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I see it as bad on two levels.  The female in charge has no background in sleds.  She's from the aviation side.  The other is that all new tech is developed and tested years in advance.  If the old dogs were let go because there was nothing significant in the hopper it will take years to recover from that.  It's always possible Cat was sitting a boatload of new and improved designs and did not release them but most people knowing their jobs were on the line would have pushed the shit out the door in an attempt to save them.

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19 hours ago, airflite1 said:

That would be a waste of talent.

There is a reason I don't work for Cat.  When S hits the fan in TRF, I'd be moving, working at Digikey, working at WalMart, the county/city/state, or commuting an hour for work.

For Brian & family being established, this is about the perfect situation, IMO.

6 hours ago, Not greg b said:

They are in the old black magic building. They are cherry picking all the good cat people.

We'll old Cat people pretty much run the show, and definitely so in TRF for Argo. 

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4 hours ago, racinfarmer said:

There is a reason I don't work for Cat.  When S hits the fan in TRF, I'd be moving, working at Digikey, working at WalMart, the county/city/state, or commuting an hour for work.

For Brian & family being established, this is about the perfect situation, IMO.

We'll old Cat people pretty much run the show, and definitely so in TRF for Argo. 

My friend said it is so bad he was able to get transferred from trf to St. Cloud. 

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7 hours ago, jdsky said:

I see it as bad on two levels.  The female in charge has no background in sleds.  She's from the aviation side.  The other is that all new tech is developed and tested years in advance.  If the old dogs were let go because there was nothing significant in the hopper it will take years to recover from that.  It's always possible Cat was sitting a boatload of new and improved designs and did not release them but most people knowing their jobs were on the line would have pushed the shit out the door in an attempt to save them.

I have seen this in textron a bunch of times. They put someone like in a side line company until the job they Want them for opens up then transfer them. When I saw her back round I suspect that is what they are doing. If she had had business management background I would not be concerned.  I saw reps for them do nothing then go into the aviation side after 8 months 

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On 7/8/2021 at 12:29 PM, Ziemann said:

That was the best intro they could come up with for the new VP?

 

Melania declined the position.

On 7/9/2021 at 6:26 PM, racinfarmer said:

Meanwhile, Argo has a office IN TRF and hired Brian Dick.

Smart move.

19 hours ago, Not greg b said:

I have seen this in textron a bunch of times. They put someone like in a side line company until the job they Want them for opens up then transfer them. When I saw her back round I suspect that is what they are doing. If she had had business management background I would not be concerned.  I saw reps for them do nothing then go into the aviation side after 8 months 

/\ If there's anyone I know who ACTUALLY knows how Textron operates, it's this guy /\

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On 7/10/2021 at 10:37 PM, racinfarmer said:

Christian brothers owned the trailer and "leased" it to cat. 

What will be interesting is that trailer is used for parts support at the races, I am curious who if anyone will be offering support at the races now. 

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On 7/10/2021 at 1:54 PM, SShooterZ said:

Why does everyone think that letting the “legends” go is automatically a bad thing? Didn’t Cat fall to last when those “legends” were still there? What makes you think NOW is all of sudden it’s going to cause an issue. Clearly what they’re doing and were doing wasn’t keeping up with the market. Maybe it was time for new blood.

Then why was Polaris head hunting them? 

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Yeah Roger Slime is cool and I still wouldn't mind an RS sled but I can't really see what good he was doing at Arctic Cat besides being the guy that everybody likes.  But it's a business at the end of the day.

And I agree all the haters loved to hate on cat for years and years.  Then they move some old blood out and the same haters think it's the end times?  At least make sense with your jealous hatred.

Also funny how many non cat guys know all these big cat names.  I couldn't tell you one single Polaris employee and I probably couldn't even pronounce one french asshole skidoo employee.  But they know all the cat guys......   Interesting.......

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Did anyone see Yamaha is closing their the Wisconsin r and d center, leaving japan out of the sled side and ramping up their Canada? I wonder if they are looking are brake ties with cat or they are getting less involved with it?

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15 minutes ago, mnstang said:

Yeah Roger Slime is cool and I still wouldn't mind an RS sled but I can't really see what good he was doing at Arctic Cat besides being the guy that everybody likes.  But it's a business at the end of the day.

And I agree all the haters loved to hate on cat for years and years.  Then they move some old blood out and the same haters think it's the end times?  At least make sense with your jealous hatred.

Also funny how many non cat guys know all these big cat names.  I couldn't tell you one single Polaris employee and I probably couldn't even pronounce one french asshole skidoo employee.  But they know all the cat guys......   Interesting.......

Roger is an amazing person. However he is old now and needed to retire. and let the next generation take over. 

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On 7/15/2021 at 10:26 PM, mnstang said:

Yeah Roger Slime is cool and I still wouldn't mind an RS sled but I can't really see what good he was doing at Arctic Cat besides being the guy that everybody likes.  But it's a business at the end of the day.

And I agree all the haters loved to hate on cat for years and years.  Then they move some old blood out and the same haters think it's the end times?  At least make sense with your jealous hatred.

