And you know all the brands under Harman, right?
 
AKG, AMX, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, JBL Professional, IDX, Lexicon, Martin, Soundcraft, Studer and SVSI.
 
New York, NY (September 14, 2017)—Coming just six months after closing its $8 Billion acquisition by consumer electronics giant Samsung, Harman Professional Solutions will undergo a major internal restructuring, radically revamping how it creates new technologies and brings products to market. That shift will result in 650 employees being laid off within the next nine to 12 months across its various professional audio, video, lighting and control system brands, which include AKG, AMX, BSS, Crown, dbx, DigiTech, JBL Professional, IDX, Lexicon, Martin, Soundcraft, Studer and SVSI.
Also with the layoffs will come closures of various facilities; earmarked sites will include Elkhart, IN; South Jordan, UT; and a number of smaller offices in Europe inherited over the last 10 years via acquisitions. In the wake of those closures, Harman intends to consolidate its R&D efforts into three “Centers of Competency,” with acoustics to be headquartered in Harman Pro’s existing facilities in Northridge, CA; electronics, DSP, and video and control tackled in AMX’s hometown of Richardson, TX; and lighting centered in Martin Professional’s longtime base, Aarhus, Denmark.

HARMAN Fights Counterfeiting with Raids

The planned centers are intended to be largely R&D based, creating technologies that will be funneled to a newly formed New Product Introduction (NPI) team that will turn the technologies into actual products. A conglomeration of R&D and design groups based in Shenzhen, China; Bangalore, India; and Budapest, Hungary, the NPI team is anticipated to provide more collaboration between the Centers of Competency, speed the process of getting products to market, and presumably foster more integration of technologies across the different markets’ products.
Speaking to Pro Sound News sister publication, Systems Contractor News, David Glaubke, director of public relations, global professional solutions, Harman International, referred to the changes as “…the culmination of a transformation that the Professional Solutions Division has been undergoing for the last two years to better serve our customers, increase our competitiveness, and accelerate new product innovations.”
Along with the consolidation, Harman Pro plans to invest in new ways to aid sales, in the form of new IT tools and platforms to aid distributors and representatives, as well as new "Experience Centers" in the U.S. and Europe, based on two existing sites in Asia where Harman customers engage with the company’s products.
“We have given our employees advance notification of the changes we will make over the next year to assist with the transition and will do our best to mitigate the impact to our employees and their families,” Glaubke said. “Importantly, we also will ensure that the process is completely seamless for our customers.”

Obviously, everything music related will restructure.   Its all mergers and acquisitions for the foreseeable future.
 
 
Hooray, hooray, hooray for Hollywood.  At least Jerry Springer is still on the air

Obviously, everything music related will restructure.   Its all mergers and acquisitions for the foreseeable future.
 
 
Hooray, hooray, hooray for Hollywood.  At least Jerry Springer is still on the air

Ugh. I don't think there has ever been a time when consolidation helped to make better products. It will be all the legacy engineers that will be let go.

You know, Samsung probably said....
 
"No one will lose their jobs. This is not an acquisition, it's a merger. We'll be stronger than ever."

We all work for the same master. $$$$$$$ It's all that matters in the 21st century.

I work for no man

Samsung doesn't give a hoot about AKG, JBL, etc. They bought Harmon for one reason: to own the division that supplies OEM electronics to car manufacturers. Entertainment systems are part of that, but the real growth area they're investing in is navigation and GPS tracking, driver-assistance and self-driving cars, and the software that spies on drivers for insurance companies. That $8B investment will be earned back in the first year.
 
Let's just hope the next iteration of the C414 doesn't start spontaneously bursting into flames.

DrLumen
Ugh. I don't think there has ever been a time when consolidation helped to make better products. It will be all the legacy engineers that will be let go.

We'll have to keep an eye out for the new companies these guys will create.  Could be some interesting stuff coming out of them!

ampfixer
We all work for the same master. $$$$$$$ It's all that matters in the 21st century.

Your proclaimed master, $$$ = the greatest scam ever devised. You go to the bank and ask for a loan.  The money they give you does not exist yet - it comes into existence only by the power of your promissory note, that you will pay that amount to the bank over time (which will be one of the papers you have to sign, without knowing what it really means).
They are loaning you money they didn't have to loan until you signed that note. And the interest they expect you to pay on your "loan" is NOT created - so all interest is missing in the available circulation - ensuring, that about three out of ten people will not be able to pay off their loans, allowing the banks to grab their real assets for money that they did not actually loan you. In this way, all real assets in the world will be consolidated in bankers' hands in less than 200 Years.
This is called fractional-reserve debt-money (paying off all debt is impossible, because the money required to pay the interest is not being created.  But if it were possible and actually paid off, there would be no money in circulation). This system is nothing but a means to drive all of humanity into slavery.

bitflipper
Samsung doesn't give a hoot about AKG, JBL, etc. They bought Harmon for one reason: to own the division that supplies OEM electronics to car manufacturers. Entertainment systems are part of that, but the real growth area they're investing in is navigation and GPS tracking, driver-assistance and self-driving cars, and the software that spies on drivers for insurance companies. That $8B investment will be earned back in the first year.
 
Let's just hope the next iteration of the C414 doesn't start spontaneously bursting into flames.

And JBL had just started to make better speakers again...


I guess we could *hope*, that Samsung sells off the divisions they don't need to people who do have an interest in pro-audio gear - like they did with Cakewalk...