Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I started out at age 17, working as a selfemployed person in the building trade - but I built my first house in 1963, at the age of 20, and it took off from there. Property development and construction have been my main business, but [ had other interests before I set about Triumph - mainly finance and equipment hire. It's been nearly 20 years since you bought the Triumph name. Eighteen, in fact - December '83 was when I bought the trademark and manufacturing rights from the liquidators of the Meriden cooperative. Why did you buy it? Were you a motorcycle enthusiast who wanted to own the candy store? (Laughs) Good question. For one thing, it was available - and no one else wanted it, basically. Secondly, I thought that, if I bought it, it'd give us time to look at various prospects. But [ didn't enter into it because I had a soft spot for Triumph - it was strictly a business decision, nothing to do with liking bikes. The fact that the trademark was wellknown was a plus - if you went back into the marketplace within a reasonable period of time, at least people would associate the Triumph name with the product, unless they were female and expected it to be lingerie I (a major UK ladies underwear manufacturer also traded under the Triumph name at the time - AC) have to have lots of contractors and sub-contractors supplying components and services, all of which you have to monitor and control in order to make sure they allow you to meet your own quality targets in terms of the product you sell under your name, but with their input. The fact that you build aU your own engines right here in the Triumph factory must complicate that immensely. Why did you decide to do this, rather than source the engines outside in the same way Aprilia does with Rotax, for example? well, in the early days, 10 or 12 years ago, there were not many people selling them, so that was the route we chose to go - possibly the most difficult route, as it turned out, but that's what we did. A Q IS another reason you did so the fact that, this way, you had complete control over the supply of engines? No, not really - because this way we're still A reliant on suppliers for all the sub-components that go together to make the engine. It's much easier to buy the complete powertrain as a unit and just be concerned with the chassis, because that way Were you ever a motorcyclist yourself, in your youth? Yes, I ran a bike for a number of years - including two Triumphs, a Tiger Cub and a Trophy. No - make that three: I had a Tiger 100 as well for a while. In my era, it was primarily a mode of transport as well as a leisure tool, so there was nothing exceptional about that - just a matter of using a bike to get about if you couldn't afford a car. So, having made the decision to buy the Triumph name purely as a business venture, has it performed since then in-line with your expectations? A bit slower - like most projects of this magnitude. We had a strategy we planned from the outset, and it's taken about three years longer than we'd envisaged to get where we are today - more like three and a half years, in fact. Why do you think that is? Anyone who knows about the complexity of a business like this will appreciate why. When it's as complex and drawn-out an undertaking as it's been to restart a business like Triumph from the ground up, you have to expect it taking longer than you'd hoped. But I'm very pleased with where we stand right now. Is the complexity derived from the fact that you build so much of the Triumph product yourselves, in-house? Not only that. Distribution and all the supporting services that go with that - that's a real headache to get right. Design is another aspect, so is production, so is logistics, so is warranty, so are dealer services - and then there are cultural differences in various countries, just to complicate it further. It's a very multi-disciplined affair, the motorcycle business - you have a technically sophisticated end product, to create which you But, as small a part of Bloor Holdings as it is, because of the hands-on way you run it, Trumph must surely take up quite a bit of your personal time. How much of your working week do you devote to your motorcycle interests? About 75 percent of my working time - but it's a complex business and it's got to be done right, so that means taking more of a personal interest myself in making sure that everyone's working in the right direction. But, as our people mature and grow in their jobs, ['II be spending less time here, same as in our other businesses. I used to spend 100 percent of my time in our building business, but now we've got very good management in there, and that's meant I've been able to dedicate more time to Triumph. Q Do you enjoy it? A Yes, I do - we're here to make the best of our lives, and not to mess around but to do things right to the best of our ability, and get a satisfaction from doing so. That's my attitude. OK, so you own and run the company yourself - but have you also financed it personally? It's always been rumored that Triumph has zero bank debt - is that true, and if so, was that a strategic decision you made at the outset, not to have a bank or venture capitalist calling the shots and putting you under pressure to make profits quickly? We have a group facility for the whole of Bloor Holdings, but - yes, every penny we've spent on Triumph has come out of our own pockets. In major projects like this, there's always slippage, as I know from my own experience with other jobs even bigger than this. Knowing financial institutions as I do, I know slippage always makes them nervous, and that would mean our emphasis would have to be switched to controlling things a little tighter, maybe not spending money on something we thought was needed - and that would dilute our focus. So you've funded it yourself so as to be able to move at your own pace in building Triumph into profit, in terms of launching new models and building the range? Let's just say we've pursued our own strategy. you only have one company to deal with, whereas our way, building your own engines, there are many companies to deal with. But I don't regret choosing that option - it's just taken more time to achieve our objectives in doing so. Is Triumph still a private company owned entirely by you? Yes - I own it 100 percent. Is it profitable yet? It will be this year. We take a strategiC view of running this company - it's only a small part of our overall business, about 15 percent, and doesn't take up much money, so the fact it's only just now making a profit after eighteen years of existence isn't an issue. Better to take your time and grow the company the right way than rush to make a profit and get it wrong. That way, you lose everything. How many people work for Triumph at present? Well, there's people scattered around the world, but here at Hinckley, actually in the factory making bikes, there's 450, plus there's other sectors like the design staff. I won't say how many there are in design and product development, because that's confidential - but we also own the larger part of our overseas distributors, as a means of addressing the distribution issue I spoke about before. That's always been our strategy, making sure we get direct feedback from the various markets - that's not skewed. It's not more profitable doing it that way, contrary to what you might think - it's to do with efficiency, rather than monetary reasons. Here at Hinckley, you've just opened a second factory. How big is it compared to the first one, the one you started Triumph production at in 1991? cue I • n e _ S • MAy 1, 2002 61

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