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Traffic near Milwaukee Tool® headquarters in Brookfield, Wisc. was busy on May 2-3, as the power tool company hosted contractors, trade industry media representatives and social media personalities for "The Next Breakthrough" event — two-days of demonstrations of new and improved M18 FUEL™ battery-powered products, and a tour of the Milwaukee Tool research and development facility.
This event offered something for every major construction segment: plumbing and mechanical; electrical; power utilities; lighting; hand tools; carpentry and rough construction. For each segment, Milwaukee Tool product managers provided live demonstrations at a remote location that was outfitted with tools, demonstration areas, and plenty of room. Attendees were assembled into groups and rotated through hands-on breakout areas to see all products in action, and take a deeper dive into their trade area of focus.
(Pictured above is Milwaukee Tool President, Steve Richman. He welcomed guests and provided some history behind the transition to M18, and what that has done for the company and for construction industries. TM/Informa)
Each demonstration provided live —and often, loud — proof of the power and ingenuity that Milwaukee Tool has engineered into its redesigned POWERSTATE™ brushless motor, REDLITHIUM™ battery pack, and REDLINK PLUS™ intelligence.
Thirty new products have been added to the M18 system and there have been performance upgrades to every product. Most impressive was the performance of those tools that require extraordinary power: an 8-1/4-in. table saw; a 16-inch chain saw; a Super Sawzall, and 7-in. and 9-in. large angle grinders. But that's taking nothing away from the smaller handtools that HVAC technicians and system installers use every day: from Milwaukee's M12™ and M18™ ProPex Expanders, to the FORCELOGIC™ Press solutions and a diverse range of hand tools and accessories for plumbing and mechanical contractors involved in demolition and rough-in, to installation and maintenance.
Milwaukee Tool President Steve Richman welcomed the hundreds of guests, and provided some history of these demonstration events.
"Everything you see here is what we're all about: products for our core trades — mechanical, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, power utility. That’s what we’ve been working on for the 11 years that we’ve been offering this event, and is our focus as a business," Richman said. "The solutions you will see today, we hope will blow you away, in every essence of new products, in disrupting the market and driving productivity.
He then explained the reasoning behind the combination of media with end-users. "This is a unique combination of attendees, and we hope there is a lot of feedback as we drive awareness of these new products," Richman said.
Richman added words about company growth since 2008, the year in which these demonstration events were first presented, and the inaugural year for the M18 battery technology.
"Eleven years ago, this was a smaller media event. We were $450 million in sales. We did not have a Jobsite Solution Team, and we were not really focused on our core trades. We were trying to reinvent ourselves as a business. We asked ourselves, will we really grow? Today, we have an entire Jobsite Solutions Team that covers the United States in HVAC, plumbing, power utility in a big way, and teams of people dedicated to power tools, hydraulics, hand tools and lighting and power tool accessories. We now, with our new building, have more than 500,000 square feet and that includes another 125,000 to be finished soon
"We would never have made that happen without you allowing us to be partners with you, allowing us to understand where your pain points were, where we need to develop the next generation of tools, hand tools and accessories, and how to eliminate the bumps you have every single day. Thank you for your help and support that has helped us to grow.”
Paul Fry, Vice President, Cordless Product Management, said the M18 introduction in 2008 served as a foundation, and symbolized a vision for the cordless future of Milwaukee Tool.
"That vision and foundation was a non-apologetic focus on our core trades: the day-in/day-out of plumbing, electrical and mechanical trades. It was a relentless investment in the core technologies of battery and motor electronics, and the ability they have to deliver performance on the jobsite," Fry said. "The M18 can now deliver more work than the outlet, and five times what the first M18 delivered."