Also funny how many non cat guys know all these big cat names.  I couldn't tell you one single Polaris employee and I probably couldn't even pronounce one french asshole skidoo employee.  But they know all the cat guys......   Interesting.......

Good post.  I also bet that more poo and Doo guys know more about the Cat “legends” than the other way around.  Hmmm….

On 7/15/2021 at 10:44 PM, Not greg b said:

Roger is an amazing person. However he is old now and needed to retire. and let the next generation take over. 

I agree.  Now, where is this next guy tho?

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10 minutes ago, Ez ryder said:

No Polaris has been hunting at cat for a long time . And it has paid off for them 

Doug Hayes had one son working at Polaris and one son working at Arctic Cat.  Now both are working at Polaris by choice. The one that worked at Arctic Cat didn't know how long he would have a job seeing the direction Arctic Cat was going.  Wise choice I would say.

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4 hours ago, Doug said:

Doug Hayes had one son working at Polaris and one son working at Arctic Cat.  Now both are working at Polaris by choice. The one that worked at Arctic Cat didn't know how long he would have a job seeing the direction Arctic Cat was going.  Wise choice I would say.

Like I said Polaris had been hunting at cat for years . As far back as I personally know was when they needed clutching help in a bad bad way they gave rorey at cat/ black magic a package that could not be passed up . Big corps do it all the time it goes both ways .

Poo is most famous in my parts for hiring young guys plugging  them in to the corporate system till they get burnt and move along .

 

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2 hours ago, Ez ryder said:

Like I said Polaris had been hunting at cat for years . As far back as I personally know was when they needed clutching help in a bad bad way they gave rorey at cat/ black magic a package that could not be passed up . Big corps do it all the time it goes both ways .

Poo is most famous in my parts for hiring young guys plugging  them in to the corporate system till they get burnt and move along .

 

Through personal experience if a company wants to keep you they will counter offer to get you to stay.  I hope Arctic Cat has some good talent still there and new products come out.  It does no good for the sport only having 2 manufacturers.

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23 hours ago, Zambroski said:

Good post.  I also bet that more poo and Doo guys know more about the Cat “legends” than the other way around.  Hmmm….

I agree.  Now, where is this next guy tho?

There isn’t one. Textron does not give a shit about that. 25 years ago Jacobsen owned the golf course market then Textron changed how they do business and fucked everyone. Now they have a fraction of market share now. It is so bad they shut down their factory owned Jacobson dealers a few years ago because their support sucks. They are running cat the exact same way. They have hit the point where it will be a revolving door of employees and parts support sets the industry toilet. I wouldn’t be surprised if cat is sold in the next 2 years. 

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I like the insight on Textron and can relate.

I once worked for a very large computer-related company that drove our software into the ground, ignored our customers and gave away licenses for free.  People were riffed and would just disappear.  I never knew when I’d be next.  Then, one day I was told to sign a confidentiality agreement for a secret project.  I was sent with a small team to conference room 1 in building 1 - which was in front of the reception area, outside secured space.  I figured that was the end of me working in a big blue building, and I was going to be escorted from the building.

what I learned at that confidential meeting is that my team and software were being sold to another company.  That turned out to be probably the best career move I’ve ever made.  The new owners have invested heavily in R&D, our customers are happy and I got a promotion.

My sincere wish is that the Cat facilities and all of the great people working there have a similar experience.

 

Edited by p51mstg
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4 hours ago, Not greg b said:

There isn’t one. Textron does not give a shit about that. 25 years ago Jacobsen owned the golf course market then Textron changed how they do business and fucked everyone. Now they have a fraction of market share now. It is so bad they shut down their factory owned Jacobson dealers a few years ago because their support sucks. They are running cat the exact same way. They have hit the point where it will be a revolving door of employees and parts support sets the industry toilet. I wouldn’t be surprised if cat is sold in the next 2 years. 

I’ve said similar for years but Cat is best staying a niche performance player.  Stop trying to make comfortable touring machines.  Do what they do best…and their fans will follow.  They are too far behind in building machines for the “Everyman”.  A small motor sports oriented company buying the run would be wonderful.

3 hours ago, p51mstg said:

I like the insight on Textron and can relate.

I once worked for a very large computer-related company that drove our software into the ground, ignored our customers and gave away licenses for free.  People were riffed and would just disappear.  I never knew when I’d be next.  Then, one day I was told to sign a confidentiality agreement for a secret project.  I was sent with a small team to conference room 1 in building 1 - which was in front of the reception area, outside secured space.  I figured that was the end of me working in a big blue building, and I was going to be escorted from the building.

what I learned at that confidential meeting is that my team and software were being sold to another company.  That turned out to be probably the best career move I’ve ever made.  The new owners have invested heavily in R&D, our customers are happy and I got a promotion.

My sincere wish is that the Cat facilities and all of the great people working there have a similar experience.

 

A sell out (or buy out) can do wonders for an operation when it’s own management starts to flail and flounder with the end product.  I think Cat. An go back to Mr. HD to see just how bad their board was at picking leadership.

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