Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold *LINK*

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

john lucas

Gosh I've seen both sides happen. Delta was destroyed by all the buy outs. Hopefully this one will be good for Jet and Powermatic.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

mikeee12345

More like price increases, cheaper components, and customer service outsourced to India.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

Dick Hines

I hope they don't screw up one of the best lathes on the market.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

David Walser

It's not just Powermatic's lathes I'm concerned about. I hope they don't screw up Powermatic and Jet. Together, they produce one of the few full lines of traditional woodworking equipment. Where will hobbiest woodworkers go for such equipment if Powermatic/Jet exit the market?

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

mikeee12345

When these corporations and investment companies flip companies for a profit, it is

only a matter of time before they wring all of the value out of the investment. When

someone pays a premium for the asset, they immediately look for the quickest way

to pay off the purchase. Reduce inventory, Reduce Labor, Outsource Manufacturing,

Outsource Services, Reduce Parts Inventory, Reduce Available Models, Combine Competing

Lines, Lower The Quality, Raise The Price.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

David Walser

When these corporations and investment companies flip companies for a profit, it is only a matter of time before they wring all of the value out of the investment....

That's one possible outcome. There are lots of examples where that happened. However, it's not the only possible outcome and there are good reasons to believe it's not the most likely outcome in this case. From the press announcement, it appears that JPW Industries looked to sell itself to a white knight. That is, rather than a vulture capital firm buying up JPW against its will, JPW sought suitors willing to invest the capital necessary for JPW to achieve its potential. If that proves to be the case, JPW may become stronger financially and we might be rewarded with better products and better customer service.

It appears that the buyer intends to profit from JPW's long-term growth and profitability (if the company is growing and is profitable, it will bring a better price when it is sold to management and/or the public in 10 years or so). Venture capital firms (as opposed to vulture capital firms) want to be known for their successes -- where they bought a company and sold it after helping it become stronger and more profitable. Having such a reputation makes it easier to acquire target companies at good prices. The buyer of JPW is a new firm. It's in the buyer's interest to go the extra mile to make JPW successful. Of course, despite everyone's intentions, things might not work out that way and JPW may be sold off in pieces.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

John Lindenberg

I was getting ready to sell my hybrid (115v) table saw so that I could buy a full size cabinet 3hp table saw, I had my eye on a Jet. So now I'm wondering if I should hold off buying a Jet until we see where the investors take the company, or is it better to buy now before there is a chance of the quality becoming less, or am I reading into this too much? What other options are there for a good quality cabinet saw? The reason I had thought about going with the Jet is because of its reputation, its five year warranty and because I have lots of table inserts that would fit it. Saw stop won't necessarily work for me because I do cut a fair amount of green wood and heard that if you forget to change the mode every time you turn on the switch you could blow the brake assembly, plus its considerably more cost. So do I continue to go with Jet or?

On a side note this is my first post here, I've been reading here for quite some time and have learned a lot from you guys and enjoy your many photos.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

john lucas

I think you would be quite fine with the Jet. First off on table saws the only things that go bad are bearings, pulleys, motor and switches. All of those things could be replaced with after market stuff if necessary. However I don't think Jet is going to the dogs any time soon. I could be wrong but it's a big strong product, along with Powermatic of course.

Re: Parent company of Jet and Powermatic sold

mikeee12345

I work for one of the largest corporations in the U.S. when you mention making

a company stronger and more profitable a large number of the work force usually begin

updating there resumes and updating their LinkedIn page.

Very few companies are in the long term investing strategy when market volatility

is at an all time high. If they sold to a company with deep pockets and are willing to

make the company stronger and more profitable the old fashioned way, they would need

to buy up several other manufactures and consolidate them under one name and then drive

the pricing up. The trend with foundry casting made equipment has been going offshore for

3 or 4 decades for obvious reasons. Machining of the castings has also followed the offshore

trend with many companies, not all of them but a large percentage. Labor is one of the largest

overhead expenses for any company, manufacturing has a higher percentage of labor cost per

unit of goods sold. When the bean counters hash through the numbers the labor figures are

always scrutinized with very sharp pencils.

Yup, happened to me

Dick Coers

I was the project builder/designer at Woodworker's Journal in the late 90s. A big magazine conglomerate, PrimeMedia bought us out. It was going to be love and roses with all their mite put to force to really make us great. They put Woodworker's Journal up for sale in about 1 year. No buyers, so it closed. Then Rockler bought the name and subscription list. A lot of good people were out of work.

I wouldn't be surprised to see one of the names go away They'll fold over the best machines to the same color, and pare down the choices. We'll see, but with the aging demographic of woodworkers and turners, I don't see a bright future for the hobby woodworking industry anyway.

Re: Yup, happened to me

mikeee12345

I was reading an article today on our company intranet server about Amazon's

purchase of Whole Foods. They just dropped the prices on many popular items

items in all of the stores, some of these items were a 43% price decrease. Amazon

has the potential to upset any market it decides to dabble in.

Re: Yup, happened to me

Ron Pemberton

I live in a small town and in the country. It will be a cold day when I will order hamburger, steaks and chicken by E-Mail.

Re: Yup, happened to me

mikeee12345

Funny you mention hamburger, steak and chicken......Bill Gates and Richard Branson have

invested in a company called Memphis Meats which grows meat products in stainless steel

vessels in 6-8 weeks time. No feeding, transporting, butchering of animals. Uses 10% of the

required resources to produce the product compared to feeding the animal.

Frankenburgers

Soylent green?

Re: Yup, happened to me

mikeee12345

Perhaps one day I will modify the technology and grow exotic wood blanks in a vessel.

I work with a number of companies in bio-engineering it is amazing how many products

we use on a daily basis that are made with similar technologies. Feed a yeast bug sugar and

you get an endless supply of alcohol, feed a fungi sugar and you get an endless supply of enzymes.

A few of these companies are now gene splicing these little critters and producing an amazing variety

of products. One of these companies is now producing over 2000 different enzymes used in every industry.

One of our other ventures is feeding natural gas to a bug which converts it into a high protein fish meal type

feed additive. Another joint venture is feeding dextrose to a bug that converts it into a stevia sweetener compound.