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Milwaukee Pipeline Series: A Look at the New Impact Wrench & Ratchet
Milwaukee Pipeline Series: A Look at the New Impact Wrench & Ratchet
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About this episode
Eric Rusch, Director of Product Marketing at Milwaukee Tool, shares insights on the development of Milwaukee's new M12 Fuel sub-compact impact wrench and Gen 2 ratchet. The discussion covers the balance of torque, size, and ergonomics tailored to technicians' daily needs, emphasizing user feedback and innovation. Eric also reflects on his journey with Milwaukee, the company's culture, and the long, patient process behind creating these advanced tools designed to improve productivity and safety in automotive and heavy-duty work.
Topics:
milwaukee tool product development
m12 fuel sub-compact impact wrench
gen 2 ratchet
tool ergonomics
torque and size trade-offs
user feedback integration
cordless tool innovation
product marketing insights
tool durability and performance
automotive technician needs
Cars:
Proton Gen-2
Eric Rusch, Director of Product Marketing at Milwaukee Tool, breaks down two exciting new products technicians will love—the M12 FUEL™ Subcompact Impact Wrench and the M12 FUEL™ Gen 2 Ratchet—live at the Milwaukee Pipeline 2025 event. He shares key product features, how Milwaukee Tool has evolved to meet industry needs, and why it’s so rewarding to see these tools come to life for mechanics.
Check out the full video version of the podcast on YouTube!
About the Episode
- Host: Jay Goninen, WrenchWay, [email protected]
- Guest: Eric Rusch, Milwaukee Tool
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Proton Gen2
"I love it. Well, let's now shift over to the Gen2 Ratchet. What can you tell me about this?"
Select text to request an explanation
That's the fun part of the job, is your ability to take feedback from 100, 200, 300 different people,
which probably all have different viewpoints on what this tool should be to come into one product and deliver it.
We get another really exciting episode here at the Milwaukee Pipeline event.
This one, I think I'm, I don't know, I can't say most excited because they've all been great,
but I'm really, really excited about this one because in front of us, we have two tools that we're going to talk a lot about
that I think are really impactful to most technicians daily lives.
So, this will be a really fun conversation, but my guest today, Eric Rusch, Director of Product Marketing at Milwaukee Tool.
We're going to learn all about you, Eric, and really all about these wonderful new products that are hitting the market.
So, how are you doing today?
I'm great. Thanks for having me.
We're really excited about these two new products and hopefully kind of pull, get behind the curtain a little bit
and talk about what went into it and what ultimately got us to the finished product that you're seeing here.
But likewise, we're very excited.
These two tools are used day in and day out by every technician.
And hopefully it'll make their lives easier, make them more productive and safer every single day.
We're going to really dive into these two products, but before we do that,
we're going to do another thing that I get really pumped up about, which is to talk about you.
And hear a little bit about what you do on a daily basis, as well as how you got into Milwaukee Tool in the first place.
So, let's start with kind of your upbringing.
Was there always an interest in tools or what really led you to this point?
Yeah, so from the very beginning, my grandpa had a farm.
My dad grew up on the farm and while we didn't necessarily grow up on the farm, I was always helping at my grandpa's farm.
So, whether it was bailing hay, putting it up in the barn or just putting it around on the different pieces of equipment,
that's really where it all started, was on my grandpa's farm.
And from there, I went to go throughout high school and went to go work by my dad.
And they basically move soil all around, big soil.
They provide it for the landscapers, et cetera.
And with that comes all the heavy machinery, the loaders, the back hose.
The fun stuff.
All the fun stuff.
Yeah.
So, not only did I get to drive all that, but I got to also work on them here and there as well.
So, really from birth, I've been around tools around this space.
And it's really driven the passion for me to continue to develop solutions for guys like that.
What was your favorite piece of equipment?
By far, the front end loader.
Yeah.
It was the one that I drove all the time, but you can maneuver around pretty quick.
And pretty smooth, too, for the most part.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, that was probably my favorite thing.
So, did you know when you're coming out of high school that this is a path that you want to go?
Absolutely not.
You threw me there.
I was like, oh, he's one of them that's like, yeah, this is it.
You know, I'm like, all right, well, I want to get into business.
I want to get into marketing and did not really even know of product management going into college.
I knew that I wanted to be on the business and marketing side of things.
And, you know, just so happened, you know, that my path's crossed to get to Milwaukee.
