Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 20, 1995 TAG: 9509200014
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Unlike Samsonite, Infinity Fabrication Systems Inc. doesn't use gorillas to test the strength of its products.
Big apes are rather tough to come by in the Roanoke Valley; so when IFS owners Mary and John Morrison want to check the durability of the company's fitness equipment, they turn to the next best thing.
"It's the power lifters and the bodybuilders who really abuse the equipment," said John Morrison, himself a former power lifter with a background in metalworking. "So we build everything with them in mind. If they can't break it, you know no one else will be able to, either."
Since the Roanoke company incorporated two years ago, it has expanded from a basement business to a regional manufacturer, and has taken its bodybuilder-tested weight-training equipment to health clubs and home gyms all over Virginia and parts of North Carolina.
On Saturday, the Morrisons will open a 2,200-square-foot showroom just down Franklin Road from the IFS workshop, which is in the building that formerly housed the Marsteller floor coverings business. Until now, IFS has had only a photo showroom - a wall in the office covered with snapshots of the equipment. This was fine for dealing with health club directors, who knew what they wanted, Mary Morrison said, but made it difficult to sell to people who were unfamiliar with the merchandise and needed demonstrations.
The new showroom will allow the Morrisons to keep a larger inventory in stock and expand their home-gym business. John Morrison said home sales account for about 40 percent of total sales, which last year were about $150,000. The move will come just in time for the Christmas season - and, perhaps more importantly, the New Year's resolution season.
"Usually, for most other industries, after Christmas is kind of dead," John Morrison said. But January through March are the biggest months for companies like IFS, he said, because that's when resolution-setters join health clubs and buy home fitness equipment.
"We do a lot of equipment for people who want something nice in their house," John Morrison said. "You know, the $29.95 Abdominator you see on late-night TV probably just doesn't work."
Prices for IFS equipment range from $165 for a flat utility bench to $2,100 for a linear hack squat, a machine that works the entire lower body. Equipment designed for home gyms typically is much less complex - and, therefore, much less expensive - than machines that go into health clubs. IFS doesn't produce cardiovascular equipment - machines that work the heart, like stairclimbers or treadmills - but will custom-build weight equipment and help people design home gyms.
IFS doesn't try to compete with fitness industry giants such as Nautilus, whose factory - with more than 200 employees - is just down the road at Independence. With only three full-time workers and a 5,000-square-foot manufacturing space, IFS is in a different league, John Morrison said.
"Nautilus is like the Rolls-Royce of the industry," he said. "We're like a really nice Chevrolet. ... We take a leaner approach to our equipment."
IFS equipment tends to have fewer bells and whistles than similar machines made by some of the larger fitness companies, Morrison said. Carole Corne, a trainer at Roanoke's Downtown Sports Club, said club members like the simplicity of IFS machines.
"It's very easy to use," she said. "It's very visual equipment. And it's durable."
Clubs such as Corne's don't usually replace equipment because it wears out, the Morrisons said, but because they want to keep abreast of new fitness technology. Gyms used to have only one or two machines, which worked every part of the body; today, clubs buy different machines for each muscle group.
To keep up with club demand, IFS will continue to create custom-built equipment, John Morrison said.
"I was the kid who played with Legos and Erector sets," he said. He gestured toward the half-assembled benches in the new showroom. "These are just Erector sets on a larger scale."
by CNB