Precor history
Founded as a small business with a single product – a rowing machine for home use – Precor has grown into a global leader in fitness, designing and producing a range of equipment and services for home and commercial markets.
Today, in the home market, Precor is a recognized leader in the premium market segment, with a full line of cardio and strength equipment choices.
In the commercial marketplace, Precor's offering extends beyond traditional fitness equipment, integrating entertainment and services in ways that optimize a fitness facility's Member Experience®, and help the facility be more successful financially.
Precor's revenue growth reflects the expanding business. With revenues of $411 million in revenues in 2007, Precor recorded its sixth consecutive year of record-setting sales. Anchored by a headquarters and production facility located on the outskirts of Seattle, WA, and production facility in Valencia, CA, Precor also has locations in UK, Germany, Benelux, Spain, France, Switzerland, Austria and Japan.
Precor's early dedication to excellence and innovation continues, as evidenced by international awards for product and design excellence.
Commitment to innovation from the beginning
Precor commitment to delivering a smooth, low-impact fitness experience dates to 1980, when David Smith first designed, then became an OEM manufacturer of an ergonomically sound rowing machine, the Amerec 610. By 1982, Bill Potts had joined Smith's small company, bringing new values through electronics providing continuous feedback and enhanced workout effectiveness, and a plan to evolve Precor into more than an OEM manufacturer building products for other companies.
Potts' vision was launched as the Precision Corporation in 1984, immediately attracting an acquisition by Dart and Kraft. The small company prospered, and after several reorganizations, came to operate as Precor Inc., an independent subsidiary of Premark International, Inc.
In 1985, Precor president Paul Byrne joined Precor's sales and marketing department. With a background in specialty fitness retail and education in exercise science, Byrne set new direction by developing training along with sales and educational programs that helped retailers better meet customer needs. At the same time, Precor's home-fitness product line expanded to include treadmills, rowing machines and stationary bicycles.
A heritage of clinical credibility
Clinical research and close collaboration with leading cardiovascular research institution The Cooper Clinic resulted in breakthroughs in Ergologic (E/L) electronics, allowing multiple home users to save programs, track personal statistics and customize workouts developed in association with The Cooper Clinic.
An ongoing relationship with University of Oregon biomechanics experts enhanced Precor leadership delivering a smooth, fluid, natural exercise experience.
In the present day, Precor collaborates with sports medicine, biomechanics and exercise physiology experts at institutions including the University of New Mexico and Western Washington University.
Diversifying to the club market and beyond
In 1990, Precor entered the club market with C960 series treadmills featuring Integrated Footplant Technology™ and Ground Effects® technology that brought new comfort and efficiency to treadmill workouts.
In 1995, Precor revolutionized the fitness industry and set the standard for cardio fitness with the EFX®544, the first Elliptical Fitness Crosstrainer™. Designed for health clubs, the EFX incorporates the patented Cross Ramp® incline system, which provides a varied workout experience by enlisting different muscle groups depending on the ramp angle.
Precor continued to expand the elliptical product line with products for home and club use, including models that provide upper-body motion.
In 1998, Precor added significantly to its home product lineup by acquiring Pacific Fitness, a strength-equipment manufacturer. The innovative Precor StretchTrainer™ also was launched, adding a new choice of flexibility to the lineup of strength and cardio equipment.
A focus on operational efficiency and customer value
In 1999, Precor parent company Premark International was acquired by International Tool Works (ITW), a multinational corporation specializing in precision engineered components and industrial systems.
Under ITW, Precor launched into a three-year campaign to achieve operational excellence by focusing tightly on core competencies that add value and drive customer satisfaction. In three years under ITW ownership, Precor significantly increased profitability through production efficiencies, superior inventory management and sharply reduced warranty costs.
Over the same period, Precor's management team gained new strength, adding executives from within and outside the fitness industry, as well as by promoting key managers from within the company.
