The Stanley Works came to existence as a direct result of the 1920 merger of Stanley's Bolt Manufactory, founded by
Frederick Trent Stanley in 1843, and the Stanley Rule and Level Company, founded by Frederick's cousin, Henry Stanley, in 1857.
DeWalt was acquired in 1960, and sold to Black & Decker. In March 12, 2010 Black & Decker merged with Stanley Works to become Stanley Black & Decker. It’s a wholly owned subsidiary of that company. During World War II, Stanley Works received the
Army-Navy "E" Award for excellence in war production. to Stanley Works, presentation program, January 20, 1943 In May 2002, the company considered moving its corporate headquarters to
Bermuda, but public and governmental outcry forced management to reconsider the move. By August 2002, the company had decided to maintain its incorporation in the United States. John F. Lundgren was elected as chairman and chief executive officer in 2004, replacing John Trani, a former protégé of
Jack Welch at
General Electric. The Hardware & Home Improvement Group, including the Kwikset, Weiser, Baldwin, National Hardware, Stanley, FANAL, Pfister and EZSET brands, was acquired by
Spectrum Brands Holdings, Inc. on December 17, 2012. In July 2016, CEO John F. Lundgren stepped down, with President and COO
James M. Loree taking over as CEO. In July 2022, CEO
James M. Loree stepped down, with President and CFO Donald Allan, Jr taking over as CEO. Three years later, Allan, Jr was succeeded by Christopher Nelson as CEO.
Acquisitions •
1906-7: To strengthen its position in Canada, a tool plant was opened in Roxton Pond, Quebec. The company was officially incorporated as the Stanley Tool Company of Canada, Ltd. on February 7, 1907. The Roxton Pond plant continued operations until 1984. •
1937: Stanley Works entered the United Kingdom market with the acquisition of J.A. Chapman of
Sheffield, England. •
1946: Stanley Works acquired
North Brothers Manufacturing Company in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. •
1963: Stanley started operations in
Australia as Stanley-Titan when it bought a 50% share of Titan, a subsidiary of
BHP. •
1966: Stanley Works acquired Vidmar Cabinets in
Allentown, Pennsylvania. •
1970: Stanley-Titan acquired Turner Tools, based in
Melbourne, Australia. •
1980: Stanley Works acquired
Mac Tools. •
1984: Stanley Works purchased
Proto from
Ingersoll Rand and it becomes Stanley Proto. •
1986: Stanley Works acquired
Bostitch from
Textron. •
1990: Stanley Works acquired Goldblatt and ZAG Industries. •
1990: Acquired
Sidchrome Tool Co., headquartered in Melbourne, Australia. Closed plant in 1996 and started to move all tool manufacturing to
Taiwan, sourcing various items from Proto in the USA (marked as Proto on items) due to supply of left-over Australian-made tools being sold out until all manufacturing was fully established in Taiwan. •
1992: Stanley Works purchased the
Chatsworth, California-based Monarch Mirror Door Co. Inc., an American manufacturer of sliding and folding mirror-doors. •
2000: Stanley Works acquired Blick of
Swindon, England, a
UK integrator of security, communication, and time-management services, and CST Berger. •
2002: In October, Stanley Works acquired
Best Access Systems of
Indianapolis,
Indiana, for $310 million. The acquisition also prompted the creation of a new Access Controls Group for Stanley. Further additions to this new working group included Blick. •
2004: In January, Stanley announced plans to acquire Frisco Bay Industries Ltd., a Canadian provider of security integration services, for $45.3 million. In December, the acquisition of ISR Solutions, Inc., headquartered in
Washington, D.C., was announced. ISR Solutions provides the U.S. federal government and commercial customers with access security system services. •
2005: In January, the acquisition of Security Group was announced. Security Group was composed of two primary operating companies: Sargent & Greenleaf, a manufacturer of locks; and Safemasters, a North American provider of security installation, maintenance and repair services. An additional acquisition of Precision Hardware was made in 2005. In the same year, Stanley Works also acquired Facom. •
2006: Stanley furthered its corporate assets in the security market by acquiring HSM Electronic Protection Systems after it had been spun off from
Honeywell in compliance with pre-emptive
Securities and Exchange Commission antitrust rulings. In the meantime, the company obtained security contracts as the primary contractor to secure three
NASA spaceflight centers. •
2007: Late in the year, Stanley acquired OSI Security of
Chula Vista, California, a provider of battery-operated wireless lock technology and supplies to government, education, and healthcare industries. •
2008: Stanley acquired Beach Toolbox Industries, headquartered in Smith Falls, Ontario, Canada, then closed the plant. •
2008: In June, Stanley announced the acquisition of Sonitrol, which provides security systems that use audio listening devices as the primary means of intrusion detection. Stanley also acquired Xmark Corporation, which provides radio frequency identification (RFID) solutions in healthcare environments. As of 2008, many of the Stanley Security Services divisions were being integrated under the HSM brand. •
2009: On November 2, Stanley announced a merger with
Black & Decker. The merger was completed on March 12, 2010. •
2010: In July, the company announced the acquisition of CRC-Evans Pipeline International.
CRC-Evans provides total project support for pipeline construction contractors with automatic welding and other pipeline construction specific equipment and personnel. •
2011: On September 9, the acquisition of
Niscayah was complete. •
2012: On January 1, the acquisition of Lista North America from
LISTA, headquartered in Holliston, Massachusetts, was completed. •
2012: On June 1, the acquisition of Powers Fasteners, headquartered in Brewster, New York, was completed. •
2012: On June 5, the acquisition of AeroScout, headquartered in
Redwood City, California, was completed. •
2016: Stanley Black & Decker announced in October that it acquired the Irwin, Lenox, and Hilmor tool brands for $1.95 billion from
Newell Brands. •
2017: On January 5, news reports indicated that it would acquire the
Craftsman brand from KCD, LLC (a
Sears Holdings subsidiary). Subsequent reports by
Bloomberg indicated that the company would pay $525 million initially, an additional $250 million after three years, as well as annual payments on new Craftsman sales for 15 years. •
2018: On September 12, Stanley Black & Decker announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 20 percent stake in
MTD Products Inc, a privately held global manufacturer of outdoor power equipment, for $234 million in cash. Under the terms of the agreement, Stanley Black & Decker has the option to acquire the remaining 80 percent of MTD beginning on July 1, 2021. •
2018: On August 7, Stanley Black & Decker announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire International Equipment Solutions Attachments Group (IES Attachments) for $690 million in cash. •
2020: In Q1 2020, Stanley Black & Decker agreed to acquire Consolidated Aerospace Manufacturing, LLC (CAM) for up to $1.5 billion. CAM provides a fastener and component platform which would help the company to grow in aerospace and defense. The business was eventually divested in 2025 and sold to
Howmet Aerospace for $1.8 billion. •
2021: On August 17, 2021, Stanley Black & Decker announced that it has agreed to acquire the remaining 80% ownership stake in
MTD Holdings Inc. •
2021: On September 13, 2021, Stanley Black & Decker announced that it would be acquiring Excel Industries; who designs and manufactures commercial and residential turf-care equipment under the Hustler Turf Equipment and BigDog Mower Co. brands. The sale was completed November 12 of the same year. •
2021: On December 8, 2021,
Securitas AB announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase Stanley Black & Decker's electronic security business unit for $3.2 billion •
2022: In Q3 2022, Stanley Black & Decker announced layoffs of over 1,000 corporate employees as part of cost-saving measures in response to plummeting stock price == Business segments and brands ==