Heathkit Educational Systems Closes Up Shop

[George Mann]

You may have already heard the news...


 


Heathkit Educational Systems Closes Up Shop 


TAGS:Amateur Radio kits
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:Amateur%20Radio%20kits> , arrl
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:arrl> , ARRL Education
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:ARRL%20Education> , educational
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:educational> , heathkit
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:heathkit> , Heathkit Educational
Systems
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:Heathkit%20Educational%20Systems>
, hopeful <http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:hopeful> , myriad
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:myriad> , sales
<http://www.arrl.org/news/search/Tag.name:sales> 

05/09/2012

For the second time since 1992, Heathkit Educational Services (
<http://www.heathkit.com/> HES) has shuttered its doors. Rumors of the
legendary kit-building company's demise were
<http://forums.qrz.com/showthread.php?344804-farewell-to-Heathkit> posted on
QRZ.com, with several readers bringing the news to the attention of the
ARRL. In August 2011, Heathkit announced it was
<http://www.arrl.org/news/heathkit-returns-to-the-kit-business> returning to
the kit building business, and in September, that it would once again be
<http://www.arrl.org/news/heathkit-s-amateur-radio-plans-taking-shape>
manufacturing Amateur Radio kits.

The ARRL tried to reach Heathkit to confirm that the company is still in
business, but their phone and fax numbers have a continuous busy signal, and
e-mails to the company have gone unanswered.

On LinkedIn, a popular networking site, HES Chief Executive Officer Lori
Marciniak listed her  <http://www.linkedin.com/pub/lori-marciniak/7/bb0/72a>
employment ending at Heathkit as of March 2012. Likewise, Heathkit's
Marketing and Sales Director Ernie Wake listed his
<http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ernie-wake/13/408/225> employment ending in
April 2012. An  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit> unsubstantiated
report on Wikipedia states that "[in] December 2011, Heathkit Educational
Systems laid off most employees and in March 2012, the company indefinitely
suspended operations."

Tom Ferriter, of Technical Education Products, is an outside sales
representative for HES, based in Hampden, Massachusetts. "Heathkit is
telling us that they have temporarily closed, but that they are hopeful that
they will be able to reorganize," he told the ARRL. "While they're not
telling us too much, they did say that they were having poor sales for a
myriad of reasons and are hopeful that they will be able to refinance the
company and negotiate with the bank to refinance some of the debt."

ARRL Education and Technology Program Director Mark Spencer, WA8SME, spoke
with Ferriter a few weeks ago. Ferriter told him that Heathkit was having
problems with its creditors. Ferriter also said that Heathkit told the
distributors that it hopes to reopen sometime in the future, but it was his
opinion, as well as the opinion of others, that Heathkit was not going to be
able to do so.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.lakelandarc.org/pipermail/cq-lakelandarc.org/attachments/20120510/ba9b3270/attachment.html>