What does an extension ladder have in common with a Knaack box?
Both are made from metal but the real commonality is this — the country’s best-known ladder company recently bought the best-known maker of job boxes. In early September, Emerson Electric sold Knaack LLC to the Werner Company. Knaack makes commercial grade job boxes; Werner makes ladders, staging, and fall-protection equipment. Knaack owns Weather Guard, so Werner got that too.
Emerson is a St. Louis-based conglomerate with multiple connections to the tool industry. They own the Ridgid brand, which includes plumbing and diagnostic tools, shop vacuums, pneumatic tools, and hand-held power tools — which are produced under contract by Techtronic Industries (the parent company of AEG and Milwaukee).
