Black and Decker
From ArticleWorld
Two young entrepreneurs, S. Duncan Black and Alonzo G. Decker, founded a small machine shop in Baltimore, Maryland. They called it The Black & Decker Manufacturing Company. Their shop has grown beyond anything they could have imagined.
Today, Black & Decker is a global marketer and manufacturer of quality products used in and around the home and for commercial applications. It is also a major supplier of information systems and services to government and commercial client’s world-wide. With products marketed in over 100 countries and approximately half of its revenues from outside the United States, Black & Decker's product lines hold leading market share positions in their industries.
The chain of events that grew the small machine shop of the early 1900s into today's global manufacturing and marketing powerhouse may be revealed with a look at the timeline of major events spanning the Company’s history.
1917 -The Company received a patent for the pistol grip and trigger switch on its drill. It also built the first Black & Decker plant, with 12,000 square feet of floor space in a frame building in Towson U.S.A., then a rural suburb of Baltimore U.S.A.
1922 - The Company formed its first foreign subsidiary, Black & Decker Manufacturing Company, Ltd., in Canada and built its first wholly owned assembly operation and sales, service and warehouse facility outside the U.S.A. The Company also added the electric screwdriver to its growing product line.
1925 - International expansion continued. Black & Decker, Ltd. was organized in London, England, as a wholly owned sales, service and warehouse subsidiary serving the United Kingdom.
1928 - Black & Decker acquired Van Dorn Electric Tool Company of Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A., a manufacturer of industrial power tools.
1929 - Black & Decker (Australasia) Pty., Ltd. was established in Sydney, Australia. The subsidiary was a wholly owned assembly, motor winding, sales, service, and warehousing operation.
The company is the world’s largest producer of power tools and accessories. It’s household products business is the U.S. leader and among global competitors in the small household appliance industry.
We are committed to reducing the impact of our business on the environment by placing a priority on environmental, health, and safety standards in operations, and considering environmental factors in product and process design, and manufacturing methods. We expect our worldwide operations to adopt strategies consistent with this commitment by establishing and maintaining environmental, health and safety management systems.
Black & Decker respects the need for balance between industry and a healthy, sustainable environment. Our role in supporting this balance is to design, manufacture, and distribute products and services in a way that protects the quality of the environment while providing our employees with a clean and safe working environment.