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Powersports Business • July 2024 • 27

BY BRENDAN BAKER EDITOR IN CHIEF

Following the 2022 sale of Western Power Sports to Arrowhead Engineered Products ( AEP ), the challenging part was just beginning . After 38 years at the helm of this family-owned and operated distributor , former president and CEO Craig Shoemaker was out , and a new corporate mentality was installed with Arrowhead executives at the top .

When Travis Springsteen joined AEP as senior vice president of sales for North America , he had no idea he ’ d be tapped to lead the transformation and development efforts of a powersports juggernaut . He joined AEP in 2019 , and by 2023 , he was in Boise to take control of WPS and its many tentacles , including FLY Racing , Sedona Tire & Wheel , Open Trail , Shinko Tires , Fire Power , HardDrive , Highway 21 , SP1 , LC , GMAX , Rale , ScorpionEXO , Alpinestars , POD and more . It was a tall order , but Springsteen is pretty tall , so it was a good fit .

One of his first orders of business was to get his team in place . Having spent most of his career in the automotive market with Nissan and others , he needed an experienced group that he could count on to make the necessary changes — in the middle of a global pandemic , mind you .

“ The big challenge for us was that we had a mentality of trying to do everything for every dealer and be everything to everybody ,” says Springsteen . “ We spent the last 12 months looking at our portfolio , we looked at customers from that perspective , we looked at SKUs from that perspective , we looked at brands from that perspective , we did an entire SKU rationalization . And through that process , I removed what I would call sludge , about 90,000 SKUs from the system where you would put an item in , and you would have 10 of them , and you ’ d sell one , meaning you ’ ve got ten years of inventory . We had some situations where we had these crazy tires that we got a great deal

on . We had enough of that particular tire to last us until 2034 ,” he laughs .

Springsteen says that “ sludge ” affected WPS ’ s ability to service customers . “ People questioned what we were doing when we consolidated our facilities from seven to four warehouses .”

He says they weren ’ t executing with seven facilities , and it ’ s easier to manage four and still meet customer needs . “ Because our inventory was dispersed , and we had so much sludge in each facility , we couldn ’ t right-size inventory . With seven facilities , we were doing our customers a disservice .”

He says they will be able to service 97 % of the United States in two days . Most of

the west can be serviced out of Boise , and the east coast DC in Philadelphia will be up over 80 %. Most orders will come from one facility ; a customer will get one complete package instead of the goggles from Georgia and the pants from Texas . “ That all gets consolidated down and will put us in a much better position to service our customers .”

We also spoke with the vice presidents of WPS , who are in charge of the roughly 160 field sales reps and several inside salespeople .

Ronnie Wehr says he changed titles after the acquisition , but he was the national sales manager for about five years before that . Now , he is the senior vice president of sales .

The Scorpion helmets ’ brand managers gave us a walk-through of their new lids and a sneak peek at what is coming next year . ( Staff photos )

He did both jobs for a while before Troy Ozias came on board . “ It ’ s just too much for one person to focus on the long-term vision or bigger project-type stuff . And it ’ s nice to have somebody with sales experience ( Troy ) to say , ‘ Hey , this is what I ’ m thinking . What do you think ?’ I didn ’ t have that person to bounce things off of before .”

According to Wehr , many of their dealers are now facing softer demand ( as of May ). “ Dealers are carrying some inventory , but not excessive levels [ of PG & A ],” he says . “ It ’ s on our reps ’ radar . And our job is to make sure we have inventory when they need it .”

See Western Power Sports , Page 28

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