Jump to content
 

Hornby appoint new CEO


Andy Y

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

Curious that a new CEO is put in place concurrently with Hornby's decision to opt out of their prestigious Roadshow signature marketing presence.Coincidence or bad timing?

Don't forget that the company had announced previously that it would be carrying out some restructuring about now - the appointment of a new CEO would seem to be as much coincidence as anything else.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Does he have a working knowledge of anything to do with railways or model railway making ?  I seriously doubt it - so all he has to do is surround himself with people who know what the customers want and listen when they pass the information onto him for action. 

 

I think that it would be brilliant if he had been a train spotter as a kid, had burnt himself with a soldering iron regularly and sticks his fingers together with glue every weekend. 

 

The number one priority must be to sort out the supply chain.

 

Happy modelling. Stephen. 

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

What experience does a guy from Ladbrokes have about manufacturing or supply chain. All he needs is racing slips and these stupid wee pens! Also he doesn't seem to have done much at Ladbrokes. I despair!

Link to post
Share on other sites

Hornby's problem is one of manufacturing not marketing, it's name alone sells.

It won't if customers can't get the product. Take the Duke of Gloucester and the Sentinel. In the case of the latter there was only one on sale in the whole of Stafford exhibition, and none of the former. Hornby seem to have put a few out onto the market so some get them and the rest are told they have to wait weeks. Even people with long standing orders havn't got them. This is a way to lose sales as I believe a lot of people will go off the boil and do without. I think the company should make sure there are enough in the country before releasing them. Trevor

Link to post
Share on other sites

Executive this, executive that - is he a Gresley man or a Thompson man?

If he's Ladbrokes, then its odds on that he's Gresley - there'll be lots of new A3s on the way........

 

As for Collet, I think we should have more Churchward. After "Cock O' The North", perhaps its time to think about a "Great Bear"?   :sungum:

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Pennine Models had R 3191 on sale at Doncaster last weekend.Hereford Models had them in stock yesterday.Sorry,Trevor but shop around and you will find them. If you want it....you'll buy it.A new consignment arrived last week.

Edit...Hereford Model Centre have 5 in stock at this moment.

Link to post
Share on other sites

Its all about money at that level .The product cannot be made without finance and he can probably open new doors ,new contacts .A train is no different to fridge or a pair of shoes or a betting joint .It has ti have the right finance and access to more .Money follows money not model trains .Not saying he is the right man,only time will tell .Hornby has a vast product range maybe too big for a small company .Maybe a takeover by a giant is on the cards .

Link to post
Share on other sites

Pennine Models had R 3191 on sale at Doncaster last weekend.Hereford Models had them in stock yesterday.Sorry,Trevor but shop around and you will find them. If you want it....you'll buy it.A new consignment arrived last week.

Edit...Hereford Model Centre have 5 in stock at this moment.

Ian,

  Another batch of R3191 has just been released in the past few days, but we still have not had our full allocation yet, so some long term orders have to wait further before being satisfied.

Link to post
Share on other sites

An open request to Mr.Ames. Please get your staff to talk to your retailing customers, and quickly. This way, you might retain sales.

 

It takes work to retain your existing custom and customers,

It is difficult to win new custom.

It is nigh-on impossible to win back custom when you have destroyed the trust that your customer had in you.

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

It won't if customers can't get the product. Take the Duke of Gloucester and the Sentinel. In the case of the latter there was only one on sale in the whole of Stafford exhibition, and none of the former. Hornby seem to have put a few out onto the market so some get them and the rest are told they have to wait weeks. Even people with long standing orders havn't got them. This is a way to lose sales as I believe a lot of people will go off the boil and do without. I think the company should make sure there are enough in the country before releasing them. Trevor

I should think the (now longish term) lack of very much product to sell will have been having a fairly unpleasant effect on their cashflow. They have enough problems with delays without deliberately holding items back! 

 

There were a number of items issued in limited numbers just before/after Christmas with further supplies expected by the end of February.

 

I got my Sentinel so presumably my order predated most others: I haven't yet got my BR Crimson Van B, my dealer received two and my order was No.3!

 

I won't be "going off the boil" because, if my interest in a model was that casual, I wouldn't have bothered pre-ordering it in the first place.

 

John [edited for surplus word]

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Does he have a working knowledge of anything to do with railways or model railway making ?  I seriously doubt it - so all he has to do is surround himself with people who know what the customers want and listen when they pass the information onto him for action. 

 

I think that it would be brilliant if he had been a train spotter as a kid, had burnt himself with a soldering iron regularly and sticks his fingers together with glue every weekend. 

 

The number one priority must be to sort out the supply chain.

 

Happy modelling. Stephen. 

And it would appear that No.2 needs to be getting his various departments to talk to each other and cease issuing contradictory statements!

