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Hoyt

A Company on Fire

By Bill & Sherry Krenz

It’s interesting to look at the differences between various companies. Take bow companies, for example. Some follow. Some seem to continually lead.

The longer we’re in the archery industry, the more we’re convinced that the most important difference between one company and another—between the leaders and the followers—is energy. Energy is the source of everything. Energy creates enthusiasm and breeds determination. Energy is the stuff that generates true purpose. Energy moves mountains.

Energy also reveals itself in things like true innovation and an unwavering brand promise. Energy is excitement. It’s passion. It’s heat. One of the best examples of this energy in archery today is Hoyt. Hoyt is a company on fire.

“I sell all the top bow brands,” the dealer told us, “but throughout this last year the clear winner in my shop was the Hoyt AlphaMax. More than any other high-end bow, the 2009 AlphaMax offered what my customers wanted. It was lightweight, smooth-drawing, vibration-free and impressively fast. Its design was also just plain cool.”

Hoyt is an archery company with a long history of cool. It’s the company that developed and introduced such landmark product innovations as synthetic compound cable systems, more durable carbon and laminated multi-layer glass limbs, direct-mount two-piece bowquivers, improved cable guards with inside slides, reduced-torque split limbs, stronger TEC risers, easier-to-tune cam & ½ eccentric systems and a whole lot more. On the product-innovation front, Hoyt has long been a passionate leader.

“We’re proud of Hoyt’s inventive reputation,” says company President Randy Walk. “Continual, meaningful and exciting product innovation has been a Hoyt hallmark for decades. That’s key. But there’s even more to our longevity and success. The Hoyt formula is really based on three things. First is that drive for cutting-edge, impactful new products. Second is our resolute commitment to our many dealers and consumers. We never want to let them down. And third is our obligation to sound business management. All three core devotions fuel the Hoyt fire.”

Hoyt’s steadfast commitment to its widespread dealer network and its many consumer fans is almost legendary.

“We steadfastly believe that independent local dealers are the key to the long-term success of archery,” Walk states. “It’s local dealers that tend to spark initial interest in archery. They teach people to shoot and they promote archery on the all-important grassroots level. The big box stores, even the mail-order firms, don’t do that. They can’t. Dealers shoulder that load, and we feel we need to make sure that those local shops do well and stay healthy. That’s why Hoyt has long been dealer-only. In fact, we pioneered the concept way back in the 1980s.

“At the same time, we know our own company has to be successful as a business. We know that if we don’t protect our bottom line, if we’re not profitable and financially strong, we won’t be able to support all those dealers and satisfy all those consumers. We won’t be able to hire and keep the right people, invest in all that new-product development, all that engineering and designing, all those bold and bright marketing campaigns and more.

“It’s like a three-legged stool. Each leg—exciting new products, our dealer-support commitment and sound financial management—is crucial to the creation of a solid platform. ”

To keep that platform secure, the words “brand promise” are used a lot within the Hoyt walls.

“For everyone at Hoyt,” declares Walk, “it’s personal. We’ve created a strong brand in Hoyt, and fundamental to that is a brand promise that says that we will deliver only great products. We won’t hoist shoddy or questionable items onto our customers, and everything that carries the Hoyt name will perform exactly as advertised. That’s our ongoing, personal promise to every one of our dealers and consumers. That unwavering brand promise, we’re told, is what sets Hoyt apart. Dealers and end-users have come to rely on Hoyt for the sort of true technology, performance, quality and durability that today’s discriminating archers crave and deserve. Everyone hates to buy a product only to discover that it doesn’t perform or last as promised. We go to great lengths at Hoyt to make sure that doesn’t happen. That is the brand promise of Hoyt.”

On the surface, the Hoyt concept of continual, exciting product innovation is pretty simple––offer new and better products each and every year. But getting there, for any company, isn’t easy.

“That effort, at Hoyt, begins with the right mindset, input, ideas, engineering and designing,” Walk explains. “To begin with, we work very hard to make sure that everyone at Hoyt knows, appreciates and understands the seriousness of our commitment to our brand promise. That creates a certain mindset within the company, a way of thinking that directs our every action. We’re aided in that by having so many serious archers and bowhunters in our ranks, something that didn’t just happen. In all cases, we look for qualified people to fill positions, but we also look for archery interest and experience. Employee archers can relate to customer archers. Chances are, they understand what a good archery product is and what a bad archery product is. And because they’re archers themselves, they will bend over backwards to ensure that Hoyt’s products are always the best. We see that today from key people in every area of our company.”

Market surveillance is always a key element in trying to accurately determine directions for new-product development.

Randy Walk explains how that works at Hoyt. “For the most part, what we try to do is create opportunities for a free flow of information and input from all directions. We constantly talk with our dealers, staff shooters and consumers worldwide, listening closely and recording their feedback, concerns and ideas. We also capture input from the super-serious archers and bowhunters within our walls. These are often employees who––like myself––eat, sleep and breathe archery. Many shoot before and after work, testing and evaluating archery gear of all sorts. I, for example, have test ranges both in my home’s backyard and basement. Rain or shine, I can be found shooting bows and testing accessories practically seven days a week. It’s a rare day that I don’t shoot at least a hundred arrows.

