Many people have been waiting on Olds engine parts from Edelbrock for months, even going on 1+ years, with delays and back orders and production dates that keep getting pushed back further and further. The pandemic is part of the equation but actually it'sNOT the main factor as to why. This article was taken from a local poster from Hot Rod forums (VintageHotRods) in October 2021. It has been edited for space:

Edelbrock Left California Partly Because SpaceX Hired Too Many Machinists. (The Drive spoke heavily on this -
https://www.thedrive.com/news/39112/...any-machinists

Vic Jr. sold out to a "Private Equity Firm" called Industrial Opportunity Partners. What does a private equity firm do?

The purpose of private equity firms is to provide the investors with profit, usually within 4-7 years. It comprises of companies or investment managers that acquire capital from wealthy investors to invest in existing or new companies. These firms that were once known as leveraged buyout shops are now thriving and control many of the companies in the USA. Think of the 1987 movie "Wall Street" and the line "Greed Is Good" and you'll get the idea.

What happens when a private equity firm takes over?

In fact, private equity firms cause significant unemployment. Economists at Harvard University and the University of Chicago found that when private equity take over companies, employment in the private-equity backed companies decreases by over 4% in the first two years following the buyout.

Here is they way Industrial Opportunity Partners tell it:

IOP made a control-equity investment in Edelbrock and developed a number of operating theses, all focused on maintaining the company’s emphasis on quality, research and new product development. We aimed to optimize the operational footprint and implement management tools to improve operations and efficiency. We also wanted to make strategic changes to the product portfolio, expanding several existing lines and adding new ones. We saw an opportunity to establish an e-commerce channel and to add direct-to-consumer sales.

Operational Improvements With Cost Savings. (in other words, screw the employees)

By enacting lean manufacturing principles and rationalizing the company’s operating footprint, we upgraded operations while trimming costs.

New Distribution Channel (in other words, compete with their loyal dealers/distributors)

With a new e-commerce offering, Edebrock’s consumers can purchase products directly.

Product Line Support. (in other words, sell and develop less product)

We exited the non-strategic exhaust and suspension product lines, putting more focus on the supercharger and other core technologies. We also made acquisitions to enable in-house manufacturing of carburetors and acquired new components that complemented Edelbrock’s offerings.

Transitioning Management While Maintaining Culture. (in other words, not a car guy in the place and we've got our bean counters running it)

We successfully addressed the transition in leadership after Vic Edelbrock’s passing, while maintaining management stability and preserving Edelbrock’s culture.

One of their biggest lies on their website...........just ask the 270 employees at Torrance.

"We seek to fundamentally improve the performance of our businesses to the benefit of employees, customers, suppliers and community, as well as shareholders."

So there it is folks, this is what's happening to Edelbrock and its associated companies of Russell Performance, the newly acquired COMP Performance Group that includes COMP Cams, TCI Automotive, FAST Fuel Air Spark Technology, Racing Head Service (RHS), ZEX, Inglese Induction Systems, Powerhouse Products, COMP VThunder and COMP GoParts.

But will it work?

These private equity firms are focused only on profit for themselves and investors, who expect a high return on their short term investment. In simple terms, think of it this way, instead of the company making enough money for the Edelbrock family, they now have many more people to pay, like the money managers and the investors. It has to come from somewhere, so the wages are cut or frozen, jobs are lost or outsourced out of the country by an entity that is focused only on short term gain (4 to 7 years) before selling the business and moving on. Do you think Edelbrock, the company will be the same after ripping its guts out and moving it across the country? What will happen to the quality without the institutional knowledge of those employees?

Think of what happened to Peterson Publishing, it barely exists anymore. And Eckler's, you all know what they've become.

Wise up people, forget your ideology, open your eyes and learn what this means and what is happening to us. The fact is wages have been stagnant for the past forty years for most people. It's just not as simple as "It's impossible to do business in California!". If that were true, the California economy wouldn't be the largest in the United States, or ranked the 5th largest economy in the world, behind Germany and ahead of India. It is much more than sinister than that, our country has changed and the people that control the wealth, control our destiny. This is but one example of that. and it isn't looking good.

 

Take it for what it is. The Edelbrock of today and the future IS NOT and WILL NOT be the Edelbrock of yesteryear. In my view, and many others, it will get worse and worse. Quality will go downhill as will parts availability, especially for low selling units like Oldsmobile. The reasons being stated in the above post.

I hope I am wrong, for my sake (since I purchase aftermarket stuff) and for others in the hobby. Unfortunately, private equity firms typically end up being scorched earth with companies like that. Especially for a brand like Oldsmobile, since it has been defunct as of 2004 and the fan base is getting older and older and does not have a huge following like Chevy does.

