New Jayco boss loves caravans

The new boss of Australia’s largest RV manufacturer has been “caravanning since puberty” and clocks up 10,000km each year towing a caravan.

Taking over the reins from Jayco founder and chairman Gerry Ryan in late-September, new CEO Carl Bizon is looking forward to the challenge of leading an Australian manufacturing icon and 1200 employees at its Dandenong, Victoria mega-factory.

He should be up to the task too. The 52-year-old got his start in the steel industry in Newcastle in 1980, and has held various senior positions in the steel and manufacturing industries including for the past seven years managing director at TriMas Corporation, the American owner of Hayman Reese and Australia’s largest manufacturer of towing systems.

During his time there, the Keysborough, Victoria-based company tripled in size and now employs 300 people and exports to nine countries. Bizon was recently included in the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame Honour Roll, joining 2011 inductee Gerry Ryan who presented him with the award in June.

Speaking at the Jayco stand at this year’s Melbourne Leisurefest, where he helped sell a top-spec Silverline caravan on the first day, Bizon said Ryan was “stepping back” from the $300 million-plus business he started in 1975 to pursue other business and personal interests.

“He’s stepping back and I’m taking over the company,” he said.

“His passion for the product is well known, and he’ll still be involved in major decisions around product development and he has a unique gift for the product itself, but it’s a big organization, with 1200 people on-site, and businesses of that scale need business management.”

Bizon said he plans to visit all Jayco’s nationwide dealers before Christmas as part of an exhaustive “induction process”.

“Gerry’s got a vision for the business and a product plan which I’m assuming control of, but my focus will really be on improving some of the processes we have in the business and being more consistent on quality and innovation,” he said.

“Consumer demands are always changing. The world of social media means a small problem can be amplified pretty loudly even if it’s out of perspective, so my focus will be on improving off-the-line quality and making sure we continue to innovate and lead the market.

“I think there are a lot of manufacturers that look at Jayco and see what we do, whether it’s independent suspension or composite sides or whatever innovation we’ve brought to the market.”

Bizon clearly has a passion for the product going back more than 30 years.

“I’m the owner of a 10 year old Freedom pop-top, so I’ve been a Jayco customer from the very beginning, I’ve had Franklin Arrows, Viscounts, all sorts of things. I’m a hardcore caravanner, we do about 10,000kms a year,” he said.

While the clear market leader, Bizon said Jayco will continue to roll out new models and innovations to try and keep ahead of the game, like Jayco's

first imported camper..

“We have a pipeline of new ideas. There will be new model releases coming next year and products like Silverline will get an update (in 2017),” he said.

New motorhome models are also a focus, with motorhome production currently ramping up at a new production facility at the Dandenong factory.

Bizon is also looking forward to his new ‘company caravan’, a 24ft Silverline, that should roll off the production line later this month.