Black+Decker

Black+Decker

250px Logo since 2014
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Power tools home improvement products hardware fastening technology
Founded	September 1910 (1910-09) (as "The Black & Decker Manufacturing Company") in Baltimore, Maryland, (U.S.A.)
Founder	S. Duncan Black (1883-1951) Alonzo G. Decker, Sr. (1884-1956)
Headquarters	701 E Joppa Rd Towson, Maryland, U.S.
Key people	Nolan D. Archibald ceo
Products	Power tools
Revenue	$11.41 billion (FY2016)
Net income	$965.3 million (FY2016)
Number of employees	27,000
Parent	Stanley Black & Decker
Website	Consumer website

File:Black&Decker Drilling machine.JPG

A Black and Decker cordless drill

Black+Decker Inc. is an American manufacturer of power tools, accessories, hardware, home improvement products, home appliances and fastening systems headquartered in Towson, Maryland, north of Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where the company was originally established in 1910. On March 12, 2010, Black & Decker was acquired by Stanley Works to become Stanley Black & Decker. It remains as a wholly owned subsidiary of that company.

Although the company is known for what it makes, it was highlighted in CFO magazine for a decade of "a fair-sized monetary return from" employee training.

History

File:Black and decker ad 1920.png

1920 ad for the drills

1910-1974

• 1910 – "The Black & Decker Manufacturing Company" was founded by S. Duncan Black (1883–1951) and Alonzo G. Decker (1884–1956), as a small machine shop in Baltimore in September. Decker, who had only a seventh grade education, had met Black in 1906, when they were both 23-year-old workers at the Rowland Telegraph Company. With only $1,200 between them, one of their first jobs was designing machinery for making milk bottle caps and candy dipping.
• 1912 – The Black and Decker "Hexagon" logo symbol was introduced, symbolizing the head of a hexagonal bolt found in machine shops. It was used in one form or another from 1912 to 2014.
• 1917 – Black & Decker invented and patented the hand-held electric drill with a pistol grip and trigger switch.
  • –– For many decades the director of design was Glenn Calvin Wilhide, a friend of Walter Gropius and other industrial designers of the day. Wilhide filed many US patents for Black & Decker.
• 1917 – The first factory was opened in Towson, Maryland.
• 1919 – Company reaches $1,000,000 in sales.
• 1928 – Acquired Van Dorn Electric Tool Company of Cleveland, Ohio.
• 1936 – Common stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
• 1941 August – Wilhide's patent for a portable power driven tool unit granted.
• 1943 – Received the Army-Navy "E" Award for production, one of four World War II (1939/1941-1945) citations awarded to the company.
• 1949 – First Black & Decker U.S. trademark awarded.
• 1951 – Alonzo G. Decker, Sr. becomes president
• 1960 – Acquired DeWalt from American Machine and Foundry.

1975-2008

• 1975 – Francis P. Lucier succeeded son of one of the founders Alonzo G. Decker, Jr.(1908-2002), as chairman of the board, the first time a family member did not hold the post.
• 1984 – Acquired small-appliance business from General Electric Company.
• 1986 – Nolan D. Archibald is named chief executive officer.
• 1989 – Acquired Emhart Corporation which includes the brand names Kwikset, Price Pfister faucets, Molly wall anchors, POP rivets, True Temper (both hardware and sports equipment) and other consumer and commercial products. Inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame for its cordless power tool achievements and contributions to NASA's Gemini and Apollo programs.
• 1990 – True Temper hardware is sold to Huffy, and then sold to US Industries (owner of Ames) which later became Ames True Temper, which is now owned by Griffon Corporation.
• 1996 – Sold small-appliance business to Windmere Durable Holdings.
• 2000 – Alonzo G. Decker, Jr. resigns from the board, at age 92, two years before his death.

2009-present

• 2010 – Black & Decker merges with Stanley Works to become Stanley Black & Decker.
• 2014 – Rebranded from Black & Decker to Black+Decker
• 2017 – Stanley Black & Decker purchases Craftsman from Sears (Sears, Roebuck & Company).
• 2017 – Stovekraft entered a licensing agreement with Black+Decker to sell the latter's products in the Indian market.

Portfolio

Recent

As of 2017 Q4, Stanley Black & Decker's brand portfolio included:

• STANLEY (formerly known as The Stanley Works, started as Stanley's Bolt Manufactory, founded by Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, and merging with the Stanley Rule and Level Company founded by Henry Stanley)

• Black+Decker
• Aero Scout
• Bostitch
• Craftsman
• DeWalt
• Facom, Mac Tools, Proto
• Inner Space
• Irwin
• Lenox
• Piranha
• Porter-Cable
• Sonitrol
• STANLEY Access Technologies
• STANLEY Engineered Fastening
• STANLEY Healthcare
• STANLEY Infrastructure
• STANLEY Security
• Vidmar

Retired

• Baldwin (sold to Spectrum Brands)
• Delta Machinery (sold to Chang Type Industrial)
• DeVilbiss Air Power (sold to MAT Holdings)
• Kwikset (sold to Spectrum Brands)
• Price Pfister (sold to Spectrum Brands)
• Weiser Lock (sold to Spectrum Brands)

Further reading

• Black & Decker, 1989 Competition Commission report

External links

• Official website