In another example of an industry in transition,
Peavey Electronics recently announced an extensive global restructuring. The company is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, which is no small accomplishment in the musical instrument/pro audio business.
The company announced that it will lay off as many as 100 factory employees at one of its hometown facilities in Meridian, Mississippi beginning on November 25th. It will also close its UK distribution center as well.
Although long trumpeted as a national success story with much of the manufacturing kept within the borders of the US, Peavey has been gradually moving some of it to Asia, primarily to keep shipping costs down to other parts of the world.
That said, product development, engineering, sales, marketing, tech support and service remain in Meridian, as well as manufacturing for its highly successful
MediaMatrix digital audio distribution systems.
Unfortunately this may not be the only downsizing that we'll see in the industry this year. The business is shrinking thanks to more and better software and less need for hardware, which cuts right to most manufacturer's bottom line. Not only that, the trend is more to smaller and compact systems rather than large expensive boxes, which requires a company to be extremely nimble and efficient to survive.
Peavey has done a great job of supplying a quality product at a very reasonable price over the years. The company has grown to become one of the backbones of our business, and a strong and healthy Peavey also helps the industry stay healthy. Let's hope that this restructuring means another 50 years for the company.
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