Masonry Magazine April 2003 Page. 38
TABLE
SAWS
WHEN A PRODUCT
BECOMES A
COMMODITY, WHEN
THERE IS LITTLE LEFT TO
CHANGE, WHERE CAN
YOU FIND SUBTLE
DIFFERENCES? WITH
MASONRY TABLE SAWS,
MAYBE OVERSEAS.
By Tom Inglesby
AFTER WORLD WAR II, BY 1946, THE U.S. AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY WAS FINALLY STARTING TO MOVE FROM A MILITARY production mindset to one more familiar to it, making cars and trucks for civilians. But what they were making was the same product they made in the 1942 model year-why change? Demand was so high that people would buy anything new, even if it looked "old." That started to change as the market became stabilized and the drawing boards in Detroit were filling up with new designs intended to enter the market in 1949.
Ford, the leading car manufacturer in 1948, offered the buyer the same car as 1947 but with a changed parking light-going from rectangular to oval. People noticed there wasn't much new, sales dropped significantly. This was one market where constant change-hopefully for the better-was beginning to be demanded. Later, the industry seemingly overreacted in the mid-fifties when every year brought newer and wilder designs.
So what does that have to do with masonry table saws? The market for table saws has, in the words of one wag, reached the point where making a color change is cause to issue press releases and redo advertising campaigns. There just doesn't seem to be anything left to invent, to improve or to use to entice buyers from one brand to another.
"This type of a product is a commodity today we all make basically the same thing with the same functionalities, the same capacities," admits Bruce Coleman, product manager at MultiQuip, Carson, Calif. "We've all begged, borrowed and stolen one another's features to provide the benefits that customers have indicated are important."
So, is there something new in the masonry table saw world? "No, there isn't," Coleman continues. "Well, there is one exception, lightweight units. That's the popular thing today, everybody wants something they can pick up and carry to a job site. I walk trade show floors to try and see what is new in table saws and I don't see anything else other than the obvious and that is companies are providing units with larger cutting capacity and larger horse power engines to power the larger diamond blades that are required."