I attached a spreadsheet that is cited from Book I purchased titled "How to Write a Winning Business Report by Joseph Mancuso.
In his book there is discussion of the Shopsmith 1972 Business Plan to resurrect Shopsmith by John R. Folkerth and his backers.
While it was not part of the recent cache of documents Dr. Hans Goldschmidt I was provided access to while in Dayton last month.
The spreadsheet has production totals and sales totals by models for 10ER, Mark V, Mark VII, Saw Smith, Major and Minor Accessories, and Parts for the period 1948 to 1969.
We have been looking for more insight into the closure of the plant that manufactured Shopsmith’s in Raymond, Mississippi.
As I have researched this, it became apparent that the plant itself didn’t close when the manufacture of the Mark 5 ceased in the mid 1960’s. The plant manufactured many products, and the Mark 5 was but one of them.
If you dig just a bit you will find a relationship existed with Magna American who sold the Choremaster Tillers, the Mighty-Mite Electric Tillers, and Sawsmith under their brand.
As you examine the spreadsheet which listed model as Mark V opposed to Mark 5 as it started out, you will see from 1964 to 1965 they only made 347 units of that model. That’s when it went out of production. The company did not go out of business, this machine model alone went out of production in 1965. They owned all the rights to Shopsmith at the time, they had just discontinued the product line.
Interestingly, 10,671 of the newer design Mark VII were manufactured in 1963 through 1969 when they made only 190.
I was surprised to learn during the period of 1959-1969 they also made 25,406 Saw Smith models with final total in 1969 of just 72 units.
You may remember in your Shopsmith History that Yuba Power Products owned by Yuba Consolidated Industries made Shopsmiths for a period. Yuba Power Products was part of Yuba Consolidated who made an array of garden products also in this Raymond, Mississippi plant and that facility which existed and had underutilized production capacity was one the driving forces that compelled the move of manufacturing to the site, aside from the lower labor and material costs in Mississippi.
The plant in Mississippi was not shuttered when John R. Folkerth looked into the possibility of finding that infamous blade for his Saw Smith Radial Arm Saw. The Shopsmith production area was closed off but other manufacturing (Non-Shopsmith) at the site was still taking place.
I have also attached a brochure from the period that illustrates some of those garden tool products and you can tell that the folks were taking advantage of the Shopsmith brand name in the rebranded Yard Smith line, which you can now see at your Shopsmith Dealer. Those tools pre-existed, as did table saws and radial arm saws which were rebranded as Yard Smith and Saw Smith lines.
The point is, even though the Mark 5 / Mark V model produced there ceased, the garden tools and the Mark VII did not.
It is why we have had a hard time pinning down a time when Shopsmith supposedly went out of business. In reality, they did not go out of business, the Mark 5 / V went out of production in 1965.
In 1972 the production rights were sold to John R. Folkerth and Shopsmith Inc. was formed, and in a year, production resumed under a new company.
I have not compared the production totals from the 1972 source to other Serial Number documents to see how they stack up to each other. That might be interesting for one of you to search out considering what we understand was Shopsmith’s 10ER dollar sales volume back in the day allowing for $200 per unit with a motor as a base-line.
Interestingly, the 1947-48 10E and the 1948 production numbers of were not part of the calculation in the spreadsheet that were part of the business plan, nor does it state that these were combined national numbers opposed to the Eastern US Production numbers only.
What are your thoughts and observations?
Everett
Shopsmith Sales from Shopsmith Inc 1972 Business Plan.pdf- (197.22 KiB) Downloaded 954 times
- Yard Smith Outdoor Power Tools.pdf
- (238.9 KiB) Downloaded 995 times
That is a part of the Shopsmith story that has eluded us.