Ridgid & GreenLee Are Now One Company

Ridgid Greenlee Sluggo

Just announced Emerson (Parent Company of Ridgid) has just acquired the Tools & Testing division of Textron (Parent Company of GreenLee). For many years these iconic brands were focus exclusively on their respective trades Ridgid was synonymous with Plumbing Tools while GreenLee Electrician Tools. In recent years these once near monopolies have been the target for many brands to challenge; Milwaukee, Dewalt, Southwire – Maxis – Sumner, Current – Jackson, iTool, Wheeler Rex, among others have all been able to take chunks of business away with new tool innovations, more aggressive pricing and keeping ample stock. With both brands now part of the Emerson Family, will they be able to leverage them together to reclaim some lost ground?

This is big news but seems like relatively small potatoes for Emerson at $810 million, when compared to other recent acquisitions like Black & Decker buying Lenox/Irwin for $2 billion. This seems like a better deal but maybe that’s why we just write a tool blog and nobody lets us spend billions on buying companies. Certainly on the surface this makes a ton of sense for both brands.

Ridgid had already started going after the electrical trades with the RE6 Electrician System which has interchangeable heads for crimping, cutting and knockout functionality. GreenLee as well has jumped over to some mechanical solutions so both brands have recognized the need for expansion the big question with such a large conglomerate is will they be able to work together, share technology, support each other, innovate the trades and actually be able to stock essential items as both Ridgid & GreenLee have become notorious for long back orders and lead times.

Our Questions for Your Awesome New Company

  • Now that’s you own the trades how about 1 battery platform? Continue Partnering with Makita would be even better, but have them all use the same batteries.
  • Does this mean you’ll finally stop licensing the Ridgid name to AEG Tools (TTi) for selling in Home Depot? One of your biggest threat for both brands is probably TTi (Milwaukee) yet you license your name so they can position tools, sporting with you name as lower tier products, causing mass confusion for your brand.
  • Does this mean you’ll stock more of your products to reduce back orders, combine warehousing so there are more locations across the country? Can you also make it easier for Pro Tool Houses to stock more of both lines so tradesmen can easily get tools from either brands?
  • Does this mean you’ll stop competing for the same products/categories? Perhaps instead focus on new innovative products in your respective fields, but perhaps that use the same battery platform so these brands can support one another.

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