I Toured Inside the Company Behind the "Domino Killer”
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Is Kreg made in the USA? I flew to Ankeny, Iowa and toured the entire Kreg Tool facility to answer that, and I watched a collaborative robot assemble 310 and 320 pocket hole jigs while I was standing there. This post covers what actually happens inside that building, who owns the company, and what you get when you call their support line.
The Short Answer
- Kreg assembles, packages, and ships out of its own facility in Ankeny, Iowa, and I watched it happen.
- Every Kreg order in the United States ships from that one building, including big box store shipments and website orders.
- Kreg Tool is employee owned through an employee stock ownership plan set up in 2014.
- Call Kreg and you reach a person in Iowa, not an overseas call center.
Is Kreg Made in the USA?
This is the question I hear most about Kreg, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a marketing line. I went into this expecting a warehouse tour. Here is some product, we ship it, thanks for coming. That is not what I found.
Kreg assembles product in Ankeny, Iowa. I stood in the packaging area and watched a collaborative robot put together 310 and 320 pocket hole jigs. The cobot picks four different parts, two unique ones on the far side and two closer in, and assembles either a single component or a series of them depending on whether it is building a 310 or a 320. Finished jigs drop into buckets, then get packed and palletized right there.
The team walked me through how that cell works. It uses an AI vision system so parts can be presented in a bunch of different orientations instead of being fed in perfectly every time. As the pickable parts on top of the pile get used up, a brush sweeps across to reshuffle them so the vision system can find more. Harrison told me it was one of the more challenging projects they have taken on, and that it pushed the company to see what was possible.
The Rip Cut runs on two dedicated lines with subassembly done by hand. The jig gets assembled, goes into a sonic welder that welds the plastic tabs on the packaging, then gets heat sealed to the cardboard in a process they call blister sealing. From there it goes into a case, down a conveyor that tapes the tops and bottoms, and onto a pallet.
See the Kreg Rip Cut at Acme Tools Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Then there is the distribution side. That building is the distribution center for the entire United States. Kreg Europe handles international. Everything Kreg sells to the big box stores, everything ordered off the Kreg website, and everything going to the dozens of smaller dealers ships out of that one facility in Iowa, employing people right here in the USA.
Shop all Kreg tools at Acme Tools Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Watch the Full Test
The video shows the cobot running in real time, the conveyor system catching a picking error before it left the building, and the ownership tree on the wall. Some of this is hard to picture from text alone.
Who Owns Kreg Tool Company?
Kreg Tool is employee owned. Not a single family, not a private equity group. Back in 2014, Kreg's son Todd, who is now the CEO, bought his parents out and set up an employee stock ownership plan.
You see it the moment you walk down the hallway. There is a giant tree on the wall with wooden leaves. Every time an employee gets vested in the company, they become a part owner and their name goes on that tree.
Here is why that matters to you as a customer. The person building your jig, packing your product, or answering your phone call has a stake in the company. They care about the outcome because they own a piece of it. That is a different incentive than a warehouse job at a company you will never have equity in.
Kreg Tool Customer Service: What Happens When You Call
The most impressive part of the entire tour was a room full of desks. That sounds underwhelming until you understand what those desks do.
When you call Kreg Tool, you get a person in Iowa sitting at one of those desks. Not a chatbot. Not a phone tree you have to fight through fifty thousand times. Not an overseas call center reading from a script.
But there is a second piece that almost nobody knows about. Just across the way from the customer service desks, in the same area, Kreg keeps a dedicated room with every single tool they sell. So if you call with a problem on your Kreg Edge, your pocket hole jig, or your Kreg Rebel, the person helping you can walk over, put hands on the exact tool you own, and talk you through it.
I do not think most people realize how rare that is. Usually when you finally reach a human, they are not familiar with the product and cannot answer a real question. Kreg has someone trained on these tools sitting right there.
See the Kreg 20v Rebel at Acme Tools Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Kreg Pocket Hole Jig Story and How the Name Started
About ten or fifteen feet inside the door sits the very first Kreg jig, the original pocket hole jig, along with several iterations showing how the tool evolved into what you can buy today.
