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Doing The Eurotour With Rossignol
When Marc Bujold, head of Rossignol Snowboards in the U.S., invited me to visit France with him, and I wanted to say yes. However, he was heading over to finalize the ’97/98 line, and while the offer sounded good, I wondered if we were traveling all the way to Europe, could we do some more? Bujold sweetened the deal: We could visit the Rossi ski and snowboard factories, the Emery binding factory, Glissexpo trade show, and two Rossi/Lange ski/snowboard boot factories in Italy. Finally, we’d visit the Twinex binding factory. I couldn’t pass it up, so I packed my bags and headed to Europe. Board Translations Around 5:00 p.m., Bujold, Lessard, and I headed off to the Emery headquarters and binding factory, located about a half hour away in Saint-Egreve. While Rossignol’s board sales have gone up, the percentage of boards sold with bindings has gone down. Bujold says that as the binding market gets more competitive, Rossi has to offer better products. The binding area is one where Bujold and Rossi U.S.—as a separate distributor of Rossignol products—has a problem. The U.S. market has specific needs—namely plastic binding baseplates. Until this year, Emery hasn’t made one, but they are current developing a model now. To get a plastic-base binding, Bujold looked elsewhere for help. Nitro was interested; the company wanted to increase its orders with Twinex, its binding contractor. So for the last three years, Rossi North America has been selling plasic bindings from Twinex. At the Emery factory, Owner Robert Emery and R&D Manager Guillaume de France let us check out the new plastic baseplate the company’s developing, as well as its new step-in binding for the ’97/98 season. (See Emery sidebar.) Overall, things at Emery looked good to Bujold and Lessard. After the visit, Rossignol’s position seemed ironic to me. The company definitely has the resources and technology to develop and manufacture snowboard bindings in its own factories, but it would have to make another multi-million dollar investment to increase the production capacity that’s already maxed out for the ski-boot program. Rossignol Launches Apparel Line Although the expansion into softgoods may seem like a stretch for Rossi, it has had a strong program of gloves, socks, and accessories for years and has connections from suppliers and factories around the world. Bujold describes the line as a cross between Marmot’s technical level and Atlantis’ style. There group discuss three price-points in outerwear with various tops and bottoms in both men’s and women’s styles. There will also be three vests, sweaters with windstopper, a Malden first layer of BiPolar Polartec, and long underwear. Bujold emphasizes that the outerwear pieces will feature many popular name-brand fabrics. Rossignol will work with vendors such as Gore-Tex, and Bujold reminded the group that the company must offer hangtags for Gore and Coolmax if the fabrics are used in the pieces. "The more hangtags, the better," he says. "Look at The North Face, Patagonia, and Burton. They use lots of them, and the tags work like extra salespeople. We’ve got to include them when we ship the line." All agree. A Tour Through The Ski Factory In 1978, the finishing area had several hundred people working in it. Today, because of the automation, the same area has only 10-percent of that number. However, the labor costs are a bit higher, but thanks to this improvement, costs have been reduced. Rossignol Boots From Korea Rossignol is going after Asian sourcing and will be offering a soft boot for the next year that is more in line with other companies styles. Bujold and Lessard meet with Jean Holvoet again to review samples. What they see appears good, but the two suggest more changes to help prevent heel lift, improve the type of laces, the footbed, and suggest adding speed hooks. Board Construction All the Rossignol snowboards are made at the Voiron facility, five minutes away from the St. Etienne de Crossey ski factory. It’s also where the graphics lab and the corporate executives’ offices are located. Rossi technical manager and board-designer Eric "Bob" Bobrowicz (see SNOWboarding Business, Volume 8, Number 2, page 65) gave us the factory tour. The construction of a Rossignol snowboard starts with molding a Microcell core. The Microcell is a PU material that has been developed by Rossi with Bayer Chemical. Rossignol believes that the Microcell cores provide a more responsive-riding snowboard than boards with a traditional woodcore. Besides that, the boards are actually put together like others in the industry. They use fiberglass pre-impregnated with resin that is then set in the mold. The construction then is either sandwich, capped, or Dualtec (half cap, half sandwich), depending on the model. "We use the same construction technology for the entire line, whether it’s high or low end," says Bob. "But the extra features within the board—whether it be special sidewalls, rubber, Kevlar for stability, or carbon for snap—differentiate the boards. "We’re able to produce 200,000 boards a year," continues Bob. Of course, it’s not doing that yet. However, because of its number of presses, Rossignol is already one of the top-producing factories in the world. Automation is creeping into the finishing area. A 3-D finishing machine trims off the edges and performs other proprietary processes that we’re unable to talk about. The boards then head to the grinders and final finishing, and the board is ready to be shipped off. One thing Rossi plans on is increasing the number of boards in the line. "Next year we will have a lot of freeriding models," says Bob. "We’re twin heavy right now. We’ll also introduce a freecarving board between a freeride and an Alpine. The generic race board has become more and more narrow, and [regular] people can’t use it because it’s too technical. It’s one of the reasons that the Alpine market is so small." Sixty people work production with the snowboards in the Voiron facility. Another several work directly in the snowboard division in the St. Etienne de Crossey facility. However, the design development starts and ends with Bob. "I made more than 500 prototype boards with different shapes, materials, flexes," says Bob. "Every week I have boards tested on snow. We also get feedback