Could you stop being so rational....Geeze! Pinside is the place to spew wild unsubstantiated conjecture as if it was fact.

I think you're in the wrong forum.

/sarcasm

Good move on JJP's part. It is always good to be near the competition. Find the central hub for your business and locate there.

When customers go shopping they are going to go where the action is at. This is why you see car dealerships clustered in one area of town; Or maybe two areas of town. You WANT to be next to Honest Charlies' used car lot so when people get tired of looking for cars there then they will come to your lot and look around.

If you opted to open your car lot 3 miles south of town for the cheaper rent you will eat away at your cost savings with all the advertising you will have to buy just so people will know where you are at.

And as one poster noted, it is easier to poach the competition's help. I don't know about Illinois, but in Kansas, a company cannot put a factory worker into a non-compete clause. If you lost your job in one company and were bound by non-compete you would have to find a job in fast food or leave the state for another job. If Stern's factory workers are not bound by non-compete then Stern might have to raise their wages to keep them from jumping ship; Good for the employees but it might drive pinball prices up

My town: Cessna Aircraft is on the southeast side. Beech Aircraft is 5 miles away on the northeast side. The other Cessna plant is on the southwest side of town just a couple of miles south of the Learjet plant.

I worked at Beech. I knew people at Lear and Cessna. Some people worked at Lear and moved to Cessna. Some worked at Cessna and moved to Beech.

We have hundreds of machine shops in town that service the aircraft industry. When I was a buyer, I could drive across town and visit a supplier to discuss a problem issue with a part. On the way back I could stop at another supplier and see how production was going.

There was some consolidation and Textron which owns Bell Helicopter and Cessna bought Beech 6 years ago. Before the consolidation, I was working with a lady who was fired from Cessna; She applied and was hired at Beech. About a year later, the woman who fired her got a job at Beech and found out she was the supervisor over the lady that she had fired over at Cessna

Boeing used to be here building the heavy jets you all fly in, but Boeing sold all of its manufacturing assets to a company named Spirit. Spirit is an independent company but 70% / 80% of its business is making 737s for Boeing ( the 737 Max grounding has caused Spirit to lay off 2800 workers).

Airbus opened an Engineering office downtown a few years ago because this is where a lot of aircraft engineering talent lives.

If you want to be an aircraft engineer this is where you come for a job.

Good move by JJP. Chicago is where all of the resources are.

FIBjackpinball??

My Wisconsin friends will get this one...

You mean assembling?

I´m not sure that on a larger scale the transport cost makes up for the lacking efficiency assembling in mexico instead of china.

Parts from china and us -> Assembling in mexico -> distribution mainly us.
V.S.
Parts from china and us-> Assembling in china -> distribution mainly us.

If it’s going to help produce a better machine all for it.

Well, when Mirco comes to town for business, both companies can tag team Mirco about play field quality issues

That’s really the craziest shit you’ve heard of? Man, sheltered life.

By the way 20th century Fox still releases movies.

IN THE 21st CENTURY!!!!

Truly the end of times.

Disney is going to drop the Fox part. Now it is just 20th Century Studios.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/01/17/disney-remove-fox-20th-century-film-name/

I like what I do, but to work in the world of pinball would be a cool opportunity I think.

Whirlpool engineering and tech is an oxymoron. Well, I guess you can engineer with the intent of making sure your products only last 2-3 years.

D'oh!!

Looks like you got Foxed CrazyLevi

Maybe Disney should move to Fox city now in the 21st century and call themselves the Jersey Disneyland of New Orleans

Crazy world we live in Seattle Crazy Levi of Austin Nevada

They try to save 50 cents on every part that goes into the game. It adds up. Every once a while it bites you in the ass, like with coil stops. Ship replacements to the loudest complainers, lose zero sales, and keep counting the money.

Just think what Stern games would cost if they opted for the highest quality on every part.

Would it be closer to JJP pricing then? If so, imagine the outcry given comparisons to toys, features, code, screen size...

So the cost cutting might be trying to find and hold the middle ground as a result of price pressure on the high end, although obviously not in ways the end purchasers desire. As for high-end pressure, allegedly even JJP is struggling despite charting that territory, so there is clearly a cap somewhere. I wonder who is pressuring who.

Save 50 cents on one part. If you make 10,000 games per year that is $5,000.00 cost savings. Just on one part. Save 50 cents on 5 parts and the cost savings is $25,000.00. That is an assembly line job for somebody. That $25K finances the building of 5-10 more pins. Or helps pay for company health care. And that is for 10K units. 20K units? Double everything.

Interesting article though I do find it funny that he says DI CE sold out in hours yet you can still buy one

Funny I agree on A and D

I certainly hope the playwright Tennessee Williams never lived anywhere except Tennessee! That would be an outrage!

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Sold out at the factory versus sold out at the distributor are two different things....

When the games are $6k - $9k+ companies shouldn't be trying to save money on coil stops and other similar items. These are luxury items and should be made with quality parts considering the all time record high NIB prices. At some point, and we've reached it, the cost saving strategies are not only disgusting but also inexcusable.

I can tell that pinball has gone full-blown rich guy hobby with everyone here celebrating unfettered corporate welfare.

Not idea what you are saying here, so this might be a good time to mention I like turtles

This is by far your best post in this thread. Well done.

What's to speculate on?

When you try to convince the types like Lawlor to join your company and they say "I don't want to move.." you say "ok, you can keep doing your thing in IL" because they would do anything to get those types on board.

People working remote on pinball development is not a new concept.. even in the 80s and 90s people did it.

Correct...the industry was born and flourished in Chicago, so it stands to reason the majority of experience is located there, and it also stands to reason if they are experienced at all, they would be settled in Illinois and would not want to re-locate to Jersey.

