Why did ACA change to ASC?

[siren fan]

Was it a bankruptcy situation or change of ownership?

[SoundMaster 391]

https://airraidsirens.com/wiki/index.ph ... of_America

[SuperBanshee]

ACA was a subsiduary of the Biersach & Niedermeyer Company. Biersach & Niedermeyer filed for bankruptcy in November 1992. While production of ACA sirens continued through 1993, B&N was still in debt and had to reorganize. It was originally hoped that the ACA siren division could be retained, but this was not the case. ACA was sold to Hormann GmbH around 1994 so Biersach & Niedermeyer could pay off their debts. Quite simply, B&N never really recovered.

Hormann GmbH did not do a great job managing the siren division, now renamed American Signal Corporation. They were still located in the same ACA shop in Mequon, Wisconsin. The name "Hormann" was never used regionally. Efraim Petel was appointed vice president at this time and is perhaps largely responsible for ASC's direction during this time. Problems seemed to turn up left and right. Quality control was an issue with defective equipment being passed off as acceptable. Additionally, ASC did not have many competitive sirens that could attain consumer interest - Federal was constantly revamping the 2001-DC and Modulator sirens while Whelen also tinkered about with their own 2800 and 4000 siren series. In contrast, ASC's last siren developments were from 1992 during the ACA era. ASC did manage to make some siren sales during this time - Richmond, CA and Fond du Lac, WI come to mind - but not at the rate required to keep up competitively.

Meanwhile an employee named Dale A. Moeller had begun work with ACA in 1980 and made his way through the company ranks. Although Mr. Moeller became a top siren system specialist by 1997, he wasn't happy with the direction ASC was going. With the help of Jim Biersach, Mr. Moeller built the first Tempest T-128 in 1997. It was built in his barn and installed near Random Lake, Wisconsin.

A new, flashy, low-power siren with a good marketing name. The T-128 was not originally sold under ASC but rather Excel Alerting, a very short-lived brand Mr. Moeller operated. Only a small handful of sirens were sold under this Excel brand. I don't even think it was formally incorporated - no trademarks or company listings can be found. It became obvious to Mr. Moeller that it would be wiser to work with the established company (ASC) rather than push on with Excel. So in 1999 he managed to purchase ASC from Hormann GmbH. ASC was also moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin during this time while Biersach & Niedermeyer was sold off to another family. This is the point when B&N and ASC completely split paths, sharing nothing more than heritage.

Another Excel T-128 was spotted in Harrison, OH - further inspection has revealed it as an Excel era product. The only immediate difference between the Excel T-128 and the ASC T-128 is the Excel sirens have a very coarse matte finish while ASC used smoother materials to create the horn and motor shrouds. The very first T-128 also had black lining around the horn array.

When ASC was sold to Dale Moeller, Efraim Petel took leadership of Hormann America: another off-shoot of Hormann GmbH founded in 1999. Hormann America did sell ASC sirens for a period of time along with failed attempts at American versions of German-domestic sirens such as the E-57USA. By 2009, Hormann America changed into Alerting Solutions Inc. and began selling PA speaker arrays from ATI. In 2013 they were purchased by AtHoc. AtHoc specializes in emergency alerting systems for phones and other non-siren systems. Alerting Solutions is still retained for selling the large-scale ATI PA speakers while AtHoc focuses on the other emergency warning products. AtHoc was purchased by BlackBerry last year.

[Siranator3001]

your article's are always interesting. Thank you for sharing this

[siren fan]

Wow awesome info as always!