from the teams. The company that is strong in the future is the company that can work on the board, shapes, and materials." Of course the size of the company means Bob’ll get the help he needs. "If the ski people develop a material with a supplier, we can get it from the ski people because they have such a large volume with these suppliers. Usually I can even get whatever I want for free," he says happily. Why Did Rossi Take So Long To Produce Snowboards? According to Prothet: "We’re halfway there as a company. In board design, we’re there. However, we don’t have a whole package of boots and bindings yet. But now that we’ve reached the 100,000-board level, it will be easier to be an industrial power. We’re not as automated as on the ski side, but we’re concentrating our efforts." His general vibe is echoed a little later as we meet with Pierre Micol, general manager of Rossignol: "We had to automate because of the high cost of our work force. We’re producing twice as many units with half as many people as six years ago. Our quality has also gone up. It was a real revolution in the way the factory has been run. Previously, we were producing a handcrafted product. Now we’re a modern factory, and things are constantly improving. We had to change or we’d be bankrupt like the Austrian ski manufacturers." When the company was going through its own struggles, it seemed to be missing the growth of the new sport. Micol explains why: "Strategically, the world leaders in any market are rarely trendsetters. Their role is to keep their eyes open and to crush the smaller competitors when new ideas get developed. "In France, we’re very strong now, with 40 percent of the snowboard market," he continues. "It will be tough in the U.S. for a while still. Our handicap was calling the boards Rossignol. But we’re getting over that. Atomic has taken the different approach with the Oxygen line. Salomon is still debating the decision." Rossi feels that the name is now more of an asset because of its reputation. And now, according to Pierre Micol, ten percent of Rossignol’s total sales are related to snowboarding. As a corporation, Micol sees a bigger change taking place in the winter-sports market: "New trends will drive consumers to products that will be halfway between snowboards and skis. We’re expecting a convergent evolution—the parabolic skis are an example." But what’s Rossignol’s commitment to snowboarding? "If we consider the snowboard market an independent entity from skiing, we plan on becoming the leader," says Micol. "We don’t have a specific plan, but we will have to fight the big guys." "Our strengths are our different technical options in our constructions," he continues. "In the ski business we use every possible type of construction we can, and we’ll probably do that in snowboarding as well. Another advantage is that in the ski business, we have technical competence. We know how to make skis and snowboards. One more advantage we have is a world-distribution network that only a few competitors have." More Bindings The Twinex factory is in the Italian mountain-valley town of Delebio. The agenda for the day was to tour the factory (see Twinex sidebar) and then pound out some new binding models. After the factory tour and a traditional Italian lunch of pasta, the binding meeting is in full progress. Nitro owners Tommy Delago and Sepp Ardelt and the Twinex staff assit Bujold and Lessard in developing a new Rossi soft binging. After reviewing the mold for the new binding, other products and details are discussed including a kids’ version, hardboot plates, shipping, and packaging. Instructions, stomp pads, and leashes are covered as well. It’s What’s Inside That Counts In the mountain town of Mollaro, where apple orchards bring in many seasonal workers during the ripening months, lies the Rossignol/Lange boot factory. Less than 200 people work in the Mollaro factory, in three shifts. The factory makes 4,500 ski liners a day, and 330 snowboard boots a day. Production runs usually start with the best-selling sizes and then work out, so that the first shipped are the ones that sell the most. We were in luck because the factory was actually producing snowboard boots the day we visited. Bujold and Lessard were able to spot check for quality problems. With shipments taking place in the next week to North America by air, the soft boots would in stores soon. Bujold is especially interested in the cross-country boots. They feature a soft shell, with a stiffer exo-skeleton that has special carbon reinforcements. He’s quick to draw similarities between this boot and DNR’s step-in boot: "You get the idea of what we’re capable of making for a hybrid step-in snowboard boot when we want to." Another room is filled with injection-molding machines. Some of them are unique, bi-injection machines that will mold two different densities of plastic together. These aren’t being used for snowboarding products—yet. The Sleeping Giant I’m sitting across from Cesare Cagliari. He’s in charge of all the R&d of Rossignol/Lange’s facilities in Italy, which produce 200 to 300 different boot models each year, with a total nearly one-million pairs being manufactured between both Rossignol and Lange divisions. Cagliari sees the whole winter-sports market in transition. He doesn’t know where it will go or how many skiers will switch over to snowboarding. He also doesn’t know whether hard, soft, or hybrid boots will be what people want if they do go snowboarding. He does know that it’s important for Rossignol to have people out in the field giving them feedback and telling them where things will go. Another thing that he’s certain of is that the boot facilities are ready to meet the demands of the market. They’ve made capital improvements and technological advancements with the bi-injection machines that put them a few years ahead of the competition. By handling all the construction processes itself, the company can cross-check all the materials and keep multi-year records on parts. Cagliari cites the fact that the world ski-boot market has gone down, and several competitors have gone out of business, but Rossi has increased its marketshare. Indeed, in the boot department—as with the rest of the company—it seems this giant has woken up to snowboarding. Back to Business Main |
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