The Dorset Wanderer Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I wish Simon all the best and hope he finds a new direction. As a public face for so long I always found him polite and professional, very difficult when trying to explain the problems that have not been of your making. Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
robmcg Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I will certainly associate Simon with the best super-detail models Hornby have produced. Thankyou Simon and thanks Andy for publishing his statement. [msg. 30] It will be very interesting to see whether the new management can make high quality super-detail models profitably, let us hope so. To Simon, all the very best. Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gismorail Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 Mr Kohler will as all have said a great lose to Hornby and I would imagine that he will do very well in his new venture and I wish him all the best for the future Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Huw Griffiths Posted March 18, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 18, 2014 I agree with the sentiments expressed above. A thoroughly decent guy - who will be missed by many in the hobby. Like many people here (and, no doubt, elsewhere) I'd like to wish Simon Kohler all the best for the future - whatever it might hold - and wherever it might be. Regards, Huw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Will he receive the traditional gold electroplated model for long term Honby staff? It will be a gold Class 31 that will magically turn into a kit of parts within a year from the Hornby Retire Clever range! XF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Deja vu? Dave Jones now Simon Kohler. Pure coincidence or conspiracy theory? Maybe there is a Bachmann Triangle! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Times change, people change, organisations change but speculation remains rife. Nobody's mentioned the joys of having to deal with an ever increasingly vociferous modelling community who are experts on all aspects of running a design, manufacturing, marketing and sales organisation without actually doing it. That would make me want to take a break. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
iL Dottore Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Simon is a thoroughly decent chap and one who is always engaging the hobby. For me, the highlight of the Warley show for the past several years - was my regular after-hours drink with Simon on the Saturday evening - alas this will be no more. Simon Kohler said ....These changes have resulted in the complete reorganisation of the various functions of marketing with the intention of the Hornby Marketing operation becoming more efficient and proactive. Call me cynical if you will, but such words too frequently presuage the death knell of a company - in many different areas of business. Perhaps, (he says with wild-eyed optimism) this reorganisation will mean that Hornby will abandon the "don't complain, don't explain" approach of the previous years. A greater transparency behind the choice of prototype version would also be nice (i.e. "we chose to model XXXX Wadington Hill as it was the least modified of the XXXX and thus can be suitable from 19XX to 19YY running") Whatever happens with Hornby under new senior management (and I believe - given the competition - these change could determine whether they remain a model railway company or shrink to a toy train company), I wish Simon all the very best - personally and professionally. He will be missed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 They are letting a 193 people go? These cannot all be in Margate surely? They must have had a lot of people for a company with that level of revenue. It sounds like there was not much integration of the acquisitions... Hornby must be a sad place to work at present. Let us hope that the reorganisation is successful and those left enjoy a brighter future. Paddy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gwiwer Posted March 18, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 18, 2014 There's a huge newish shopping centre just along the road from Hornby's place. I guess any job is better than no job if there's really a sudden blip in the local unemployment statistics. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium brushman47544 Posted March 18, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 18, 2014 Though isnt "Being a Consultant" normally where the Firm find out they really can't do without you and end up paying you more to do your old job? If a couple of friends' experiences (in different fields) are anything to go by, you may get paid 50% more as a consultant, but you get twice the work and only half the time to do it in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rembrow Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I think Hornby will rue the day that has led to SK jumping or being pushed into leaving Hornby. We are still reaping the benefits of his far sightedness in selecting prototypes for model making and in pushing them forward into production. He always maintained the company principles and it was noticeable that during interviews in the model press during Hornby's recent difficulties, he was able to deflect critical assessments, while accepting that there were problems,and while promising jam tomorrow (for several years) - which has yet to be delivered. He has been a towering influence within the UK railway modelling world. I wish him well for the future and I hope he stays in the hobby. This however is not the only loss of significant persons in the railway modelling world. I've just seen in the Bachmann 'Beyond the Class 85' thread, that Merl Evans of Bachmann has retired, who arguably did as much, if not more, to develop the UK model railway market, with his development of models at Mainline in the 70's, to significantly better and more accurate standards than were obtainable from Hornby in the 70's. His work and that of Airfix/GMR pushed Hornby into moving from 60's Triang standards to producing models with more accurate shape and detail, with painted and lined finishes. He continued this with Bachmann over the last 25 years. The hobby may have lost two of the greatest influences that have brought the hobby to its current position where models vie with the best that modelmakers can produce Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 We have all wished Mr.Kohler all the best for the future........... As for the rest, what on earth does it matter if Hornby becomes HornBach or downsizes or is renamed the Dispersible Aspirin Company? As railway modellers, collectors, box-openers or whatever, all that should interest us is the end product. The name on the box is irrelevant except to those who still think fondly of their cuddly Hornby train set. The company of which we are talking has shown it is capable of producing the best, but whether is chooses to do that or not is another matter. That is where editorials, letter pages and forums shine when we see backsliding. And on that score I don't think there is much to worry about seeing as most major proprietary companies are happy to aim their products at scale modellers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 I am sure Simon will continue to prosper in whatever he decides to do next. To be fair we may see some great things from Hornby in the coming months/years as they resolve their manufacturing issues, do some joined up marketing/planning and generate the profit required to invest in the business. There is so much brand strength within the Hornby group that it should be a very successful company. Paddy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 7013 Posted March 18, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 18, 2014 To be fair Paddy Pigs may fly! Seeing that Merl Evans has retired from Bachmann as well it is indeed a double loss to the hobby. Hopefully though there would be someone groomed to step into Merls shoes, whereas it is going to take someone with awfully big feet to fill Simon Kohlers shoes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linners Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Maybe there is a Bachmann Triangle! Yes, but despite publicising it now there will be an 18 month lead time to market, two separate stages of EP demonstrating unprototypical splasher sizes, before a final artwork phase that prompts forum readers to froth about a top feed that was not used on the prototypes until the late BR emblem period!