Time will tell but so far, things don't look good for aftermarket Edelbrock stuff for Oldsmobile...

 

Yep, the times, they are a-changing. Corporate clowns cave to Wall St, CEOs line their pockets, jump ship, quality goes to shjt, consumers get pi$$Ed, China copies it, price goes down, availability returns, yada, yada, yada
.....been going on for decades

 

Thanks for the post. Cabelas and ToysRus come to mind..

 

Unfortunately once these family owned companies sell out, nothing is ever the same. All they care about is the shareholders once it happens. Unfortunately the Pandemic and the move have not helped Edelbrock and the products we need getting made. I will only wait maybe another 6 months for the new SBO heads. Then I will get Mark to do up a set of Procomp heads. Probably a similar cost in the end for a slightly inferior head. Of course that depends on hardware availability for these heads as well. The Pandemic never ending is not helping any of this at all.

 

I'm sorry, but it does not make business sense to manufacture a product that has limited demand. How is it that you just single out Edelbrock when an entire industry is moving away from orphaned cars or limited/slow moving products.

 

Well, if you're not going to follow through, don't give everyone blue *****.

 

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, maybe June 2022 will be my deadline for the new SB heads, but the cost will be so much more, its like 1300 us for the heads, another 1800 us for Mark to run his program, springs, shipping, elec fuel pump, fuel lines, machine work on the 7111 etc. the cost is really going to balloon.

 

Agree Dave, yeah the 7111 needs milled for sure, like .100" or more. I would only go with the $500 Holley in tank direct fit pump, I have a regulator. Those two things drive up the cost of the Procomp heads considerably. Unfortunately our old car hobby is getting pressured to go way from environmentalist's, government and corporations only making the most profitable parts right now.

 

Regarding SpaceX taking most of the machinist employees from Edelbrock. Offering them way more money and better opportunities. So they left Edelbrock and went to SpaceX, leaving Edelbrock with amateur or inexperienced machinists. Where that leads to? Hopefully not inferior parts with flaws.

Another thing SpaceX has done is drive the cost of Krypton Gas up over 1,000 %. Krypton is used in many applications, one of the biggest being inside high performance windows. SpaceX bought up all the Krypton gas supply as it uses Krypton as a propellant for it's satellites in space. This made the cost of high performance windows that use Krypton to skyrocket.

The physical trades are suffering from lack of new employees. Not many young adults want to become machinists, carpenters, welders, etc. This makes the few remaining quality tradesmen in high demand. Edelbrock being now owned by a private equity firm doesn't want to pay them their due wage, so they walk and SpaceX takes them in. So this left Edelbrock with raw castings just sitting there with nobody around to machine them. I wouldn't be surprised if Edelbrock will eventually ship out these castings to be machined in foreign countries like China and India. That or they will just shelve the parts for months and years before someone here in the USA can get to them. What Edelbrock won't do is pay machinists a fair wage as they are all about cutting costs and making profits for their shareholders. If Vic Jr or Edelbrock were around, this wouldn't have happened as they cared about their family name and reputation and their employees.

 

"Private Equity Firms" have been around for at least 30-40 years. Industry consolidations have also contributed to the situation, these have been around for at least 50 years. When these companies buy a company promises of "no changes" are promised to everyone.
After the "new owners" have had time to look inside the company, things begin to change. To help pay for the premium buying price, payrolls are slashed in the acquired company and referred to as "eliminating duplication of services". After the "new owners" start implementing ways to cut costs and increase revenue. Anyone lower than the "Private Equity Firm Owners" and the new "Executive management team" at the acquired company are the major winners. All the speel about "shareholders, employees, families, communities" is total BS.
This has been happening for decades !!!!!

 

Edelbrock isn’t doing themselves any favours right now.

Every performance car forum has talk of guys being pissed off and fed up with Edelbrock.

Waiting months and months for parts, getting fluffed off or ignored.

ive had a standing order for a couple Olds intakes for over a year.

 

You Got Some OLDS Heads??/
WHAT

 

Amen. At least you see through the bullshirt.

 

I am sure Edelbrock would like to be delivering intake manifolds and cylinder heads because its "income".
Guys being pizzed off and fed up with Edelbrock will just give them damp underwear and high blood pressure. Can you name the second biggest supplier of intake manifolds and cylinder heads ?

 

I have worked for two companies that were bought by "Private Equity Firms". One company division that I had worked at, couldn't meet "profit margin goals" and was completely shutdown, buildings and land were sold.
The second company was bought by a "group of investors". All the paid for (free and clear) assets (equipment and land) were sold for cash and then leased back to the company. Cash from the sale was pocketed (paid to the investors). A prized piece of property in a foreign country was difficult to sell. So, they borrowed a huge amount of money against it and pocketed the cash. After a while, the company was so loaded up with lease agreements (lease payments) and service fees from 3rd party "shell companies" (owned by a smaller group of the original investors). This led to filing for bankruptcy and getting rid of all the debt for pennies on the dollar. Work was "out sourced" and thousands eventually lost their jobs.

