OSAKA, Japan - Shimano Inc. is returning to full capacity output as demand for bike parts is recovering. Last year the parts maker was forced to decrease its production level by almost a third.
The return to full capacity production has been announced by Keiji Kakutani, a senior executive vice president, in an interview with Bloomberg Business Week which was published yesterday at Bloomberg.com.
In this interview Kakutani says: “We’ve already received enough orders from bike makers worldwide to meet our sales and profit targets for the first half of 2010. We’re now at full capacity.”
The Bloomberg interview further states that Shimano was forced to cut its production of bike parts by 20 to 30% in April-June last year after the global recession sapped demand for high-end road racers and all-terrain bikes. “Demand for the parts started to recover from the second half of 2009 as bicycle makers reduced their inventories”, Kakutani said.
At its presentation of the 2009 financial results Shimano forecasted that bike component sales, which account for more than three- quarters of Shimano’s revenue, are expected to increase 11% this year.