Master Lock
Encyclopedia
- For the professional wrestling move called the Master Lock, see Professional wrestling holds.
Padlock
Padlocks are portable locks used to protect against theft, vandalism, sabotage, unauthorized use, and harm. They are designed to protect against some degree of forced and surreptitious entry.- History :...
s, combination lock
Combination lock
A combination lock is a type of lock in which a sequence of numbers or symbols is used to open the lock. The sequence may be entered using a single rotating dial which interacts with several discs or cams, by using a set of several rotating discs with inscribed numerals which directly interact with...
s and related security products. Now an operating unit of Fortune Brands Home & Security
Fortune Brands Home & Security
Fortune Brands Home & Security is a maker of home fixtures and hardware. The company's product lines include Master Lock, MasterBrand cabinets, Moen faucets, Simonton windows and Therma-Tru entry door systems...
, Inc., Master Lock Company LLC was formed in 1921 by locksmith-inventor Harry Soref, and is headquartered in Milwaukee
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
.
In 1969, the company was purchased by American Brands from Soref's heirs. American Brands was later renamed to Fortune Brands
Fortune Brands
Fortune Brands was a holding company founded in 1969 as American Brands and later renamed in 1997 and split apart in 2011. The corporate headquarters was in Deerfield, Illinois in the United States. The company historically had a significant diversity of product offerings...
, which then split on October 3, 2011 to create the Fortune Brands Home & Security
Fortune Brands Home & Security
Fortune Brands Home & Security is a maker of home fixtures and hardware. The company's product lines include Master Lock, MasterBrand cabinets, Moen faucets, Simonton windows and Therma-Tru entry door systems...
company.
Iconic ad
In 1973, Master Lock ran a notable Super Bowl adAdvertising in the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League in the United States, is known for the high-profile advertisements that air during its television broadcast in the U.S. The broadcast typically ranks very highly in the Nielsen ratings, reaching more than 90 million viewers...
where one of their locks survived being shot by a sharpshooter
Sniper
A sniper is a marksman who shoots targets from concealed positions or distances exceeding the capabilities of regular personnel. Snipers typically have specialized training and distinct high-precision rifles....
, thereby proving its durability, thus the slogan "Tough Under Fire". Master Lock would continue running similar ads during future Super Bowls, spending almost their entire annual marketing budget on the single commercial. Later, Master would incorporate the image into a one second long blipvert
Blipvert
In the 1985 film Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future and the first episode of the 1987 science fiction television show Max Headroom, blipverts were a new high-speed, concentrated, high-intensity television commercials lasting about three seconds. The term Blipvert was first coined by George...
commercial in 1998. Recently the Discovery Channel's MythBusters
MythBusters
MythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
tested this advertisement by shooting a Master Lock padlock by a rifle, capturing the results on film. As the famous Super Bowl ad depicted, Master Lock passed the test by surviving the gunshot.
Offshoring and re-shoring
In 1999, Fortune Brands began to abandon most operations in its Milwaukee Master Lock factoryFactory
A factory or manufacturing plant is an industrial building where laborers manufacture goods or supervise machines processing one product into another. Most modern factories have large warehouses or warehouse-like facilities that contain heavy equipment used for assembly line production...
, and moved most of its manufacturing jobs to offshore plants
Offshoring
Offshoring describes the relocation by a company of a business process from one country to another—typically an operational process, such as manufacturing, or supporting processes, such as accounting. Even state governments employ offshoring...
in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, putting an estimated 1,300 American workers (represented by the United Auto Workers
United Auto Workers
The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers , is a labor union which represents workers in the United States and Puerto Rico, and formerly in Canada. Founded as part of the Congress of Industrial...
) out of work. In 2011, it was announced that 36 jobs making combination lock
Combination lock
A combination lock is a type of lock in which a sequence of numbers or symbols is used to open the lock. The sequence may be entered using a single rotating dial which interacts with several discs or cams, by using a set of several rotating discs with inscribed numerals which directly interact with...
s were being returned from China to the heavily-automated
Automation
Automation is the use of control systems and information technologies to reduce the need for human work in the production of goods and services. In the scope of industrialization, automation is a step beyond mechanization...
Milwaukee plant, which would now employ 379 workers. It would continue to contract with three Chinese factories, twenty Chinese suppliers, and to operate its maquiladora
Maquiladora
A maquiladora or maquila is a concept often referred to as an operation that involves manufacturing in a country that is not the client's and as such has an interesting duty or tariff treatment...
near the Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
border, where low-cost Mexican workers do non-automated, labor-intensive work, such as assembling made-in-Milwaukee components.