Well, and it didn't hurt that you have this great company in your backyard.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
I grew up in Wisconsin.
I grew up 25 minutes, still live about 25 minutes away from our office.
And, you know, Milwaukee growing up is nowhere near what it is today.
No.
And, you know, it's exciting to have a part of this transition in the industry to cordless
and being a big part of that is something that we all take a lot of pride in.
And we talk about the growth of Milwaukee as a whole.
You just mentioned it.
It's incredible.
I think if you looked in a shop, say 10 years ago, 15 years ago, other than that SAZA that
we all talk about, you probably didn't see a ton of Milwaukee.
And if you fast forward to today, it's everywhere.
The growth has been incredible.
You've been a big part of that.
Well, it's, you know, I've been fortunate enough to work on great products and with
a great company like Milwaukee.
Part of that growth is all stemming from the time that we spend in the field, time we talk
to the techs, whether it's in the auto garage, the diesel shop, the service guy in the road.
We spend countless hours just focusing on what their needs are, what their frustrations
are, how we can improve their process day in and day out.
And it's something that we truly take a lot of pride in and try to come up with solutions
that make their lives easier and get their jobs done faster.
And it's really propelled us to what you see today.
But more than anything, we're not stopping there.
Yes, we're seeing success.
We're seeing more and more guys convert from air to cordless and in particular Milwaukee
cordless.
But we know we have a long way to go and we're not stopping anytime soon.
Well, that mindset is what has driven Milwaukee Tool to end up in the position
that they are today.
And I don't see that ever letting up, right?
You guys are just kind of constantly pushing.
Absolutely, it's the constant paranoia of making sure we remain that solution
of choice for the user.
And if we rest on our laurels and rest on, yeah, we see red in the shops,
that's where you're going to get out-innovated.
And it's that paranoia within our culture that really separates us
from many others is making sure that we focus on the user and continue
to be that solution of choice for them.
Hopefully, that will continue for many, many years to come.
Well, and I love the pride behind it.
Every single employee at Milwaukee that I've talked to has really
referred to that end user and making sure that they get good quality.
And you haven't lost the sight of that as you've grown.
And I think that is such an important piece with a great company is that
you have to remember who's actually using the tool and make their lives
easier.
Absolutely, it's the lifeblood of everything that we do.
And our viewpoint on the transportation user has changed.
When I first started 10 years ago, it was, let's look at the automotive channel.
Well, when you actually look at that channel, the vertical and break it down,
there's a big difference between the paint and body shop, the lube tech,
the service tech, to the heavy duty shops and everything in between.
So we've changed our viewpoint to be more defined for what each individual
needs and why you see solutions like you see here, stuff that we've launched
in the past and more probably what we're going to see in the future is
that focus, that dedication and segmenting out all the specific
users within the transportation vertical has allowed us to hopefully
continue this momentum in the future.
Yeah, I don't think there's going to be much that's going to slow you
guys down.
Before we get to the product side, I do have to ask you kind of a fun
question.
Do you remember your job interview at Milwaukee?
I do.
Were you nervous?
Oh, I was very nervous.
Absolutely.
Yeah, when I was working at a different company before coming here
and Milwaukee was this upstart.
It was this company that was starting to get some momentum
and you would start hearing them at different distributor shows
that I would be at but with a different company.
And what you'd see that momentum coming into play.
And so, you know, for me it was, you know, I had some connections
here.
They said, hey, come check out Milwaukee.
And it was nerve-racking because it was this completely
different culture than what I was used to previously.
And but as I went through the interview process and truly
understood what Milwaukee was all about and how we are
truly trying to innovate for the user and change people's
lives and don't accept anything but the highest of
expectations from everybody, it was something that could
immediately tell that it was a great fit for me.
And luckily they saw the same thing.
I think I remember in my prior lives, the prior jobs,
the interview process and just sitting in the parking
lot ahead of time and being like, this is terrifying.
And when you see a company like this, you almost maybe
put some undue pressure on yourself to get that job.
And I always love asking people about their interview
process because it is nerve-racking.
And maybe that young person that's out there listening
right now that might want to come work at a Milwaukee
tool, give them a little bit of confidence to say, hey,
you can walk in those doors.
You can talk to people and really learn a lot about
a company in that process.
Absolutely.
We don't need you to be the expert on the tools.
We can teach that, but more probably the user will teach
you how to be the expert in what we need to go deliver.
