KENT, WA (BRAIN)—Steve Meineke had just gotten off the plane from Hong Kong last Friday when he got a call that Raleigh’s power was out.
“We had a construction-related power outage unexpectedly on Friday morning. It took until Monday night to get it back up and running,” said Meineke, Raleigh America’s president.
Meineke said the power outage was due to work being done by another tenant in Raleigh’s office building, which shut down the entire system. As a result, the company’s phone, email and order processing systems were down for two business days. “The one thing that did work was our Blackberries,” Meineke joked.
By yesterday morning all systems were fully operational and Raleigh was processing dealer orders. “We apologize for any inconvenience to our dealers. Certainly our first priority is servicing our dealers,” Meineke said.
Meineke said apart from the disruption on his return to the office, his trip last week to visit Raleigh’s suppliers in China was one of his best trips to Asia yet. He said Raleigh has intimate relationships with its suppliers, such as UCC, and he meets with them two to three times a year.
He said factories in Shanghai were somewhat slower than is typical this time of year, as bike brands have been conservative with forecasts. But he said factory owners reported being financially healthy.
And, he added, in the major cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen there were signs that the economy is picking up. He said new buildings are being constructed and there is more activity on the streets. “You can feel the economy coming back to life over there,” Meineke said.
—Megan Tompkins
