Abraham Lincoln statue on Carthage College?s campus.
All Stories

Nicholas T. Pinchuk, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Snap-on Incorporated, was... Nicholas T. Pinchuk, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Snap-on Incorporated, was the featured guest at a private lunch of the Carthage Business and Professional Coalition on March 15, 2011.Snap-on Incorporated “is a company that’s in your neighborhood, with a global reach,” Nicholas Pinchuk told a Carthage Business and Professional Coalition luncheon March 15.

But Mr. Pinchuk sought to assure the audience that the company remains committed to Kenosha, its headquarters since 1929.

“You can be sure we’ll be here for another 80 years,” he declared. “We’re transforming that company, principally by investing in people, mobilizing the capability locked inside.”

Snap-on’s CEO said the recession knocked 2009 sales down to about $2.3 billion, the level the company had reached in 2004. But he said the company reaped much greater profits in 2009, and Snap-on’s stock price was near an all-time high.

A big reason he cited for long-term growth potential was Snap-on’s move into China.

“In China, there are 65 to 70 million automobiles on the road,” Mr. Pinchuk said. “Most of them are new,” and nearly 20 million more are being built each year, 50 percent more than production in the United States.

“The repair market has yet to come,” he said of China, stressing the firm has gone to China to produce tools to be used there.

“We do not chase cheap labor,” Mr. Pinchuk declared. “We are not in China to produce products to bring back here.” When Snap-on ceased manufacturing in Kenosha, he added, “zero of those products were moved to Asia. Eighty percent of what we sell off the trucks comes from the USA, and will stay that way. We like our US factories very well, thank you.”

Asked about manufacturers that have moved production to China, Mr. Pinchuk said, “I think they’re making a mistake. When you ship jobs abroad, you’re losing faith in your people.” Perhaps such firms “haven’t looked as hard at the quality of their people, and getting the most out of them.”

Mr. Pinchuk said Snap-on products have a reputation for high quality. “We don’t make the lowest-cost product,” he said. “You want the lowest-cost product, go ahead, but it won’t work as well. People love Snap-on tools, because they’re the best, (so) we’re not embarrassed to charge a lot.”

The Snap-on CEO said the United States is in economic battle with other nations, and “in an economic conflict the best equipment is education.” Education should be the top priority, the U.S. Army veteran said.

“If the enemy were at the Canadian border, we would act,” he said.

F. Gregory Campbell, president of the College, welcomed Mr. Pinchuk, and voiced gratitude for the longtime support from Snap-on executives.

“The College would not be what we now know as Carthage without the founders of Snap-on,” Mr. Campbell said.