FEBRUARY 2018 $3.00 The Perfect Pairing

Transcription

1 FEBRUARY 2018 $3.00 The Perfect Pairing Buffet Crampon s acquisition of Powell Flutes creates benefits for two companies with a similar artist-focused approach to the market. Buffet Crampon gains a leading position in the professional flute market, while Powell gains access to a global marketing team.

2 THE PERFECT PAIRING Buffet Crampon s acquisition of Powell Flutes creates benefits for two companies with a similar artist-focused approach to the market. Buffet Crampon gains a leading position in the professional flute market, while Powell gains access to a global marketing team. If conventional marriages have a failure rate of around 50%, corporate tie-ups probably fare even worse. In the music products industry, the frequency of failed acquisitions has led some to sarcastically define corporate synergy as 2+2=3. However, if there ever was a proverbial match made in heaven, it was Buffet Crampon s 2016 acquisition of the storied Verne Q. Powell Flute Company of Boston. For Buffet Crampon, the transaction immediately filled a large gap in its product offering with an acclaimed line of high-quality flutes and piccolos. The deal also brought together two companies with a similar focus on serving artists with instruments of uncompromising quality. Buffet Crampon clarinets are the choice of an overwhelming majority of the world s most discerning clarinetists, just as Powell flutes can be found anywhere serious music is being made. For Powell, the benefits were equally significant: access to a potent global distribution network, a corporate parent with a deep understanding of how to simultaneously maintain the integrity of an instrument, and fiscal solvency. François Kloc, President of Buffet Crampon USA, who was involved in every step of the acquisition process, describes Powell as the perfect complement to Buffet Crampon s other venerable brands, including the namesake woodwinds, founded 1825, Besson brass, founded 1837, B&S brass, founded in the early 19th century, Antoine Courtois Paris brass, founded 1789, Hans Hoyer French Horns, founded in the early 19th century, Julius Keilwerth saxophones, founded 1925, Melton Meinl Weston low brass, founded in the early to mid-19th century, J. Scherzer rotary trumpets, founded 1900, and W. Schreiber bassoons, A handmade Powell solid silver flute (right) and a Sonaré model with a proprietary Aurumite headjoint.

3 The Powell Flute team in front of the Maynard factory. (l-r) Christina Cobas, director of marketing; Hannah Liuzzo, Powell Sonaré product specialist; Alfredo Munoz, customer service representative; Francois Kloc, president, Buffet Crampon USA; Mark Spuria, general manager; Kaitlyn Mix, office manager; Kristyn Moore, sales specialist; and Heidi Derven, senior accountant. founded We work best with instruments that have a great tradition, he adds. The mentality at Powell is the same as the mentality at Buffet Crampon: We re both never satisfied and always trying to make things better. It felt good working together from the very start. At Powell, this quest for continual improvement is reflected in a long tradition of innovation. Although founder Verne Q. Powell can t claim to have invented the modern Boehm flute, he and his successors can take credit for numerous improvements. In 1928, he crafted the first 14-karat gold flute. A decade later, he made the first all-platinum flute. In 1974, Powell was the first company to introduce instruments based on the Cooper scale, which provides enhanced intonation and ergonomics, and in 1987 it introduced Aurumite, a proprietary gold and silver composite material with its own distinctive tonal qualities. In 2002, the company pioneered the concept of a hybrid flute, combining Chinese-fabricated key work with a U.S.-made headjoint to deliver a superior value to aspiring students. The resulting Sonaré line has since been widely copied. Powell even has the distinction of sending the first flute into outer space. In 2011, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman took her Powell with her on a mission to the International Space Station. The Powell Flute line remains unchanged following the Buffet Crampon acquisition and includes the flagship Handmade Custom Instruments series of price-is-no-object, no-compromise flutes that are the choice of leading artists; the Conservatory line, a more value-oriented handmade instrument; the Signature line of intermediate professional flutes; and the hybrid Sonaré line, which has become a favorite among students as well as professional wind players who occasionally double on flute. What has changed is the sales process. The specialized team at Powell continues to handle sales of the Custom instruments, which often entails specifying dozens of key and headjoint options to tailor an instrument to the needs of a single musician. However, responsibility for the sales of Conservatory and Sonaré instruments has been shifted to the Buffet Crampon organization. Mark Spuria, Powell s general manager and longstanding team member, says the new arrangement has already had a positive impact. Our instruments are being exposed to more potential buyers than ever before, he says. The benefits have been immediate. Kloc began his career at the Mignot Oboe factory in France before joining Rigoutat Oboes, where he learned the art of key making and finishing. After a year working at a music store in the Grenoble area (Bertet Music), Kloc came back to Paris to work for Loree oboes and later was immersed in product development at Buffet Crampon. He explains that the difference between a mediocre instrument and a superlative one often comes down to a host of easily overlooked details. The small

