KCRag Forum

Looks like Garmin has the approval to build a new facility on 151st Street and Renner Road. Maybe up to 2,500 new jobs.

This is at their current campus, which is 151st and Ridgeview.

Didn't want to start a new topic about Garmin but I've saw a few business articles about the tanking Fitbit has seen recently and how Garmin is really catching up in the wearable fitness category. They suggested that Garmin just aquire Fitbit to bolster fitness tracker portfolio. Its a takeover that would definitely make sense but man what a clash of company cultures that would most likely be.

How so? What's the cultural difference between FitBit and Garmin?

Is impressive how Garmin manages to find their way through a plethora of consumer competition. When smartphone GPS apps became mainstream, didn't think Garmin had a chance maintaining the consumer biz (like car dashboard GPS) and would rely on aviation/boating/outdoor industry specific devices. I used to have Garmin car navigation and outdoor handheld - don't use either anymore in favor of smartphone and most newer cars have navigation built it. But they seem to be managing well with a broad range of consumer devices. Didn't expect Garmin's wearables to take off either. Apparently many like devices that are dedicated to a specific function.

Garmin ranked 3rd in wearables last Fall, ahead of Apple and Samsung...
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS41996116

Investors seem to favor Garmin over Fitbit lately given Garmin has more diverse product line and better strategy for fitness market than Fitbit...
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/01/ ... armin.aspx

Sani wrote:How so? What's the cultural difference between FitBit and Garmin?

Well, Fitbit is located in downtown San Francisco versus Garmin's exurban Olathe greenfield campus, for one. I noticed recently that the new section of Mahaffie Circle behind the campus has been renamed to Garmin Way. This isn't reflected on Google Maps, but new street signs are up. Apparently they think it's still cool to name streets after your company

Garmin's wearable/fitness devices now overtaking shrinking sales of automotive navigation devices - other devices more than offsetting auto segment. Revenues up 10% overall for the year.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 87409.html

Garmin ranked #3 in wearables last Fall, they could be king at some point with FitBit's troubles. FitBit just had their first quarterly loss..
http://gadgetsandwearables.com/2017/02/ ... n-revenue/

And Garmin's auto division isn't dead yet, they just scored a deal with BMW for future cars starting in 2020, though I would expect Apple and Google to overtake built in auto navigation/entertainment in near future.
http://www.kansascity.com/news/business ... 87409.html

Garmin probably wants to get into the car dashboard business to replace the OEM units. The OEM car units are pretty much the only GPS devices left where you still see companies charging exorbitant prices to upgrade the maps. I remember prior to 3 to 5 years ago it was somewhat pricey to get map upgrades for Garmin units, but with the advent of smartphones and constantly updated maps that don't cost you a dime they've had to scale back that pricing structure. Autos gives them an extension to gouge consumers some more. But I think that will end in the near future as likely more car manufacturers will opt to stop providing maps and possibly even GPS and rely on Carplay/Android Auto.

I had a company provided Garmin Vivosmart and I can tell you that I will never buy a Garmin wearable with my own money after that fiasco. Thing was horrible at syncing with my iPhone. It was so bad that their official support suggestion was to delete the pairing and re-pair, but eventually even that fix stopped working. I wore it just long enough to ensure I wouldn't have to pay the company for it, then tossed it.

SWFan wrote:Garmin probably wants to get into the car dashboard business to replace the OEM units. The OEM car units are pretty much the only GPS devices left where you still see companies charging exorbitant prices to upgrade the maps. I remember prior to 3 to 5 years ago it was somewhat pricey to get map upgrades for Garmin units, but with the advent of smartphones and constantly updated maps that don't cost you a dime they've had to scale back that pricing structure. Autos gives them an extension to gouge consumers some more. But I think that will end in the near future as likely more car manufacturers will opt to stop providing maps and possibly even GPS and rely on Carplay/Android Auto.

