Retail Observer

SEPTEMBER 2015 RETAILOBSERVER.COM 31 I nsight from the perspective of Jorge Parlade, Chairman and owner of CNA Group, and Francisco Martin, general manager of Edesa Industrial of the CNA Group: RO: TELL US ABOUT THE NEW INDUSTRIAL PLAN AND YOUR COMMITMENT TO ACT PROMPTLY TO PUT THE FAGOR INDUSTRIAL OPERATION BACK TO WORK. CNA: We have a three phase plan. • Phase I — Refurbishing the equipment, facilities, and team to restart the production. • Phase II - Production of all selected models, which will allow a continuous supply in the market, both domestically and internationally. • Phase III - Engineering development by Fagor of new products and designs for further and continuous production and distribution. With full intention to put Fagor back into the American market, we have our five factories working up to speed, and some have increased production beyond our original goals. Marketing is something we are doing gradually, market by market. We started with Spain and Portugal, and now we are focused on International businesses including our six subsidiaries acquired from Fagor; the United States, Morocco, Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, and China. Our major focus is to make sure that business is back on board in those six markets quickly. Then of course, we are consolidating the international scope of the brand which allows us to get back to our normal business of innovating, researching, understanding, learning, and making the project as strong as it has been in the past. RO: HOW WILL THE CNA GROUP GIVE THE U.S. TRADING PARTNERS THE CONFIDENCE, TRUST, AND ASSURANCES THAT THE U.S. IS A KEY AND IMPORTANT PRIORITY MARKET? CNA: The geographical proximity of our subsidiary, Fagor America, established 22 years ago in New Jersey, will contribute to the speed of service, immediacy to customers, the required logistics and an efficient after-sales service. When we chose the subsidiaries of Fagor to acquire, we had the most faith in the United States. We know Fagor is a market leader in some specific product categories such as pressure cookers and portable induction cooktops–which helps tremendously with our brand recognition. Knowing that there is great potential to expand the synergy of the industrial base that CNA consolidated with Fagor in its acquisition, and having current strong and sound operations already in the U.S., it is certain that the comeback of the brand will be relatively fast, as business has never really stopped for the U.S. market. We see plenty of opportunities in utilizing the synergies of Fagor America through their brand aware- ness and their years of know-how of the U.S. market. And, of course, bringing our strength in advanced cooking technology makes the U.S. market important to develop. RO: WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGIC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE REST OF 2015 AND BEYOND? CNA: We realize that offering an efficient and optimized local solution for every region in the United States and Canada is something we cannot do overnight. We have the technology and the know-how, and we have plenty of products that will be very well suited for the U.S. and Canada, but we want to go further than that–we want to make sure our solution fully meets the requirements of the local market. It is very important that we create an efficient understanding with good feedback from our trade partners regarding the specific solutions we need in order to move forward with our project. Our aim in this visit was to understand the specific needs for both the U.S. and Canadian markets. Whatever global know-how and competitiveness we have will be implemented with local skills and efficiency for the specific U.S. and Canadian markets. RO: WHAT KIND OF INVESTMENT WILL THE RE-LAUNCH OF THE BRAND IN THE U.S. REQUIRE, AND WILL THERE BE ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES IN MARKETING SUPPORT FOR THE DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL? CNA: We need to first make a credible case for our comeback into the market with a clear marketing offer—not just the product, but everything that comes attached with it. Once we have created enough critical presence into retail, we intend to make our message and the Fagor project understandable, clear, and visible to every household across the United States and Canada. Plans are in the works to exhibit to customers the new products, promos, and new product launch offers and to supply the required advertising campaigns with various media outlets. RO: WHEN CAN DEALERS EXPECT TO SEE NEW PRODUCT COME TO MARKET? CNA: This is a process that will continue to evolve, but we're confident that in 2016 Fagor America will have a solid and attractive package to grow and develop the business. It's going to be gradual, not everything will be ready for January 2016. However, many of the innovations will be available in a few months. Throughout 2016, we will have a standard program for the subsidiary to have complete local efficient solutions.

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