Eklind Tool Company to Close After More Than a Century in the Tool Industry

A major change is coming to the U.S. hand tool industry.

 

Eklind Tool Company is permanently closing its Franklin Park, Illinois manufacturing facility and headquarters, bringing an end to more than a century of manufacturing history at the company and affecting 112 employees.

 

Founded in Chicago in 1923 by Henning and Ruth Eklind, the company began as a tool and die shop and contract manufacturer before becoming closely associated with one particular category of hand tools: the hex key.

 

Eklind introduced its first hex key products in the late 1940s and continued expanding its offering over the decades. Its product line eventually included traditional L-keys, fold-up sets, T-handles, screwdriver-style tools, Ball-Hex products, TORX® and tamper-resistant tools, along with numerous configurations designed for professional, industrial, and everyday use.

More Than an Assembly Operation

By 1996, Eklind had moved its operations to a 110,000-square-foot facility in Franklin Park, Illinois.

 

What makes the closure particularly significant is the amount of manufacturing that took place within that facility. Over the years, Eklind invested in bringing numerous production processes in-house, with manufacturing capabilities that included machining, wire forming, heat treating, black oxide finishing, injection molding, vinyl dipping, finishing, and assembly.

The company built a recognizable identity around manufacturing professional hand tools in the United States. At the same time, like many American manufacturers, its supply chain was not entirely domestic. Some raw materials, including steel used in its products, were sourced internationally while substantial manufacturing, finishing, and assembly operations were performed at the Illinois facility.

 

With the Franklin Park operation now closing and manufacturing equipment from the facility being auctioned, the impact goes beyond the loss of a corporate headquarters. A substantial American hand tool manufacturing operation is being dismantled.

A Changing Market for U.S. Tool Manufacturers

Eklind's closure also comes against the backdrop of a hand tool market that has changed dramatically over the company's more than 100-year history.

 

Manufacturers operating U.S. production facilities increasingly compete in a global market where imported hex keys and other hand tools are readily available across a wide range of price points. Maintaining domestic manufacturing operations while competing with lower-cost overseas production presents challenges throughout the tool industry.

 

It would be overly simplistic to attribute the closure of a century-old manufacturer to any single factor without further information from the company. However, Eklind's closure highlights a broader reality facing manufacturers attempting to maintain significant production capabilities in the United States while competing in an increasingly globalized tool market.

Why Eklind's Closure Matters

Eklind wasn't simply another company offering a few hex keys as part of a massive catalog.

 

For decades, the company specialized in this category.

 

Its tools could be found in machine shops, manufacturing facilities, maintenance departments, assembly operations, toolboxes, and industrial supply houses across the country. That specialization allowed Eklind to offer hex, Ball-Hex, TORX®, and related driving tools across a broad selection of sizes, handle styles, sets, and configurations.

 

That makes the closure particularly meaningful for customers who have relied on specific Eklind products for years.

It also further reduces the number of manufacturers performing substantial hand tool production within the United States.

What Does the Closure Mean for Tool Buyers?

For distributors and end users, one of the biggest questions now is what happens to Eklind products already being used and purchased.

 

Existing inventory held by distributors and retailers may remain available for some time, but availability of individual products could become more limited as that inventory is depleted.

 

For some customers, replacing an Eklind tool may be as straightforward as selecting a comparable product from another manufacturer. For industrial customers, however, the process can be more involved.

 

Maintenance departments, manufacturers, assembly operations, and tool cribs may have specific Eklind part numbers incorporated into purchasing systems, workstations, tool lists, or standardized kits. In those situations, customers may eventually need to identify and qualify equivalent products from other manufacturers.

 

Questions may also arise around future replacement products, warranty support, and long-term availability.

It is important, however, to distinguish the confirmed closure of Eklind's Franklin Park manufacturing operation from the ultimate future of the Eklind name itself. The closure of the facility does not necessarily determine what will happen to the Eklind brand, intellectual property, product designs, or every Eklind-branded product in the future.

 

Those are separate questions that may become clearer as additional information becomes available.

Finding Alternatives to Eklind Tools

At Palmac, developments like this matter because reliable tool sourcing matters..

 

When a manufacturer exits the market or a long-standing product becomes unavailable, customers aren't necessarily just looking for another hex key. They may be looking for a specific size, configuration, handle style, access capability, quality level, or industrial application that the original tool was selected to perform.

 

As the tool industry continues to evolve, Palmac remains focused on helping customers identify dependable, high-quality alternatives from established manufacturers and keeping the tools their operations rely on within reach.

 

From its beginnings as a Chicago tool and die shop in 1923 to the closure of its Franklin Park manufacturing operation in 2026, Eklind leaves behind more than 100 years of history in the American tool industry.

 

For a company that became so closely associated with one of the most familiar tools found in a toolbox—the hex key—it marks the end of a significant chapter in American hand tool manufacturing.