In the world of CMMs and outdoor sporting goods, there can only be one business that prevails. Because of this, I decided to take my biased self and my colleague Scott inside one of these enormous sporting goods stores and do a little comparison between it and Wenzel to see who would reign champion. You might not think it, but there are a number of comparisons that can be made between both. In no particular order:
Date founded – Wenzel
This sporting goods store may have been founded in 1971, but Wenzel started in 1968, giving us the upper hand when it comes to metrology experience. From our beginning with simple hand tools, we’ve grown to be a leading world-class provider of CMMs, gear inspection machines, CT solutions, optical CMMs, and styling solutions. You may have also noticed that this is our 50th year anniversary. Happy birthday, Wenzel!
Catalogs – Tie
When it comes to products, this sporting goods store will sell you anything from a fishing hook to a pontoon boat. Well, Wenzel America has probes – and lots of them. When it comes to Renishaw accessories, no one has us beat, especially on price. Probe heads, probe plates, racks, reference spheres – if it’s sold by Renishaw, we sell it too. If you’d like the latest Renishaw catalogs, contact me here!
Waterfalls – Sporting Goods Store
When you walk into one of these “Sporting Goods Stores”, it’s easy to get lost in what seems to be Yosemite National Park. Towards the back of the store, you’ll almost always find a waterfall dumping into a huge fish tank. Well, we don’t have that at Wenzel America, but we do have granite, and a lot of it! You could say we have more granite than you could fit inside one of these big box stores. That’s because the Wenzel family owns part of the quarry in South Africa where we obtain our Black Impala granite that we are so familiar with. We also own the mill where the blocks are rough cut and sent to the factory in Wiesthal to be hand lapped. The workers are like artisans, some who even study the water content inside the granite to make sure it won’t swell as it ages.
Number of CMMs vs number of stores – Wenzel
Even though this particular sporting goods store has 177 stores nationwide (including 82 of its subsidiaries), Wenzel has thousands of CMM’s, and that doesn’t even count Canada and Mexico. Servicing isn’t a problem either. With a large service team and a large number of the most accurate calibration lasers, it is not a problem keeping your machine as accurate as it can be.
CMM accuracy vs shooting accuracy – Wenzel
With a measly score of 75 at the sporting goods store shooting range game, it is easy to say I am not a very good marksman. You’re welcome, wildlife. However, even if I’d’ve gotten the top score, our ISO 10360 and VDI/VDE 2612/13 Group I certified CMMs and gear inspection machines are far more accurate. If you need help chasing microns, look no further than Wenzel.
And there you have it. It is easy to see from the score who holds the upper hand. If there are any disagreements, feel free to visit us at www.wenzelamerica.com and take a look for yourself how we are the largest family-owned business on this side of the industry. If you want even more frequent updates, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @WenzelAmerica and me @GearMarks! I have to say, I wouldn’t mind one of those fishing vests, though…