 

John  

Link to post
Share on other sites

So the consensus is Hornby needs new blood to sort out manufacturing ... But instead they've hired a marketing man, and one with a background of peddling the meanest rubbish at the highest prices and exploiting its customers (not only Ladbrokes but Dixon's). As a reaponse to Hornbys problems, it strikes me as representing everything wrong with British corporate culture.

Link to post
Share on other sites

So the consensus is Hornby needs new blood to sort out manufacturing ... But instead they've hired a marketing man...

 

No, I wouldn't say that was the consensus: just the view of the voices that have been shouting the loudest on here.

 

Hornby has recently appointed a senior-level production expert, to get to grips with the production problems. What it needed was a new CEO, to enable the Chairman to stop being the full-time executive leader and to go back to being a part-time leader of the Board. That's what they've appointed.

 

Paul

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Premium

Oh dear

 

so much expertise on here but so little understanding of what a CEO actually should be doing - with apologies to the couple of posters who clearly do have some appreciation.

 

Hornby have supply chain problems - what they do NOT need is a supply chain expert as CEO.

Hornby have problems with manufacturing - what they certainly do NOT need is a production man as CEO - after all they do not do any production, they buy it.

 

And that means that a CEO has to have commercial experience and be in a position to make sure the supply chain and production experts in Hornby actually achieve what the company needs and if needs be facilitate that.

 

Why don't we try and give the new guy at least a couple of weeks before we judge what he is, should be doing and whether it was a good or bad decision?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Well whatever the experts on here might think the stock market seems reasonably confident - two biggish trades today plus one very large one (100,000 shares = c.£77,000) and the prices has risen very slightly over after dropping back a smidgeon from an earlier rise.  So maybe the folk putting their money where there mouths are have a somewhat better idea of what this bloke is going to deliver as a CEO than some around here?

Link to post
Share on other sites

My couple of observations.

 

Long ago, Roger Canham announced that he had begun an executive search for a new CEO. Now it is done and Roger Canham can step back from his executive role and focus on his chairman role - just as he promised.

 

An executive search is difficult. By definition, people who have executive experience are either currently CEOs or they are former CEOs.  Most CEOs who are currently in the job are the face of their company. It's big news (and usually bad form) when a current CEO leaves a company.

 

So the decision comes down to someone with a track record (including being dismissed from their most recent job) or someone with no track record of being a CEO.

 

I will agree with the sentiment that Hornby doesn't need their new CEO to personally manage the supply chain. That is the supply chain manager's job. (I will say they clearly need to do a better job of supply chain management.)  

 

To me it would seem very beneficial for their new CEO to have some background in supply chain management but an executive search is all about compatibility with the board as much as anything else.

 

Let the betting puns continue. What odds do I hear that the new CEO can make Hornby win, place, or show?

Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

My couple of observations.

 

Long ago, Roger Canham announced that he had begun an executive search for a new CEO. Now it is done and Roger Canham can step back from his executive role and focus on his chairman role - just as he promised.

 

An executive search is difficult. By definition, people who have executive experience are either currently CEOs or they are former CEOs.  Most CEOs who are currently in the job are the face of their company. It's big news (and usually bad form) when a current CEO leaves a company.

 

So the decision comes down to someone with a track record (including being dismissed from their most recent job) or someone with no track record of being a CEO.

 

I will agree with the sentiment that Hornby doesn't need their new CEO to personally manage the supply chain. That is the supply chain manager's job. (I will say they clearly need to do a better job of supply chain management.)  

 

To me it would seem very beneficial for their new CEO to have some background in supply chain management but an executive search is all about compatibility with the board as much as anything else.

 

Let the betting puns continue. What odds do I hear that the new CEO can make Hornby win, place, or show?

I agree with most of what you say Ozexp but I can really only offer you evens on the bet.  

 

The key thing now in Hornby is getting the Brand Managers right because while many parts of the business appear to be in a pretty sound shape I'm afraid the model railway area needs the attention of some top quality management skills (various) to get it out of the doldrums that the problems with the supply chain have got it into, not helped by the various stories which have arisen around the new trade terms, their impact on retail prices, and the potential loss of retailers in the model trade.  So I sincerely hope that the new CEO is a good judge of people and that he and the Chairman will get the right people into the right jobs and then give them the right sort of support and encouragement which the model railway part of the business, in particular, truly needs at present.

Link to post
Share on other sites

The best managers in the world can't sell what has not / is not being manufactured.

 

Smoke and mirrors (and suits !!).

 

Called into Hattons today for quite a bit of Peco track & points, (Hooray - made in UK !!), everything on my list in stock, great. Had a look round the display cabinets. A couple of cabinets full of second hand, some of it pure tat (stuff not on their website). A couple of empty cabinets also. Not a lot of Hornby, certainly very little "recent" stuff.

 

Phones and staff busy, and they were very helpful as usual.

 

I fear a little for Hornby's future.

 

Brit15

Link to post
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...