The story behind it is better than most origin stories. A guy named Craig had a wife who wanted cabinets built, and she did not want anything showing on the outside. No nail holes, nothing. So he came up with the jig. His brother saw it, borrowed it, and started calling it Craig's jig. That is where the name Kreg came from.
He built them in a garage and a small shop out back, then started hauling them to trade shows. As they got popular, Kreg Tool was born. If you want to see where that line of thinking has ended up, I covered how the new Rebel pocket hole machine changed wood joinery in a separate post.
See the Kreg 310 Pocket Hole Jig at Acme Tools Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
See the Kreg 320 Pocket Hole Jig at Acme Tools Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The Kreg Edge Tenon Joiner: The Tool That Started This Conversation
The reason I ended up in Iowa in the first place is the Kreg Edge, the new 20V cordless tenon joiner that a lot of people are calling the first real Domino killer. I am one of them. Loose tenon joinery has been locked behind one expensive tool for a long time, and the Edge is the first serious challenge to that.
It comes two ways. The KPTBEDGE100B is the full kit, which is the buy if you are not already running Kreg 20V batteries. The KPTEDGE100B is the bare tool for anyone who already has the platform from the Rebel, the drill, the trim router, or the cordless track saw.
The Edge is also part of why the customer service setup matters. It is a brand new tool category for a lot of woodworkers, and being able to call and reach someone in Iowa who can pick the exact tool up off the shelf while you are on the phone is worth something on a tool you are still learning.
See the Kreg Edge 20V Tenon Joiner Kit at Tool Nut Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
See the Kreg Edge 20V Tenon Joiner tool only at Tool Nut Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Kreg Pocket Hole Jig Comparison: 310 vs 320 vs 720 vs K4
Four Kreg pocket hole jigs come up on the product wall and in the assembly area. Here is how they line up, based on what is assembled where and what each one is built to do.
| Jig | Style | Assembly in Ankeny | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kreg 310 | Compact, single guide | Built on the collaborative robot cell | Acme Tools |
| Kreg 320 | Two guide blocks joined together | Built on the same robot cell as the 310 | Acme Tools |
| Kreg 720 | Bench mounted with clamping | Sold and shipped from Ankeny | Acme Tools |
| Kreg K4 | Earlier generation bench jig | Sold and shipped from Ankeny | Acme Tools |
How Kreg Checks Quality Before Your Order Ships
Quality control was more involved than I expected. Packaging teams run control plan audits throughout the shift, leads run their own audits, and then quality technicians layer another round of the same audits on top. The goal they kept repeating was first time quality for the customer.
There is also a quality lab where internal and external product gets measured on a faro arm and by other methods to confirm it matches spec. The quality team is two quality engineers, a quality manager, and four quality techs.
On the packaging floor, a pick light station lights up green and follows the operator's sequence. Put a hand in the wrong bin and it tells you. That is how they make sure the right product ends up in the right package. An hour by hour production tracker sits alongside it, plus an andon system, which means call for help. One button press calls maintenance, quality, or a lead.
In distribution, scanners sit in tunnels along the conveyor. While I was standing there the line stopped because a scanner caught a mismatch between the product and the assignment. Mitch cleared it before it moved on. Their approach is to catch the error where it happens instead of passing it downstream.
Continuous Improvement on the Packaging Floor
Kreg runs a lean Kaizen culture. A couple of years back they ran an improvement event on the blister sealing machines and built what they believe is the first cockpit style setup in the industry. The entire machine lifts to the height of the operator.
Safety came first in that event, then changeovers. A product changeover used to take twenty to thirty minutes. It is now under two. They did it by making the carts decouple, so a cart already staged with the new product rolls in while the old one rolls out. The station also spins toward the operator so everything stays within reach, which drives efficiency and ergonomics at the same time.
They also run three blister sealing machines, including two eight station versions that load the blister and the card automatically for higher volume. In the ecom pack area, the system prompts the packer on which box to build and kicks out the right size wet tape. Scanners come up out of the table so packers can use both hands.
What Else Is Inside the Kreg Building
The building itself has Easter eggs if you know where to look. The angled columns out front sit at the same angle as your pocket hole jig. The office windows have etched ovals that are the pocket hole shape.
