OK... ;D So I went Friday (yesterday) morning with my father-in-law, and we had a great time! It was close to the Portland airport and very easy to find.
The store was pretty small, but had all the current models available to play with and buy, and most of the accesories as well. They also had some nice displays of Tim Leatherman's old prototype tools and an awsome new display of some custom LM's that Tim just brought back from Argentina. Apperantly he has a silversmith friend down there that loves the tools and has been making custom scales for them, and Tim brought some here in the last few weeks. I have no good idea on their prices, and neither did the employees there and they haven't sold one yet, but the one lady said she thought one of the Charges was going for about $2000!
I would guess that was the high end, so maybe one of the Squirts would only be a few hundred...
Needless to say I was drooling. Pictures follow...
They were selling all the current models at full MSRP, since they are not trying to compete with their sellers. They also had a few weekly specials. Last week they had some left over camo Charge TI's that they had made for Bass Pro. This week there were some original PSTs. There were also some knives- I don't remember the number but they were the smaller blade, 420, dedicated drivers, and aluminum scales. They also had the Pulse with leather sheath and Standard Bit Adapter for $40. Next week they are going to have purple (like the XE6) Squirt P4s for $25. Apperently they are a fluke (maybe made for Europe?) so they'll only be selling them at the factory store.
I've been eyeing the Pulse model for a while, and thinking it is kinda a bidge between some of the best features of the old and new LM's. My father-in-law was looking for a tool to keep in his wife's car, and I told him that the Pulse/Adapter combo seemed like a good deal to me, and he really liked it. So he bought two, one for him and one for me!
I'd been meaning to keep a tight hold on my wallet and just buy a leather Juice case (no shipping!), but he covered the tool and the sheath, so I made out great! What a guy!
The tour itself was also a lot of fun. We saw everything from stamping the pieces out of 800lb rolls of steel, to finishing, stone washing, bead blasting, assembly, testing, packaging, shipping, and more. The robotic-arm machines were pretty cool… The only sections we didn’t tour were research/development (Grrrr), and the offices. The 10-person-max tour was led by Mae(?) who I believe was a part of LM’s development and marketing. She stuck around after the tour and I got to talk to her some, and she asked me some questions. She was interested when she found out the KF4 had been my favorite Juice and wanted to know why. It was fun, and it was cool that she wanted to know what we thought. I forgot to ask about the Freestyle.
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A few facts I learned from the tour and talking to employees:
-ALL assembly of tools/knives happens in the Portland plant. I saw it happening, so no more worries about foreign assembly! (I have noticed that some accessories are made overseas.)
-Much of the steel they use comes from Michigan
-The plier head pieces are made in Mexico. When LM started with the vender, they were located state-side (Indiana?). When they moved their plant to Mexico, LM decided to stay with the original vender rather than find a new one.
-Much of the stamping/finishing/etc. happens at the plant. They also use a lot of local (Portland area) venders. My father-in-law knows one such vender, so it’s easy to believe.
-Each tool goes through about 200-300 processes.
-Each die costs around $30,000 to $60,000.
-I should have taken notes! I forget a few more numbers that she told us, like how many tools they make per day (“if nothing goes wrong” she said), but it was a lot!
-A few years ago they switched to a “lean” production model, which means they try not to keep more than they need in stock. Apparently it saves money, and it also contributes to a neat/clean looking factory.
-They run 3 shifts.
-LM employees tend to stay with the company for a long time. Our guide say she felt like a very young employee and she had been there 3 years.
And now the pictures… First, there were no pictures allowed in the factory
, but I guess that’s understandable and I was expecting it. Also, I kinda forgot to take whole store shots. I kinda got distracted by the custom tools, and you’ll see why. If you want a good impression of the store overall, here’s the link to LM’s pages about it.
http://www.leatherman.com/leatherman-world/default.asphttp://www.leatherman.com/leatherman-world/leatherman-store/default.aspI’ll start with some of the old tools, and the Pulse, then the Argentinean tools. I'm pulling most of these out of group shots, so if you want to see those, let me know. Also, I’m by no means a professional but if you want a large picture of any of these, PM me you email, and I’ll try to get it to you.
Hope you enjoy…
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