 

ralph

you saved me a bunch of typing!! All of this is spot on. I will add long time employees wont believe it until its to late.
a lot of savvy employees will leave, at my place they were replaced by outsourcers disguised as replacement managers. In my dept the new manager has a history of working for companies that are outsourcing, he has hired new workers on visas. Many are underqualified. In a short time their visa expires but theyy have gained enough skill to work as a leader in the outsourced country. Its a long con.
Meanwhile the equity firm, and BOD are cashing in tens of millions of dollars of stock!! My company sold its world headquarters campus w acreage anda pond and now rents two snithole buildings in industrial parks!!!

 

whats another manufacturer got to do with Edelbrock right now?

 

What other aftermarket casting company has their amount of clout? Who has the capacity in numbers and actually makes parts that bolt on an Oldsmobile?

 

huh, is this a game?

 

I wish it was only Edelbrock having issues supplying parts. A lot of parts are on back order, waiting on a couple of key parts myself. Unless we are on the floor at Edelbrock, know their policies for Covid, what parts are short, how many shut downs have occurred and most importantly what parts are priority, everything is speculation. Let's hope it all gets sorted out.

 

Its not a game. It is a question.

The answers is...nobody.

 

Another example of a American company being run into the ground by greed.

I bet Vic Edelbrock is rolling over in his grave.

 

and what has that got to do with Edelbrock not being able to supplies parts?

 

I can get Pro Comp heads, Rocket racing heads, speedmaster intakes. Why not Edelbrock?

one customer just gave up on waiting for his Olds intake form Edelbrock,, went with an inferior speedmaster…had it within the week.

so tell me again, if Edelbrock is the big kid on the block, why can’t they supply a simple intake? It’s just a casting, no moving parts…

this didn’t just happen due to the pandemic. My order for two intakes were in before anyone heard of the pandemic.

 

Its referencing the "Oldsmobile Aftermarket" of the title to this thread.

No one else can supply these parts either. Specifically the output and total numbers. If we lose them in the future, who is going to step up and produce products for our brand?

 

BS,, read above. I can get heads and intakes from others no problem.

You are 100% wrong on Olds being forgotten about. There are more product for Olds now than at any time in its history.

20 years ago there were NO aftermarket heads, one rod suppler, very few intakes that were worth using…now you can even get reproduced W30 intakes, ex manifolds, etc etc

the aftermarket for Olds is stronger than it’s ever been. New cast Big Blocks, a few cranks, many rod choices, quality designed intakes, more rocker arm choices than ever.

christ, even the first Gen 371 394’s you can get new aluminum heads for.

 

Yeah, waiting for intakes since 2019 is plain ridiculous. I wonder, do they have a minimum order on casting intakes? Not good for sure.

 

With Pro Comp heads, Rocket racing heads, speedmaster intakes selection available to you, why complain you can't get Edelbrock ? Just buy the other stuff. Problem solved.

"if Edelbrock is the big kid on the block, why can’t they supply a simple intake? It’s just a casting, no moving parts…" Simple ? Well, then just cast a couple in your garage, no moving parts to be concerned about. Problem solved.

 

Sum Ting Wong will pick up the slack (i.e.- supply of Pro Comp and Speedmaster has not suffered).

 

No answer huh?

 

The Edelbrock aluminum foundry runs 24/7 and almost 365 days a year (just shuts down for a week or so for maintenance).

So casting is happening but casting a raw intake or raw heads is one thing but doing the finishing machine work is where things are getting back logged. They don't have the specialized machinists due to them cutting/firing/quitting that has taken place. There are stacks of raw castings just sitting in the buildings but finishing them is where the problem lies. Only so many machinists around to do the work required to finish a raw intake or cylinder heads.

Private Equity Firms cut salaries and cut employees, that's how they work. Right now, it's just wait and wait for the products to come out. When? Nobody really knows. Some have been waiting over a year already.

 

the larger issue with the lack of supply is scary indeed. Shutting down the supply chain globally has had ripple effects I fear will not be rectified for decades. Consider the hundreds of billions of individual human interactions daily which are at the core of business transactions that were completely halted for months. Those interactions created a web of supply chain infrastructure that has developed globally over centuries. It is naive to think this disruption will correct itself any time soon.

 

Suez Canal grounding of Ever Given, Back in March 2021. Was the start of the problems with the supply chain. Covid was the death nail.

Hopefully 3D printing technology will accelerate.