April 03, 2012 – I just got back from a product development trip (Coreteam meeting) in Switzerland. These were the best meetings that I have ever taken part of as part of this team. Generally we have meetings in November to initiate the next 2-3 years or more products and direction.

These meetings involve 15+ countries (Finland, Norway, Sweden, Russia, Canada, US, Austria, France, Italy, Czech, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and then some other countries like England, Belgium, etc). The focus here is to see what the different markets need as they are different as well as to try to develop a consensus as to what is needed for the future. Then in late March we have another meeting where things are really decided more specifically.

At this meeting, fewer countries are represented. This year we cut the number of participants way down and had a core group with super high competence. Product manager Thomas Knecht, Events manager Christian Stalder (with Toko for 15 years), Swiss sales rep and WC racing service icon Heinz Kolly (with Toko for 15 years), head of Toko Austria Christoph Schober, and head of Toko USA (me).

Before attending this meeting, I compared ideas and findings with Doug Hartwick from Canada and John Vickman from Sweden. We all had great cooperation and moved forward really well. Thomas Knecht also did some great work in the meantime since our meeting in November.

Developments were made in grip waxes, klisters, vises, glide waxes, irons, brushes, workbenches, and stones. We also have new top coats on the way that are being worked on now, but will be released later.

That’s it for this season from Toko. See you in the fall!

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