Delta Sold To Taiwanese Company Moving To South Carolina - Update: Unisaw Will Be USA Made
Popular Woodworking broke some pretty interesting news on Friday, that I am sure has a lot of people wondering what is going on. It turns out that Stanley Black & Decker will be selling the Delta brand to a Taiwanese company called TOTY and it will be renamed Delta Power Equipment. The New company will be run by someone familiar to the industry, Bryan Whiffen, who was Sr. VP for product development at TTI. TTI as we know, is the owner of Milwaukee Power tool and Ryobi.
We shouldn't see much of a change in production, because according to Popular Woodworking, TOTY makes many of the tools already sold by Stanley Black & Decker, Craftsman, and Ryobi. But what does this mean for the USA made Unisaw?
There has been no official press release from Stanley B&D or Delta to confirm these reports from Popular Woodworking, but I was able to find a press release from the South Carolina Department of Commerce that does confirm Delta Power Equipment will be moving into the area. TOTY will be investing over $3.6 million in a facility in Anderson South Carolina and is expected to create 40 jobs. If the Unisaw is to remain American made, I would assume it would be made in this facility. There is little doubt in my mind that many tools will still be made in other countries.
I wonder who will be making the scroll saw that was once made by Dewalt, but was changed to the Delta name back in the Summer of 2010, as both version are still listed for sale on Amazon.
Update: Popular Woodworking has confirmed that the Unisaw will remain in the US and move its production to the new S.C. plant. P.W. also has more information about Chang Type Industrial Co. Ltd. (TOTY).
"Having the Unisaw made in the U.S. was a key point with our retailers," said Whiffen, noting that he had spent seven hours talking to dealers to discuss the sale. "And it's important to us. As far as I know it is the only cabinet saw made in the U.S.A. and it is a very nice saw."
