Marlin update from downrangetv

[RIHMFIRE]

BTW downrangetv is a pretty darn good site....
give them a vist

After 140 years, the Marlin plant located in North Haven, Connecticut will be closed by the middle of next year. According to Remington Arms sources, the facility is being decommissioned and the manufacturing relocated to Remington’s Ilion, New York facilities, the Marlin lines are not moving offshore.

For the North Haven community, it’s an economic hit, impacting not just the 265 Marlin plant workers, but the cottage industries that have sprung up over time to service the Marlin workforce. When Marlin was acquired by Remington in 2008, there were 345 employees in North Haven and another 225 workers at the Marlin facility in Gardner, Massachusetts. Today, only 265 remain, and they’ve been notified they’re not going to be working beyond mid-2011.

For the industry, the news is yet another sign that business as usual is coming to an end. As corporations acquire smaller brands, corporate efficiencies, and economies of scale trump history and community standing. After all, if the brands didn’t fit inside a corporate portfolio and meet criteria that include efficiencies, the buy wouldn’t make much sense to begin with.

When larger companies acquire smaller ones, consolidation is inevitable.

The process is no different nor more surprising from Remington concerning its family of companies than Smith & Wesson integrating the Thompson/Center operations into its Springfield, Massachusetts headquarters. Stock analysts I’ve spoken with have made it abundantly clear they’d like S&W stock better if T/C’s facilities went away altogether. Fortunately, the analysts don’t run companies, they observe them.

If smaller companies were operating efficiently and/or profitably, they would most likely not be candidates for takeover. It is their inherent inefficiencies which make them candidates for acquisition, despite any historical standing. Ultimately, companies exist to make money for owners, whether they be private or public. If a new owner thinks they can change profit-and-loss statements with consolidation, consolidation is inevitable.

For the company founded by John M. Marlin in 1870, it’s a change in the kind of ownership lineage that has remained tied to New Haven and Connecticut communities. After acquiring Marlin from its original owner, the Kenna family owned and operated the company for nearly eighty-five years. Remington is the first corporate owner.

At this writing, it seems Marlin, Harrington and Richardson, New England Firearms and L.C. Smith- all Marlin brands -are destined for absorption into Remington’s existing manufacturing facilities in Ilion, New York. Such a move would maximize use of that facilities and consolidate manufacturing operations. Consolidation is another efficiency necessary to compete with imported products.

Although it’s purely speculation on my part, a consolidation move makes perfect sense if you’re demonstrating lean operating abilities as part of some sort of market capitalization move. Bankers and investors are quite fond of consolidated operations, especially if the company happens to represent numerous iconic brands.



I read in another article that the levergun market is so saturated
right now with old marling winchester, and all sorts of import
replicas that its is puting a drag on the new Marlin market...

I hope some of the models survive...like the 39 and their 45-70 lines

[allhands]

I can most certainly attest to the market saturation for levers. The place I work must have at least 35 levers, of all make and caliber, and we get more daily. By the way, we can't seem to sell any of them....

[Old Ironsights]

I can most certainly attest to the market saturation for levers. The place I work must have at least 35 levers, of all make and caliber, and we get more daily. By the way, we can't seem to sell any of them....

Well, by all means... post a running list in the Classifieds section...

[Dave]

Here is hoping Marlin will hang in there. The old joke that Winchester built such good guns they put themselves out of business applies here too. If a man buys a gun that is used by his son and grandson, that is two generations who aren't spending money. Of course now folks have more than one rifle, but I can find good, used pre-safety Marlins at pawn shops and gunshows all day long that are better made and cheaper than a new Marlin.

That combined with the fact that young guys kind of look at you funny when you try to explain why you choose a lever when a scoped bolt gun in 7-08 or 243 will shoot flatter farther and is on sale with a scope already on it at WalMart for less than a new unscoped Marlin.

The lever gun is timeless and just as good as it ever was. Times are a changin' though.

[Old Savage]

Out here, old levers come in and fly off the shelves. More interested now than a few years ago. New Marlins don't last long either. I will be headed down there today.

[jnyork]

I can most certainly attest to the market saturation for levers. The place I work must have at least 35 levers, of all make and caliber, and we get more daily. By the way, we can't seem to sell any of them....

Please post list, prices and the phone number!!

Better yet, send ME a PM with list and prices.

[RJS]

Yep ,I've been looking for a Marlin 1895 Cowboy. If you have one of those in stock give me a holler
Ron

[AJMD429]

One 'problem' for gun manufacturers (and wood-furnace manufacturers) is that their products last for decades, if not centuries, and the major innovations are over 100 years old...