piano manufacturers

[Delwin D Fandrich]

rmartin21@juno.com wrote:
> 
> Del
> 
> I agree with what you have said but I can't bring myself to be as
> positive about the future of American manufacturers as youself.

I'm not sure what I said that led you to think that I'm positive about
American piano manufacturers. Unless they begin to conduct business
somewhat differently than they have been over the past few decades, they
are going to be just as successful as Kimball and Aeolian were. 

> 
> As I am sure you are aware, I have spent as much time in marketing as I
> have in piano tuning. I find that the guy you referred to is by no means
> an isolated case. It all too often is the mind set of the guys who head
> up our industry.

Actually, no, I wasn't aware of that. Or if I was, I've forgotten.
Where?
 
> I sincerely hope you are correct with your premise that the piano
> industry will follow in the steps of our newly revived auto industry. But
> who is left to carry out this prediction? Basically we have Baldwin,
> Steinway as the big guys and a handful of small guys like Walters, Story
> & Clark, etc.

This will only happen if they take the same steps toward improving and
evolving their products that the auto industry has taken. Bite the
bullet. Bury the old ways. Tighten the belt and hustle.
 
> Sometimes the marketing men like myself are forced into the position of
> prostituting ourselves by pointing out the positive features of a
> commodity and tactfully ignoring the negative features. This is one of
> the major reasons I chose to go full circle back to tuning.

I understand that. I also understand that if marketing men didn't do
that not much of anything would ever be sold. Technical people, at least
those whose minds work in the convoluted fashion that mine does, tend to
focus on what is wrong with a product. I'd never get it sold. The
tension between the two is (should be) a good thing. Marketing keeps the
company in business while R&D and engineering evolves the product into
something better. And the cycle begins all over again. In the piano
industry, the cycle stopped. I remember all to well being told I was out
of line for defining and articulating certain product deficiencies. We
never got to the solutions because we couldn't admit to the problems.
 
> Believe me, Del, any marketing man worth his salt would LOVE to represent
> a product that fulfills his personal demands. Unfortunately, that is a
> little hard to come by.
> 
> Of course, you are right on the money! We need to start equipping our R &
> D departments with adequate funding to start designing some NEW
> products...not warm over yesterday's successes. Fresh blood and freash
> ideas are necessary.

An idea that is just revolutionary enough to get you fired. 

ddf