Why Fairline need a coastal factory

[Nautical]

Reserved for painting windmill blades made on IoW.

That seems a shame , its the perfect site to develop into a "marine centre of excellence" its a vast area, I think about 20 acres , you could put two or three major yacht builders in there and all the ancillary sub contractors on site . With a big travel hoist you could build up to 50m +

My guess it will go for residential use (again government missing a trick to boost the local economy and bring good paying jobs and tax revenue ) , everything coastal now is turning into lego land for more dreary faux Tudor and mock Georgian wendy houses . And then they wonder why traditional manufacturing is going down the shoot or overseas.

 

[jrudge]

“Skilled work force “ seems to be some sort of mental barrier to change ? From reading the posts so for .

Can some one kindly describe what exactly this is ps?

Do bear in mind before you wear out your key board in haste , the new well received GTO 63 , is not built using the FL , Grid , Matrix , foam what ever PeteM / JFM describe it as ?, I called it a liner ( moot point agree ) - Technique , The new stuff ,s a none grid ,- dare I say it liner method .- Thank Vripac ( sp ? ) for that .

So if i owned it ,if it was me runing it I would err towards to a build technique that you could train a troop of chimpanzees to do in 1/2 a day on the minimal wage , over seen by by a guy with experience who I would pay to relocate because he has proven he has more than 1/2 a brain over the years @ Oundle .
Other stuff can be made off site in a modular kinda way and shipped into to the new sea side site for fitting .
Vac bagging springs to mind , Ok you may have to be a bit selective with the Chimps
But I don,t buy into this ( if I understand the theme above ) “ skilled work force “ issue freezing FL to Oundle for ever and ever - nonsense! , thus capping build @ 78:,while the rest of world moves on .

Move to Plymouth or Poole ,and they will kill you , In fact you are doing them a favour , in the sense the only workers you will poach ( so called ready made skilled ) will be the dross , the lefty’s , troubled makers , the ones on a warning , the ones that are a problems .Believe me I written some great carefully worded references to competitors to get rid of dross staff that basically I could not sack .
So moving nearer to competitors - you are boosting them and saddling yourself wirh there $hit workeres .

Ipswich - buy out your neighbours .

Well this probably exceeds the lining of swimming trunks story for crassness.

There are 2 parts here. Most businesses of size have the aim of de-skilling a process - or dividing up into less skilled parts so as to give them greater labour force options, economies and speed of production. The smaller you are the less this delivers returns or justifies the investment.

To a large extent of course the boat builders do this. Engines they buy in, Glass from trend, teak from Wattsons and so on. Some have taken this further - Bavaria I think from a video i saw on here once have significantly automated their production line. But they are producing (a) relatively low quality production boats built to a price (b) huge volume making the very considerable investment worthwhile.

Fairline ( and Princess and Sunseeker for that matter) are low volume producers of products that certainly towards the upper end have some degree bespoking. You are not going to be able to economically turn this into a monkey employed production line.

To build boats you need a skilled workforce. Some bits maybe less skilled than others and the process will have a large influence on the overall result but the people screw it together, trim it, mould it and so on. In low production environment you also need people that recognise that now we have done X A and B no longer fit. The designer missed it so i need to refer / modify or whatever.

To dismiss people like this and their skills is arrogance in the extreme. We had a very successful business. Why was it successful - Process ( my bit I said how things had to run) and then the 50 or so skilled people so did the work ( coding, service, selling etc). Without them I had nothing at all.

You say the workforce is not a barrier to change, and then say it is as you move and take the dross from others.

When Fairline went bust and then re-hired I assume they hired the ones they wanted back. The management all worked there so they knew what they were getting. Throw away the workforce and it is unclear to me how you make boats. Sure simplify, outsource, and so on but this is a long and slow process.

Thank the Lord I never worked for Portofino or someone like him.

 

[petem]

+1. Even if you make the components elsewhere it still takes a lot of skill to put them together to the highest possible standard. Remember that Fairline aren't aiming to build OK boats, they're striving to make them better than the competition. You can't hire monkeys and expect them to do that.

But regarding Ipswich, my understanding is that Fairline never really had a big manufacturing presence there, it was just where they did their sea trials, rectification, etc. But the biggest drawback to Ipswich is that you still have to get the boats down to Southampton for the local market and more importantly to load them onto ships destined for overseas (unless I'm mistaken and they're collected from Ipswich).

I think Nautical is spot on with his observations. Not only with convenience for the sea (for testing) and ports for shipping but there must be exact or transferable skills in the Portsmouth / Southampton area that Fairline could build on.

 

[ChrisJBSC]

Ipswich: Very close to the largest container port in the UK - so easy shipping abroad, anywhere.
Small Fairline? Take a look at the English Harbour Yachts, now built by Broom. Same designer(s), very high quality build.

 

[petem]

Ipswich: Very close to the largest container port in the UK - so easy shipping abroad, anywhere.
Small Fairline? Take a look at the English Harbour Yachts, now built by Broom. Same designer(s), very high quality build.

Yeah, but boats don't fit in containers! There's a specialist companies / ships that take boats to the Med and across the Atlantic. I can't see them make a detour to pick up the odd boat from Ipswich being very practical / economic.

Not sure I get your EHY point.

 

[prv]

This would seem like the ideal spot , right opposite Hamble . Deep water access and acres to expand .

View attachment 67491View attachment 67492

It seems nearby to those of us on the water, but if you drive there it feels miles away. Fitters and joiners ain't going to be commuting by RIB.

