February 2021

  • Published On: February 25, 2021

    The Women in Textiles Virtual Summit taking place the afternoon of Thursday, March 4, and the morning of Friday, March 5 has announced its speaker line-up for the event. The goal of the summit is to strengthen the advancement of women and men through an interactive forum that provides education, networking and dialogue about important [...]

  • Published On: February 24, 2021

    The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) has decided to cancel this year’s Progressive Insurance Atlantic City Boat Show. After exploring all avenues to move ahead with a 2021 event (originally postponed from Feb. to April 2021), and continuing to follow guidance from state/local authorities and the Atlantic City Convention Center, canceling the 2021 boat show [...]

  • Published On: February 23, 2021

    In a highly informative and detailed education session during the IFAI Fabricators Conference & Showcase on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, John Martin, Ph. D., Appalachian State University, gave a presentation that examined the history, present day use and future of solar and wind energy in the marine industry. Through a combination of videos and slides, [...]

  • Published On: February 23, 2021

    Kicking off the second day of the IFAI Fabricators Conference & Showcase on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021, human resources expert, Chad Sorenson, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, from Adaptive HR Solutions LLC, presented a session entitled “Employee Strategies in the midst of COVID-19.” Sorenson says that for the past year, employers have been forced to “make things up [...]

  • Published On: February 23, 2021

    Torey Heinz, the founder of Shopflow productivity software for marine, canvas and upholstery shops, discussed the importance of shop scheduling during his presentation at the IFAI Fabricators Conference & Showcase on Monday, Feb. 22, 2021. Heinz introduced the idea of using a digital job board to organize and display jobs so that shop owners can [...]

  • Published On: February 22, 2021

    The second session of the three-part Marine Fabricators Association (MFA) Virtual Series took place Feb. 18 with attendees from across the U.S. and around the world. The central presentation, by Charlene Clark, Signature CanvasMakers, was called, “Scaling Your Business: Keys to Achieving Sustainable Growth.” Clark touched on the key elements needed to help effectively scale [...]

  • Published On: February 19, 2021

    A recent Minnesota StarTribune newspaper article reports that major boat manufacturers in Minnesota are scrambling to expand their payrolls in response to surging demand for leisure boats during the pandemic. According to the article, Brunswick's production facility in New York Mills, Minn., where Lund and Crestliner boats are built, has added 114 positions in the [...]

  • Published On: February 18, 2021

    The first section of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) 2020 U.S. Recreational Boating Statistical Abstract, Outboard Engine Sales Trends, is now available. Outboard engine retail sales rose for the ninth consecutive year in 2020 to a total of 330,000 units, the highest annual sales volume in 20 years and up 18% compared to 2019. [...]

  • Published On: February 17, 2021

    State legislators from nine states–California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Vermont and Washington–recently announced a coordinated effort to establish single-use packaging reductions by holding producers responsible for the end-of-life management of plastic packaging, according to reporting from the National Marine Manufacturers Association. Each measure follows the extended producer responsibility (EPR) model initiative [...]

  • Published On: February 17, 2021

    The U.S. Department of the Interior has taken steps to strengthen the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) by revoking an order signed on November 9, 2020, that imposed restrictions to inhibit the availability of LWCF funding for federal land and water acquisitions. “The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been crucial to protecting public [...]