What we are looking for is those culture statements,
the stuff that embodies Milwaukee, being hardworking,
making sure you're going the extra mile to get the
product right, call out when something's not right
and we've got to take a step back to get it on the
right path.
I think that's really what separates us and who we
look for in individuals to have the critical thought,
be candid if things aren't going well.
We've got to change it and that's what separates us
and that's who we look for when people come into
to try and get a job here at Milwaukee.
That's a lesson that every shop that's listening
to this, I hope you listen to that and I'm going
to point at the camera and make sure that
you're listening to this.
You're hiring for your culture and you can see
that everywhere in Milwaukee.
When you walk into the building, there's a
sense of pride with everybody.
There's a similar kind of just refreshing
personality it feels like on everybody.
It gives a lot of compliments to all of you as a
company because it is such a pleasure to talk to
every single one of you and it's because it's
intentional in the hiring process.
We talk a lot about that with our shops that
are out there.
Don't be so reactive in hiring.
Take some time to actually get to know somebody.
Make sure they fit who you are as a company
and you're going to have more success.
Absolutely.
We can train the skills.
We can train how to do the job, the core
foundation of who you are and you got to be
selective and find the right people to
continue to drive progress in what you're
trying to accomplish as an organization.
I'm not sure nobody's done it better.
Technicians, have you checked out Wrenchway yet?
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and diesel professionals just like you.
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Wrenchway makes it easy to explore opportunities,
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With Wrenchway you can see detailed job
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explore technician compensation in your area
and across the U.S., track your
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Join the Wrenchway community for free
at Wrenchway.com or download the
Wrenchway mobile app.
Links are in the show notes.
Now, on to the product side and we'll
see if I can actually say sub-compact
impact wrenches.
Hey, I got it.
But we're going to talk about this new
M12 fuel sub-compact impact wrench
and the M12 Gen 2 ratchet, both of
which I think are phenomenal.
Let's start with the impact wrench first.
Can you tell me a little bit about what
we're looking at here?
Yeah, so kind of the history on this
product was probably about
five, six years ago we said,
all right, we launched our compact
wrenches in 18 and 19.
We had the stubby, the original M12
fuel stubby impact and we kept
driving more new product launches.
We had the mid torques that we launched.
We had the high torques that launched.
We kept elevating performance and torque
and what we noticed and what we were
hearing from the field is the torque
is great. We love the torque.
When we need that sub-compact
faster to come off, we got the tools
for that.
But what we were hearing is we also
want solutions that are going to
be using 80 to 90% of the time.
And 80 to 90% of the time you
don't need a solution with
1600 foot-pounds of torque.
And that's really how the
M12 fuel stubby that we launched
last year came into play and how
we set our targets based on what
the user was asking for.
Give us something that's lightweight,
compact, but can still pack a punch.
That had 550 foot-pounds.
With this product, we knew
we were elevating the performance.
But we knew that there's still a lot
of smaller fasteners, plastic fasteners.
Solutions that don't require a lot
of torque, but if you're using it
all day, they want a lightweight solution.
And that's really what we were
focusing on here.
Driving out size, driving out weight.
And I think we've delivered on that
based on the feedback that we
heard from the tech through all of
our testing is this solution
is a great product that fits
well in their hand, can go
on their tool belt if they're on
or their tool cart's in right there.
And it's great for all-day use.
And that was exactly kind of the
inspiration of what this product was
meant to deliver is something
lightweight, compact, but for
all-day use, it'll do a large
portion of their job.
And just picking it up, the feel
of it is really, really nice.
We spent a lot of time also
on the ergonomics, right?
That's the big piece of
what we do. Yes, it's
about trying to hit a torque spec and a
size spec, but we don't overlook
the form factor, how it fits
in the hand, what angle should the tool be
at for the right ergonomics and the
common points that they're working on
in a vehicle or on a piece of equipment.
We take all that into consideration when
we're designing a solution like this.
How do you take that feedback
from a customer and put it
into a number? So like when I say
that, we're talking up to
225 foot-pounds of nut-busting
torque. So when we
look at that and you get that feedback
from a customer that, hey, we want that
torque, but we also want it to last
as long as we can, what is
that happy medium? How do you find
that? And how do you get to the point
to where you're like, okay, this is the
number. This is what we've got to get to.
It's not black and white. No.
