The history of the Milwaukee Tools begins, of course, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is currently headquartered. The company has grown significantly since its founding in the 1920s, making a wide range of power tools, hand tools, storage products, and more. Milwaukee tools usually sport the brand’s signature fire engine red coloring and can be found around the world, with its top-rated tools sold by Home Depot and other major retailers.
Since it’s such a large corporation, it shouldn’t be surprising that it has several overseas manufacturing facilities, including China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Germany, and Mexico. Many of the power tools Milwaukee sells in the U.S., which incorporate brushless motors, lithium batteries, and other complicated components, are made in these nations. For example, all the power tools that makeup Milwaukee’s popular M18 and M12 lines are made in China.
However, Milwaukee still has factories on American soil that make its products. Two such factories can be found in the company’s home state of Wisconsin — one in Mukwonago and one in West Bend, specializing in tools for plumbers, electricians, utility linemen, and other mechanical trades. Two other factories can be found in Mississippi, in Jackson and Greenwood. Milwaukee employed around 7,600 people in 2021 and is in the middle of expanding its domestic footprint, building new facilities in the U.S., including one recently constructed in Cookeville, Tennessee. The company is also expanding what it makes in its existing plants and recently introduced a new line of hand tools, including pliers and screwdrivers manufactured in its West Bend facility.
