Burton’s BMC factory Vermont, prepares to close it’s doors
It’s no secret that Burton has been struggling to make ends meet. The pressure of declining sales and increased material costs are causing snowboard manufacturers worldwide margins to dwindle like nobodies business, and even the biggest player in the market is having to make big cuts to stay competitive. So it’s not surprising that today Burton announced that it plans to shift premium snowboard production (think T6 and Vapor) from the BMC facility to its factory in Innsbruck Austria, where the company has been building snowboards for over 25 years. On the bright side, product design and development will still be home-grown in Vermont, where the company will relocate its snowboard prototyping resources from BMC into a new, purely R&D-driven prototype facility at its global headquarters in Burlington.
BMC, located in South Burlington, Vermont is slated to close in June of this year. Burton’s premium factory in Austria already has the high-end technology and capacity to increase its production. 43 employees will be affected by BMC’s closure, and Burton is working closely with the Vermont Department of Labor’s Rapid Response program to assist these employees with unemployment and re-employment resources.
“When I started Burton Snowboards in 1977, all we did was make snowboards in Vermont,” says Jake Burton Carpenter, Founder and Chairman, Burton Snowboards. “Thanks to the BMC staff, we’ve excelled at prototyping and developing product in Vermont, which is why all four Burton Olympic halfpipe medals were won on snowboards coming out of our local factory. But simply put, it costs us significantly more to produce a board in Vermont than we are capable of selling it for, and sadly, this is not sustainable in the current economy.”
The relocated BMC R&D facility will continue to turn riders’ ideas into the most advanced prototypes on snow, with the added benefit of having all prototyping resources under one roof at Burton’s global headquarters.
“Our biggest priority at Burton is to make the best product for snowboarders, and we do that by listening to riders and investing more in research and development than anyone in our industry,” says Burton CEO Laurent Potdevin. “It makes the most economic sense to produce all of our high-end snowboards in Austria. Here in Vermont, we will continue to focus on advanced product development, which will allow us to bring the latest snowboard technology to riders faster than ever before.”
Posted by Rich Ewbank in Blog & News.
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on March 30, 2010 at 02:20 PM
Wow, Burton is struggling to make ends meat in these tough times. I find that hard to believe that given the current price of Burton branded products. I have been a loyal Burton fan for 20 years, when my first setup cost 1/3 of what it costs today. Given the shear volume of what they sell today, how come the price has tripled? With riders making millions, and marketing being the main differentiator of one board to another (to the 15 year old kid convincing his parents to buy), I think someones pockets are getting lined nicely. At the front door, when you walk into the factory showroom at the BMC I remember it used to read “The used to make guns here”. I guess when they close up, it will read “They used to make millionaires here”.
Burton got to where it is due to Jake’s passion and his willingness to find a better way to have fun on a snowboard. Now that Wall street execs are running the show, Burton isn’t the snowboard I started riding 20 years ago. Sad
on April 01, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Things are not the way they used to be,
The idea that THE snowboard giant, Burton is have to cut costs is at the same time surprising and not. We are deep in the “Free Market” era and anyone who remembers the 80’s in places like Michigan or Sheffield will recognize the fact that a giant company that starts to cut costs, and by definition workers (The highest cost) doesn’t necessarily nave to be loosing money.
Call it the economy of scale, or whatever but once you get to a certain size the priorities have to change. Rider commitment gives way to shareholder responsibility and you close a factory because you loose two points on your wall-street profit predictions not because you actually loose money.
Snowboarding will still be a new sport 30 years from now. It’s a “Rebel” sport by definition and I think we all get a buzz from that. We want to believe that we have nothing to do with the men in suits. Jake Burton more or less gave us what we have today but Burton can look after itself now. When a company gets that big I get turned off it anyway - and start looking for small, new, less “everywhere” companies that need a rider’s support to get fresh ideas into the system.
Burton make some superb product. But I’m a little tired of hitting a shop or site and being drowned in Burton, Burton-Anon, Burton-Analog, Burton-Red. Maybe like, Nike, Gap and Levi’s before them they have to accept that they cannot have it all. We need rebels to keep the sport we love the way we love it but we should remember that when the rebel alliance wins, doesn’t it just become the new empire?
on April 01, 2010 at 01:34 PM
I hear that Mr Crane!
But I’m afraid Snowboarding’s ‘rebel’ teenage years are well and truely gone, Snowboardings now a hard working graduate who’s been through Harvard business school. It’s all about shareholders and profit margins these days regardless of who’s running the company. Being at ISPO you see the whole business element of snowboarding… and trust me, behind every small time ‘core’ brand is an investor who want a juicy return on his money. You can’t fault Burton for cutting costs… it’s not as if they’re doing it and sacrificing product quality. Yeah it’s a shame that people’s livelihoods are on the line but business is business, and successful businesses have to adapt to a changing market. I reckon moving production to Innsbruck is a savy business decision, and one they won’t have taken lightly.
Hate mail to the usual address.
on April 01, 2010 at 03:23 PM
True indeed Rich, The article has me waxing lyrical when I should be on the job. The “Rebel” only exists for marketing and in the minds of the riders and participants. Like any sport that’s a so called EXTREME! sport, and boarding is big business. I caught some of the recent bickering about Bitch Boards (I’ll bill them for the plug) My first reaction was pretty much the same as the critics, trying to protect the integrity of my new found love. The truth is that if she, the founder (forgot her name) has never set foot on a board and would never run the risk of freezing her as off at 2000 meters just to get an adrenaline pop, we could call her a hack, but so what. Doesn’t change why i ride. If she rides and loves it, then who’s to criticize. Business is how we all get the money to buy the next board and pay for the lift tickets. Point well taken.