![]() This example goes a long way in explaining that the country of origin matters a lot less than the manufacturer itself. ![]() I’ve had them for over 10 years and they still serve me every day in the shop. After verification, turns out that two of my HW jacks were only assembled in the US and one was 100% made locally-and I can assure you that you couldn’t tell the difference. I’ve worked with various Hein-Werner jack in my career and I actually had no idea that some had outsourced components. ![]() All credit goes to Hein-Werner for clearly mentioning the facts so buyers can make an informed decision.Īlso worth mentioning, Hein-Werner is a really good example here. On the other hand, its 4 Ton long chassis service jack (model HW93657) is 100% made in the USA. Its HW93652 3 Ton service jack is assembled in the US with “US and global components,” meaning that some of the parts were made elsewhere. Worth mentioning, certain leading brands like Hein-Werner have both types of floor jacks. To be considered as a true “Made in the US” floor jack, all components need to be made and assembled on American soil. While those floor jacks are still better than those entirely made using cheap labor, they often have a hard time keeping up with true American-made models. That way, they can badge the finished product as “Assembled in the US,” which may fool the client into thinking it’s the same as “Made in the US.” In fact, this practice is so widely spread, that most floor jacks sold today, even those from US tool manufacturers are only “Assembled in the US”-not actually produced here. To avoid all the harmful PR surrounding foreign-made and outsourced products, some manufacturers have come up with a new idea: producing all or a fraction of the required components overseas but doing the final assembly process in the US. ![]() Of course, big corporations realize that outsourcing their manufacturing somewhat decreases their product’s desirability and risks reducing the overall quality. If you are serious about your tools, American-made is the way to go! “Made in the US” vs. However, it’s quite challenging to get information on which is which and your best bet is often to just buy 100% American products. This way, tool manufacturers can keep production costs as low as possible while making sure the tools are well made and the materials used are high quality. Let’s say that this is a good middle ground-the workforce is Chinese but the quality standard is American. Indeed, several manufacturers built their own manufacturing plants in China. Of course, it’s important to differentiate tools that were made by Chinese manufacturers from those made in China by American manufacturers. Add to that lower labor costs, relaxed government regulations, and tax incentives, and making a move to shift manufacturing overseas becomes a highly profitable option. Countries like China, Japan, Taiwan, India, etc., offer much lower manufacturing costs than the U.S. So if outsourcing manufacturing to other countries leaves a bad mark on the average American customer, then it begs the question – why do brands, even American brands, do it? The answer to that question is quite obvious-money. That does not necessarily mean that all “Made in China” products are inherently bad or of lower quality-but a lot of them are. Yes, many US brands also outsource their manufacturing to other countries, but China accounts for the biggest share, by a significant margin. Since the 1970s, a significant portion of the entire world’s manufacturing sector gradually started shifting to China. While researching products to review, we checked with dozens of manufacturers, third-party websites, called retailers, but all we had at the end of that process were just a handful of brands. ![]() The unfortunate truth is that there are not many manufacturers still making floor jacks here in the US.
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