Johnson Outdoors' Innovation Bucks Market Trends
Profile
By Stephanie Sims   
Tuesday, 01 May 2007
smc Johnson Outdoors creates all sorts of tents, from commercial to high tech.
Johnson Outdoors creates all sorts of tents, from commercial to high tech.
Camping is a fairly common outdoor activity for families and friends, especially in the summer months. But where and how most people camp today differs significantly from camping in the past. Al Bergman, director of operations at Johnson Outdoors in Binghamton, N.Y., says in the early 1980s, the company started to see backwoods camping activity decrease. “People weren’t growing up to be hardcore campers,” he says. “Instead, people were becoming recreational campers. The time demands on two-career families prompted a shift to weekend excursions to campgrounds or an evening outdoors in the backyard. The shift in the outdoor camping experience meant a shift in the kind of tents many consumers needed, and a shift in our design and development process. “Today, we’re making consumer tents that help time-stressed families enjoy more of the comforts of home on their outdoor excursions.”

While consumer camping trends were shifting, the company began to see an increased need for large commercial tents, of which Eureka!, a brand Johnson Outdoors manufactures and markets, was a pioneering force.

“The market demand for large tents and party tents was increasing,” Joe Wiegand says. “And, as that business began to grow, we shifted a large part of our manufacturing processes to commercial-grade party tents, which continue to dominate a large part of our manufacturing today.”

Wiegand adds the company’s employees needed to get used to making products with heavier-duty equipment. “Compared to our camping line, a new assembly line needed to be started,” he says. “We needed larger sewing machines to handle the heavier fabrics and for material handlers to help move large tent sections. Our employees went from building a two-person tent to building tents that were 60-, 80- or 100-feet wide. Some retraining had to be done.”

Today, commercial tents represent the majority of production in Binghamton, and consumer camping tents are produced offshore. “We design and develop all tents on-site,” Wiegand says. “But only with off-shore productions partners are we able to to give the consumer what they want at the price they want to pay.” Johnson Outdoors designs, manufactures and markets a portfolio of brands across four categories: watercraft, marine electronics, diving and outdoor equipment.

Technological Tents
The company prides itself in creating innovative products from consumer-driven insights. According to Wiegand, Johnson Outdoors spends more on research to understand consumer wants and needs than its competitors. One of Johnson Outdoors’ newest products is a line of fully wired camping tents with power outlets attached to a 12-volt rechargeable battery.

Each outlet can turned on or off with a separate switch and has a built in light to indicate when the outlet has power. The Eureka! E! Power System is available in three different family tents for 2007: E!Nergy 9, 1210 and 1310. “Almost anything you can plug into a cigarette lighter in your car you can plug into this tent,” he says. Optional accessories include a reading light, fan, air bed compressor, hair dryer, weather station and vacuum.

Military Tents
The company also has a new tent line targeting the military sector that requires a rapid deployable systems (RDS). RDS was designed in conjunction with the U.S. Armed Forces and Hoberman Designs. This tent can be mission-ready in under 14 minutes using only four personnel. By working closely with today’s military and understanding their mission requirements, Johnson Outdoors developed the RDS series of tents to meet their needs.

Wiegand says Johnson Outdoors partnered with Hoberman Associates to develop the patent-pending technology that is the heart of the RDS tent system.

“Essentially, the military needs to move quickly,” he says. “They need to move quickly yet still have durable tents to protect their high-tech equipment. We developed the RDS tents that are very compact and set up quickly – under 10 minutes.” This “easy up, easy down” tent was developed in the past 18 months, and passed rigorous testing before being approved Wiegand adds.
 
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