“From all that constant input we develop ideas that fall into certain patterns. Primarily, we look for ideas that solve longstanding problems and/or offer distinctly different approaches to things. New-approach ideas particularly appeal to us. Being a follower has no appeal to us. We enjoy the road less traveled. In fact, we talk a lot internally about ‘off-roading.’ Where other companies seek the me-too comfort of the highway, creating bows that look like everyone else’s bows, we like to go off-road, going where no one has ventured before to create something truly unique and truly new. In those efforts we’ll often pursue a wild idea just to see if it can be done. Then, if we do discover that the idea has merit, we’ll redirect our efforts to apply that concept or approach to an actual product.

“The next step, then, is to actually engineer the idea to make it work. I believe we’re the strongest company in archery when it comes to engineering. And I don’t say that because we necessarily have the best or the most engineers, although our engineering staff is both exceptional and relatively large. I say that because we’ve developed the ability to apply the science. My engineers hear that from me all the time. We don’t simply create products or components because we think something might work. We engineer things, utilizing all the science, computer modeling and technology available.

“Only after a product has been professionally engineered to meet our rigid standards of performance and durability do we move that product into what we call the design phase. In the design phase, we focus on such things as product aesthetics and market acceptability. This is an important phase as no one likes an ugly, bulky, overly heavy, inconvenient-to-use product. Within this phase we also work on the best ways to manufacture the product.”

In that structured, phase-by-phase manner, Hoyt continually develops exciting new archery products to fulfill its brand promise and keep the Hoyt fire burning. Last year the Hoyt AlphaMax was an inferno. It set sales records and satisfied dealers and consumers from coast to coast.

But last year was a tame year when compared to all that Hoyt is debuting in 2010. Right across the board, in every bow category, Hoyt is launching new technology and new models guaranteed to burn up the me-too road.

“For 2010,” says Walk, “we have a next-generation concept bow called the Carbon Matrix that has to be seen and shot to be believed, a new flagship bow called the Maxxis, a new ultra-fast bow in the AlphaBurner, a better women’s bow named the Vicxen, two new record-breaking target bows code-named Contender and a new Formula Series of world-class competition recurves that are smoother, faster and more accurate than ever before. From one end to the other, the 2010 Hoyt lineup is on fire.

“The exciting Hoyt Carbon Matrix was about 15 years in the making. While other bow companies have built and offered carbon risers on compound bows, none have really worked out or been long accepted. I think that the biggest part of the failure of those risers was that they weren’t well engineered. In fact, they were mostly just designed. Most were simply patterned after metal risers, and that proved a huge mistake. They tended to flex too much, they vibrated alarmingly and most didn’t hold up well under the stresses of the typical compound bow. Carbon proved to be a completely different animal.

“We’ve been working on advanced carbon risers for compound bows for well over a decade, experimenting with every imaginable application of this unique material. Three years ago we identified a new and innovative carbon-structure approach that would finally satisfy the requirements we had set for both the engineering and the design sides of the project. The carbon riser we envisioned had to be ultra-stiff and strong, vibration-free, lightweight and visually exciting. We spent the last three years applying and perfecting that new technology to successfully accomplish every one of those objectives.

“What we ended up with is revolutionary. It’s different from any bow riser ever offered, and it’s specifically engineered to capitalize on the unique properties and characteristics of carbon. In addition, as it so happened, the unique structure of the riser is so visually exciting that the design side of the project pretty much took care of itself.

“The 2010 Hoyt Carbon Matrix is without question the toughest compound bow we have ever built. And yes, that’s a bold statement. But the data backs it up. Our standard new-bow torture testing is the most rigorous in the archery industry and is predicated on our brand promise, which is that we will offer only products that our customers can count on. We know full well that companies come and grow on new products. But they also come and go on product failure. Our standard new-bow testing procedures include both torturous cycle-fatigue testing and dry-fire testing.

“Our cycle-fatigue testing includes drawing and letting up a 30-inch, 80-pound bow on a machine over one million times. Even more surprising is our dry-fire testing. We expect any new Hoyt compound bow riser to be able to withstand 1,500 dry-fires without even a hint of a problem.

“In the past, the few carbon risers that were made available by others did not prove particularly durable. We knew that stigma was out there, and we were bound and determined to engineer the Hoyt Carbon Matrix to dispel any and all durability concerns. And that’s just what we did.

“The final Carbon Matrix design sailed through our cycle-fatigue and dry-fire testing with ease. But we didn’t stop there. We went as far as to drive a full-sized truck over a finished Carbon Matrix riser…with no damage. We even purposely cut into the riser’s carbon tubes with a band saw and then subjected the bow to our standard 1,500 dry-fires, and the riser still passed with flying colors.

“The 2010 Hoyt Carbon Matrix truly is the most advanced compound bow in the world.”

