<span style="font-weight: bold">Leupold, Beaverton, Oregon </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold">Monday, March 7th 2011</span>
Okay, so as everyone knows, I was invited out to Leupold to meet with the folks at the factory, and more specifically the members of new Tactical Division.
Both Jasonk and I arrived a few minutes early and Pam Lo our contact was already at reception waiting for us. So after clearing security, <span style="font-style: italic">(iTar rules apply)</span> and noting our names on the fancy tv announcement screen we were welcomed into the conference room to meet the members of the Leupold Tactical Team.
At the table they had a hat, bag, and some literature, also along the wall they had several of their new scopes available for us to look at. Our main guides for the day were to be Pam from Marketing, Steve, a senior engineer, Steven the tactical sales and service rep, as well Arnie was to be our factory floor guide. We also met several other members of the team including Kevin Trepa Vice President of Tactical Sales and Marketing. In all I think we had about 8 people in room to include a member of Legal to help answer any questions we had.
We started off with a brief powerpoint on the company, and I bring this up because there is an interesting point of context which you will see again. Many know Leupold has been in business for over 100 years, what people may not know is the factory in Oregon employs over 700 workers. That is huge for any company, but how this relates to the scope business, in an 8 week period alone, Leupold builds more scopes than Zeiss, Swarovski, Schmidt & Bender, Kahles and Meopta combined. So what these other companies do in an year, Leupold does in 8 weeks. Now remember this because you will see it again.
It didn't take long for me to start addressing some of the questions that were posted on here, and the Team did a great job of answering them for me.
For some of the big ones, like Customer Service, the Tactical Division now has their own Customer service line. So no longer will Tactical Scopes and Accessories go to the general / hunting service center. That I think will help people get some focused answers. In this same vein, I asked about a contact so if SH members have an issue, we can give them a "name" to help address the problem. They were very receptive to that, and I think I will have one in the near future as a point of contact for SH members.
I brought up the subject of MOA reticles and spoke about the need to match reticles to turrets. They were a little slow on this but I think they got the message. It didn't seem to be on their radar, but I made sure to put the up on the screen.
Along this same line, I explained to them that our (SH) average user was much more aware of the needs and limitations of optics out there. I told them, the guys on this site are better educated, and that what works for a hunter does not necessarily work for the precision rifle shooter. That the days of the 8X11 inch box test were gone and that people were able to spot problems immediately thanks to level of discussion we find here. I think they understand this better now and hopefully it will make a difference.
Canted Reticles, brought it up, front and center. During the factory tour, we saw them making their reticles in house, and how they were built. We brought up the issue of canted reticles and asked about potential solutions, tolerances, etc. From them, they didn't say they had a 5 degree error factor. Where that came from I don't know but that is not spec. Now, in this discussion, it was brought up about operator error, and mounting of the scopes. And this is interesting because it came from them. When they test level in house, they use the flat of the bottom of scope similar to the feeler gauge method. I made sure to clarify this, and yes, level against the flat first and foremost. That is where it should be staked to be true.
Cost of the new scopes, we went over this. As I said in few threads already, right now the military has about 4 active contracts happening. This is the main focus for the Tactical Division. They understand civilians like it too, and want the same things the guys in green use, but at the current prices, it was a non-starter. I mentioned the L/E focus which is part of the Tactical Division focus, and the bottom line, Police Departments don't have CAG money. I think they get it, but really because of the active / ongoing nature of the contracts they really haven't moved that far down the road. Are they getting there, yes, they are... will there be commercials options of these same scopes, yes, but with the military actively pursuing these optics, we have to wait.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Factory Floor Tour</span>
When we pulled up in the parking lot Jason said, wow, this place is huge and i had forgotten how many people worked here. And in person, it's big, so big that you can see where old buildings were added onto. As I said, over 700 workers in this one location.
Arnie was a great guide for us and took us through every step of the process. We saw several models being made, and other models that were already made waiting to ship out. Huge racks of bodies anodized, painted, drying, I mean, huge racks of tubes.
