The reason Mac's Homey's went bye bye

[klickitatsacket]

This is for Fish. I am being quite serious though. After I pulled down about a dozen of these old dinosaurs I realized why they went the way of the Bronto. Both companies were sold off about the time that Stihl started making head way in the U S market. This is not to say that Stihl is better but the manufacturing process was. Both Homelite and McCullochs were a very expensive saw design to manufacture. These things are built like tanks and when you get to looking at the amount of material used and how they are manufactured you can see why they could not compete with stihl at the time. If was cheaper and more profitable to sell off the company and have their saws built over seas as home owner models then it was to retool and try to compete with a saw that was light years ahead of them in manufacturing techniques. I believe that Husqvarna is now heading down the same road. I believe that Electrolux is weighing the cost of keeping up with the Kioto treaty and our own EPA agency vrs. building low powered home owner saws. I think that Solo and Sachs Dolmar are going to slip in and replace Husqvarna with in the next 5 years for market share in North America. I am not sure how Stihl will weather all of this other than to say that if they continue with their high pricing (10% jump last month) that it is going to give Solo and Sachs a fighting chance. This move of Electrolux putting Husqvarna in box stores is only going to tarnish the reputation of a great saw that has worked so hard to build inroads into the pro saw market. I see a lot of parallels to what happened to Homelite and McCulloch.
What do you guys think?

 

[Oregon_Native]

i see it as possible. :Eye:

 

[Mange]

I will put my two cent's here.

I think that the reason for all of this has more to do with money than teknics.
Elux has since many years sold consumer saws in stores, problem is you never new it. There is much more to Elux than Jonny Husky.


Now why would this happen?
Money!!!!!
The costumers do not want these junk 20hrs saws, but that is what they can afford. There is not many homeowners that bye pro saws. Those who do keep them for a long time.

The reason that Elux will drop is lack of quality for the dollars and to many costs making the prices high.
This big corporate thing is not long term.
Husqvarna did not last this long by buying up company's and selling junk to costumers.
They built quality, but not too high prices. This is not the way things are today. A few high quality high priced items and a lot junk, I mean a lot!
Take a good look about the brands today. You will find Elux everywhere but with Stihl and Dolmar. They even got claws in Solo somehow.

Here is my idea of Quality saws. "Small" business no more than 100 employed, trying to keep costs down, and making quality saws, not 50 models a year, but one in each class every now and then.
Husqvarna Vapenfabrik was right on, then when it got to be a part of Elux it has and will go down hill.


You can stop scrolling HERE

 

[klickitatsacket]

I use to work for a Husqvarna Full Line Dealer; chainsaw to mowers to weed trimmers to sod cutters. When I was getting my certifications one of the things that ol' Electro like to brag about was the fact that they owned more than 50% of the worlds out door power equipment market. That's enough to even make Bill Gates proud.

 

[ozflea]

Yea i heard this story from McCulloch Australia many years ago now, now maybe it's Huskies turn bow their head and bugger off outta the market place.

Mc Bob.

http://www.users.bigpond.com/ozflea/saws.html

 

[ozflea]

Sorry but i just read the first comments again does that mean in Stihl's case your getting less saw for more money ????????????

Mc Bob

http://www.users.bigpond.com/ozflea/saws.html

 

[weimedog]

No, I'm not buying that as an explanation.

I broached this subject on a few other postings a while back..with some inside knowledge. What I had learned from my business dealings with Textron was confirmed a few years back when I was flying home from an "Autofacts" show. To make a long story short I happened to sitting next to a lawyer who had worked on the Textron account AFTER they started buying and spending to make themselves less attractive to takeovers...yes....ADD enough debt and they would be able to avoid a hostle takeover where a company is bought and then split up and sold to pay off cash hungry stock holders. What killed Homelite was that set of actions from the parent corperation. Actually Homelite was very healthy prior to the 1980's rip & tear of American Manufacturing. They were in a position cash wise to invest in new product design. And certainly had the talent. AFTER the "poison" pill they were not. This started a down hill path to where they failed as a company in the commercial saw market place.

Germany isn't the cheapest place to manufacture. I'm not as impressed with Stilh either as a product as some are. Good solid stuff, but nothing earth shattering. They happened to capitalise on a bad situation. McCulloch? I have no idea why they caved in as I didn't have visability of their business practices of the 1980-1990's.

If I'm either Electrolux or Stihl, I would be looking over my shoulder to Asia as the next wave of new products to compete at the SAME design and quality level for a MUCH lower price. What we did in the 1990's is coming back to haunt us in a big way now.

 

[ozflea]

Well put Weimedog,
Ireakon that about sums it up.
They can stick that in their Huskie Stihl pipes and smoke it.

Mc Bob.

 

[bwalker]

If the new 575 is indicative of what Husky is offering for the future I think the time is perfect for stihl to blow them out of the water. Dolmar could do it as well if they improve their dealer network and parts/distribution channels. Stihl has deaper pockets and already has a hug dealer network so they have a leg up. The real question is will Stihl step up to the plate and come out with a compliant saw that smokes the 575?

 

[klickitatsacket]

great insight meimedog

 

[eyolf]

Homelite was sold to textron way back in the '50's. Stihl wasn't to be a serious market presence for at least 1o years. But that's really splitting hairs.
Another source of nails in Homie and McC's coffin was the fact that Husky, Tilton (Jonsered) and Stihl were very keen to exploit dealer dissatisfaction over seeing McC and Homie saws on sale at mass merchandise outlets, sometimes for about the same price as the dealer paid before shipping and floor plan charges.

In my area at least, the Tilton rep got a reputation for being tireless about customer service. He still is missed by at least one older dealer. I do not know about McC, but I worked for a regional distributor for Jacobsen lawn and garden equipment in the late '70's, when Textron rolled them under the Homelite roof. Their own people admitted they had some real problems servicing the distributor/dealer/customer. I remember an entire distributor-level parts order getting lost, never sent, several thousand dollars worth. The bean counters still were able to rescue enough info to send a bill...LOL!

We ran far and fast from Jake after that, but within a few years almost everyone had gone dealer direct...no room for the middleman. I sure enjoyed that business.

 

[weimedog]

I keep hearing about the horrible Husqvarna 575 and like offerings...and that Stihl is going to make hay ...I have to tell you if the Stihl pole saw we bought at my work is any indication, Stihl isn't going to have any better luck with the "new" emission freindly technology. That limb saw is heavy as hell and our old..HOMELITE (Probably built by Echo) is many years its senior and has more power with several pounds less weight. That Stihl is the last tool picked and spends more time sitting around than in use. The guys would rather use a pieced together relic than carry it around all day. Guys at work like the Husqvarna brand and are using that pole saw as a reason to stay a Husky shop. Valid? Maybe, maybe not. Equally as valid as trashing the new 575 offering to push the other way.

 

[glens]

When I trash the 575 I do so only on it's own merits.  When you pick one up and carry it to the log, you'd swear you were carrying an 066 right up until you start cutting with it.  Then the illusion fails.

It may well be that Stihl will suffer the same way with their newer models.  Until they become available it will be purely speculation.  We have the 575 available for picking on now.

Glen

 

[Timothy]

anyone have experience using a newer mac or homelite? please comment, i'm curious

 

[Marco]

anyone have experience using a newer mac or homelite? please comment, i'm curious