Success Record: American Athletic, Inc, (AAI)
American Athletic, Inc. (AAI) of Jefferson, Iowa, is the world’s leading manufacturer of gymnastics apparatus and the chosen gymnastics equipment supplier for most major championships. Using the Planned Innovation philosophy and process over a 20-year period, AAI redesigned and improved every item of gymnastic equipment and gained international prominence in their field.
Bill W. Sorenson, former President of AAI wrote:
- American Athletic has made many significant engineering, design, material, and performance improvements in their gymnastics equipment over the past 20 years in a sport that for a long time was dominated by Eastern European countries. By following the principles of your Planned Innovation ® program, they became the world leader in new product innovations and the most respected international manufacturer of equipment for the sport of gymnastics.
- It is significant that the world-governing body for gymnastics, the Federal Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), quickly adopted these innovations into their official apparatus technical specifications, and the higher level of performance provided to U.S. gymnasts by American's technically superior apparatus played a significant part in lifting U.S. gymnasts and gymnastics to world prominence.
- All of the equipment innovations and new products and designs added value to American's products. It not only enabled the company to dominate its domestic market, but also to penetrate major overseas markets that would not have opened to them without superior equipment.
- But the acid text is always profitability. As a direct result of its successful product development and marketing programs, American's gross profits on its gymnastics equipment increased more than 25%. This is a very significant profit improvement in a mature market like gymnastics.
Today, AAI’s signature royal blue gymnastics mats are present in practically every gymnasium in the world, having replaced the older gray canvas-covered mats which existed for half a century before.