4 Powell flutes are truly handmade. A team of 50 at the Maynard plant use hand tools to polish, finish, and fit all flute components, with the kind of care and precision associated with fine watchmaking. things really do count, he explains, and for that reason, Buffet Crampon management has taken a light touch approach with the Powell production process. This is not something that needs to be fixed, he adds. And there is probably more flute making expertise in this building than anywhere else in the world. Powell s manufacturing operations occupy the top floor of a four-story, 130-year-old former textile mill located 20 miles west of Boston in the town of Maynard. The evolution of the mill building, which overlooks the scenic Assabet River, in some ways reflects the convergence of tradition and technology in the Powell production process. In the 1890s, the mill housed water-powered wool looms but by 1990 had been gutted and converted into a computer factory for the Digital Equipment Company. There s a similar contrast at Powell, where computer-controlled metal shaping equipment is employed alongside skilled craftspeople who shape the critical tone hole with hand tools identical to those used by Verne Powell decades ago. The common thread that unites these diverse operations is an overriding concern with perfection. From the careful handling of precious metal raw materials to the fabrication of tiny key components, the Powell flute factory probably has more in common with a jewelry operation than other musical instrument factories. The production process begins in a caged raw materials storage area where the 14-karat gold, sterling silver, or Aurumite that will become a flute is placed in felt-lined wooden trays to make kits. Before leaving the storage area, each piece of metal is weighed to the last gram. At each stage of the manufacturing, the shavings and leftover scraps are carefully collected from the factory floor and re-weighed. The plant manager carefully monitors the ratio of scrap to finished flutes to keep wastage to a minimum. These kinds of controls are required when the unprocessed raw materials for a single flute can cost upwards of $10,000. The flute making process starts in the body department with raw tubing. For Powell s Custom handmade flutes, raised tone holes are painstakingly soldered into place. For the Conservatory models, they are drawn. Once the holes are in place, ribs and posts are fitted and soldered to the body. From there, the body goes to a stringing operation where key assemblies are fitted to the posts. Final assembly involves installing pads, springs, and corks, and adjusting the action of the all the keys. Separately, in perhaps the most critical operation in the entire process, skilled artisans shave small bits of silver, undercutting or overcutting the embouchure in the headjoint. It s a time-

