Zieger parts and accessories
It is a classic motorcycle industry story. Man wants a part for his motorcycle. Man can't find the part he wants. Man makes part for himself. Man finds himself in the motorcycle parts industry!
In 2005, Frank Zieger was looking for a very particular style of high-quality holder for his motorcycle's licence plate. Not being able to find the design he wanted he made one for himself, out of sheet metal, in his basement.
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| Frank Zieger: "By deciding on the Zieger brand name, I am documenting that I not only stand behind the products with my name, but also vouch for their outstanding quality." |
That was the beginning of IBEX GmbH, which today has grown into one of the market's leading motorcycle accessories specialists.
Working on his own, designing and fabricating the parts himself as one-off pieces, Frank says: "My first series produced licence plate holders were made for me by a jobbing shop. As the business grew, I was able to move to a garage and start producing small series myself."
Just two years after founding the company, Frank bought his own bending machine. From 2010 on he was able to offer his customers everything from a single source: from cutting to bending to welding.
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| Seen here on the Triumph Tiger 900 Rally, the Zieger range extends from travel equipment to centre stands, crash bars, engine covers and more - including, of course, licence plate holders. |
The goals he had set for himself personally and for IBEX were achieved slowly and carefully, step by step, setting ever more ambitious goals as he achieved success. A larger production hall followed, and in 2016, Frank was able to invest in a new, fully automated ERP system.
"This not only helps to maintain an overview, but also ensures speed and a lower error rate. I integrated production planning into the system in 2017 and have been able to continue adding to capacity ever since.
"I have been able to add new technologies, such as pipe laser cutting, a welding robot for even more precise welding, and a lathe and milling machine, and, as I did that, I was able to grow the product portfolio and with the new products came continuous sales growth.
"After just five years, by 2018 it became apparent that the current location was already too small again. There was a lack of storage capacity, and being able to incorporate my own powder-coating plant would give the production capacity and turnaround speed a huge boost."
From ground-breaking in 2019 to being able to occupy the new 1,900 sq m facility in Pirna, Germany (on the Elbe between Dresden and the Czech border, and dealing with powder coating, warehousing and sales), in February 2019 only took around eight or nine months. A second facility at Dresden (2,500 sq m) deals with production, development and accounting. The company currently has 35 employees, and is still growing.
Previously Frank had mostly relied on the internet for sales. Now, however, he has been able to staff and equip a new in-house sales department in order to drive dealer and distributor sales and grow exports, and has hired respected industry veteran Dieter Klann to run it.
Now Frank has even greater capacity and opportunity the investments are continuing. November last year saw a new, fully automatic bending cell put into operation in the new facility.
At the beginning of the year, Frank decided that his manufacturing business, IBEX GmbH, should be just that, the manufacturing company name only. Since it is Frank who designs most of the products, he is now branding the motorcycle parts and accessories that IBEX produces as Zieger.
"By deciding on this brand name, I am documenting that I not only stand behind the products with my name, but also vouch for their outstanding quality." This year has also seen a first Zieger parts and accessories catalogue published - at 184 pages, it shows just how far the brand has come, how much the range has grown from just that one original licence plate holder!
The winter saw a lot of new products developed, and the additional space has meant that Frank could add substantially to the inventory the company can hold.
With Dieter Klann driving Sales and Marketing, the plan now is to add importers - with partners sought for Spain, France, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and the Czech Republic among others.
IBEX GMBH
www.ibex-parts.de
