Master Lock Gets A Shout Out From Obama

Master Lock said the Milwaukee company would like to bring more jobs back from overseas if economic conditions support the move.

President Barack Obama highlighted Master Lock in his State of the Union address on Tuesday night for moving jobs back to the U.S. from China.

The padlock and security products manufacturer has returned about 100 union jobs to its Milwaukee factory since mid-2010.

Master Lock CEO John Heppner recently participated in a White House forum aimed at “insourcing” jobs from overseas. Heppner said the plant in Milwaukee is running at capacity for the first time in 15 years.

The company said the decision to bring the jobs back to Milwaukee was partially motivated by increasingly higher labor and logistics costs in Asia and ongoing labor challenges in the coastal areas of China.