Shout out to Black & Decker as they celebrate 100 years of innovation. What a marvelous achievement. This is something American (and European for that matter) manufacturers should take a good close look at. As we see jobs being shipped overseas and as we see the manufacturing base slowly ebbing away, Black & Decker is proof that American manufacturers can compete.
And you compete by innovating. All…the…time.
It’s a myth that American manufacturers can’t compete, and Black & Decker is proof. So is Harley-Davidson. Making high quality, high value products, means good jobs — and sustaining of a way of life. Black & Decker started as a small machine shop in Baltimore and now makes a broad range of hardware products. Consumers know it’s a name you can trust. They buy.
While the American car industry fiddled away its advantageous and stood pat on strategies that haven’t worked since the 1960’s, Black & Decker quietly kept innovating, and growing. They grew by delivering quality, they grew by smart acquisition, and they grew because they never stopped inventing better products. I’ll note briefly here that Black & Decker is more than just that brand, they own many other high quality brands such as True Temper, Kwikset, and DeWalt among others.
As Asia steps up its innovation game, it’s time for the USA and the EU to get back to innovation fundamentals. What are those fundamentals? A constant, and holistic, attention to inventing new, better, different, and high value products and services — at home.
So, celebrate this victory America, have a beer and toast Black & Decker. Then get back to work inventing the companies and products our great grandchildren will toast in 2110.
2 responses to “American Mfg's Can Be Successful At Home”
What a great example Black & Decker represents, of a company in which its people wear their innovation jackets, bounce the ball, use the toolkit and tighten the scarves….unlike Whirlpool, who are ‘upping sticks’, moving to Mexico and doing what so many companies do – chase the lowest common denominators instead of growing by innovation. Likewise, Cadbury, in UK are selling out instead of growing, developing and ‘selling’ / promoting the best product and company ethos around….still representing Quaker foundation principles including looking after their people. When will our companies and countries change the way they think? Is it all down to education and training, to stop execs aiming for the big personal buck and, instead, taking responsibility in that the buck stops with them.
And what of the grey tsunami – the older generation left on their perceived employment scrapheap – what happens to them? The right companies would see this as a huge opportunity, thinking like the Chinese do – that a CRISIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY RIDING A DANGEROUS WIND…and boy, there will be a lot of dangerous winds blowing for the next decade or so.
I don’t know enough about Whirlpool to comment.
Cadbury is another matter. Cadbury has done the job of staying current and growing their business. They simply did so well they became attractive for a takeover, and, as a public company, there’s not a lot they can do other than the “Poison Pill” prevention. Kraft is a decent company, although it’s hard to forgive them for crap like “Lunchables” even in the new politically correct versions.
The grey tsunami is indeed an opportunity, but it has to be viewed that way. And action steps must be taken.
Dangerous winds indeed.
Thanks for your comments!