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Many popular tool brands have made big names for themselves, but are actually part of larger corporate families. Complicating things further, brands can change hands during acquisitions, mergers, and spin-offs.

To help you sort things out, we put together the following guide, identifying the most popular tool brands and the companies that own or are affiliated with them.


Please note that these are not full lists of brands each parent company owns. This list highlights construction, industrial, DIY, and other tool-related brands, with the focus mainly on hand and power tool brands.

This guide discusses the following parent companies: Stanley Black & Decker, Tectronic Industries (TTI), Bosch, Fortive, Apex Tool Group, TTS Tooltechnic Sytsems, KKR, Chervon, Emerson, Werner, Illinois Tool Works (ITW), JPW, Snap-on, Ideal, Newell Rubbermaid, Delta PEC, Kyocera, and Positec.

This information was updated and republished on June 25th, 2020. Although infrequent, brand ownership can change. Please let us know if you discover an inaccuracy in this listing.

Table of Contents

Stanley Black & Decker (including Dewalt, Craftsman, Irwin)

TTI/Tectronic Industries (including Milwaukee, Ryobi, Empire Level, Ridgid Power Tools)

Bosch (including Bosch, Freud, Dremel)

Fortive (including Fluke, Matco)

Apex Tool Group (including Crescent, Gearwrench, Wiss)

Festool Group (TTS Tooltechnic Systems, including Festool, SawStop)

KKR (including Metabo, Metabo HPT)

Chervon (including EGO, Skilsaw)

Emerson

Werner

ITW (including Paslode, Tapcon)

JPW Industries (including Jet, Wilton, Powermatic)

Snap-on

Ideal Industries

Newell Rubbermaid

Delta Power Equipment

Kyocera (Senco)

Positec

Stanley Black & Decker

Headquarters: New Britain, CT, USA

Construction and DIY (CDIY)

Black & Decker

Bostitch

Dewalt

Porter Cable

Stanley

Irwin (Acquired in 2017)

Lenox (Acquired in 2017)

Craftsman (Acquired in 2017)

Hilmor (Acquired in 2017, sold to DiversiTech in August 2018)

Industrial

Blackhawk (Proto)

Bost

Britool

Facom

Lista

Mac Tools

Pastorino

Powers

Proto

Sidchrome

USAG

Vidmar

More Info (via Stanley Black & Decker)

Irwin Tool Brands (Sold to Stanley Black & Decker in 2017)

Irwin

Hanson

Marathon

Marples

Quick-Grip

Record (vises)

Speedbor

Strait-Line

Vise-Grip

Unibit

More Info (via Irwin)

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Techtronic Industries (TTI)

Headquarters: Hong Kong, China

Power and Hand Tool Brands

AEG

Empire Level (owned by Milwaukee Tool, as of mid-2014)

Hart

Imperial Blades (acquired by Milwaukee Tool in 2018)

Milwaukee Tool

Ryobi

Stiletto (owned by Milwaukee Tool, as of 2007)

Milwaukee Tool is headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin.

TTI owns the Ryobi power tools and accessories division in the USA, North America, the UK, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, but Ryobi is also an independent company with separate product lines in some other parts of the world.

TTI also develops and produces Ridgid power tools, under a licensing agreement with Emerson. This arrangement began back in 2003 (press release, PDF).

Home Appliance Brands

Dirt Devil

Homelite

Hoover

Vax

More Info (via TTI)

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Robert Bosch GmbH

Headquarters: Stuttgart, Germany

Power Tools and Accessories

Bosch

CST/berger

Dremel

Freud (and Diablo)*

RotoZip

Skil (Sold to Chervon)

(Sold to Chervon) Vermont American

*Bosch purchased Freud’s power tool accessories segment in December 2008, namely their saw blades, router bits, and cutters division.

Automotive Tools and Equipment

Accu-turn

Actron

Beissbarth

OTC

Robinair

Sia Abrasives

Sunpro

Gardening Tools

Gilmour (Sold to Fiskars)

(Sold to Fiskars) Nelson (Sold to Fiskars)

More Info (PDF via Bosch North America 2013 Publication)

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Fortive (Formerly Danaher)

Headquarters: Washington, D.C., USA

Matco

Test & Measurement

Amprobe

Fluke

Keithley

Pomona Electronics

Tektronix

Fortive was spun off from Danaher in mid-2016.

More Info (via Fortive)

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Apex Tool Group

Headquarters: Sparks, MD, USA

(Apex Tool Group was a joint venture between Danaher and Cooper industries, and is presently owned by Bain Capital.)

Hand, Electrical, Industrial Tool Brands

In late 2017, many Apex Tool Group hand tool brands were rebranded under the Crescent Tools label.

(Apex Tool Group’s most popular and well-known brands are in bold.)

