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The Future of Moog, Mike Adams, Moog President
Moog without Bob
When I put this headline in writing the odd juxtaposition immediately struck me. There will never be a Moog without Bob. He’s here; everywhere. His foot prints are on everything we do. His notes are on every schematic; every test fixture; every calibration sheet. When we think about new product ideas our thoughts are filled with the input he gave us about sound, fidelity, user interface, quality, and timelessness.
The reality is that he is physically not here and that is disappointing on so many levels; we miss him as a friend, mentor, inventor, and person.
The purpose of this missive is to share with you the fact that Bob left the company in good shape. “Good shape” means:
Our people: the team that is assembling your products is a veteran team. Most of them have worked here at least three years. They all know the importance of quality and the need to be ‘careful’ (Bob’s word) in all we do. I trust them to always do their very best for you.
Technically, we are in very good shape. It starts with Steve Dunnington who worked with Bob for almost 11 years. He started at the very bottom and in the last couple of years has been working side by side with Bob on every important detail of our products. As fate would have it, Bob and I had been planning to bring in a senior design engineer to help transition Bob from full time (which he was) to part time (what we were hoping for next year). Privately Bob had been networking with his industry and academic peers for two years trying to find the right person to absorb Bob’s design philosophies. We found that person in January of this year. Cyril Lance is a musician (guitarist / vocalist) who has been an independent design engineer for 25 years. He also happens to be a Cornell educated physicist – an educational background very close to Bob who had a PhD in engineering physics from Cornell. Though the time they spent together was not nearly enough, Cyril is sharp and has already been a tremendous asset to the company.
Only time will tell if this team is capable of delivering “Moog” products but I am personally confident in them.
Financially, the company is in good shape. Its not easy being a small company and producing in America. The big foreign corporations have a lot of leverage that we do not enjoy. Frankly, there are no incentives in place to encourage USA production anymore; mostly there are disincentives. From insurance premiums to legal expenses, everything is ridiculously expensive. On the other hand, there is plenty of support to “out-source” everything.
So why don’t we produce off shore and ship it in?....because you lose the connection to the product. Outside my door right now I hear drills, hammers, and strange sounds coming from our listening room “Cat Torture Headquarters”. Somehow opening a container from some Asian out-source would not be quite the same.
Seeing our products built right outside my door gives us all a direct connection to you. I hope you appreciate this and feel it as well when you open our products. It’s part of our commitment to build products that will provide you a lifetime of enjoyment.
As we move forward, we expect to continue to deliver great products of timeless value. I hope you will always find them as appealing and as fun as we do.
If you would like to write to me, I’m
available to you at mike@moogmusic.com.
Sincerely,
Mike Adams
President
Moog Music Inc.
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