Yesterday we had the pleasure of joining Milwaukee Tool at their media day in Milwaukee, WI. We joined a group of trade writers and tool bloggers that represented all of North America and Latin America. Milwaukee Tool definitely recognizes the emerging markets of Mexico and Brazil and had translators readily available. The usual suspects among tool bloggers were also in attendance and everyone was excited to see the latest offerings from Milwaukee Tool.
The theme for the day was “disruptive innovation”. Milwaukee Tool prides itself on innovating among core users such as electricians, plumbers and HVAC specialists. These might be considered niche user categories but Milwaukee wants to own them.
We broke out into groups and rotated among five stations throughout the day. Our group started in hand tools and they introduced some amazing innovations that we can’t talk of now but electricians everywhere will love. We then moved out to the tents and saw their latest cutting blades and accessories.
After a quick break for lunch we got to test out the grinders and bandsaws as well as a few more tools that are top secret. They setup the testing environments so we could test the tools in real world applications cement blocks on the ground and in overhead beams. They also rigged some large diameter steel pipes so we could really give the grinders and saws a go.
The successful launch of their M12 and M18 cordless tools has prompted them to continue to innovate on what types of tools they can use in those platforms.
Highlights of new products that we will deep dive into included the thermal imaging gun, cordless rotary hammer, small angle grinder and cutt-off machine, heated camo jacket and flush cut sawzall blade.
We’ve published more photos from the event on Facebook and Flickr and will soon have some quick videos available on our YouTube channel.
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