It is spending hundreds,
if not thousands of hours talking
to customers in the shop
or on the service truck
trying to understand what are the
applications that they're trying to do
and use the application
to determine the torque value
that we need to determine the size
that we need. And that's really
where we focus is if we can
make sure that we deliver on the key applications
that we think this tool should be delivering
and what the user is telling us it needs to deliver
that will drive the specs.
Now on the flip side,
if you ask a technician, yeah,
I want a thousand foot pounds
in a tool that size. Like that's
a bit unrealistic. Probably not going to happen.
So that's where a big part of
me and my team's role is to
work through those trade-offs.
Yes, we can put more torque through it, but typically
you have to grow the size of the tool.
That's where we spend a lot of time going
in and out of the field, taking
prototypes out, taking SLS handles
to say, does this fit into this
application? Do we need to skinny it up?
Do we need to make it smaller?
Are we okay with decreasing torque
potentially if we want to make it smaller?
Those are all the trade-offs that have to
go into our decision matrix
to say, is this the right product for them?
So it's kind of a science
and that's the fun part of the job
is your ability
to take feedback
from 100, 200, 300
different people
which probably all have different
viewpoints on what this tool should be
for one product and deliver.
And sometimes, we might deliver one product
here, but it generates new ideas
for future roadmap items
down the road too.
So it's
a challenging, but probably
one of the most rewarding experiences
when you actually come up with this product
is it's taking all that feedback
and bringing it to life.
Yeah, in a really, really solid tool.
When you talk about that torque value
and that technician that wants that
very small package,
one thing that comes to mind is
at some level, you're almost protecting
the technician from themselves because
I'm sure I'm not alone in this,
but I have used a tool
that had too much torque for the fastener
that I was screwing in
and snapped the head off of it, right?
And there is nothing more frustrating
than when you do that.
You have to keep that in mind
and that's again
going back to spending times
in the shop. You'll hear about those pain points.
You'll hear about those stories where
you kind of have to know
when you're using
the 10mm socket, what's the
maximum amount of torque that we can actually put
through that type of fastener
to make sure we protect the user
from having to do a ton more
work to actually get that out
of the engine or whatever
application that they're working on.
So it is protecting
the user from what they're
doing, but it's also coming straight from the user.
This might be
somewhat of a rhetorical question,
but I would like to talk through use cases
of this. When you're in a shop
and you're seeing a technician use this,
is there any commonality in what they're using
or it's just that all-purpose
gun that you're kind of using on everything?
Yeah, for this tool in particular
what we're seeing is
it's a great tool for under-the-hood
type work. We'll do some
under-body jobs, but with this tool
all the smaller fasteners,
even some dash work
as well in interior, that's where you're going to see
the quarter inch and the 3a
shine is
becoming that every-aid tool.
This stubby will have its place,
the mid-torks will have its place,
but with this tool what we really saw was
again 80 to 90%
of the work under-the-hood
is where this tool really shines.
I like that and perfect size for getting your hand
where you need to get it
with that comfort level in the grip.
Just so many advantages
to having a tool like that in your toolbox.
Absolutely, and it's
for us it's making sure we give the users
the right tool for the job and
if this tool isn't the right one, maybe it's a ratchet,
maybe it's a right angle impact, maybe it's
something else, but
giving users the option
to do and use the right solutions for them
is another big part of what we're trying to accomplish.
So I'm reading about
one of the other benefits
a key feature
really,
four-mode drive control with auto-shut-off.
Can you tell me a little bit about that?
Yeah, so in this fourth mode
we have this feature
called auto-shut-off and
we've started to implement this into a lot of our tools,
but this tool in particular
has a more significant
value for it because you're working on
those plastic fasteners,
those lighter-duty screws,
the smaller screws, the smaller bolts
that you don't want a lot of torque.
That feature will automatically
shut-off below 10 foot-pounds,
so you will not
snap that faster to your...
That is a beautiful thing.
We're trying to, again, allow the user to
protect their
job that they're working on and get it done faster
and have a little more control over the work that they're doing.
I love it. Well, let's now
shift over to the Gen2 Ratchet.
What can you tell me about this?
This one is really exciting
and one that I love
both of these tools, but that one in particular with the Ratchet
it's been a long journey.
We started about five years ago
in the development of that tool
and when we were going out and trying to understand
where do we need to take this
Ratchet space?
We knew we had to make some big changes
if we truly wanted to solve the user frustration.
