March 18, 2013 – Batesville confirmed today that the company is suspending its burial vault operations. Batesville’s innovative Endura® burial vault was introduced in early 2011, and was complemented by the Engevity® burial vault and a grave liner in 2012.
Last week in Virginia a daughter visited the grave of her mother and found the grave lifted two feet about the surface of the ground. The vault used for the burial was a Batesville Endura vault.
The embrace of mobile-enable websites comes on the heels of a study of websites hosted by Batesville showed that at least 13% of visitors to funeral home websites are using mobile devices, and increase of 45% over the prior year , and rising steadily.
Hillenbrand has been diversifying its business model, primarily through acquisitions, and Batesville is becoming a smaller piece of the pie. Hillenbrand made it’s largest purchase to date last month when it announced paid an estimated $550 million for Coperion Capital. Again, moving it further away from the funeral profession.
Indeed, Batesville, which manufactures caskets, burial vaults, and urns, has been the company’s main source of revenue and operating earnings for years. But Hillenbrand has been diversifying its business model, primarily through acquisitions, and Batesville is becoming a smaller piece of the pie.
The image showed the back of a Batesville delivery truck with the words: “Don’t Text and Drive. Yours may be on the next shipment”. Many funeral professionals gave Batesville kudo’s for the marketing message and truthfully it was probably the most positive press Batesville has had in years.
We want to get the collective feedback from funeral professions to gage the initial reaction and thoughts about the acquisition. Please leave your comments below and answer the poll question on our Facebook Timeline: http://www.facebook.com/questions/10151169391934749/
The acquisition aligns with Batesville’s long-term strategy of providing a comprehensive portfolio of products and solutions that assist funeral professionals in providing meaningful funeral experiences for families, while helping them achieve their business goals.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the denial of class certification in the previously disclosed lawsuit filed by the Funeral Consumers Alliance, Inc. (FCA) and a number of individual consumer casket purchasers against Batesville and our former parent company, Hillenbrand Industries, Inc., now Hill-Rom Holdings, Inc. (Hill-Rom), and three national funeral home businesses (the FCA Action).
Batesville Vault Solutions, the division of Batesville that handles the Endura Vault line, has quietly rolled out an addition to their ground burial offering.
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