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Thread: Changes at Delta?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
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    Changes at Delta?

    There's a rumor floating around on a couple of other forums that Stanley is downsizing Delta to the point that there will only be six machines continuing production. Jointers, contractor saws, bandsaws, most planers and lathes will cease production.

    If true, this would be a sad chapter in the history of a great brand!

    Regards,

    Ron

  2. #2
    Dont believe everything you read on the internet
    My favorite cologne is BLO

  3. #3
    (1) I sure hope it isn't true.

    (2) Based on what I've seen happen in other mergers and acquisitions, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

    The problem with U.S. industry in a nutshell: Too many number crunchers, not enough visionaries.

  4. #4
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    Is it me or has Delta's lineup been significantly reduced in the last few years anyway.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

  5. #5
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    Maybe HF will pick up the dropped lines.
    Never, under any circumstances, consume a laxative and sleeping pill, on the same night

  6. #6
    I'm not so sure it's a bad idea, if true.

    If closing down production of the listed machines means they would be able to close a factory, the overhead of that factory may well be considerably more than the profit that business unit makes. Thus by selling fewer product lines from a smaller industrial base, they become more profitable. This leads to the ability to invest greater sums in R&D and produce better product. It it were my business, I'd rather make fewer lines and more money out of better products, than more products, but less money and less quality and innovation.

    Further, if the exit of one of the players in a market causes less competition, it may drive up the prices in the rest of the market. Thus to re-enter the market in the future, you'd need to come to the table with a better product, and be competitively priced (at the new, higher, price point).

    We did something similar at work a couple of years back. We had a division of 20 people making products that lost $1m a year. Now we have three people in that division making $700k a year supporting the fielded products, and no new ones are promoted. The other 17 were redeployed to other divisions. I was very skeptical at the time, but with a couple years' hindsight, it was a bold, but successful decision.

  7. #7
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    Name means absolutely nothing today. The Delta name may go away but the same tool will most likely be made under DeWalt or Porter Cable.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  8. #8

    Rumors Are Not Useful

    I saw a similar unfounded and un-sourced rumor on another forum and I asked myself why would someone perhaps injure a company, especially in this economy by repeating what they may have heard. Now the rumor is being posted here. What if several folks here make a different buying decision based on information that is maybe untrue? Negative information cannot be withdrawn.

    I prefer to hear my rumors in the form of direct company announcements through the "official" media.

    Paul
    Last edited by Paul Wunder; 10-10-2010 at 8:06 PM. Reason: spelling

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Phil Thien View Post
    (1) I sure hope it isn't true.

    (2) Based on what I've seen happen in other mergers and acquisitions, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

    The problem with U.S. industry in a nutshell: Too many number crunchers, not enough visionaries.
    Phil, sentimentality aside, losing Delta wouldn't bother me, just another North American company driven off shore by customers who didn't care where their products were built.

    I don't see it as a management issue, I see it as a customer issue. When Delta first when off shore, if we had stopped buying their products and stayed with NA manufacturers, they would either have come back to the US or closed.

    Instead we rewarded them by purchasing their off shore products, motivating other companies to adopt this approach.

    Regards, Rod.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ron Kellison View Post
    Jointers, contractor saws, bandsaws, most planers and lathes will cease production.
    They pretty much ceased production of these items as far as I'm concerned a decade ago. Selling the generic Taiwanese stuff with your color scheme and logo on it is hardly an industry leading move. Having those items, if this rumor is at all true, go away would hardly affect the industry at all. I see they are releasing a new scroll saw, and the ads talk about getting back to their roots. My older delta shaper has been declared obsolete, which means they no longer support it for parts, which means they have lost me as a customer pretty much for the remainder of my life. Perhaps when I get old and senile I will forget the experience of having a rude CS rep tell me bluntly that I should buy a new machine, that mine is too old, and that I'm on my own as far as finding a new spindle. Funny, I can still get parts for older powermatics? If they are going to operate like that they may as well close.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Lance Norris View Post
    Dont believe everything you read on the internet
    Why not?



















  12. Quote Originally Posted by Phil Thien View Post
    (1) I sure hope it isn't true.

    (2) Based on what I've seen happen in other mergers and acquisitions, I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

    The problem with U.S. industry in a nutshell: Too many number crunchers, not enough visionaries.
    It all about the money....nothing else

  13. Quote Originally Posted by Rod Sheridan View Post
    Phil, sentimentality aside, losing Delta wouldn't bother me, just another North American company driven off shore by customers who didn't care where their products were built.

    I don't see it as a management issue, I see it as a customer issue. When Delta first when off shore, if we had stopped buying their products and stayed with NA manufacturers, they would either have come back to the US or closed.

    Instead we rewarded them by purchasing their off shore products, motivating other companies to adopt this approach.

    Regards, Rod.
    Its all about the money.....nothing else

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Mark Woodmark View Post
    It all about the money....nothing else
    Isn't that what a for profit business is supposed to be about?

  15. #15
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    Didn't Porter-Cable just buy Delta? I seem to recall a rebranding of Delta by someone. If so, I can imagine that techinically some Delta machines may stop being labelled as Delta and instead made under the Porter-Cable label instead. So techinically, yes, some Delta (labelled) machines may stop production. And I would imagine any that were duplicated by the original P-C line would also end. As for reducing the Delta line-up beyond that, we'll all have to wait and see.

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