Ft on boat manufacture

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gjgm

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Article today on the fact that boat manufacture has pretty much remained in high production cost countries, such as Europe and USA (er.. bit like cars then?). Apparently that is because people are more concerned with quality, and, are well off enough to be able to afford the price anyway.
So there you have it.
 
In the US the chief factors seem to be attractive design and strong dealer networks. In the case of the trawler types, Grand Banks, etc., overseas production has met these requirements. Building up the dealer network really appears to be the biggest hurdle. Not so much quality.

Kelly
 
sorry, it was the hard copy version! Might be on FT.com, but they seem to want you to subscribe to some parts b4 viewing.
 
The production of glassfibre sailplanes ( very high tech, high spec, carbon,epoxy,kevlar) has moved more and more towards low cost countries. The quality coming out of the Eastern European factories is at the very least meeting that of the Germans who were traditionally the leaders in the arena. In fact it is the Germans who are partnering with the czechs, lithuanians etc.

As with most things, the accountants and shareholders will have their say and it will happen in the boat market too. Like it or not I believe that there is no reason for it not to happen. The problem really is that the end user won't see the benefit by more than a couple of percent, the savings will go into company profitability.
 
Yes I read that - interesting that Princess and Sunseeker are $400m sales each predicted for 2007.

However, I read in Boat international I think that the Chinese and a Superyacht manufacturer are indeed opening a yard in China where they will build and fit out the boats importing things like the engines etc.

Years ago commercial ships had their engines built under licence in Japan / korea etc to keep the s/h values up and to cushion the owner.

my guess is this trend will start now in China/India etc
 
Well I think that's bollox. Boat building is a highly labour intensive activity and manufacturers could achieve substantial cost savings by building part or all of the product in a low labour cost country. It's already happened in the USA where many well known brands like Grand Banks and Nordhavn are built in Taiwan and in the Euro market with brands like Trader and Elegance. Grp skills already exist in places like Poland and Turkey so IMHO, it's only a matter of time before some major Euro manufacturers start building some of their product in these markets. Initially it may start with smaller models competing in the more price sensitive part of the market or be limited to the bits of boats the customer can't see like hulls and mouldings.
It's also rubbish to say that punters will pay through the nose for quality. If somebody like Sealine offered a 40ft flybridge cruiser which undercut the competition by £70k because some of it was built in Poland, it would sell like hot cakes
 
still i think there is not much production for yacht builders as yet to go in Eastern countries and as alwars IMO where it counts (finishing touches) it always shows t
Sunseeker & Azimut & Princess produce about 350 boats each a year
Ferretti builds only about 50 with there brand same 50 with open brand Pershing and also Riva, the newly purchased Itama is producing about 25 models and Mochi is doing the same thing
new Sicilian builder Aicon has a production of 50 yachts a year from 54 - 85 ft, I like the quality of the Sicilian builder
as for Elegance in reality it is a Taiwan builder Elegance is just a branding and marketing scheme by Drettmann the design is Italian, there quality is ok but they are a step lower compared to the best brands
best Asian bet is Grand Banks they really have amazing quality coming out from Singapore but there price is equally high as a Ferretti...
 
And ??... well, the comment was that boat building is in Europe, and your point was that:
"Grp skills already exist in places like Poland and Turkey so IMHO, it's only a matter of time before some major Euro manufacturers start building some of their product in these markets"
So, thats still boatbuilding in Europe!

Anyway, I think there was a valid observation in the article, namely that unlike many products, boatbuilding hasnt(yet, perhaps) relocated to cheap labour continents (shall we say). And I d also agree that on the whole people seem prepared to pay a premium for quality. Put it another way, premium boats seem to do well, cheaply made and poorly finished boats dont seem to do well.
Your point, I think, was that people would prefer a premium build boat at a lower price, surely. Well, so far, boat manufacturers dont seem to have been forced by the markets to resolve whatever issues they face in order to achieve that.
That was my understanding of the point being made in the FT.
 
surely Gig u r right....
but main problem is that boating manufecture especially the high segment of the market which we follow...
still have small numbers to cover the cost of transportation, that is why it is better to stay in the Western World
still some super yacht builders like Feadship, Lurrsen and Amels do build there hulls to sub-contractors in Eastern Europe like Poland etc and then finish the whole thing in Germany
 
Yeah, yeah, OK but you can't classify Europe as a single high labour cost area. It has high labour cost countries and low labour cost countries. The point is that boat building still takes place in high labour cost countries and it does'nt take a genius to realise that that can't go on when the skills exist in the low labour cost countries next door
I don't agree that peeps are willing to pay a premium for quality. Actually I would'nt classify any of the big 4 Brit builders as quality manufacturers. What they provide is a particular price/quality compromise that the market is willing to accept. IMHO, if one of the big 4 Brit builders started to produce all or part of their products abroad and that translated to lower prices or increased profits, they'd all do it
 
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