5 Key sets and bodies move through the production process in felt-lined trays to avoid scratching. To meet the needs of demanding players, keys, posts, and ribs are meticulously finished to precise dimensions. Cutting the tone hole, perhaps the most critical operation in the production process, is done entirely by hand and can take upwards of an hour for a single headjoint. consuming process that can take upwards of an hour for a single headjoint, but is critical to the performance of the finished instrument. At each step of the production process, craftspeople working with a magnifying lens and small chisels and scraping tools spend an inordinate amount of time removing small metal burrs and smoothing out nearly imperceptible imperfections. This extensive handwork is necessary to create a smoothly functioning key assembly. Just as importantly, it gives each flute the elegance and beauty typically associated with a fine piece of jewelry. Kloc says, The flute is the most unforgiving of all wind instruments. There is no give, the keys and pads either fit perfectly or it won t work at all. This is why a craftsperson can spend as much as 20 minutes inserting paper shims of varying thicknesses under a pad to ensure that it provides a perfect seal. At a minimum of $13,500 for a silver handmade flute gold models can run three times as much a Powell flute is unquestionably expensive. However, given the amount of time and effort involved in producing one, it s a relative bargain. As Spuria notes, each Powell flute is a true work of art. Over the past nine decades, the Verne Q. Powell Company has become a pillar of the vibrant flute making culture in Boston. Founder Verne Powell was born into a family of jewelers in Topeka, Kansas in Early on, he showed an interest and aptitude for music. In 1910, attending a recital in Chicago by the renowned flutist Georges Barrère, he encountered his first silver flute. Most flutes in the U.S. at the time had wooden bodies. The concert made such a powerful impression, he decided to combine his interest in music and his skills as a jeweler and built his own silver flute. The process involved melting down some of the family silverware, augmented with a few silver dollars, but yielded a very serviceable instrument. In 1916, he sent the flute to the Haynes Flute Company in Boston with a request for a job. Founder William Haynes was sufficiently impressed and hired Powell to help him add a silver flute to his product selection. Within a year or so, Powell was managing the entire Haynes factory.

6 In 1927, after a falling out with Haynes, Powell left to start his own company, setting up shop in a small space adjacent to the Boston Symphony Hall and the New England Conservatory. He adopted the middle initial Q because he liked the way it looked, engraved on a flute body. The location of the first Powell factory was strategic: It allowed Powell to meet with all the notable flutists who passed through Boston. Close ties with artists provided invaluable guidance in refining product designs, while simultaneously elevating the Powell brand profile. Within three years, the company had representatives in major cities nationwide, and Powell flutes could be found in leading orchestras. Powell s stature as a leading flute maker was further enhanced in 1939, when a platinum flute he crafted won first prize for excellence in a World s Fair sponsored metallurgy competition. The unique flute, with a World s Fair logo engraved in the headjoint, was immediately purchased by William Kincaid, principal flutist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. As a faculty member of the Curtis Institute of Music, Kincaid trained a generation of some of the world s most prominent flutists, and in the process, his platinum Powell acquired an almost legendary status. In 1986, the flute was auctioned by Christie s Auction House for $186,000, the highest price ever paid for a wind instrument. Today it resides in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At age 81, Verne Powell sold his company to four employees in Two decades later, they passed it on to another employee owner team. The most recent owner, Steven Wasser, took ownership of Powell in While ownership changed over the decades, the culture of the company and the fixation on quality remained constant. Spuria attributes this to the type of people who gravitate to high-end flute making. Of the 50 employees who work at the Powell plant, he estimates that at least half are accomplished flutists. The other half are individuals with a deepseated appreciation of craftsmanship. To work here and be successful, you really have to love the finished product, he says. It takes a sharp eye and real attention to detail. The Powell factory has also served as a training ground for numerous other Boston-based flute makers, including Brannen Brothers, and Burkart. As Wasser once remarked, We have a habit of training our competitors. The Powell approach to artist relations, similar to that at Buffet Crampon, has also been a constant over nine decades. Mr. Above: Material controls, when you deal with precious metals, require weighing all raw metal to the tenth of a gram before processing. Below: Playtesting by accomplished flutists puts Powell flutes to the ultimate test. Powell viewed artists as necessary, both to validate his product, and to tell his story to the world, says Kloc. Some companies view artists as a pain to be dealt with. But at Buffet Crampon and Powell, we view a tight connection with great players as absolutely necessary. According to Kloc, Buffet Crampon management in France views Powell as not just a business, but a uniquely valuable contributor to the world of music that needs to be carefully nurtured. Sales and financial targets need to be achieved, but never at the expense of compromising the acclaimed instrument. There is always a place for the best, and that s the goal here. To be the best.