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HobbiCo / Great Planes / Tower Hobbies

wings_of_fire said:
Companies that work on 10% profit go extinct.
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Absolutely. I used to work in the printing ink industry. The profit margins on web ink (the ink used to print newspapers and store flyers) is so incredibly small, only the large conglomerates can make the stuff and be profitable. The two small independent companies I worked for that tried to make web ink their main product are no longer in business for obvious reasons.
 
GA Dawg said:
And it's actually in stock, which is shocking for Tower to actually have anything in stock anymore.
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I'm wondering where that Dynamite stuff would actually ship from? Did they just connect store fronts to the Horizon warehouses or actually bring Dynamite inventory into (was)Tower's warehouses?
 
It would be retarded to have 2 warehouses. It should be easy enough to maintain 2 storefronts with 1 distribution center behind them. That's how Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies operate for us homebrewers.
 
Horizon explicitly excluded everything about the Traxxas lawsuit in the purchase. Traxxas will still litigate against the estate of Hobbico most likely though not sure what will be recovered.
 
Latest bit regarding Hobbico customers going a different route - Futaba is going it alone!

(I'll confess I found out about this on Harley's weekly YouTube R/C Scale News Update - but if you don't watch those, it's useful if you own or are thinking of purchasing any Futaba gear)

https://futabausa.com/

Notice


"Dear Valued Customers,

For many years Futaba Corporation’s Hobby Radio Control equipment repairs and customer service was part of an exclusive distribution agreement between Hobbico, Inc. and Futaba Corporation. During that time Hobbico’s “Hobby Services” was responsible for all of North America’s service and customer support based in Champaign, IL.

In recent weeks with Hobbico Inc.’s sale and lack of service support on Futaba product, Futaba Corporation has begun work on a North America Futaba Hobby Radio Control Service Center based in Huntsville, AL.

At this time, the service center is not able to make repairs yet but we hope to be fully operational in the upcoming weeks. We are very sorry for this inconvenience and are moving as quickly as we can to resume offering a great service center that is equipped to service all products and offer expert technical support on all your favorite Futaba RC products.

If you are faced with an immediate question requiring technical advice, feel free to contact us via this form and a Futaba HRC Division employee will assist you with your inquiry.

We will make an official announcement when the North America Futaba Hobby Radio Service Center is ready to take repair and warranty requests. We look forward to working with all our fantastic customers directly from Futaba!"


*** Anyone worried about whether they can pull this off - from Wikipedia:

Founded:

Mobara, Japan (February 3, 1948; 70 years ago)


Products:

OLED displays
VFDs
Display modules
Capacitive Touch panels
Radio control equipment
Automation equipment
Components for press die sets and mold bases


Revenue:

Increase JPY 64.35 billion (FY 2013)

(US$ 625.24 million) (FY 2013)


Net income:

Increase JPY 1.79 billion (FY 2013)

(US$ 17.45 million) (FY 2013)


Number of employees:

5,179 (consolidated, as of March 31, 2014)
 
I think that will be great news. Not tied into Horizon. My worry will be no rx for awhile. Hopefully they’ve got this figured out.


Hang up and Drive
 
Futaba can pull it off. I didn't know that HobbiCo was in charge of their repairs. That's not a good thing IMO. Nobody knows products like the manufacturer. So having Futaba repair their own stuff is a good thing.

But will HobbiCo/Horizon still distribute new Futaba products?
 
I just got an email that Tower is still doing e-Cash. "thumbsup"

Interesting how they haven't changed despite their failure. Hopefully they can get back to being a viable business as-is.
 
JatoTheRipper said:
Interesting how they haven't changed despite their failure. Hopefully they can get back to being a viable business as-is.
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That's what happens when companies go through bankruptcy and cut their bloated balance sheets. It no longer costs them XXXXX to service their debt, it now cost X.
 
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