The Customer Trap by Andrew R. Thomas & Timothy J. Wilkinson

Author:Andrew R. Thomas & Timothy J. Wilkinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Apress, Berkeley, CA
Published: 2020-03-13T16:00:00+00:00

During this time, Stihl continued to improve his saw, creating a lighter weight and more reliable product.

Allied bombing raids during World War II destroyed the STIHL manufacturing facilities in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, and production was relocated to Waiblingen. In 1945, Stihl was arrested by French troops and turned over to the Americans. Like all of Europe, the company languished during the immediate postwar period, but by 1948, Stihl was released from custody and eventually returned to the helm of his enterprise.

The major breakthrough for the company occurred in 1950, when STIHL introduced the first one-man saw. An improved version brought to market in 1954, at 31 pounds, was the first chain saw that was truly portable. New products and innovations followed, including the Contra introduced in 1959 (with its direct drive and diaphragm carburetor) and a saw with an antivibration system in 1965. Constant improvement and innovation characterized the company’s products throughout the period.

STIHL’s innovations stimulated demand for chain saws and, between 1963 and 1965, output doubled from 65,000 to 130,000 saws. By this time, the business had 50 percent of the German market share and a 16 percent share worldwide. Within a decade, the company’s 2,000 employees were producing 340,000 saws annually.

Andreas Stihl died in 1973 at the age of 76. Despite two world wars, raging inflation, crippling poverty, tough competition, and many other obstacles, the inventive mechanical engineer had managed to build a company with 2,500 employees producing the world’s leading brand of chain saw. The following year, STIHL opened a 20,000-square-foot facility in Virginia Beach operated by fewer than 50 employees to facilitate its exports into the US market.

By 1960, Stihl’s four children had become limited partners in the company, and because of careful planning, the transition to new leadership went smoothly. Hans Peter Stihl was designated as the successor to Andreas in 1972. The company weathered the economic slump of the 1970s and the global recession of the 1980s. In 1986, it began to offer complementary products, including safety glasses, gloves, boots, helmets, and hearing protectors. New products were also introduced, including trimmers and leaf blowers, as well as specialized clearing saws.

Until the 1990s, STIHL produced chain saws strictly for professional use in the forest and lumber industries. This left 50 percent of the market untouched by the company. Ongoing innovations, including design innovations that reduced the weight of the product to 20 pounds, prompted the company to move aggressively into the small-saw market. In 1994, STIHL shifted the production of all small saws to the United States and, as of 2014, the Virginia Beach operation consisted of a manufacturing and administrative facility of more than 1 million square feet, with approximately 2,100 employees. In 1973, another manufacturing facility was established in Brazil. A sales office was set up in China in 1995, followed by manufacturing operations in 2005.

STIHL became the market leader in the chain-saw segment in 1992, eclipsing both Homelite and the McCulloch Corporation. The STIHL Group today employs more than 13,800 people around the

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