The move to Illinois will save money, but there is more to it than that....it also costs money to move and to re-train. It's like starting over. I'm not saying the cost savings are not attractive....I'm saying there is more to the decision than just combining facilities. If they were moving to Kansas City as was rumored a few years ago, then I would say it was savings driven....but Chicago is just as an expensive place to live as Jersey, and even though you might get a few tax breaks, you still have to pay the high wages and all of the other high costs. Maybe it is as simple as this being the home town of one of the major investors...but there is something there that is helping to drive this decision.

In the beginning of the Chicago office. There was Joe Balcer, Keith Johnson, then Ted Estes. Those three made a separate location worthwhile to keep them.

Then add Pat Lawlor, and Joe Cox. And probably some I'm forgetting.

So the Chicago office keeps getting more and more worth while.

Though I don't know if that is any part of the reason for the NJ manufacturing to move or not. It is the likely reason to keep the Chicago office going.

LTG : )
Disclaimer : I can't wait to visit the new place with everything under one roof. I've seen New Jersey, and each of the three different places the Chicago office has been.

No.

LTG : )

You should really lookup the topic of ZONING - and its impact on where businesses are located...

The idea of poaching customers who were intending to goto retailer A... doesn't really play in here when talking about jobs, not retail.

"factory workers" are simple contractors hired through temp agencies. Obviously there are true staff in management and engineering.. but most assembly plants work with contract labor. It streamlines things and gives you flexibility.

It's simply about individuals and their sway. Who has the negotiating power? When you go and try to secure that kind of tough talent... you have to give them concessions.

Everyone is fixated on 'jersey jack' naming... people should stop fixating on such trivial stuff and look at the bigger picture. The move represents a big opportunity to pivot the company. Maybe people should stop fixating on 'jersey' in the name and should consider if what they should be wondering about is "JACK" in the name. You could find a new GM named at the new site.. and a company rebranding too...

Not in love with the “Jersey Jack” brand name. Never have been. It’s too regional. But there stuck with it now.
I would convert slowly over to a different brand name. You have to have a pretty big ego to name the company after yourself and where you live imo.

Don’t get why companies sometimes make such long names for themselves. Everything becomes convoluted with long names and more difficult for customers just typing in the url. Make your name as short as possible like, Stern Pinball, Spooky Pinball, American Pinball. JJP should rebrand to make the name shorter and give it a new lease on a new beginning. They can shed much of the past that way and go forward in a new way. JJP has always been a tough name and most refer to it as JJP. Just saying Jack or Jersey doesn’t cut it. One short name in a corporate identity usually works best.

Alliteration and charisma work quite well!

From what I've always heard/read, the naming was more a formality than ego.

Gotlieb, Williams, Stern, Bally....definitely not named after people.

Bensenville, Illinois place is right at EOE and IL-83 (Very near stern)

I doubt it's ego.

It evolved. A man at Replay Magazine referred to Jack as Jersey Jack before the company was even thought of. And the company was started and built in New Jersey.

I more look at it as look at the kahoonies on this guy. He had a dream. Built it from the ground up into a reality. And pinball is forever changed.

A man that accomplished all that can call it what ever the F**K he wants. He earned it and deserves it.

LTG : )

JJP logo needs changing as well, imo. An outline of New Jersey, doesn’t cut it any longer and the company would have to take more time explaining that to people than selling a new pinball machine. If they wanted to keep familiar branding, just Jack Pinball, with a new logo.

Like your average pinball buyer or player knows or gives a shit where JJP machines are actually built?

Seriously...of all the things to get hung up on.

It's true. These days, when every other week there's some new amateur hour pinball company entering the fray and love tapping playfields with sledge hammers, it's hard to imagine when there was ONE pinball company and the idea that there would someday be two seemed absolutely ridiculous.

It's REALLY hard for people to imagine, especially newbies from the past 5 years.

Well, 10 years ago there was one pinball company, barely. And then, against all conceivable odds, there was two. Like you said, or tried to say, it took serious cajones. And whether or not they've managed to turn a profit, it's still a miracle that they are around 10 years later.

It ain't as easy as it looks folks!

Maybe the company is named after the founder who had the nickname Jersey Jack, not the location of the plant? It doesn't seem that complicated to me, but maybe I'm missing something?

Stupidity

I have some if anybody needs any

I really thought wolfemaaan was in a league of his own in this thread. I stand corrected.

Piss off 5 potential paying customers because of crappy quality and whatta ya got? Nothing! Piss off 10 then you are $25k in the hole. Fine line. Yo have to do cost cutting right.

At least pins don’t fall out of the sky and people die.

Well said. Exactly what I was thinking. ; )

Here's an original idea for those wanting a name change: Illinois Pinball

What on earth is so wrong with common sense suggestions of improving a company name and image?
Do you and the other 3 down voters resist change and improvements that much?

Get over it, they moved the company out of New Jersey so they could even stay in business, because of all the folly and poorly run company in New Jersey, prior to this move. New image and times are in good order for the new Chicago based JJP. It has certainly taken them long enough to recognize what should have happened from the beginning.

That's what Lizzo believes...

Heavy in pinball terms usually means outdated, old tech and very cumbersome. Anyone that has tried to move a widebody JJP machine knows the weight of poor design and old mech tech is as heavy as a small automobile (lol). Stern, Spooky, American Pinball, CGC has the weight balance figured out and for good reasons to stay with that balance.

That’s why Pat has always refused to make widebody anything. He gets it and understands why no modern company makes that albatross of a design any longer. The ball meanders all over the play field on a widebody, along with all the other physic issues constantly happening.

The math on pinball field design was done for a reason and settled on the standard size play field we have now for goods reasons. Just like all sports fields have been determined to be optimal for their respective games.