History of Milwaukee
Solutions for the Trades

History-of-Milwaukee

As Milwaukee Lithium-Ion battery technology continued to improve, the company launched a family of powerful performance M18 Lithium-Ion tools and a family of compact M12 Lithium-Ion tools focused on providing “disruptive innovation” to the plumbing, electrical, HVAC and MRO trades.

The M18 cordless system was developed to be the ultimate synergy of professional grade power, extreme performance and superior ergonomics. With patented technologies, innovative motors, advanced electronics and the industry’s best battery technology, the M18 family has been the fastest growing 18V cordless system on the market since its inception.

The M12 cordless system was designed to deliver industry-leading durability and power in a size that outperforms the competition in the tightest places. Milwaukee created a new space in the professional power tool market with the M12 system by transforming inefficient manual tools – such as cable and copper tubing cutters – into advanced workhorses powered by award-winning battery technology.

Using the same drive for innovation and leadership, Milwaukee aggressively expanded its tool accessories division by developing unique industry first technologies. In 2008 Milwaukee developed and launched a range of hole cutting accessories under the name “BIG HAWG” and a range of SAWZALL Recip Blades that would serve a wide range of applications for users in the HVAC, electrical, plumbing and maintenance and repair trades. Through advancements in tooth geometry and bi-metal construction, the Milwaukee accessory business continued to grow. These new innovations quickly won new customers and kept the continued loyalty of the thousands of existing Milwaukee distributors and end-users. The accessory business flourished, and in 2009 Milwaukee launched a new line of impact-rated accessories under the SHOCKWAVE brand to serve the growing market of Impact Driver users. With the growing popularity of Impact Drivers, came an opportunity to innovate and provide a solution that could stand up to the extreme torque of these tools. Delivering high performance and functionality, the SHOCKWAVEfull range solution did just that, and provided up to 10X longer life than the competition.

In 2009, Milwaukee saw an opportunity to deliver overdue change to an under-served, dormant category. With a strong user base in electrical, HVAC/R, MRO and remodeling, Milwaukee launched several new productivity enhancing solutions in the Test and Measurement category. Engineered from the ground up, the new products strategically targeted Milwaukee’s core end-users with a focus on Electricians and HVAC/R Technicians.

Logging hundreds of hours on the jobsite, Milwaukee saw another opportunity to deliver innovation to their core users, and launched an entirely new business unit in 2010 for Hand Tool solutions. With the same focused approach on understanding end-user requirements, each tool was completely designed and engineered by Milwaukee to incorporate innovative features that provide application specific solutions for the Electrical, Mechanical, HVAC, MRO, and Remodeling trades. Milwaukee’s attention to innovation and user productivity set it apart from others in this space as they completely redesigned tools that had been around for decades and provided new-to-world features that would set a new standard for professional tradesmen.

Milwaukee had made it their mission to focus on and design new solutions that make tradesmen on the jobsite more productive, regardless of whether the solutions were electrical or battery powered, test equipment, accessories or hand tools. Their drive to improve workplace productivity continued to help push the envelope of innovation and design.