Australians' reluctance to pay more for goods made by their compatriots has contributed to 50 workers in Albury being made redundant.
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Company chiefs have outlined two reasons for closing: firstly the ability to import tools from the firm's foreign plants to allow overall productivity to rise.
Secondly the costs of operating a manufacturing enterprise in Australia were hard to maintain and they stated "unfortunately, consumers aren't willing or able to pay the sizeable premium required to make Australian made products viable".
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Albury MP Justin Clancy said the demise of Apex Tools in Albury was sad and it showed that we need to "support local businesses and sometimes that's about being prepared to pay a little bit more for a quality product and a product that is supporting local jobs".
Apex will invited qualified employees to apply for jobs at the company's Sydney operations and assist others.
"We will set up facilities to help them apply for jobs and provide outplacement services to ensure they put their best foot forward when applying for new opportunities," managers said.
"We will also work with our networks including our customers to see if they can secure jobs via this avenue.
"Mental and emotional support has also been, and will continue to be, provided by a local employee assistance program.
"And finally, if nothing further can be done, we will provide what we see as very generous severance packages."
Farrer MP Sussan Ley said the business "became somewhat of an icon during the border's growth centre years".
"As we saw with Norske Skog, it is important the owners provided advance notice of the decision, which now allows workers some lead time to hopefully find alternate local jobs," Ms Ley said.
"The pandemic situation right now makes that far more challenging, but our government is ready to assist where we can as new roles in the manufacturing sector emerge, post COVID."