Airetool

Allen

Apex

Armstrong Read More about the closure

Read More about the closure Atkins

Belzer

Campbell

Cleco

Collins

Crescent

Delta (Truck Boxes)

Diamond

DGD

Doler

Dotco

Erem

Gearwrench

Geta

H.K. Porter

Iseli

Jacobs Chuck

Jobox

KD Tools

K&F

Lufkin

Master Power

Mayle

Metronix

Niagara Tools

Nicholson

Plumb

Quackenbush

Recoules

Sata

Spline Gauges

Utica

Weller

Wiss

Xcelite

More Info (via Apex Tool Group)

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TTS Tooltechnic Systems

Headquarters: Wendlingen, Germany

Festool

Tanos (Systainers)

Cleantec

Microcell

Narex

SawStop

Shaper Tools

Schneider Airsystems

SawStop was acquired by TTS Tooltechnic Systems in 2017.

Shaper Tools, a handheld CNC Router technology company, was acquired in 2019.

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KKR

Headquarters: New York, NY, USA

Metabo HPT/HiKoki – formerly known as Hitachi Power Tools

Metabo

KKR acquisition of Hitachi Power Tools and Metabo was announced in early 2017.

Hitachi Power Tools was rebranded to Metabo HPT (North America) and HiKoki (internationally).

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Chervon

Headquarters: China

EGO (outdoor power tools and equipment)

Devon

Flex

Skilsaw (acquired from Bosch in 2017)

Skil (acquired from Bosch in 2017)

X-Tron

Hammerhead

Calmdura

Chervon is also an OEM that produces cordless power tools for other brands, including private label brands such as Lowes’ Kobalt 24V Max brushless power tools line.

More Info (via Chervon)

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Emerson Tools

Headquarters: St. Louis, MO, USA

Greenlee – as of 2018

Klauke – as of 2018

Ridgid

ProTeam

Workshop

Emerson also manufactures wet/dry vacuums under Dirt Hound, and goClean brands.

Emerson acquired Greenlee from Textron in 2018, along with Klauke and Paladin (acquired by Greenlee in 2007).

Greenlee and Rothenberger engaged in a joint venture agreement for handling the North American market, lasting from 2004 thru 2015.

Ridgid power tools sold exclusively by Home Depot are developed, produced, and marketed by TTI. Ridgid hand tools and other plumbing and professional industry tools are not included in the arrangement.

More Info (via Emerson)

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Werner Co.

Headquarters: Greenville, PA, USA

Bailey

Green Bull

Keller

Knaack

Weather Guard

Werner

More Info (via Werner Co)

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Illinois Tool Works (ITW)

Headquarters: Glenview, IL, USA

Buildex

Duo-Fast

Kester

Hobart

Miller

Paslode

Racor

Ramset

Red Head

Tapcon

More Info (via ITW)

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JPW Industries/WHM Tool Group/Walter Meier Manufacturing

Headquarters: New York City, NY, USA

JPW Industries is currently owned by Gamut Capital Management, a private equity firm (as of July 2017)

JET Tools

Powermatic

Wilton

Other JPW Brands

Edwards Manufacturing

Promac

Tool Air

GYS

More Info (via JPW)

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Snap-on Incorporated

Headquarters: Kenosha, WI, USA

Snap-on

Acesa

ATI

Bahco

Blue Point

CDI Torque

Irazola

Irimo

Lindstrom

Palmera

Sioux

Wanda

Williams

(These companies fall into four groupings – Snap-on, Snap-on Industrial, SNA Europe, and Snap-on Specialty Tools, with some overlap.)

More Info: Snap-on Incorporated, Snap-on Industrial, SNA Europe

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Ideal Industries

Headquarters: Sycamore, IL, USA

Ideal

Anderson Power

Casella Measurement

Pratt-Read

SK Hand Tools

Trend Communications

Western Forge (Closing as of Feb 2020)

More Info (via Ideal)

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Newell Rubbermaid

Headquarters: Atlanta, GA, USA

Dymo

Hilmor

Lenox (Sold to Stanley Black & Decker)

(Sold to Stanley Black & Decker) Rubbermaid Commercial Products

Sharpie

Irwin Tool Brands (Sold to Stanley Black & Decker)

More Info: Newell Rubbermaid

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Delta Power Equipment Corporation (Chang Type Industrial)

Headquarters: Anderson County, SC, USA (Delta PEC); Taichung City, Taiwan (Chang Type)

Biesemeyer

Delta

More Info (via ToolGuyd)

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Kyocera

Headquarters: Japan (Kyocera Parent Corporation)

Kyocera acquired Senco, known for their air compressors and nailers.

Kyocera also acquired Ryobi, but not the Ryobi brand that North America users are familiar with – that brand’s tools and accessories North America business is still owned by TTI.

Senco

Aerfast Europe BV (formerly Van Aerden Group BV, a European pneumatic tools brand)

Ryobi (not the Ryobi most USA readers are familiar with)

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Positec

Rockwell

Worx

Positec has also been known to manufacture tools for other brands.

More Info (via Positec)

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Reader Recommendations

Which other companies should be added to this guide to corporate tool brands?

Independent Brands

Makita is one of few remaining power tool brands not owned by a larger corporation. Fein and Hilti are also independent.

There are very many hand tool and tool storage brands that remain independent. They’re not listed here, although you can inquire about your favorite brands if you’re unsure.