GIVI Magazine - Maggio 2018

MARCO COLOMBO MARCO COLOMBO, 52, SINCE LAST JULY IS GIVI’S MANAGING DIRECTOR AND WILL TAKE OVER THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COMPANY FROM MR VISENZI: “I’M STILL HERE STUDYING”, HE SAYS. BUT THE TRANSISTION IS ALREADY HAPPENING AFTER 40 YEARS, THE MAN WHO FOUNDED THE COMPANY THAT PRODUCES MOTORBIKE CASES AND ACCESSORIES IS HANDING THINGS OVER. AND HE SETS THE DIRECTION FOR THE FUTURE: “ WE ARE A 4.0 COMPANY. BUT TO GROW MORE IT IS THE TIME OF THE MANAGERS. AND TO THINK ABOUT BEING LISTED ON THE STOCK EXCHANGE” by Marco Gentili, photos by Cristiano Morello GIUSEPPE VISENZI, 77, IS THE FOUNDER OF GIVI. ON THE OCCASION OF THE COMPANY’S FORTIETH ANNIVERSARY (WHICH BEGAN PRODUCTION IN 1978) HE HAS DECIDED TO LEAVE THE HELM “ GIVI IS COUNTING A LOT ON THE COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY: “YOU DO NOY BUY TALENT, YOU TRAIN IT”, SAYS MR VISENZI. WHO ALSO ANNOUNCES A NEW PRODUCT: “WE ARE THINKING OF LAUNCHING BIKE SADDLES” “ GLOBAL VISION A few weeks ago something very strange happened, at the usual Christmas dinner organised by the boss Giuseppe Visenzi for the 130 GiVi employees who work at the headquarters in Flero, in the Brescia area. Delivering the Christmas speech was not the man who 40 years ago founded the company that bears his name and who still runs it, but his daughter. Hendrika Visenzi has covered key roles in the company and it will be her who manages the transition period. Which transition? The introduction of Marco Colombo, 52, the latest person recruited by Mr Visenzi into his professional family, last July. This is not an ordinary recruitment. Mr Colombo in fact entered the company with the role of Managing Director. And it is he who will have the task of replacing “Mr Visenzi”, someone who in the company is as loved as he is feared and respected by all. Mr Visenzi, firm voice and bright-eyed, is one who’s brain works at incredible speeds, who thinks in perspective, despite his 77 years of age. This is a man who, regardless of his achievements, is almost ashamed to talk about them. He has two rare qualities: humility and what the British call understatement, keeping a low profile. You can understand that also from the car he drives, very low-profile: a white Toyota Prius which is at least 7 years old. Two characteristics stand out, typical of the self-made-man: unrivalled determination and honesty. “Tell me - he starts - look, today is a bit of a strange day, I’ve just been telling off a supplier...”, he says, almost as if to apologize. Mr Visenzi, what is happening in GiVi? “What’s happening is I’m tired, the years are adding up and it’s time for me to take a step back. Marco Colombo is a smart manager, I’m helping him to fit in”. Youmeanyouwill be leaving the control bridge? “I will remain as honorary president. Colombo and my daughter Hendrika, who is the Chief Executive Officer, know that they can always count on me, if they need. But the company has always been family-managed, and to grow it must be managed by managers”. Ok, but it was you who told off the supplier, not Colombo. “Yes but Colombo was withme…, we did it together”. A farsighted vision, yours. Farsighted also in 1979, when you founded the company. “After racing as a private rider in theMotoGP I opened a Honda dealership in Brescia. I didn’t have a lot of money and, thanks to my good relationship with Honda, I managed to negotiate favourable conditions to buy fewer vehicles than those dealers usually must have in stock. I still remember today that at the beginning, to open my business in viale Piave in Brescia, I spent 120 thousand Liras to purchase a commercial space in a foreclosure. Inside my wife Wilhelmina (towhomhehasbeenmarried for 53years, ed.) and I found tens of bottles of wine and spirits. She had the idea of packaging them in specifically arranged baskets, and in a few days we had sold everything, recovering the initial investment”. Your idea to produce bike accessories was born in the years in which you had the dealership? “I wanted to do something else and, after some experiments with a plastic engine-guard, in 1978 I made the big step. The first GiVi-branded top-case was born. We took it to the Fair in Milan and it was immediately an unexpected success. The fact of being already known in the racing environment was decisive: many of my contacts helped me to introduce the product on foreign markets”. What is the secret of GiVi’s success? “There areno secrets: inGiVi wehave always focused on quality. Our products are made to last in time, and the success of our cases is the proof. So much so that now it’s the actual motorcycle manufacturers who call us to produce their accessories”. How has the way of producing cases changed over the years? “The public changes. You must be attentive to quality, but also capacity, design and comfort. But above all production processes have changed: from the craftsmanship of the early years today we are a company increasingly oriented towards 4.0. All machines are connected to all the factories in the world (GiVi has factories also in Malaysia,Vietnam, Brazil and Tunisia; ed.) and their data are elaborated and studied to improve our production capacity”. How are orders and productionmanaged? “We are a flexible company and we rely on the market’s requests. If necessary, we can produce cases for a 10 or 20-year-old bike, and also produce very small batches of products, even only 30 or 40 pieces, in a period of time that varies between a week and a month. This is because, in the DNA of this company developed into an industry, there is always the artisan heritage”. Besides the case market, which are the highlight of the company (they are worth 100-thousand pieces a year, ed.)whichare the sectors that aregoingbetter? “Windscreens and engine guards, then follow all the other accessories. It is also difficult to give precise proportions, we have over 1,000 articles in our catalogue”. Among the most recent innovations, enthusiasts have remained impressedby the suitcasewithwheels for transporting bike bags. Whose idea was it? “Actually we produced a travel bag that attached to our racks already 10 years ago, so it’s not a completely new idea. We gave new life to this idea thanks to the suggestion of some of our foreign importers who saw the old product while visiting the company. And it’s being successful”. Another of GiVi’s secrets is the attention to patents. “We file an average of 10 per year. We need them to make sure our products are safe and of high quality. Think of the aluminiumcase, launched a fewyears ago: the closing system is the Security Lock with double patented bolt, no producer on the market offers a product at this level. And like that one there are many others, from the MonoKey to the MonoLock”. How do these ideas come to life? “From the continuous dialogue with clients, enthusiasts, dealers. And especially going every day to talk with the guys in the technical department, the heart of the company”. Without neglecting the university. “I have always believed in the value of people. You buy machines, but talent is found and formed, it’s an investment the company must make. Just this year we have employed two kids fresh out of university and soon we will employ a third one”. How has GiVi reacted to the crisis? “We were among the first to internationalise production. We have been present abroad for more than 20 years (the first plant abroad was opened in Malaysia at the beginning of the 90s; ed.). Then the fact of always having had an international scope has made us, in a certain sense, immune to the crisis of the Italian market. For example, do you know that we are very strong in Japan? And that we have never fired anybody, even during the most difficult years?”. You always talk of quality and safety. Which is the product that for GiVi involves the most critical issues in terms of safety? “Certainly the helmet: for this product we have an internal laboratory that takes care of product testing. But let’s not underestimate the case fixing system, which is the most stressed during the trip. On this component we conduct stress tests, well 22  GIVI focus