Next up is the new-for-2010 Hoyt Maxxis, which is available in 31- and 35-inch bow lengths.

“Hoyt is a company that moves forward, and in spite of the fact that the 2009 AlphaMax was proven in the field to be a spectacular bow, we were convinced, after working with that bow for a year, that we could make it even better. The result is the 2010 Hoyt Maxxis. We focused on a couple of key areas in which we felt significant improvements were possible. One was the idea of a roller cable guard. Roller guards actually date back decades, but most possessed problems. Typical side-by-side roller guards often negatively impacted the way the bow drew and they imparted lateral (sideways) torque to the riser. We started with the fresh idea that our roller guard wouldn’t suffer from either of those longtime drawbacks. The Maxxis features the results of that effort in the form of our new, patent-pending In-Line Roller Cable Guard System. The new Hoyt In-Line Roller Guard on the 2010 Maxxis reduces noise and friction, while improving bow efficiency and eliminating torque to the riser.

“At the same time we redesigned the limbs for the Maxxis to work in perfect concert with the new In-Line Roller Guard. Called the XTS ARC Limb System, these new limbs are specifically engineered to provide for more even and uniform stress over the arc of the limbs, which allows us to preload each limb more than normal, and as a result, pick up performance and knock out vibration. The result is that the 2010 Hoyt Maxxis is actually a smoother, quieter and more efficient bow over the 2009 AlphaMax.

“There exists a certain percentage of archers who crave maximum arrow speed. But historically, super-fast bows have come with a specific set of nagging disadvantages. Most were harsh to draw and torque-prone. Many were also loud and delivered unpleasant shot vibration. The 2010 Hoyt AlphaBurner solves all of those problems. It’s a better ultra-fast bow. The new Hoyt AlphaBurner is the smoothest, most accurate, most vibration-free 340 feet-per-second bow on the market today. It features untouchable Hoyt technology and is pleasantly surprising to every speed-bow fan who picks it up.

“One of the core Hoyt philosophies has long been that we will engineer, design and offer serious bows for every sort of archer. Historically, bows built specifically for women were simply shorter and lighter in physical weight. But what we discovered through market research was that most female archers actually wanted the exact same things in a bow that the men did, namely high-performance, exciting bows at their specific draw length. So we engineered the new 2010 Hoyt Vicxen to be a better performing bow at shorter draw lengths. At the same time, we were able to create a lighter mass-weight bow with an easy-adjust modular cam system and wrap it all up with a more economical price tag. The 2010 Vicxen, which is now being endorsed by Vicki Cianciarulo, is the first perfectly built bow for the female archery market. Just days after Vicki received her new Hoyt Vicxen, she shot her biggest bull elk ever and now can’t say enough good about her new racy Vicxen.”

Hoyt’s brand new Contender and Contender Elite replace the company’s Pro Elite and Ultra Elite bows, which have dominated worldwide target archery.

“What we did,” says Walk, “was take the advanced pocket system that we had developed for the AlphaMax last year and integrated it into the two new-for-2010 Contenders. The pocket system on any bow is super important in maintaining perfect alignment of the bow’s limbs with the bow’s riser. Perfect alignment translates straight into better accuracy. The new airtight, zero-tolerance limb-pocket system is so much better that it just made sense to roll it into the world’s best target compound bows, the new Hoyt Contenders.

“World-class competition recurve bows have long been another
important mainstay in the overall Hoyt bow lineup. Our advanced recurve bows have consistently won national, international and Olympic archery competitions around the globe. In fact, for decades our competition recurves have remained the standard worldwide, and the Hoyt Dovetail Limb Attachment System has proven to be the most accepted and widely used limb-attachment system in the rarified world of competitive recurve archery. Over the decades we’ve continually improved that system, but for 2010 we’re leaping it forward in an evolutionary jump engineered and designed to take competition recurves to an all-new level.

“With the new 2010 Hoyt Formula Recurve Series, the overall engineering goal was to dramatically improve the accuracy of the limb-attachment and alignment system, while at the same time enhancing load distribution across each limb to make the Formula Series bows draw even smoother.

“Competition recurve shooters typically take their bows apart every time they use them. The new Hoyt Formula Paralever Takedown System allows them to reassemble their bow every time with perfect limb alignment. That’s a huge advantage for those archers. At the same time, the new Hoyt Paralever System improves limb-flex pattern, making the bows smoother to draw at all draw weights. Because the new Hoyt Formula System results in a smoother, no-stack draw, many archers are discovering that they’re able to shoot a bit more draw weight than they’re used to and thereby pick up additional performance. The new Hoyt Formula Series competition recurves now represent the most advanced and accurate recurve system in the world. It’s all part of how Hoyt offers better bows.”

Hoyt is a leader in the world of archery. It long has been, its success based on a continual march of exciting new products, a trustworthy brand promise, a dealer-only commitment, an obligation to sound business management and seemingly more energy than any six other companies combined. The world belongs to the energetic.

For more information on Hoyt and its products, log onto www.hoyt.com or call Hoyt at (801) 363-2990.

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