The US hardware company says it will continue to operate in China

This article is more than one year old.
Published on September 16, 2020 at 06:17
1 min read
By AFP Australia

A claim that Black + Decker, a US hardware manufacturer, is suspending its operations in China and building a new factory in Texas has been shared in multiple posts on Facebook. The claim is misleading; the company said it will continue to operate in China.

The claim was published on Facebook here on May 6, 2020.

The text graphic reads: “Black and Decker leaving China and building 90 million dollar plant in Texas!!!”

Screenshot of the Facebook post taken on May 13, 2020.

Other instances of the claim appear here and here on Facebook.

The claim is misleading.

A spokesperson for Stanley Black & Decker, the company’s parent company, told AFP in an email on May 19, 2020 that the firm “will continue to operate in China”.

Annual corporate reports show that Stanley Black & Decker does have significant operations in China.

“The Company sources many products from China and other low-cost countries for resale in other regions," the company’s 2019 report reads.

In an earnings call with investors on April 30, 2020, James M. Loree, Stanley Black & Decker president and CEO, said that the company operates 10 factories in China and employs 8,000 workers.

In May 2019, Stanley Black & Decker announced it would open a new 425,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Fort Worth, Texas in late 2020. The company did not specify the price of the factory but said it will employ roughly 500 full-time employees and will produce Black + Decker’s CRAFTSMAN mechanics tools.

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