heres some news
http://www.anglingtrade.com/2010/09/30/3m-to-acquire-ross-reels/
Hope the good ol’ boys in the CO still have jobs when all is done and Ross stays made in America. Well, the CLA and up and I know almost everything else is made overseas.
Not so sure this is good news.
Hmmm. I seem to recall that 3M killed of many of the other companies/product lines they have acquired in the past. Charleton Reels and J&W Outfitters watercraft and accessories come to mind. Ross reels has made excellent products over the years and provided excellent service on current and all discontinued products.
3M has a history of ‘absorbing’ companines.
They will likely keep the Ross name for a while. The first casuality will be the diversity of the line. They will certainly drop any marginal items, so look for the available options to shrink quickly.
Eventually, they will find the best selling Ross products. If these sales are significant enough, they’ll keep the brand and run with it. If not, they’ll just incorporate the best stuff into their existing lines and drop the brand. You can tell when that happens because you’ll see ‘Ross by Scientific Anglers’ or ‘Ross, a division of…’ or something like that appear first.
Big fish eat little fish.
Way of the world.
Buddy
I have 3 of the Ross Cimmaron reels and they have been the proverbial “bullet-proof.” Ordered a new Vexsis last year, however, and when I picked it up from the shop, the drag was frozen. Owner called Ross and the reply from ross person was “Oh, yeah, several have come back because the “lock-tite” wasn’t allowed to cure properly.”
I refused to accept another as I needed the reel that day and became wary that Ross had lowered its quality control standards. Owner of the shop, Rio Grande Angler, stopped carrying the ross brand this year as he became convinced of same.
I kinda wondered about this as well, when they started selling the “Ross Worldwide” brand at entry level prices…Usually a sign when I can afford reels from a company I never could afford to own before.
The also killed DB Dunn. Dan Baumgartner of DB Dunn invented the combined fabric and foam covered tubular rod/reel carriers.
Well, the good news is there should be some pretty deep discounts on discontinued reels in the near future…
The bad news is those last few “true” Ross reels will probably be the last Ross reels I buy…
Here’s hoping we’ll still be able to get warranty service…
Still, no fan of the Phillipson Fly Rod Company has yet forgiven 3M for buying Bill Phillipson’s crowning achievement, then immediately shutting the company down, forever choking off our supply of affordable impregnated bamboo fly rods (and the best glass rods of the era [sniff, sniff]).
The Phillipson era ended when Bill sold his company in 1972 to 3M Corporation, and they produced 300 impregnated Peerless rods at the Phillipson plant in Denver before moving the equipment to Minnesota. These rods are distinguishable by the wooden spacers in the aluminum reel seats.
I wonder if 3M is going to honor the lifetime warranties that Ross includes on the 865-4 Essence FW rods. My daughter gifted one to me and it is really a nice stick.
umm why wouldnt they?
if ross was run as a division of 3m, what would be the difference?
Maybe because 3M has a history of dumping the companies it acquires? Doesn’t make for much customer service…
I would believe if Ross continues to operate as a company owned by 3M, warranties would be honored. However, if Ross closes as a company and becomes a brand of 3M not sure. I would imagine even then they would honor warranties for some length of time so as to keep the image of the brand from becoming tarnished.
Truth is a lifetime warranty is only good for the lifetime of the company that issued it. We may never know for sure, but if Ross sold out to 3M, either they were in trouble already, or the owners were ready to sell out.
In any case, my thoughts are not with me but with the 25 employees and their families. I hope they can continue with their employment.
Jeff
3M owns Scientific Anglers. Is that a bad thing?
Ordered a new Vexsis last year, however, and when I picked it up from the shop, the drag was frozen. Owner called Ross and the reply from ross person was “Oh, yeah, several have come back because the “lock-tite” wasn’t allowed to cure properly.”
I love the “old” Ross reels. I think they were some of the best made (Cimmaron, Gunnison, Canyon). The more recent Ross reels i’ve purchased have been a definite let down. Several have had drag problems. I guess Galvan is gonna take their place for me.
Wayne,
You asked:
"3M owns Scientific Anglers. Is that a bad thing? "
Depends on your definition of ‘bad’. At one point SA made great inexpensive reels. Now they make marginal inexpensive reels and some so so expensive reels. That might have happened anyway, but who knows. Perhaps this is an effort to ‘upgrade’ a tarnished product reputation with some new blood.
SA’s big thing with 3M seems to be fly lines. That ‘line’ of products seems to be actually expanding. Whether or not the ‘advances’ they produce, like the new ‘Sharkskin’, concept are ‘good’ or not depends on the angler. $100 fly lines are not typical, yet they seem to be selling even with mixed reviews and some obvious problem areas.
I still see their ‘kit’ fly rods out there, and they are a good value. But they aren’t even up to the market share of Cortland’s lower end rods. I expect they’ll fade eventually.
A big company buying a little one isn’t always bad. Sometimes it’s the only way that the folks that built a small company up and invested years of time and labor into it can get some recompense for their efforts. While this isn’t always good for the ‘brand’ it is often good for the sellers.
If the ‘workers’ at Ross had a piece of the company, and many small companies like that allow their employees to own a portion of the busines, I imagine they all did pretty well. In any event, the folks that built the Ross reels have skills that will be marketable, and we may see some of them get together and produce reels under another name. That happens all the time.
As far as the ‘fate’ of the Ross line under 3M’s control, we’ll just have to wait and see. Might be a good thing. Might not.
Buddy
In FFing, or really any other business, when a big company gobbles up a smaller company, I can’t recall any success stories for the smaller companies brand / products. If anyone can think of one, I guarantee there’s at least 10 examples of failure for every one example of success.
Buddy, brought up a couple of good points that get looked over when we think about smaller companies being taken over by larger companies, especially mega-companies. I think 3M qualifies as a mega company, first is survival the smaller company may have been struggling to stay viable and make a profit; the founders and owners certainly have a right to get the best return on investment they can. Considering the tax increases looming on the horizon their timing may have been a key issue. I hope the owners and all of the people who worked there will benefit from the transaction. The other is not all big companies are evil. 3M used to be a client of mine which resulted in me watching the company products. Generally speaking when 3M brings a product to the market it is a quality product that is well thought out and engineered. If you look at the 3M brand products most came from them originally and are hits, i.e. Post It notes. Fly lines would seem more main stream for 3M than reels as they are very involved with fibers and plastics. While I do not have any plans for new reels or lines I hope the owners, employees and customers are all happy it happened a year and 5 years from now. I was relocated from outside Memphis, where I loved being, to outside Atlanta, where I never wanted to live, as the result of one big company taking over another. Now I love being in metro Atlanta area.
Not trying to influence anyone’s opinion about the possible outcome of this acquisition. However, for those who’ve been around a while you might remember some of those previous acquisitions and eventual closures as being the product of larger healthy companies trying to pick up the pieces of already stressed smaller manufacturers after the Sequel debacle.
Dave