Braves catcher Brian McCann does not have to hop on a plane to a research-and-development facility to experiment with new catching gear. He can hop in the car, drive a few miles, slip on new gloves, request structural improvements in shin guards and work on the next generation of Mizuno catching gear.
Mizuno is his neighbor, and he makes the house calls.
“It makes it easy,” said McCann, who grew up in Duluth. “It’s pretty simple really. I go in, and they ask what catchers like and don’t like and how can they make things better. Last year I went in, we looked over the gear, and I said we could improve shin guards by adding more padding. It was done.”
Stuck back among the trees and office complexes off Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Norcross is the North American headquarters of one of the most significant sporting-goods companies in the world. Mizuno USA Inc. serves the United States and Canada and handles the company’s relationships in Latin America. It has 250 employees in the Atlanta area, with another 100 employees nationwide who make up the sales force.
Mizuno, which was founded in 1906, has its overall headquarters in Osaka, Japan. The company reported $1.6 billion worth of business in 2009. Mizuno USA was founded in 1982, when former MacGregor executive Jack Curran convinced the Mizuno family to set up a North American headquarters in the Atlanta area.
In 1995, the company consolidated North American operations by bringing the diamond sports from San Francisco to the Atlanta headquarters.
Mizuno, like a lot of other companies worldwide, adopted a defensive-management strategy with the recession. Inventory was cut back and so was workforce, by about 10 percent in Gwinnett, said Bob Puccini, the president of Mizuno USA, but sales have picked up with the spring season that features golf and baseball.
It is difficult to gauge economic impact on the county. The company’s golf-club manufacturing facility is in Norcross, and there is a 300,000-square-foot national distribution center in the Hamilton Mill area.
Consider this: The experimental work McCann does with catcher’s gear is transferred to 18 big-league catchers who use the gear.
Also consider: The study of the mechanics of the golf swing is conducted with the “mechanical man” at Country Club of the South. The technology, a swing optimizer, is used to create custom irons for golfers all over the United States. It is a $10,000 system that was developed between Osaka and Country Club of the South, and it tests the diagnostics of each customer’s swing on site.
After a look at your swing, a set of clubs can be at your doorstep in three days, whether you live in Atlanta or Albuquerque.
There are other Atlanta-based brands that have a bigger name on the marquee in sports in Atlanta -- Home Depot, Coca-Cola -- but none is quite literally at the fingertips of the sports fan. The Norcross facility pumps out hundreds of thousands of custom-made golf clubs every year.
In its production facility in Norcross, Nan Sok, a 25-year employee, stands inside a digital stall with a shaft -- the first piece of raw material to make a set of clubs. He has a piece of paper with a custom order, and he measure and cuts.
At another station, an acrylic epoxy is used to fit the shaft to the club head. In seven minutes, the connection is tight enough to swing for the flag.
The grip is slipped on, then a laser engraves a serial number. The clubs are boxed up, and an address label is fixed.
“Tomorrow will be a great day for Ross in Atlanta,” said Chuck Couch, the director of marketing for the golf division, as he watches a box move toward the shipping bay. “He’s getting his clubs.”
Mizuno was the No. 1 iron on the tour from 1994 to 2001, but the brand has fallen behind others on the tour. Mizuno could not keep up with the endorsement dollars paid by other manufacturers.
Luke Donald, Jeff Overton and Jonathan Byrd are among the professional players using Mizuno golf clubs.
It might not have the numbers it once did, but Puccini said Mizuno has a vital presence on the golf sports scene because it challenges the big guy.
“There is a bit of an underdog mentality here, because we are small compared to our larger competitors, so we can’t out-muscle our competitors,” Puccini said. “We have to be clever. A lot of our competitors can do top-down marketing, mass marketing. We have to do it from the bottom up.”
There is one sport Mizuno can work on from the top down. Baseball.
The company has had a long-term relationship with the Braves, which was a boom for Mizuno during the team's string of 14 divisional titles.
When Bobby Cox kicks the dirt in disgust after an umpire’s questionable call, those are Mizuno cleats doing the work. He is one of the last managers to actually wear cleats.
Tom Glavine wore the cleats and used the glove. John Smoltz wore Mizuno cleats. Chipper Jones is head-to-toe Mizuno.
About the Author
Keep Reading
The Latest
Featured