Leupold is one of the largest users of Index Machines on the West Coast. In fact Index Germany stores spare parts there because there are so many machines on hand. As Arnie put it, one thing they do and do well is machine aluminum. Every step of the scope body is built here, down to some pretty small parts.
So the big question, are things outsourced... of course there are. As it was presented and makes perfect sense, small things like screws, and what not needed to build the scope, that they are not making in house and it is much cheaper to buy 5 million screws from someone who does that than to machine them here. You expect these things. In terms of glass, well remember that 8 week period, Leupold averages about 1600 scopes built over 3 shifts, per day. Nobody in the US can produce enough glass for them, and Leupold doesn't make glass. They make and assemble their own erectors, reticles, and fixtures to hold the glass in place, but the lenses come from other sources who can supply that much glass. And, when you look at it, that is all it is, glass lenses, in clear packages, assembled by hand for each and every part needed. We talked about US glass, and they were straight up in saying US suppliers only have enough on hand for prototyping and small limited runs. Leupold can ramp up to 2000 units a day if necessary. The operation is just staggering when you see it in person. Other than doing groups of models, not a machine is standing still. Every station has the tooling at that station to build what is necessary given the demand. I have to say they excel at efficiency.
Over 80% of the scope is machined in house, 100% of the assembly is done there, that included the Redfield line as we watched them make these and the VX models. Right down to watching the guy spin and build wire duplex reticles. All that, including the etched Mil Dot reticles are done in house.
So why change the label on the box, well the Leatherman lawsuit certainly scared them. Because Leatherman Tool as a local company to Leupold seeing that lawsuit over the plier heads, really put the fear of lawsuit into them. So, they decided Assembled in the USA was safer than Made in USA to cover the small amount of parts that are outsourced.
We spent some time talking about the blank in their narrative and how not addressing it allowed people, to include myself, fill in this void left by not addressing it. And they understood the communication was lacking and caused more problems then needed. So, what is the bottom line here, well, if Leupold was asked to make 4000 scopes a day, 100% of those new jobs would be filled in the United States and in fact Oregon. This is an American company and a American Brand that operates in a global market. It's to be expected in a product so complex that buying circuits for illumination would be cheaper else where, and I agreed, in no way does it diminish the work done by everyone at Leupold. So, the fact they brought us in, listened to us, and then showed us everything, means a lot to me. I mean right down to the underground range. The whole tour was a little over 2 hours from start to finish, not including the conference room conversations. In that time we followed the entire process from extruded aluminum pieces, to scrap metal collection, buffing, polishing, hand assembly, beginning to end the life of a Leupold scope.
After the tour, we went back to the conference room and spoke some more about issues, and they were really receptive to looking in to everything we expressed. The key to me, at no time were they acting defensive to us. In fact the opposite, they were humble, and knew the effort spoke for itself. I seriously came in with a list, a majority of that list was from everyone here on SH, so they heard it, and never dodged a single issue. It was very telling, especially when you can see it for yourself. The racks, and effort, the espirit in their workers.
Finally I want to qualify this message, the invitation was presented to me, I accepted. I paid for the trip myself, and I did not walk out the door with any scopes. At no time was there an effort to "turn" me. I told them up front, first and foremost I am a fan, and second I know speaking for myself and others, we want nothing more to see them put products out we want to use and enjoy. We want to see Mil / Mil options, MOA reticles, turrets with more elevation per turn, and I think they understood that, so don't think of this as a sell out, because there was next to no selling taking place. It was more an experience than sale.
So, again thank you to everyone at Leupold for their hard work, their dedication to the product, and their warm reception given to Jason and I. It was sincerely appreciated. Moving forward I am glad the lines of communication are now open as I look forward to their new offerings hitting the street. The M5 is a nice scope, the 1-8X, right down to the smaller CQB optic like the Hamr, all these are moving the tactical division in the right direction.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Monday, March 7th 2011</span>
Okay, so as everyone knows, I was invited out to Leupold to meet with the folks at the factory, and more specifically the members of new Tactical Division.
