Milwaukee Tool has spent a century building a rock-solid reputation for delivering “Nothing but Heavy Duty” solutions to job sites around the world. But what fuels that reputation?  

It’s more than just tough tools; Milwaukee Tool is laser-focused on both quality and the needs of professional construction users. From the iconic Sawzall® and powerful cordless tools to the One-Key™ digital platform for equipment tracking, Milwaukee Tool is known for rugged performance and user-centric designs.

A critical piece of this puzzle is Milwaukee Tool’s cutting-edge approach to intelligent test automation, championed by Automation Engineering Manager, Beth Heath. Beth’s expertise and leadership have been instrumental in transforming the test lab into a strategic asset, accelerating product development cycles, and ensuring the legendary durability that professionals rely on to get the job done.

Let’s look at Beth’s heavy-duty approach to test.

When Beth stepped into her leadership role, Milwaukee Tool was experiencing rapid company growth and expanding its product portfolio. These conditions created several challenges for the test lab:

• Scaling for growth—Traditional test methods were quickly becoming a bottleneck.

• Rising quality demands—As customer expectations and product complexity soared, more rigorous product testing was necessary.  

• Inconsistent data sharing—Globally dispersed teams and fragmented processes made it difficult to access, compare, and act on test data, highlighting the need for streamlined data flows across labs.

• Lagging development cycles—Slow feedback loops between test and product development teams hindered agility, slowed iteration cycles, and lengthened time to market for new innovations.

To keep pace, Milwaukee Tool needed a testing infrastructure that was robust, reliable, and adaptable to drive continuous improvement and sustain their ambitious growth trajectory.

To address the challenges, Beth and her team applied Milwaukee Tool’s “disruptive innovation” philosophy to their global network of test labs, focusing on three main initiatives: global standardization, data-driven insights, and improved collaboration.  

Recognizing the need for a cohesive approach, the team standardized their test systems using NI CompactDAQ hardware and NI LabVIEW. This powerful, unified platform facilitated seamless cross-engineering for global engineering teams and support across locations.  

To ensure long-term success, Beth’s team created a global process for test system development that included the following deliverables:

• Practical documentation standards

• Consistent EXE file distribution to keep all labs aligned with the latest software  

• A robust Delacor Queued Message Handler (DQMH®) software architecture for modular, reusable code

With this foundation in place, the team introduced a standardized tool life test controller to simulate and monitor the long-term, real-world use of each power tool. Built on CompactDAQ and LabVIEW, and paired with custom fixturing tailored for individual products, the system significantly reduced development overhead and allowed teams to deploy new systems faster with less effort. 

The team also expanded support for subcomponent testing to simulate real-world conditions earlier in the development cycle. These capabilities help engineers detect and address potential issues before reaching the prototype stage, reducing rework, improving product quality, and boosting performance for even the toughest job site conditions.

This structured foundation streamlined the development lifecycle and enhanced global support, ensuring every lab could operate with the same level of reliability and efficiency.

Beth’s team tapped into the versatility of LabVIEW to build custom dashboards that would enable informed decision-making. Rather than simply displaying raw metrics, these dashboards were thoughtfully designed to highlight meaningful trends in tool performance and test system health.

Armed with these insights, the team is now able to be proactive. Test uptime, response, and utilization patterns now guide smarter resource allocation. This data-centric approach optimizes testing operations and informs a range of strategic product decisions, promoting continuous improvement across the board. 

Milwaukee Tool invested in new global test labs and established dedicated automation teams around the world to support the expansion of product lines, including outdoor, lighting, lifestyle, and storage solutions. The organization significantly improved speed and responsiveness by positioning test resources closer to design and development hubs. 

The test teams also tightened the integration with new product development, creating a more agile feedback loop. Through rapid prototyping and iterative testing, teams could introduce innovations to the market more quickly while upholding product quality and performance standards.

Cross-functional collaboration, supported by global standardization and consistent data, shortened development timelines and has fostered a culture of shared ownership across departments and locations.

The strategic initiatives led by Beth and her team have produced measurable gains for Milwaukee Tool, significantly increasing the pace of innovation and boosting overall performance, including:

• Reduced time to market: Rapid testing and unified processes have driven faster prototyping and shortened product development cycles.

• Enhanced test coverage and efficiency: Standardized systems and automation have increased test coverage and improved operational efficiency across global teams.

• Smarter resource allocation: Custom dashboards offer clear insights, aligning testing capacity with shifting development demands.

• Seamless global collaboration: Shared platforms and consistent processes streamline coordination among distributed engineering teams.

• Scalable support for growth: Strengthened testing capabilities and infrastructure empower Milwaukee tool to expand into new product categories without sacrificing quality or speed.

Milwaukee Tool’s strategic investment in test automation and data-driven methodologies has successfully transformed its test lab from a functional necessity into a genuine competitive advantage. By enabling faster, more rigorous testing, the lab helps get products into customers’ hands more quickly—all while consistently raising the bar on product quality and long-term reliability.

Beth is continuously advancing Milwaukee Tool’s intelligent test strategy with even more innovations. Her team is working toward 24/7 automated testing to enhance tool life evaluation through around-the-clock data acquisition. They are also exploring the use of AI and advanced analytics to unlock deeper insights from test data and promote more proactive, predictive development cycles.

These initiatives will further tighten the feedback loop between test and new product development teams, telling each tool’s story in real-time and facilitating quicker, smarter design decisions.  

By embracing advancing technology and maintaining a relentless commitment to continuous improvement, Milwaukee Tool has transformed its test operations into a decisive competitive advantage—powering its “Nothing but Heavy Duty” reputation.