My name is David....I worked for Black & Decker designing and manufacturing power tools starting in 1981.
As I read through this thread it is indeed with mixed emotions. I joined B&D in 1981 as an electrical engineer / designer. In Brockville we manufactured consumer power tools of all sorts. We were some what vertically integrated. At the time B&D was called the "Black & Decker manufacturing company". Universal motor manufacturing was one of our core competencies.
Besides being the electrical lead, I also ended up owning the vast test lab. We tested all of our competition at the time. Some of the names that pop to mind are Wen, Pet, Skil, Craftsman (mostly made by Singer). Our objective was to at the very minimum meet, and mostly exceed the competition, and above all give the best consumer value.
At one time in Brockville we were producing over 1 million consumer sanders for the global market annually. As well as a myriad other power tools.
We also produced the very popular and versatile Workmate. Millions were made in our plant.
I was also there when B&D bought GE small appliances. Oh My, Now I was making and designing toaster ovens and food processors....and everything in between. There was a lot of consideration that went into how to transition the well known and respected GE appliance brand over to Black & Decker that made excellent value power tools but knew diddly about household kitchen appliances .
And a some point the Company name changer from Black and Decker Manufacturing to... well Just Black and Decker, as it transitioned into more of a marketing company.
And just before I retired in 2011 there was the Stanley merger.
I have no idea how the Stanley B&D > Craftsman deal will go. They could milk it to the ground, or they could restore it to its former glory.
However as I sign off from this. I can tell you that when I was on board I was empowered to give the utmost customer satisfaction.
David