Both Jasonk and I arrived a few minutes early and Pam Lo our contact was already at reception waiting for us. So after clearing security, <span style="font-style: italic">(iTar rules apply)</span> and noting our names on the fancy tv announcement screen we were welcomed into the conference room to meet the members of the Leupold Tactical Team.
At the table they had a hat, bag, and some literature, also along the wall they had several of their new scopes available for us to look at. Our main guides for the day were to be Pam from Marketing, Steve, a senior engineer, Steven the tactical sales and service rep, as well Arnie was to be our factory floor guide. We also met several other members of the team including Kevin Trepa Vice President of Tactical Sales and Marketing. In all I think we had about 8 people in room to include a member of Legal to help answer any questions we had.
We started off with a brief powerpoint on the company, and I bring this up because there is an interesting point of context which you will see again. Many know Leupold has been in business for over 100 years, what people may not know is the factory in Oregon employs over 700 workers. That is huge for any company, but how this relates to the scope business, in an 8 week period alone, Leupold builds more scopes than Zeiss, Swarovski, Schmidt & Bender, Kahles and Meopta combined. So what these other companies do in an year, Leupold does in 8 weeks. Now remember this because you will see it again.
It didn't take long for me to start addressing some of the questions that were posted on here, and the Team did a great job of answering them for me.
For some of the big ones, like Customer Service, the Tactical Division now has their own Customer service line. So no longer will Tactical Scopes and Accessories go to the general / hunting service center. That I think will help people get some focused answers. In this same vein, I asked about a contact so if SH members have an issue, we can give them a "name" to help address the problem. They were very receptive to that, and I think I will have one in the near future as a point of contact for SH members.
I brought up the subject of MOA reticles and spoke about the need to match reticles to turrets. They were a little slow on this but I think they got the message. It didn't seem to be on their radar, but I made sure to put the up on the screen.
Along this same line, I explained to them that our (SH) average user was much more aware of the needs and limitations of optics out there. I told them, the guys on this site are better educated, and that what works for a hunter does not necessarily work for the precision rifle shooter. That the days of the 8X11 inch box test were gone and that people were able to spot problems immediately thanks to level of discussion we find here. I think they understand this better now and hopefully it will make a difference.
Canted Reticles, brought it up, front and center. During the factory tour, we saw them making their reticles in house, and how they were built. We brought up the issue of canted reticles and asked about potential solutions, tolerances, etc. From them, they didn't say they had a 5 degree error factor. Where that came from I don't know but that is not spec. Now, in this discussion, it was brought up about operator error, and mounting of the scopes. And this is interesting because it came from them. When they test level in house, they use the flat of the bottom of scope similar to the feeler gauge method. I made sure to clarify this, and yes, level against the flat first and foremost. That is where it should be staked to be true.
Cost of the new scopes, we went over this. As I said in few threads already, right now the military has about 4 active contracts happening. This is the main focus for the Tactical Division. They understand civilians like it too, and want the same things the guys in green use, but at the current prices, it was a non-starter. I mentioned the L/E focus which is part of the Tactical Division focus, and the bottom line, Police Departments don't have CAG money. I think they get it, but really because of the active / ongoing nature of the contracts they really haven't moved that far down the road. Are they getting there, yes, they are... will there be commercials options of these same scopes, yes, but with the military actively pursuing these optics, we have to wait.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Factory Floor Tour</span>
When we pulled up in the parking lot Jason said, wow, this place is huge and i had forgotten how many people worked here. And in person, it's big, so big that you can see where old buildings were added onto. As I said, over 700 workers in this one location.
Arnie was a great guide for us and took us through every step of the process. We saw several models being made, and other models that were already made waiting to ship out. Huge racks of bodies anodized, painted, drying, I mean, huge racks of tubes.
