Paul Reed Smith Guitars Announces Steps Aimed at Minimizing the Impact of the Challenging Economy

Press release
Source: PRS Guitars

As the musical instruments retail industry faces a significant global downturn, Paul Reed Smith Guitars announced today steps aimed at minimizing the impact of a difficult economy. After the successful launch of two new product lines in 2009—PRS Acoustics and PRS Amps—and a multi-million dollar facility expansion, the plans to slightly reduce the workforce were put in place to help weather the economic storm.

PRS Guitars President Jack Higginbotham stated, “Although market research suggests that on a competitive basis we are doing better than other guitar manufacturers, a marginal reduction of our workforce and overhead allows us to better meet the immediate needs of our business. Unfortunately, part of this process will include layoffs of approximately 30 employees, the implementation of a 4-day manufacturing week and utilization of the Maryland Works Program which helps compensate affected employees for lost hours."

Paul Reed Smith said, “We have an extremely talented group of people behind everything we make, and we’re all teaming up to make our traditional product offerings even better and to make the most of a difficult time by experimenting with new colors, configurations, and technologies. In the next few months PRS is announcing the launch of several new products including a 25th Anniversary line of guitars. Given these strong opportunities, as well as the recently introduced PRS Tech Center (PTC), we believe that the negative impact of the present economy on our business should be relatively low and short lived.”

About PRS Guitars:
Paul Reed Smith Guitars is a leading manufacturer of high-quality instruments in Stevensville, Maryland and has been providing some of the world’s most renowned guitarists with instruments since 1985. More than 290 highly skilled craftspeople produce more than 70 guitars each day for worldwide distribution. PRS Acoustics and PRS Amps were introduced as new product lines in 2009 with support from renowned artists Ricky Skaggs and Derek Trucks. Carlos Santana, Linkin Park, Chris Henderson of 3 Doors Down and Mark Tremonti of Creed are also among the artists currently playing PRS guitars.

PRS Guitars Info: www.prsguitars.com.

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