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Dynon Acquires Advanced Flight Systems
Robert Hickman and I are pleased to announce that Dynon has acquired AFS. You can read the details in our Press Release.
The quick synopsis is; Dynon is buying AFS to keep AFS a strong and growing brand in the experimental market. Both companies will stay separate, each with their own development staff, sales, marketing, and tech support. Dynon will be using its manufacturing capabilities and supply chain strengths to help reduce AFS costs. AFS is remaining in Oregon, and there is no consolidation of location or staff. I am sure that there will have many questions which Rob and I will try and answer. The most obvious ones are answered below. -Robert -- President, Dynon Avionics Q: Why is Dynon acquiring AFS? A: To use Dynon?s financial strength to keep AFS strong and vibrant in the experimental community. Q: Are AFS and Dynon merging? A: No. Both AFS and Dynon will continue to operate as separate companies. Q: Will AFS be moving or consolidating with Dynon? A: No. There are no changes in location in either company. AFS is located in Canby, Oregon, and Dynon is located in Woodinville, Washington. Q: Will AFS be winding down their company over time? A: No. In fact, this acquisition is explicitly designed to keep AFS products thriving in the market. Q: Will Dynon technical support be supporting AFS products, or vice versa? A: No. Each company continues with their own tech support staff. Dynon staff will not provide technical support on AFS products, and vice-versa. Q: Are there going to be changes in personnel, especially at AFS? Is Rob leaving? A: No. There are no changes in personnel. Rob will continue to run AFS and will be busier than ever. Q: Will Dynon Sales and Marketing be promoting AFS products, or vice versa? A: No. Each company will continue their own sales and marketing programs. Q: Will Dynon manufacture AFS products? A: Dynon intends to help manufacture some of the AFS products, although the details of which products and when are not yet decided. Regardless, AFS products will still be theirs, and their delivery, support, and warranty policies will continue as before. Q: Will AFS and Dynon products be combined? A: No. AFS will continue their product line and Dynon will continue theirs for the foreseeable future. The two companies will be sharing their respective technology expertise, so that both product lines continue to improve. AFS will continue to source some product modules from Dynon, like the transponder, with more to follow. Q: What about the previously-announced collaboration between AFS and TruTrak? A: AFS will continue to support TruTrak autopilots. However, a joint ATS venture will not be moving forward. Q: Which product should I buy, AFS or Dynon? A: What is important is you still have a choice of the two best product lines on the market, from companies that are truly dedicated to the experimental market. |
Interesting..........both good companies.
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It begins
I suspect the ramifications of the Big G aggressively entering the experimental market are only beginning to be seen.....
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Hopefully this acquisition won't distract Dynon from getting their COM Radio deliveries out soon! :cool:
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I am in the process of having a AFS system put into my airplane. I don't really view this as good news. Almost without exception in these kinds of buyouts everything is promised upfront but then things change and the acquired company is slowly phased out or merged with the parent company. The business model of competing with your self never seems to work. I really hope I am wrong but in 5 years I will be very pleasantly surprised if AFS still exists in a form close to what it is today.
George |
It is great to be working with Dynon. AFS will continue to operate just as it always has, but this arrangement frees us up to do even more design and development work. Dynon has strong manufacturing capabilities which will help us with the high demand we?ve been experiencing for the AF-5000 series of EFIS?s. We hope to be shipping units ?from stock? in the near future.
While AFS has had to compete against their low prices for years, I appreciate what they've done for the experimental market to make glass panels available for everyone. Without them, systems would still be $20,000 to $30,000. No-one else has the structure to innovate while maintaining low prices for the long haul. The entire staff at AFS is very excited. Rob Hickman Advanced Flight Systems Inc. |
Neat!
Congrats to the AFS and Dynon team. Both of these teams are led by high-integrity owners who love what they do and are committed to bringing REALLY good products to us. No one knows what the future holds (or we wouldn't have to work) but seeing 2 teams such as these come together surely has the potential to only get stronger. Hopefully, it will be the proverbial 1+1=3.
Vic |
It's impossible to tell what the true size of the market is and its growth rate. Last I counted there seemed to be a lot of players for what is a niche market in a niche market. I remember when the last company left the market in a conversation the owner relayed to me the small market size as a prime motivation for pulling out.
Maintaing two competing product lines won't make much sense for long. I'd say the biggest loser in all this is TruTrak although they have a strong enough product to survive but just lost a partner that offered hope for greater growth. I'm glad that the owners of both companies found a path that made sense to keep tow companies viable. If I had to guess (and guess is all I can do) maybe one product line moves toward a higher end and the other the lower end - whatever that means. Or AFS becomes just part of the development team. There is a loyal customer base that needs to be taken care of as to not hurt Dynon's reputation in a market where reputation is big. Of course the Garmin influence had to be huge. There resources have got to scare any competitor they have. The fact Garmin entered the market in the first place says that growth in low-end GA is all experimental/LS these days. With the new law passing the House (and hopefully the Senate) maybe certification will become a reality. I sure would love to not have to buy a Garmin 430 just so I can fly IFR.... |
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