I had a company provided Garmin Vivosmart and I can tell you that I will never buy a Garmin wearable with my own money after that fiasco. Thing was horrible at syncing with my iPhone. It was so bad that their official support suggestion was to delete the pairing and re-pair, but eventually even that fix stopped working. I wore it just long enough to ensure I wouldn't have to pay the company for it, then tossed it.

people keep cars longer than they keep smartphones

SWFan wrote:Garmin probably wants to get into the car dashboard business to replace the OEM units. The OEM car units are pretty much the only GPS devices left where you still see companies charging exorbitant prices to upgrade the maps. I remember prior to 3 to 5 years ago it was somewhat pricey to get map upgrades for Garmin units, but with the advent of smartphones and constantly updated maps that don't cost you a dime they've had to scale back that pricing structure. Autos gives them an extension to gouge consumers some more. But I think that will end in the near future as likely more car manufacturers will opt to stop providing maps and possibly even GPS and rely on Carplay/Android Auto.

I had a company provided Garmin Vivosmart and I can tell you that I will never buy a Garmin wearable with my own money after that fiasco. Thing was horrible at syncing with my iPhone. It was so bad that their official support suggestion was to delete the pairing and re-pair, but eventually even that fix stopped working. I wore it just long enough to ensure I wouldn't have to pay the company for it, then tossed it.

I agree. I don't understand why people buy the navigation packages in vehicles anyways. That option can be anywhere from $500 to over $1000 depending on make/model. All to replicate something every smartphone can do today (and the phone is usually much better and more up-to-date than the built-in systems). I can see Android auto and Carplay mirroring completely destroying the built-in nav systems (a la Garmin OEM).

With cars getting connected to the Internet (for better or worse), can also see Apple and Google maps dominate built in car navigation, at least upper end cars in near future. Free, regular map updates with live traffic as well as streaming entertainment. Garmin might manage to maintain being a player in auto navigation but do they even own/maintain their own streetmap or still licensing from someone else?

Anyone have detailed information (timeline), drawings, etc regarding new automobile access to the Garmin campus from the north? I'm hearing an access road will join/give access from Old Hwy 56/Church St (around the existing concrete facility), underneath I-35 and connect up with the existing Mahaffie Rd alongside the new Garmin warehouse. All of this to alleviate increasing traffic at I-35/151st Street.

StL_Dan wrote: ↑Mon Nov 05, 2018 10:41 am Anyone have detailed information (timeline), drawings, etc regarding new automobile access to the Garmin campus from the north? I'm hearing an access road will join/give access from Old Hwy 56/Church St (around the existing concrete facility), underneath I-35 and connect up with the existing Mahaffie Rd alongside the new Garmin warehouse. All of this to alleviate increasing traffic at I-35/151st Street.

Where did you hear this was happening? Instead, I've heard that 151st street will be widened to three lanes west of Garmin towards I35.

I can't see them adding a north road considering I doubt Garmin wants through traffic around their warehouse loading bays.

Its on page 64 of their CIP: https://www.olatheks.org/home/showdocument?id=11856

I agree, that's a tough design squeezing between Garmin and the Railroad.

krotering wrote: ↑Thu Nov 08, 2018 3:36 pm Its on page 64 of their CIP: https://www.olatheks.org/home/showdocument?id=11856

I agree, that's a tough design squeezing between Garmin and the Railroad.

Wow, $13 million to alleviate "traffic" for less than 30 minutes per day. That just seems like a reckless use of taxpayer money. On top of that, they are requesting federal money for a project that very few people will actually utilize.

Former Great Mall of Plains for future expansion.

barf

normalthings wrote: ↑Fri Oct 29, 2021 11:58 pmbarf

Makes sense for them, in the last 5 years, I’ve seen the personal GPS systems the military purchased go between a few companies to solely Garmin, so I imagine they need to expand their manufacturing or warehouse space.

Anthony_Hugo98 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 30, 2021 8:28 am

normalthings wrote: ↑Fri Oct 29, 2021 11:58 pmbarf

Makes sense for them, in the last 5 years, I’ve seen the personal GPS systems the military purchased go between a few companies to solely Garmin, so I imagine they need to expand their manufacturing or warehouse space.

Glad to see a KC company do well. I was concerned about Garmin at one point as smart phones had taken over a lot of what they did but they seem to maintained for themselves a sizeable niche.