That said, these are the current plans for the site:

http://www.fawleywaterside.co.uk

I don't know whether they'd see a Fairline factory as a prime example of the "leisure marine industry" they say they want, or something far too big and actually industrial to build their new village around. Don't know if the housing they have in mind would be suitable, but presumably the development would at least improve transport links. I've heard they've considered the idea of a ferry service from Southampton and possibly other places.

Pete

 

[rafiki_]

If an announcement is to be made next week, then the location was decided many months ago, and we don’t have long to wait to find out.

 

[boatboat]

Green Marine in Hythe recently went into administration. Fantastic facilities with ability to make bigger boats there.
However my guess would be Ipswich.

 

[Nick_H]

Green Marine in Hythe recently went into administration. Fantastic facilities with ability to make bigger boats there.

That was my first thought as well, and some skilled labour may still be available, although most will have found new jobs fairly easily I think.

 

[oldgit]

"will be the dross , the lefty’s , troubled makers , the ones on a warning , the ones that are a problems "

probably means Branson, Elon Musk, Bill gates et al... most Silicon valley tree huggers etc , if fact any body who does not speak fluent antediluvian

 

[ARE]

I heard it will be on the East coast. not Ipswich, but very close.

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

Location of their new coastal factory will be announced next week.

Any sign of that announcement yet Pete?

 

[petem]

J it's embargoed until 4:00pm 1 Dec.

 

[alant]

Ipswich: Very close to the largest container port in the UK - so easy shipping abroad, anywhere.
Small Fairline? Take a look at the English Harbour Yachts, now built by Broom. Same designer(s), very high quality build.

They don't ship them in containers, they transport on low loaders & drag them to the docks/ferries/deck cargo.
Not convinced they would fit a standard container, so ro-ro used, which doesn't suit Ipswich container port.

 

[alant]

It seems nearby to those of us on the water, but if you drive there it feels miles away. Fitters and joiners ain't going to be commuting by RIB.

That said, these are the current plans for the site:

http://www.fawleywaterside.co.uk

I don't know whether they'd see a Fairline factory as a prime example of the "leisure marine industry" they say they want, or something far too big and actually industrial to build their new village around. Don't know if the housing they have in mind would be suitable, but presumably the development would at least improve transport links. I've heard they've considered the idea of a ferry service from Southampton and possibly other places.

Pete

Discovery Yachts at Marchwood have enough problems recruiting their workforce & the road to Fawley is very congested/slow already.

 

[petem]

And the cigar goes to ....... ME!

Fairline have taken posession of a 5 acre site just south of Hythe (Southampton Water). Boats over 60ft will be built there and the more modest stuff will continue to be built at Oundle. The location has large deep water berths and a 200,000sq ft undercover manufacturing facility. Solent boaters will know the place that I'm talking abut, it's got a jetty just south of Hythe Pier where you will occasionally see the odd superyacht berthed. Here's the Google Earth link - https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.g...75765,0.48298765a,1859.69399384d,35y,0h,0t,0r.

I am absolutely thrilled for Fairline. The location really is the epicentre of UK boating and the site has great road, sea and air links. It's on the doorstep for boaters who will keep their boats on the Solent only a few minutes cruise to where boats are loaded up for transporting to the rest of the world. It's proper Howard's Way stomping ground, exactly where Fairline should be.

A long time Fairline employee said to me earlier in the week that Fairline's failure to build a coastal manufacturing facility was Sam Newington's only mistake. I'm pleased that this has finally been rectified.

I shall look forward to a factory visit in the late summer next year and maybe the odd sea trial!

 

[Mr Googler]

Great news for them. They won’t need to exhibit at SBS. Just lay on a water taxi!

 

[markc]

It's certainly great news that they'll be in Southampton Water, although is there a sufficiently skilled local workforce around?

 

[jimmy_the_builder]

And the cigar goes to ....... ME!

Fairline have taken posession of a 5 acre site just south of Hythe (Southampton Water). Boats over 60ft will be built there and the more modest stuff will continue to be built at Oundle. The location has large deep water berths and a 200,000sq ft undercover manufacturing facility. Solent boaters will know the place that I'm talking abut, it's got a jetty just south of Hythe Pier where you will occasionally see the odd superyacht berthed. Here's the Google Earth link - https://earth.app.goo.gl/?apn=com.g...75765,0.48298765a,1859.69399384d,35y,0h,0t,0r.

I am absolutely thrilled for Fairline. The location really is the epicentre of UK boating and the site has great road, sea and air links. It's on the doorstep for boaters who will keep their boats on the Solent only a few minutes cruise to where boats are loaded up for transporting to the rest of the world. It's proper Howard's Way stomping ground, exactly where Fairline should be.

A long time Fairline employee said to me earlier in the week that Fairline's failure to build a coastal manufacturing facility was Sam Newington's only mistake. I'm pleased that this has finally been rectified.

I shall look forward to a factory visit in the late summer next year and maybe the odd sea trial!

That's excellent news for Fairline, another very positive sign following their rebirth only a couple of years ago. Any idea what sort of timeframe they are looking at to get established there?

 

[ari]

'expected to take nine months to build, with the facility due to open late summer 2018.' according to MBY

http://www.mby.com/news/fairline-coastal-facility-revealed-87778

I think it's fantastic news, it's exactly what Fairline needs and exactly where it needs it, on the south coast.