Fox Factory is an American-based company known for off-road racing. Founded in the late ’70s, the company has grown substantially within the last 44 years. Fox Factory has since been making suspensions for a range of vehicles including motorcycles, cars, snowmobiles, and bicycles. In 2018 the business announced its plans to move headquarters from California to Georgia. With the recent bike boom brought upon the COVID-19 pandemic, the company's sales in their bike-product division were up 73% for the first half of the fiscal quarter and 64% in the second quarter. Additionally in 2020, the company noted revenue of US $803 million.
Although many bicycle companies have benefited from the sudden spike in sales, they are also significantly behind on orders. Fox Company is no exception to this dilemma. CEO Mike Dennison said that at the current production, they are looking at 8-10 months to fulfill pre-orders for bike products. Dennison also said that the company is looking at another 12-18 months to “replenish depleted inventory channels at the distributor and retailer level.”
Fox Company has a manufacturing facility in central Taiwan and eight holding facilities across the United States and Canada. In a recent article from February, Dennison mentions the company increased capacity for bicycle suspensions at the Taiwan factory. Dennison states the factory is reporting lead times of 400 to 450, and 500 some days with certain components. Though the factory is expected to bring that number down with extra capacity, Dennison says “we have a long way to go to get back to a more normal environment.”
Despite a significant increase in lead times, sales were up 18.6% in 2020 and the company reported the US $890.6 million, the highest annual sale in the company’s history. Fox Company has also come up with an enhanced safety plan to ensure prevention from the virus. Some of these include staggered work schedules, personal protective equipment, and enhanced deep cleaning service. Overall though, Dennison is ecstatic with Fox’s relationship with their OEM customers stating he “can’t speak highly enough of the quality of the partnership that we have.” Despite the recent turmoil brought upon by the novel Coronavirus, Dennison states “we, really like what we are seeing.”