Inside there is a full product wall displaying everything Kreg makes the way it would look on a store shelf, so the team can see how it lands in retail. Seeing it all laid out makes clear how far past pocket hole jigs this company has come. The cordless lineup and the cutting systems have gotten serious in the last year or two. If you are watching Kreg pricing, I keep an updated list of the best current Acme Tools deals since that is where most of these live.
They also have a film studio on site with an editing suite, a green room, and multiple sets built to look like the inside and outside of a garage for product videos. On the employee side there is a full size gym and a virtual driving range.
There is one more room I got into that I cannot say much about. I had to sign paperwork before going in. I cannot talk about the tools that are coming, but Kreg has a roadmap that is going to shake up the woodworking industry over the next few years, and not just the power tool side of it.
See the Kreg Adaptive Cutting System at Acme Tools Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Was This a Sponsored Video
No. Kreg did not ask me to make this video and this is not sponsored. I asked them for a tour and they agreed. I paid for my own plane tickets both ways and all the Uber travel. They bought my meal a couple of times while I was there and covered the hotel. Everything else was on me.
All Tools From This Video
Tool Nut
Acme Tools
- Shop All KREG Tools
- Kreg 310 Pocket Hole Jig
- Kreg 320 Pocket Hole Jig
- Kreg 720 Pocket Hole Jig
- Kreg 720 Pro Pocket Hole Jig
- Kreg K4 Pocket Hole Jig
- Kreg 20v Rebel
- Kreg 20v Hepa Vac
- Kreg 20v Drill
- Kreg 20v Trim Router
- Kreg Track Saw
- Kreg 20v Track Saw
- Kreg Rip Cut
- Kreg Accu-cut
- Kreg Project Center
- Kreg Precision Router Lift
- Kreg Adaptive Cutting System
- Kreg 20v Ionic Drive Bundle
- Kreg Router Set Up Bars
- Kreg Drill Guide
- Kreg Clamp
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Kreg Tool located?
Kreg Tool is headquartered in Ankeny, Iowa. That facility holds the offices, a film studio, a product testing room, the packaging area, and the distribution center. It serves as the distribution center for the entire United States, while Kreg Europe handles international orders.
Is Kreg an American company?
Yes. Kreg Tool operates out of Ankeny, Iowa and employs people there. It is also employee owned through an employee stock ownership plan, so vested employees hold an ownership stake in the company rather than it being held by an outside group.
Who owns Kreg Tool Company?
The employees do. In 2014, Kreg's son Todd bought his parents out and set up an employee stock ownership plan. He is the CEO today. Employees who reach a certain length of service become part owners, and their names go on a wooden tree in the hallway.
Does Kreg have real customer service you can call?
Yes, and it is in Iowa. You reach a person at a desk instead of an overseas call center. Kreg also keeps a room stocked with every tool they sell right next to the support area, so the person on the phone can pick up the exact tool you own and walk you through it.
What is the Kreg Edge tenon joiner?
It is Kreg's new 20V cordless tenon joiner, and a lot of woodworkers are calling it the first real Domino killer. It comes as a full kit under model KPTBEDGE100B or as a bare tool under KPTEDGE100B. The bare tool makes sense if you already own Kreg 20V batteries from the Rebel or the cordless drill.
Where does the name Kreg come from?
From a guy named Craig. His wife wanted cabinets built with nothing showing on the outside, so he made a pocket hole jig to do it. His brother borrowed it and started calling it Craig's jig, and the name stuck. He built them in a garage, took them to trade shows, and Kreg Tool grew from there.
Are Kreg pocket hole jigs assembled by robots?
The 310 and 320 series are assembled on a collaborative robot cell in Ankeny. It uses an AI vision system that can identify parts presented in different orientations, and a brush sweeps the parts pile so the system keeps finding pickable pieces. Other products like the Rip Cut are assembled by hand on dedicated lines.
Some links in this post are affiliate links. 731 Woodworks may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Kreg invited me inside their Iowa headquarters for a full facility tour. I saw where the jigs get assembled, who owns the company, and why calling their support line gets you a real person.