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Boudreau leaves IronHorse

John Boudreau, president, CEO and COO of American IronHorse since November, has stepped down from the posts and left the company, Powersports Business has learned. Dwane Moyers, a principal in Exponential, Inc., a Fort Worth, Texas, investment company that controls 55% of AIH is working with the present management team to run the company, he said. The management team includes Bob Kay, Jeff Long, and James Little. Boudreau could not be contacted for this story. A national search is being conducted for a CEO.
In a December interview with Powersports Business, Boudreau said he expected to improve weekly production at the Fort Worth, Texas, motorcycle manufacturer from about 50 bikes to about 75 bikes by March. “I anticipate dropping bikes on the floor at 75 or 80 bikes per week by March,” he told PSB at that time. “That wouldn’t take care of my backlog, but it’s a manageable number for the next three to four months.” Boudreau said he anticipated his biggest problem was hitting the 70 bike mark. ‘The rest will be easy,” he said.
Bob Kay, AIH vice president of sales and marketing, said the company is doing “about 60” bikes per week. Others say that number is closer to 50.
Kay said in an interview that AIH has been battling some parts shortages, especially frames. However, he said, AIH has negotiated a contract with Bourget”s Bike Works to supply frames which should solve that problem.
As soon as the company’s LSC model comes on line this summer, Kay said, production should jump to 80 bikes per week. AIH has a 95-day backlog worth about $25 million, he said. Last year at this time, AIH had a backlog of about 60 days worth approximately $16 million, he said.
Boudreau, a manufacturing and turnaround specialist for more than 40 years, is the third top executive to depart the company since last year.Co-founder and company president Bill Rucker left last fall, and co-founder Tim Edmondson left in March. When he took office, Boudreau said his top priority was to improve purchasing and eliminate production bottlenecks.
Calling Boudreau “a short-term restructuring guy,” Kay and Moyers said he made changes, finished the first phase of a restructuring and departed. psb

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