When the OMC (Outboard Marine Corporation filed for bankruptcy back in December 2000, it left many people wondering about where they would be able to get the OMC outdrive parts from. Luckily, several suppliers stepped in to fill up the void and you can now enjoy an easy access to the OMC outdrive parts and some of the suppliers even provider their customers with detailed OMC service videos too.
What Actually Happened To The OMC?
Outboard Marine Corporation used to be a multibillion firm that manufactured Johnson, Evinrude and Gale outboard motors and also owned various other boat manufacturers including Chris Craft, Lowe Boats and Javelin.
The company was established back in year 1929 when the Elto Outdoor Motor Company merged with Lockwood-Ash Motor Company, however, the company did not start using the name OMC till year 1956. Located in Waukegan, Illinois, OMC later on became the biggest manufacturer of outboard motors worldwide and they were the second largest manufacturers of the powerboats. Specially renowned for its brand names of Evinrude and Johnson outboard motors and Chris-Craft and Grumman Powerboats, OMC started to struggle in the late 80s, partly because there was cutthroat competition from their arch-rival Brunswick Corporation.
It was just a series of events, but, begging in the later 70s, which eventually culminated in the downfall of company.
The very first thing that hit OMC was the question being raised with regards to the impact that the business was having on its environment. This basically started with accusations in year 1976 that the firm polluted Waukegan Harbor, which led to OMC being forced to fund a trust that the responsible for cleaning up the lake. Issues for OMC mounted in year 1980 when the sales plummeted soon after the Department of Energy, in response to the shortage of fuel, proposed that boating should be banned over the weekends.
The boat market reached its peak during the late 80s era and then took a rapid nosedive. OMC continued purchasing boat companies as an attempt to maintain the demand of its outboard engines and continued launching latest models such as the Johnson Silver-Star series and Evinrude Spitfire, but the corporation continued to lose money.
Eventually, with the business in financial turmoil, facing rough competition in Europe from the Japanese rivals, and having to launch new models in order to comply with tougher, new EPA guidelines, OMC started a series of plant closures and layoffs that spelled the beginning of the end for the business.
Later in year 2000, OMC filed for bankruptcy, and the Evinrude and Johnson brands were later bought by the Bombardier Recreational Products. Genmar Holdings of Minnesota bought the boat division of OMC.
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