of the quality control process.  All three add up to the design of the product.

[JohnG]

On 7/4/2024 at 12:52 PM, Mark J said:

@JohnG, you mean two different brands contract with the same factory to make similar products, but to different quality specs.

That's certainly the case for a lot of products. TTI owns Milwaukee and Ryobi. It's possible that they are made under the same roof but use different components, have different quality control/tolerance specs and testing, etc. It's also possible for them to use the same injection mold to make the outer housing (injection molds can be extremely expensive, especially when using materials like glass filled nylon, so sharing molds across brands could be beneficial).

It's also possible that some brands contract out manufacturing of certain components (such as the electric motor, control boards, batteries, chuck assemby, etc). That manufacturer can make like components for several of the major brands, but again to different specs. 

My point is just that "who owns who", or "who manufactures for who", is only a limited amount of information on its own that often gets oversimplified. It definitely is interesting to see the extent of the conglomerate brands (in all types of goods), but there's a wide spectrum of how the relationship between the brands works.