Leupold is one of the largest users of Index Machines on the West Coast. In fact Index Germany stores spare parts there because there are so many machines on hand. As Arnie put it, one thing they do and do well is machine aluminum. Every step of the scope body is built here, down to some pretty small parts.
So the big question, are things outsourced... of course there are. As it was presented and makes perfect sense, small things like screws, and what not needed to build the scope, that they are not making in house and it is much cheaper to buy 5 million screws from someone who does that than to machine them here. You expect these things. In terms of glass, well remember that 8 week period, Leupold averages about 1600 scopes built over 3 shifts, per day. Nobody in the US can produce enough glass for them, and Leupold doesn't make glass. They make and assemble their own erectors, reticles, and fixtures to hold the glass in place, but the lenses come from other sources who can supply that much glass. And, when you look at it, that is all it is, glass lenses, in clear packages, assembled by hand for each and every part needed. We talked about US glass, and they were straight up in saying US suppliers only have enough on hand for prototyping and small limited runs. Leupold can ramp up to 2000 units a day if necessary. The operation is just staggering when you see it in person. Other than doing groups of models, not a machine is standing still. Every station has the tooling at that station to build what is necessary given the demand. I have to say they excel at efficiency.
Over 80% of the scope is machined in house, 100% of the assembly is done there, that included the Redfield line as we watched them make these and the VX models. Right down to watching the guy spin and build wire duplex reticles. All that, including the etched Mil Dot reticles are done in house.
So why change the label on the box, well the Leatherman lawsuit certainly scared them. Because Leatherman Tool as a local company to Leupold seeing that lawsuit over the plier heads, really put the fear of lawsuit into them. So, they decided Assembled in the USA was safer than Made in USA to cover the small amount of parts that are outsourced.
We spent some time talking about the blank in their narrative and how not addressing it allowed people, to include myself, fill in this void left by not addressing it. And they understood the communication was lacking and caused more problems then needed. So, what is the bottom line here, well, if Leupold was asked to make 4000 scopes a day, 100% of those new jobs would be filled in the United States and in fact Oregon. This is an American company and a American Brand that operates in a global market. It's to be expected in a product so complex that buying circuits for illumination would be cheaper else where, and I agreed, in no way does it diminish the work done by everyone at Leupold. So, the fact they brought us in, listened to us, and then showed us everything, means a lot to me. I mean right down to the underground range. The whole tour was a little over 2 hours from start to finish, not including the conference room conversations. In that time we followed the entire process from extruded aluminum pieces, to scrap metal collection, buffing, polishing, hand assembly, beginning to end the life of a Leupold scope.
After the tour, we went back to the conference room and spoke some more about issues, and they were really receptive to looking in to everything we expressed. The key to me, at no time were they acting defensive to us. In fact the opposite, they were humble, and knew the effort spoke for itself. I seriously came in with a list, a majority of that list was from everyone here on SH, so they heard it, and never dodged a single issue. It was very telling, especially when you can see it for yourself. The racks, and effort, the espirit in their workers.
Finally I want to qualify this message, the invitation was presented to me, I accepted. I paid for the trip myself, and I did not walk out the door with any scopes. At no time was there an effort to "turn" me. I told them up front, first and foremost I am a fan, and second I know speaking for myself and others, we want nothing more to see them put products out we want to use and enjoy. We want to see Mil / Mil options, MOA reticles, turrets with more elevation per turn, and I think they understood that, so don't think of this as a sell out, because there was next to no selling taking place. It was more an experience than sale.
So, again thank you to everyone at Leupold for their hard work, their dedication to the product, and their warm reception given to Jason and I. It was sincerely appreciated. Moving forward I am glad the lines of communication are now open as I look forward to their new offerings hitting the street. The M5 is a nice scope, the 1-8X, right down to the smaller CQB optic like the Hamr, all these are moving the tactical division in the right direction.
