Snap-on is one of the most recognizable names in the professional hand tool segment. Known primarily for its wide range of sockets, the company has, over time, expanded its product portfolio to include wrenches, power tools, and storage solutions. Snap-on is known for its premium pricing, super expensive tool boxes with many of its tools priced over $200. The company’s socket portfolio spans 1,500 varieties, while its wider portfolio has more than 85,000 individual products.
Snap-on sells its products in more than 130 countries, and most of its tools are made in-house around manufacturing facilities spread around the world, including 15 in the United States alone and 21 manufacturing plants abroad. When it comes to Snap-on’s socket lineup, a little digging reveals that a good percentage of its sockets are manufactured at the company’s hand tool plant located in Milwaukee. Specialty sockets are also manufactured at another hand tool facility located in Elkmont, Alabama. The rest of Snap-on’s facilities around the United States focus on other products, including wrenches, ratchets, impact tools, tire machines, and pliers.
Because Snap-on has manufacturing facilities outside of the United States, it’s not entirely surprising to see some of its sockets have a different “Made in” label. However, they are primarily sold in the same foreign markets. Some sockets available in the Snap-On store are made in Taiwan, a location where the company does not operate a manufacturing facility.
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Why are some sets of Snap-on sockets made in Taiwan?
Close-up image of a Socket set inside a toolbox – Craig Ison/Shutterstock
While it is true that Snap-on sockets are manufactured in select hand tool-focused manufacturing plants in the United States, you may have wondered why some sockets from the company carry a “Made in Taiwan” label; especially considering that Snap-on does not even mention Taiwan in the list of countries it has production plants. We noticed that the Snap-on sockets originating from Taiwan mostly belonged to the more affordable “Blue Point” sub-brand.
Because Taiwan is not listed as a manufacturing location anywhere on Snap-on’s website, chances are these Blue-Point tools are manufactured by a third-party manufacturer under license from Snap-on, a strategy the company has been following for several years now.
If you are particular about knowing the origin of a Snap-on product you intend to purchase, the easiest way is to go to the US Snap-on website and search for the specific product. Once on the product page, look for the “Country of Origin” tag located in the product specifications tab. This is where the company clearly mentions which part of the world it came from.
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Read the original article on SlashGear.