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tetsudofan Posted March 18, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 18, 2014 Interesting to where the new Captain ends up with the Hornby ship with so many of the crew going overboard! I do not think the odds are that good for happy cruise to the future. In the end I think Bachmann will buy Hornby at a knock down price, use the name their train set range and re-tool some of the existing Hornby models! XF Looking into my crystal ball after Mr. H has engineered this buy-out he will take a well-earned retirement....and Mr. K will take the new company forward...... Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Seeing that Merl Evans has retired from Bachmann as well it is indeed a double loss to the hobby. Hopefully though there would be someone groomed to step into Merls shoes, It's not necessarily relevant to this topic and in no way do I wish to appear to belittle Merl's work but there's already been several award winning products from Bachmann that Merl wasn't the designer of, but he was the person who helped develop his successors to carry on development work in the same fashion. So he was actually a good deal better than just being a significant part of Bachmann's progress. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
M.Riddell Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 What about Scalextric? Does anyone know how that brand is doing? I invested in a large Scalextric digital system a few years back, but admittedly haven't bought many new cars over the last couple of years. Reasons? Choice of models is one reason...the other reason is I've been spending more money on model railway products (and of late more of the red boxes than the blue, it has to be said) Well, according to Hornby's own corporate results, it's increased it's share of Hornby's revenue from 26% in 2012 to 27% in 2013. Likewise Airfix has gone from 14% up to 16%, Corgi from 12% to 18% whilst the model railway side has gone from 48% down to 39%. Evidently whilst that segment of the business is mired in supply problems, Hornby have increased the other sectors to compensate. http://www.Hornby.com/_assets/files/Hornby-PLC-Results.pdf (Page 6) Perhaps it's this move away from being a purely model rail company to a broader range of products that's persuaded Mr Kohler to leave? Mike. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Moss Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Whether its moving on to pastures new or jumping ship before the water gets any deeper then good luck for the future Simon! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Cram Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Well, according to Hornby's own corporate results, it's increased it's share of Hornby's revenue from 26% in 2012 to 27% in 2013. Likewise Airfix has gone from 14% up to 16%, Corgi from 12% to 18% whilst the model railway side has gone from 48% down to 39%. Evidently whilst that segment of the business is mired in supply problems, Hornby have increased the other sectors to compensate. http://www.Hornby.com/_assets/files/Hornby-PLC-Results.pdf (Page 6) Perhaps it's this move away from being a purely model rail company to a broader range of products that's persuaded Mr Kohler to leave? Mike. I think you are misreading the picture. Because of supply problems the Railway sales are down which automatically increases the others share of sales without actually increasing the sales. What is required is a comparison year on year to see if sales have increased. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Well, according to Hornby's own corporate results, it's increased it's share of Hornby's revenue from 26% in 2012 to 27% in 2013. Likewise Airfix has gone from 14% up to 16%, Corgi from 12% to 18% whilst the model railway side has gone from 48% down to 39%. Evidently whilst that segment of the business is mired in supply problems, Hornby have increased the other sectors to compensate. http://www.Hornby.com/_assets/files/Hornby-PLC-Results.pdf (Page 6) Unfortunately using percentages, if you reduce one of the figures used in this calculation others can only go up - as it's the proportion of the whole. What has been said is misleading. Page 5 of the quoted report says Turnover down to £57.4m (2012: £64.4m) All sectors are showing a decline - look at the pie charts on the left hand side of page 6: Turnover's shrunk by close on 11%, and nothing is holding anything up. See the results on the ,pdf attached Hornby.pdf Hornby2.pdf Maybe we should stop trifling with statistics - this is not the thread for it. [EDIT] I was composing this while Paul Cram was posting and making the same point. And I believe I have answered the second point Paul was making about turnover - it's dived across the board. As an aside I'll probably use the Hornby presentation of to how obfuscate company results by using the same colours for different meanings in a chart - Page 6 does this very well, turnover on the left, product share on the right with the same colours. To be honest with the audience the pie charts on the right should have been coloured very differently from the pie charts on the left - or maybe that was someone being lazy with Excel. And I still think this thread is not the place for company statistics Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold tomparryharry Posted March 18, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 18, 2014 If a couple of friends' experiences (in different fields) are anything to go by, you may get paid 50% more as a consultant, but you get twice the work and only half the time to do it in. Having been a consultant engineer on a few projects, I can agree with the notion that a consultant is brought in at the last minute, to share the blame. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paddy Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 Fascinating presentation especially the internal NPS scores and the circulation numbers for Hornby Magazine vs. Railway Modeller. All standard business turnaround actions. Paddy Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozexpatriate Posted March 18, 2014 Share Posted March 18, 2014 And I still think this thread is not the place for company statisticsI suspect that data has a direct correlation with Mr. Kohler's present situation. However, in the spirit of wishing Mr. Kohler well with his future professional endeavours, I completely agree and I wish him success moving forward. Personally I only interacted with him on one occasion and at that time he very graciously responded to my concerns about the GWR B set bogies during a holiday weekend and resolved this issue, which I greatly appreciated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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