Interview background: J.Juan S.A. is an established European brand specializing in the R&D and manufacturing of brake hoses and control cables for automobiles and motorcycles. Its clients have almost covered most of the famous motorcycle and ATV brands in the world, such as BMW, Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, Triumph, Yamaha, Polaris among many many others. Against the backdrop of the fact that China is the biggest motorcycle manufacturer and the high end motorcycle market started to pick up the speed, J.Juan S.A. has turned its eyes to China since 2006. So far it has built solid and stable partnership with Loncin and Jincheng among some others. In addition to this, a long name list of Chinese motorcycle companies is on its schedule. Thanks to its Chinese plant in Jiaxing Zhejiang, CCS, its production and logistcis cost have been significantly lowered down, while its product quality is still under the strict European control, which is saying that its price competitiveness is remarkably lifted and they didn’t make any compromise regarding the quality. In this issue, we talked to its GM Mr. Carlos Juan Verdejo about this brand’s story, and we have also shared his opinions about the global and Chinese motorcycle markets.
Zoe Fu: Hi Mr. Juan, thanks a lot for accepting CHINAMOTOR’s interview and giving us the chance to have a glimpse of this great technology-oriented company. First, would you please tell us the history of the brand? What did it make at the beginning?
Mr. Carlos Juan Verdejo: J.Juan S.A. is a family company that was founded in 1947. J.Juan is the european leader in brake hoses and control cables for motorcycles. Its main activity is the design and manufacture of brake system, com- ponents and applications for the automotive industry. Its main asset and final purpose is to guarantee the quality to its clients. J.Juan activity is aimed to supply OEM companies of Motorcycles 2 and 3 wheelers, ATV, UTV and Mini cars in a global market.
Zoe: What is the size of the company at present? I mean both the Spanish factory and Chinese CCS. Would you please tell us something more about the Chinese factory? Is it able to produce the whole products series as its Spanish parent company does?
Carlos: J.Juan has three production plants in Spain, with more than 15.000 square metres and a total of 250 employees. J.Juan started its operation in China in 2006. Nowadays CCS has 4.000 square metres of production plant and over 70 employees. CCS currently manufactures brake hoses, control cables and the assembly of brake systems for the Asian market. CCS is able to offer the prefilled system, with 100% of the guarantee of the bleeded in the brake systems. The goal in 2014 is to start the machining of brake systems.
J.Juan Group has more than 300 employees, of whom over 15% belong to the department of R&D.
Zoe: What is J.Juan’s major products spectrum and the targeted vehicles for the products?
Carlos: J.Juan has a large catalog of products for the OEM global market manufacturers for all types of motorcycles, UTV and e-vehicles. In late 2012 J.Juan presented its new brake calipers, which provide an exceptional combination between rigidity and low weight, reducing non suspended mass and improves handling of motorcycles. In addition, the new design provides superior cooling capabilities due to the multiple and extensive air evacuation channels, but also favor a better evacuation of water and mud, which lengthens the durability of the pads. Regarding the brake master cylinders, new models provide a greater range of adjustment allowing pilots to accurately calibrate the feeling of braking in all conditions. And the most important J.Juan is currently the only manufacturer of brake systems in Europe that offers the complete brake system with ABS.
Zoe: While browsing the website, I saw that J.Juan is collaborating with some EV companies? Would you please make a brief introduction to this partnership? Has it got real progress in this field?
Carlos: In Europe there has been a trigger from the public administrations to develop electric vehicles. It means many projects but with little production. It is estimated that up to 2015 – 2020 the use of electric vehicles in Europe will not be a reality. J.Juan is present in all the european e-projects by entering its brake systems.
Zoe: Which motorcycle brands are the major partners at present?
Carlos: For over 50 years J.Juan has collaborated with the most exclusive and powerful motorcycles manufactures in the world (BMW, Piaggio, Triumph, Yamaha, KTM, Peugeot, Victory, etc.) being exclusive suppliers and some products by providing technological solutions and continuous improvements for the vehicle.
The aim of J.Juan is to provide customized solutions and to give the highest value possible to every customer. Therefore, the major brands around the world rely on J.Juan.
Zoe: Many European countries are going through a very hard time for the time being, and some people told CHINAMO- TOR that many motorcycles factories were forced to be closed due to the bad economic situation. Would you please tell us the impact on J.Juan due to the recession?
Carlos: The truth is that the poor economic situa- tion in the world is leading the motorcycle industry to be weakening. This has caused that many custom- ers have disappeared or have limited production to high-end vehicles, moving their production facilities to countries with low labor costs and many suppliers have been evoked at closing.
Despite that, J.Juan is not suffering from the reces- sion, otherwise, it is growing in the market share. Following the recent acquisition of AJP, a spanish company dedicated to the Enduro and Trial, J.Juan has a wider range of products.
Zoe: Why did you choose to build the factory in China instead of any other Asian countries, say Vietnam or Thailand?
Carlos: In 2006 J.Juan decided to start the activity in China because it’s the largest motorcycle manu- facturer country in the world wit
h a very competitive and dynamic economy and our main customers (BMW, Loncin, Piaggio, Zongshen, etc) were also established there.
Our goal was not to have a low cost manufacturing plant, but be close to our customers and our competitors. And the future strategic plan for J.Juan is to establish a new plant in another asian country to consolidate our presence in Asia and maximize our strenght all over the world.
Zoe: How do you think about the Chinese market? Since many Chinese cities are not so friendly toward motorcycles, the R&D of the whole bike is going very slowly due to this reason.
Carlos: Currently in China the motorcycle is a basic element of mobility, but in Europe the motorcycle is an element of leisure and fun (Trial, enduro, road bikes, etc). We know that in China the european concept of motorcycle is going to grow, actually it is already growing but very slowly. But when it comes, J.Juan will be already well positioned in the market.
Zoe: J.Juan’s competitiveness compared to the Chinese competitors?
Carlos: The competitiveness in the chinese market is price although J.Juan is focused on the quality and innovation of its products. After 48 years of experience in European market, designing all kind of applications, we have a highly qualified staff, our engineers collaborate tightly with the manufacturers since the beginning of the development of each project, designing exclusive components to each vehicle and offer the best solutions to each case.
Zoe: Is it easy for the Chinese consumers to get the genuine spare parts by J.Juan in the aftermarket?
Carlos: At present we are creating a new section in our website, so that everyone knows where you have to run to buy our product. If you are interested you can visit us at: www.jjuan.com
Zoe: China is known for its weak protection to patent? How do you tackle this when you meet the problem? I believe there must be quite a few Chinese compa- nies producing the similar products.
Carlos: True, but we have a very strong R&D department and a very professional management, which is very difficult to copy. J.Juan is characterized by its contin- uous pursuit for customer satisfaction by providing innovative solutions by maintain- ing high quality of its supplies and expanding its product continuously.
J.Juan is a very dynamic company with a team very focused on customer satisfac- tion and motivated towards continuous improvement in all key processes of their business.