When we were going out and talking to users,
there were users that wanted
that had the high torque
but weren't really thrilled with the big head size
or the speed. There were users that
liked the high speed
but didn't like the torque output
and that's
a common theme across all Ratchets
within the industry is
you had to make a trade-off.
What we said about five years ago is
let's just start from scratch with the Ratchet.
How can we eliminate that trade-off
from the very beginning so
a user can just purchase one tool if they want
everything all the best
in both worlds?
Five years ago,
it all started with the motor
and we completely
thought about the motor differently
than what we've had in the past.
With this new Ratchet,
we developed a new outer-rotor motor
is what it's called, a tongue twister.
I don't know if I can actually say that.
It's an outer-rotor motor
and basically
what our technical team
set out to go accomplish
is what can give us
that power that we're looking for
but how can we drive outsize?
A lot of the feedback that we also heard
from all cordless Ratchets is
it's nice but it's still really big in your hand.
We also set out
can we get the performance that we want
but how can we take outsize?
We found this incredible sweet spot
with this motor technology
and design that allows us
to accomplish all that.
Motor development takes a really long time
and that's why it started five years ago
and we're here today.
Building a motor from the ground up
is no small task
but it's really
unlocked a lot of
key things that this Ratchet is delivering for us.
So from the very beginning
to where we're at now
we saw what the motor can provide.
We also looked at how do we make it more comfortable?
If we can take the size out of the tool
how can we develop an ergonomic design
to take advantage of that size reduction?
We spent a ton of time
with our ID team
a ton of SLS samples
out in the field to say does this fit right?
Does this curvature on the handle
fit well into the hand?
And it's all those little things that went to the
design of this tool that I think is
going to get a lot of users excited
to use it beyond the performance
that it's also going to be delivering.
Yeah and I think when we looked
you showed me the visual earlier today
the difference between the Gen 1 and Gen 2 motors
and it was
like when you look at it at scale
almost hard to comprehend
that the smaller one
could do everything that it could
compared to what we had before
right? It's pretty wild.
And it's a kudos to our technical team
our engineers are
the best in the industry.
They continue to deliver products
that no one thought would be possible.
A few years ago was the first one inch
dehandling in the industry.
No one thought you could deliver a cordless tool
pneumatic and we did it again here
delivering a motor
that's 20% lighter but gives you
20% more power over the previous one
is like defies
physics almost.
Yeah we continue to
exceed
the expectations of ourselves
and again all kudos to our engineering team
we have a world-class engineering team
that continues to provide product like this.
And it is a phenomenal tool
very light
you can tell in your
own head just looking at it
how many different use cases you
have for that you can use that everywhere
that is a really really nice tool
I think
I've got a couple in my box I don't have that
that's not out yet. It's not it will be coming
in January but we can
hook you up. We'll make sure you get
the new one in your toolbox.
That's much appreciated.
My last question here
is how much patience
does it take when you're developing a tool
over five years
to not see your finished product
go out the doors for
a long time right?
You have to be more patient than I
am. It's the hardest
part of the job to be frank
but it's also the most rewarding.
Yeah you're starting out five years
you have to have the vision of what you're going to want to go do
and you have to hold on to that vision along that
journey and the most
important piece is the excitement
of putting this tool in the hands of the user
and actually seeing that launch
and seeing the feedback at an event like
Pipeline. That's the
rewarding piece. You got to keep the
sites at the end of the tunnel and
patience is definitely
something that you have to have it within the product
management role within the engineering role
but the small wins throughout
the project. Seeing a motor
that we thought we might be able to get it
but then you actually can deliver and in this case
it actually outperformed what we initially thought
to developing it all
new mechanism to make it more durable so
that we can shrink the head size
those small wins, those small trade
off wins within the project you have
to keep driving that with the team and
that's how it keeps us on that
path and keeps us excited for that very
long journey but again
it's the most rewarding piece on days like today
and more importantly next year when we start
shipping and seeing all the feedback
there's nothing more rewarding than that.
Well keep up what you're doing
you're doing some amazing work. This has been such
a fun conversation. Hope we get
to talk more about this someday
and see the evolution but an absolute
pleasure having you on. Likewise, thanks for having
me and hopefully we'll
talk again next year with even more new stuff
on your way. I hope so too. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so
much. Yep, thanks.
That wraps up another episode of Beyond
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