De-Por-ta and thining product lines?

[Not Spam]

Hi folks

Long-time lurker. I've been monitoring the newsgroup for a long while and found much valuable advice. One thing I hav been noticing lately is the seeming dearth of Delta products in Canada...it's almost as if they've dried up and gone away. I understand that Porter-Cable and Delta are now owned by the same parent as Dewat (hence De-Por-ta), so maybe there's still some consolidation going on.

Beyond that though, as the owner of a Delta MS250 (looking to upgrade only because the fence is too low for the larger crown moulding work), as I drift through PC and Delta websites I've noticed (as an example) that the Delta chopsaws that once numbered 9 just 2 years ago now just numbers one.

Is this really just the product lines consolidating between the three, or is there some other type of move a-foot?

Thanks

[goaway]

Actually PC, Delta and some other previously fine separate companies have been purchased by a "Investment Group" WMH Tool Group. As with any "investment" the only concern is return. What you are seeing is the result of a company that is run by accountants. They are paid to maximize the return on investment ( otherwise they would not be accountants) While they are still "forced" to have a product to sell, it does not mean it is the best designed, most durable or has the high reliability , just that it provides a good return on investment. As soon as a company is run by the "share holders" it is no longer a company driven by passion but by dollars. Chin up, because they are driven to keep prices lower you can replace them more often....

Paul

[Charlie Self]

Actually, WMH bought Powermatic...and Wilton, Performax and...

IIRC, the Delta/PC/DeVilbiss combo was bought by Black & Decker, but my memory might be faulty.

[Allen Roy]

WMH owns Powermatic, Jet, Wilton, Performax, Waxmaster, Columbian and Polishmaster.

And from Black and Deckers website:

2004 - Black & Decker ® announce the purchase of the Tools Group from Pentair, Inc. (NYSE: PNR) for approximately $775 million in cash. The Tools Group, which includes the Porter-Cable, Delta, DeVilbiss Air Power, Oldham Saw, and FLEX businesses, had sales of $1.08 billion and operating profit of $82 million in 2003.

Yes I agree that the end users like us will suffer as some products disappear out of their offering as well as good products being mass produced in China so that the quality suffers.

Allen