The new line of 2010 ProForm treadmills has been released. What is first striking about them is that they are advertised by their year. This is not typically done in exercise equipment industry. This is in contrast to the automobile industry, where manufacturers have always advertised the year of their new models. This could be simply to build more demand for the “latest” model, but in the exercise equipment industry, what happens when the equipment is no longer new? Wouldn’t it be much harder to sell?

ProForm’s market position may help to explain their current thinking. ProForm has released several hundred models in the past decades. Each model may be barely distinguishable from another. It has sometimes been frustrating for careful buyers who try to figure out these differences. Often, the biggest difference appears to be the model number or name. These slight differences make it easier for the manufacturer to test-market various features. It can also prevent older model from becoming “old” and less saleable. But if this is good business, why is ProForm calling their new models the “2010 Models?”

Some people have criticized ProForm treadmills for poor quality. Perhaps ProForm has listened to this criticism, because the quality of ProForm’s 2010 treadmills is very high. ProForm has outsold other brands of home treadmill for several years, so they must have had some pretty decent quality all along. Theirs new line is definitely a big improvement though. Their new treadmills have bigger motors and belts than past years’, higher weigh capacities, longer warranties, and other new features. The prices of the new models are higher, but not by much. It appears that ProForm has decided to offer fewer, but higher quality, models. Most of the 2010 models are available with iFit Live, a way to connect to the Internet, run races against your Facebook friends, and run along “actual” routes shown on your screen. Not everyone will want to do that, of course, but it suggests that ProForm is not content to sell merely ordinary treadmills.

It appears that ProForm has gained the treadmill lead by catering their products to typical home users. Typical home users seems to weigh less than 250 lbs, want to walk or jog for up to an hour per day a few times a week, and don’t want to spend a lot. It could be that ProForm is trying to change its market niche from affordable and popular to affordable and high quality. Doing this could also take some sales from the next level, those treadmills that sell for between $1,000 and $1,500.

ProForm may also be labeling their new models with the year because they have adopted new manufacturing methods. Most ProForms are assembled in the United States. Manufacturing in the U.S. has faced huge challenges in past decade. The companies that have survived have adapted and have streamlined their manufacturing process. One of the ways they do this by keeping “just in time” inventory. Not long ago, a company simply manufactured products and then tried to sell them. That can be risky, and expensive. The way that has evolved, however, is to estimate demand for a product as accurately as possible, and then to produce only as many of that product as is likely to be sold within a very short period. This inventory management process partially explains why car manufacturers label their cars with their years. When a year is over, the models made in, or identified by, that year are no longer made! It looks like ProForm is adapting these inventory methods to the exercise equipment industry.

Robert Braun has been using, selling, and writing about exercise equipment for decades. For more information on ProForm treadmills, see http://www.Treadmill-World.com/proform-treadmill.html.