Heathkit Company update

[Randy Kaeding]

Sorry about the length of this, but I need to clear up some misconceptions.

First let me clear up an apparent misconception about the Heathkit Company.
The Company never went out of business. It is true that they no longer make
kits, but one of the long-time product groups still remains.

Perhaps its easier to think of Heath Company as the building in St. Joseph,
Michigan itself. Heath Company encompassed several sub-companies known as
the Heathkit Company (the kit line), Heathkit Educational Systems (the
educational line, which started out as Heath Scientific Instruments), and
Veritechnology (the retail store program). Eventually, the Heathkit Company
developed a very popular home computer that was available as either a kit or
assembled product. This was the product line that caught the eye of Zenith
Radio Corporation (ZRC), which later bought the Heath Company. They were
only interested in the computer products, but the rest of the company came
along as part of the sale. ZRC later changed their name to Zenith
Electronics Corporation (ZEC) to reflect its expansion into other electronic
marketing areas. The computer products were sold under the Heath/Zenith and
Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) names. Incidentally, Heathkit, Vertitechnolgy, and
ZDS each had their own President which reported to ZEC in Chicago. This
should clear up misconception number 1. Although ZDS employees wouldn't want
to admit it, ZDS did not at any time own Heathkit or any of the other
product groups. ZDS was a separate company that was housed in the Heath
Company building, and shared several support groups with the other
companies. Somewhere along the way, a new group was added to the Heath
Company which made lighting and security products, and they did business
under the Heath/Zenith and Reflex names.

Because all of the above-mentioned companies shared several support groups,
problems began to appear. The computer products had priority over everything
else, so the "sharing" became one-sided. I guess that made sense, because
that's where the high profits were.

A decision was finally made to completely renovate a former K-mart building
in downtown Benton Harbor, and move everything except ZDS into the "new"
building. The idea was that ZDS would have their own support groups, and the
groups moving into the new building would have their own shared support
groups, which wouldn't have to take a back-seat to ZDS products. Early in
1991 the move took place.

Even before the move, the kit product sales began to dwindle. This could be
attributed to several reasons, such as foreign wired-product competition,
loss of interest in kit products (the public wanted "instant
gratification"), and yes, probably to poor management.

Late in 1991, the kit line was discontinued, which in turn killed off
Veritechnology. All that was left in the former K-mart building was Heathkit
Educational Systems and the lighting and security group. Soon after, ZEC
sold these groups, the K-mart building, and the Heath Company name to HIG
out of Miami. ZEC retained ZDS and the old Heath Company building in St.
Joseph (remember they were only really interested in the computer products).
Then, a couple of years later, HIG sold the company to an independent
corporation. The current owners were only interested in the educational
product, so they soon sold the Heath Company name and the lighting and
security group to DESA International of Bowling Green Kentucky. At the same
time, the building was sold to Advantage Schools (and is called the Benton
Harbor Charter School). Heathkit Educational Systems now rents about half of
the building from Advantage Schools.

Eventually, the ZDS business failed, and was discontinued. The old Heath
Company building in St. Joseph was sold and now houses several unrelated
companies. I understand that DESA has since filed for bankruptsy.

Heathkit Educational Systems (HES) survived the ordeal and is quite
profitable. They have a web site at www.heathkit.com and remain in the
former K-mart building.

To clear up misconception number two. HES still owns all of the trademarks,
manual copyrights, etc. Misconception number three. Copyrights do not
disappear when a company no longer sells the products to which they were
associated. And, even if the company should go out of business, that does
not cancel the copyrights. Copyrights prior to 1976 were for 25 years,
renewable for another 50 years (total 75 years). Copyrights after 1976 are
good for 75 years.

Incidentally, at least six employees who were originally part of the kit
company are still employed by HES.

Randy Kaeding, K8TMK
"One of the Hams (still) at Heathkit"

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