International Dealer News IDN 154 April/May 2020 | Page 25

news ROOM
A letter from Italy
NEWS
Throughout the past seven weeks, we here at IDN have been keeping in contact
with as many of our advertisers and the other motorcycle industry vendors we
work with as possible, as often as possible.
Each have their own stories of how the coronavirus outbreak has affected them,
both in business and in personal terms - everyone does - and many of the stories
are very sad.
However, the motorcycle market's eternal optimism and determination to win in
the face of adversity continues to shine through, and on behalf of all the
businesses affected, and all the people we have heard from, we have selected one
message in particular as an example of the innate resilience of the human spirit
from Ciriè, near Turin based Italian brakes specialist Newfren's International
Purchasing and Marketing Manager Elisabetta Quadrini…
BRIEFS
"Our company operates from two
sites, our traditional long-term home
at Ciriè, near Turin, where Newfren has
been manufacturing since the 1950s,
and at our 2,000 sq m expansion
facility in Tunisia.
Ciriè - The company has remained
open throughout the emergency and
still offers a service to our distributors
and dealers that has not slowed down.
Like all businesses we have adopted
rigid restrictive measures to keep our
people safe and made investments to
allow smart working. Currently most
of our office staff work on shifts, and
when they are not in the office they
can be connected from home. Orders
are still being taken, orders are still
being processed and orders are still
being shipped.
Those who, like me, stay in the office,
access the building only after having
their temperature measured, and have
to wear disposable gloves for the use
of common office tools such as the
printer, and we have to ensure that we
remain in our office spaces as much as
possible. Staying still can work in the
business premises as well as at home.
In our production departments the
staff has been reduced to one operator
per shift in each department in order
to guarantee the necessary safety
measures. The businesses we rely on
for external processing are still active
and therefore the production goes on
www.idnmag.com
without delay.
Tunisia - For obvious reasons the
travels of our Italian managers, who
normally preside over activities at the
Tunisian site, have been suspended. In
normal times they would visit every
two weeks, but our Tunisian staff are
well trained, skilled and capable and
in constant contact with us and have
immediately taken the restrictive
measures to avoid contagions.
The
Italian
spirit
www.newfren.com
Our Tunisian production site is also ISO
9001 certified, so it always works in
harmony with our standards and
practices here in Italy. Raw materials
and semi-finished products are
regularly sent there from Italy and
shipments back from Tunisia are still
arriving regularly and reliably back
here at Ciriè.
In this regard, a huge thank you and
much kudos goes to those who are on
the roads, on the ships or flying the
planes for the transportation of goods
- they are the oil in all the engine of
our businesses!
While we are still getting some orders,
of course the level is way down, as it
is for everybody, but we are lucky.
Many of our distributors had taken a
lot of stock early, and we had built up
a very deep inventory, ready for the
2020 'Hot Season'.
Like everybody, we are "clenching the
teeth" and trying to look to tomorrow
with positivity. This is the Italian spirit,
and we hope to receive new orders, in
line with normal months, just as soon
as it is safe for people to start returning
to their lives as normal.
In that respect it is important for all
businesses and brands to maintain
best possible profile and contact with
customers, and we are trying to do
that. Among other initiatives, we are
stepping up our online and social
media presence and building content
that keeps people connected with us.
Of course, we have had to change our
plans for communications and
activities surrounding our heavy
investments in lots of the national and
international races we are involved
with, as well as racers and teams, but
our content specialists are hard at
work providing product and
application based information to keep
our customers engaged.
For sure this emergency is going to
change a lot of lives, and the path that
will return us to 'normal' will not be an
easy one, but we are making sure we
are as well positioned as possible to be
able to return strongly, but for now of
course, the most important thing is for
everyone to stay healthy."
The information in this article was
accurate at the time of writing.
However, as this edition of IDN
went to press further steps taken
by the Italian Government to
protect the health of its citizens
meant that most production
processes at almost all businesses
in the motorcycle industry in Italy
had been suspended until further
notice. Sales and customer support
function at Newfren are still
operational.
A recent survey of 100 dealers in
35 US states by PSB and BMO
Capital Markets found that as at
the final 10 days of March a total
of 67% were either operating at
full capacity or were still open,
but with reduced hours. The
remaining 37% were either only
open for service or closed entirely
until further notice. Some 61% of
those surveyed were stores with a
turnover of $3m or more.
As at the start of February 2020, it is
rumoured that Harley's distribution
center in Belgium had not received a
single container of Harley PG&A since
December 2019. For some time, IDN
had been receiving reports from
authorised dealers in Europe that DMS
issues were preventing them ordering
or successfully receiving their PG&A
orders - even of service items and
replacement parts. It would appear that
the problem was systemic, affecting
logistics as well as dealer front ends.
The first round of the Polini Italian
Cup - slated for April 5th at Latina
(PV) - was cancelled, theoretically
leaving five more rounds: May
10th - Pomposa (FE), as the new
season opener; June 21st -
Ottobiano (PV); July 12th - Viterbo;
August 30th - Adria (RO) and a
final round on September 27th at
Castrezzato (BS).
The tough times for newstrade-
dependent print magazine publishers
continue with leading German custom
motorcycle and tattoo magazine
publisher and event operator Huber
Verlag filing for a form of bankruptcy
protection. It is expected to emerge
from what is essentially an
administration process with the most
popular of its publishing assets and its
annual Bad Salzuflen Custombike Show
(December) intact.
IDN - APRIL/MAY 2020
25
electricmotorcycles.news
Newfren has made bold choices
The Juice Charger 2 is
described as the world's
first wall box electric
vehicle charger with
contactless credit card
payment capability.
Manufactured in
Switzerland by Juice
Technology AG, it is
described as an
"intelligent 22 kW wall
box, now offering the option of
payment by credit card, ApplePay or
GooglePay. The smart wall charging
station makes identification, activation,
control and payment simple thanks to
integral NFC and RFID readers".