Harder & Steenbeck acquired by Anest Iwata

This was already news on the forum a couple of months ago Janos, there has been quite a discussion over it and I think the general opinion is that other than ownership there will no changes to H&S stock nor the quality of goods and after sales service H&S customers have come to expect, but only time will tell:)
 
Thank you for the insights, I have completely missed this.
I love Iwata airbrushes, but less players in the game never means any good for the customers. Time will tell :)
 
Janos said:
Thank you for the insights, I have completely missed this.
I love Iwata airbrushes, but less players in the game never means any good for the customers. Time will tell :)
Click to expand...
Iwata has made mention that the nozzle of H&S may be made out of a strong more durable material . But like with anything on a merger only time will tell. Being the only issue I have ever had out of my H&S is that the nozzle cracks too damn easy that would be great news if it holds true.
 
It has however led to the making of japanese brushes under other brands that use H+S designs, as I understand it.
Airtex beauti 4= evolution
Airtex infinity=H+S infinity
 
I started with Iwata and so far have felt no reason to change, so I doubt this merger will affect me directly. I think a lot of H&S users have to be looking forward to stronger nozzles for sure. But agree it’s not always great for customers when there’s to great a Monopoly, but so far so good.
Nice spot @Robbyrockett2.


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yeah, great spot Robby:)...

As for Iwata acquiring H&S, worrying about the future is probably no more than paranoia :). I don't expect to see anything really change much as far as the retail side of things, or brush design for that matter. Japanese airbrush manufacturing has always been something of an enigma, but what it leads to is more and more quality instruments to work with. There is a reason that Richpen, Olympos, Iwata, Airtex, Mr Hobby (the list goes on and on...), all use "similar" parts, and are all a quality item. The only thing I have noticed that makes me nervous is that the trend has been to ditch "A", "B" and side feed designs in favour of a more universal "C" cup.

I look forward to seeing what comes out of all of it, aside from the things that are already out there just waiting to be recognized ;) .
 
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DaveG said:
The only thing I have noticed that makes me nervous is that the trend has been to ditch "A", "B" and side feed designs in favour of a more universal "C" cup.
.
Click to expand...
Noooooo.... I love my A and B cups :depressed:
 
DaveG said:
yeah, great spot Robby:)...

As for Iwata acquiring H&S, worrying about the future is probably no more than paranoia :). I don't expect to see anything really change much as far as the retail side of things, or brush design for that matter. Japanese airbrush manufacturing has always been something of an enigma, but what it leads to is more and more quality instruments to work with. There is a reason that Richpen, Olympos, Iwata, Airtex, Mr Hobby (the list goes on and on...), all use "similar" parts, and are all a quality item. The only thing I have noticed that makes me nervous is that the trend has been to ditch "A", "B" and side feed designs in favour of a more universal "C" cup.

I look forward to seeing what comes out of all of it, aside form the things that are already out there just waiting to be recognized ;) .
Click to expand...
Well ya know, we just had that conversation on the selphy thread. I've been digging since then.
Seems Anest has been licensing some of their new property. But yeah I had thought they were copying the designs just because they happened to be making some H+S stuff there since that merger.
Dave pointed pointed it out they are more like just rebranded.
Like you said, one day i'll figure it out...maybe
 
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JackEb said:
Noooooo.... I love my A and B cups :depressed:
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for sure - there are a handful of brushes that would be interesting to try out, but they all only come in a "C" cup design, and I am just not that fond of that large cup. If the Creos ps770, Airtex 825, Creos PS265, 267, 270 or the Wave airbrushes came in "B" cup, I would have already had my hands on them... But, not a one of them is offered in anything but "C" cup.

You're a rock star Robby, I will look forward to learning more from all your hard research.
 
DaveG said:
for sure - there are a handful of brushes that would be interesting to try out, but they all only come in a "C" cup design, and I am just not that fond of that large cup. If the Creos ps770, Airtex 825, Creos PS265, 267, 270 or the Wave airbrushes came in "B" cup, I would have already had my hands on them... But, not a one of them is offered in anything but "C" cup.

You're a rock star Robby, I will look forward to learning more from all your hard research.
Click to expand...
LOL.... not exactly. Anyone can hunt through public company financial info to see how they operate. Once you set me on the right track.
It's still vague, but gives some clues when you see the same associate companies on multiple companies reports.
I'm learning here too, gimme a break, and thanks for pointing out they werent copies
 
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Well, now I have found a little more solid info on the history for the airtex stuff. It actually looks like i was wrong about the Iwata aquisition having much to do with it. Outside of airtex and H+S now having access to Iwata distribution channels, thus simply making us more aware of their existance.
Airtex has been involved with H+S for a long time. They act as a distributor and sell every model made by H+S.
However, They also sell several models that are not made by H+S but are the same designs, looks like a pattern of about 4 years after H+S releases a particular design.
The beauti 4 is not made by H+S but was released in 2010 so theyve been making the H+S designs for a long time now.

Airtex does a lot of business in taiwan and started doing so shortly after establishing themselves with H+S
Incidentally the same ten years that H+S managed to quadruple production is the same ten years from when they started to do business with airtex.
Which just solidifies my suspicion that a large portion of the parts used to make an H+S are actually made in taiwan and assembled in germany . As is common with a lot of german brands.
I suspect that the airtex versions (,825,beauti) are also largely manufactured in taiwan, with assembly in japan.
 
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So there we go, the idea that any of airtex's association with H+S had anything to do with the Iwata aquisition was was totally wrong anyhow.
 
Robbyrockett2 said:
Well, now I have found a little more solid info on the history for the airtex stuff. It actually looks like i was wrong about the Iwata aquisition having much to do with it. Outside of airtex and H+S now having access to Iwata distribution channels, thus simply making us more aware of their existance.
Airtex has been involved with H+S for a long time. They act as a distributor and sell every model made by H+S.
However, They also sell several models that are not made by H+S but are the same designs, looks like a pattern of about 4 years after H+S releases a particular design.
The beauti 4 is not made by H+S but was released in 2010 so theyve been making the H+S designs for a long time now.

Airtex does a lot of business in taiwan and started doing so shortly after establishing themselves with H+S
Incidentally the same ten years that H+S managed to quadruple production is the same ten years from when they started to do business with airtex.
Which just solidifies my suspicion that a large portion of the parts used to make an H+S are actually made in taiwan and assembled in germany . As is common with a lot of german brands.
I suspect that the airtex versions (,825,beauti) are also largely manufactured in taiwan, with assembly in japan.
Click to expand...

Your suspicion about HS parts, is well supported by the fact that HS had 10 people only in their production /reported in 2013/.
 
DaveG said:
yeah, great spot Robby:)...

As for Iwata acquiring H&S, worrying about the future is probably no more than paranoia :). I don't expect to see anything really change much as far as the retail side of things, or brush design for that matter. Japanese airbrush manufacturing has always been something of an enigma, but what it leads to is more and more quality instruments to work with. There is a reason that Richpen, Olympos, Iwata, Airtex, Mr Hobby (the list goes on and on...), all use "similar" parts, and are all a quality item. The only thing I have noticed that makes me nervous is that the trend has been to ditch "A", "B" and side feed designs in favour of a more universal "C" cup.

I look forward to seeing what comes out of all of it, aside from the things that are already out there just waiting to be recognized ;) .
Click to expand...
I do not see any reason to worry about Japanese manufacturing quality. Pricing is a different subject. Its a natural behavior of a company adopting their pricing strategy to a new market situation.
 
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