Long recognized for innovation and quality, Precor in 2001 and 2002 raised its product quality and service to exceptional levels through an ongoing initiative investing in research and development, product design, manufacturing and field service training.
Through the ITW era, Precor reinforced its reputation for product innovation and quality with new strengths in customer focus and operational excellence that made the company more efficient and financially stronger.
Joining a global leader
A new chapter opened for Precor in October 2002, with the $180-million Euro acquisition by Amer Sports, a Helsinki, Finland-based global leader in sports equipment that also owned sports brands Wilson, Atomic and Suunto.
The change in ownership marked a significant difference in owner philosophy, as Precor transitioned from operating within a tightly focused industrial products company to ownership exclusively focused on global leadership in sporting goods.
Acquisitions toward Total Product
With 2004 acquisitions of commercial strength company Icarian, and entertainment technology leader ClubCom and its Cardio Theater division, Precor took first steps toward a Total Product strategy of meeting club and fitness facility needs. At the same time, Precor also launched a new leasing program for commercial customers.
An established brand in commercial strength, the Icarian line included more than 100 options of selectorized, natural motion, multi-station, plate-loaded, free weight, bench and rack choices, jump-starting Precor's strength capabilities.
Similarly, Cardio Theater and ClubCom hardware and technology, Precor immediately gained the infrastructure to support Precor president Paul Byrne's vision of converging entertainment, operations and experiential technologies.
Launching the Member Experience®
2005 was a watershed year for Precor, with the introduction of the "Member Experience" as the key element to the business success for fitness facilities ranging from YMCAs to health clubs.
Launched with the "It's all about ME®," campaign, the initiative raised the concept that a superior Member Experience was the key to a fitness facility's success. This was a relatively radical approach at a time when the primary focus of much of the club industry was on attracting new members, rather than retaining established members.
Entertainment increasingly became the most visible element of the member experience, and personal viewing screens began to become key differentiators for facilities competing for the same members.
Precor capitalized on the trend in 2006, with the Experience Series® line, the first cardio equipment to seamlessly integrate entertainment, with sleek Cardio Theater screens seamlessly integrated into cardio displays that earned honors in the annual Business Week international product design competition.
Precor in 2005 and 2006 also received special recognition from major club customers, earning "top supplier" honors from Golds Gyms and Anytime Fitness' North American franchisee organizations. 2006 also marked the expansion of Precor's Woodinville headquarters and production campus, and Precor Icarian production tripled in 2006 at the 100,000-sq. ft production facility that opened in Valencia, CA late in 2005.
New dimensions of innovation
With an exclusive co-branding agreement with Hilton Hotels in 2007, Precor set new standards for a hospitality fitness experience and vaulted into global leadership in the hotel market. Through the agreement, specially designed Fitness By Precor facilities are being launched in a range of Hilton-family hotels, including Hilton, Doubletree® and Embassy Suites Hotels®, and The Waldorf=Astoria collection hotels.
By the end of 2007, more than 300 facilities were operational, featuring Precor-developed strength, cardio and entertainment equipment with a complement of core training, balance equipment and stretch accessories.
Also, Precor reinforced its reputation for product innovation level in 2007, launching the Adaptive Motion Trainer™, or AMT™, a breakthrough in low-impact cardio equipment that adapts to a user's choice of stride length and motion. Named Product of the Year in the international fitness industry's annual NOVA7 awards, the AMT also was honored in the prestigious Red Dot product design competition.
Further, through refinements to Cardio Theater entertainment hardware and the ClubCom ChannelCast service, Precor has enhanced the abilities of facility managers looking to offer a customized array of entertainment and promotional content.
Looking to the future
Moving forward, Precor continues to focus on understanding the role that fitness plays in the lives of those who use Precor equipment, and delivering solutions that address those needs in a fluid, smooth and natural way. At the same time, Precor is elevating its focus on helping clubs, corporate, public and hospitality fitness facility management be more successful by delivering a superior member experience.