MFJ closing down manufacturing facilities effective May 17th 2024

A few of us also understand Mike' position and his COMMITTMENT to amateur radio, with first quality amps and accessories. Mike doesnt have a sprawling mansion on the hill: he's put his resources into the facility to take it to the state of the art. I hope Mike puts up some of the cool pictures of the facility at the Dayton booth;-)

Thanks for continuing that committment Mike!

73
Chip W1YW

 

The five worst aspects of owning any business:

1. Under-capitalization
2. Dealing with employees
3. Competition
4. Economic conditions
5. Biting off more than you can chew

If you're not prepared to recognize and understand those, then work for someone else.

 

Yes, why haven't you?

Kraus/KC4ZGP

 

Very well written Mike and oh so true. It is heartwarming to see you want to make an effort to continue MFJ.

I can very well relate since I also own a small company (2.5 FTE including myself) serving a niche marine electronics market worldwide from private sailors to merchant fleets, super yachts and navies. We were lucky to have enough flesh on the bones to survive half a year without any sales, due to the component shortage. The uniqueness of our products saved us, not a single customer walked away.

I qouted your last paragraph because in the marine and boatbuilding business that joke is the same. And I too love what I'm doing, it pays the bills and my customers are happy, so they tell me.

I sincerely hope that your call gets good response and that you're able to keep MFJ afloat.

73, Meindert - PA0MHS

 

Thank you Martin...enjoy retirement and your family.

 

USA manufacturing at the scale of MFJ is a dying breed. And to be honest....a lot of US-made amateur stuff (what little is left) isn't up to the specs of European or even Japanese manufacturing. MFJ is only a symptom of the problem. The US are full of consumers, and make little to nothing, not counting semiconductors.

 

In the days of old when knights were bold and condoms not yet invented, amateurs built and maintained their equipment.

They didn't make the tube. Neither did MFJ.

They didn't make the relay. Neither did MFJ.

etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Kraus/KC4ZGP

 

I think HRO should jump on it if they can get the price from Martin they need to make it work.

Gigaparts has created their own line of products and DX Engineering has their own as well. IMO, HRO could grab MFJ and make it their own without the start up costs or having to re-invent the wheel....

HRO that I am aware of is the only one of the big 3 vendors that does not have it's own product line.

Just some thoughts from a non-business person....I could be totally off base.

 

It's going to be sad to go to a ham radio event and not see the MFJ booth with all the items in any color you want.

As long as it's black.

I have had a few of their products. My tuner works wonderfully.

 

I 100% agree

 

Thanks, Steve. Only someone with experience in business ownership would *fully* understand what I wrote. I owned and operated a small chain of retail shoe stores in the Philadelphia area for 17 years before I retired to Arizona. It was hard work, all-time consuming, and not all peaches and cream. It could be your best friend (compensation) and your worst enemy (operations) at the same time. Finding competent employees and trusting them was difficult, no matter how much vetting you did on them.

Striking a balance between the two was difficult, being diligent in my quest to succeed. I think Martin saw/had things getting out of hand in today’s business climate, and just decided to (especially at 80) call it a day…retire and enjoy the rest of his life. Good for him.

I know I’m much happier and content now than I was running the business. Being younger, it was a challenge, but sometimes you just gotta know when it’s time to get out.

To those hoping an HRO or DXE buying MFJ…IMO, what a bad idea that would be for them. They’re successful at what they do…selling other manufacturer’s goods. Why risk all that by investing time, money, energy, and other resources in a flailing business that would need to be completely revamped from the top down to possibly support profitability. See point #5 in my post #199 on this thread.

 

I totally understand why Mr. Jue would not sell off the scraps like other once great electronics companies (Radio Shack anyone) have gone to leveraged buyouts and "name" whores. Much more graceful to just fade out and sign off than allow vultures to destroy your once good name.

 

I still think there is some meat on the bones.
Really not enough info put out on what the sale would include. IMO
I kinda like the plan of a joint venture. But not many ppl want a partnership.

Not everyone can afford a 4k amp, or 5-mil for outdated tech and Eq.

 

DXE and Gigaparts don’t just sell other people’s stuff, they both sell their own stuff too.

DXE under the DXE brand and Gigaparts under the Intellitron brand.

Heck if you look at the Intellitron stuff on the Gigaparts website, the Intellitron stuff looks almost ironically the same as current MFJ products.

 

I suspect Martin knows.