By Alton Martin 1. Have a service strategy for organization. 2. Keep customer satisfaction data. 3. Use the data to take specific action based on customer feedback. 4. Model good companies that provide excellent service. 5. Look for examples of excellent service outside of your industry. 6. Be open to new ideas and approaches to [...]

By Abbie Yarger The supplier-manufacturer dynamic is of equal importance to the manufacturer-customer relationship in the marine fabrication industry. “We try to be open and straightforward with our suppliers, just as we are with our customers,” says Jeri Perillo, Custom Canvas of Charleston Inc., North Charleston, S.C. “Our suppliers have to make money just like [...]

From “Start and Run Your Own Business”, by Alan Le Marinel, reprinted on www.howto.co.uk. Even the most conscientious companies, delivering high quality products and services consistently, can face an unhappy customer on occasion. All customer-facing employees should know what to do if they receive a complaint and view it as an opportunity to rectify the [...]

Everybody wants to help you make it through this tough economy, don’t they? Who to believe? Tempting as it might be to drop your prices or sell a cheaper product, there is a chorus of voices out there all singing the same song: “Don’t do it!” Amid the cacophony are these useful bits of conventional [...]

By Sigrid Tornquist Can learning science through the study of biological oceanic projects and learning math through marine fabrication give high school students the tools they need for life after high school? Mike Erickson, MFC, who was a founding board member of the Riviera Beach Maritime Academy, thinks so. And so does the Marine Industry [...]

By Denby Browning John Anderson, CEO of Riviera Yachts, Australia’s largest luxury boat-builder, warns that the marine industry is in a period of rapid change and businesses need to constantly reinvent themselves. “In our market—luxury boats between 40 and 70 feet—we are moving away from canvas and clears, as our owners want enclosed hard-top models,” [...]

Building the cost of recycling into a project’s cost is a popular idea, but in a competitive market, extra costs could drive customers to cheaper alternatives, unless recycling is mandated for everyone. Intensely debated is whether government or trade organization mandates would even the playing field. Bob McGilvray, general manager at Ferrari Textiles Corp., Pompano [...]

By Jeff Rasmussen Changes cited by suppliers and end-product manufacturers in the survey ran the gamut from having a greater number of fabrics to choose from to the dramatic increase in the prices of key materials, especially petroleum-based fabrics. Specific changes cited include: For suppliers Many more fabric choices are available worldwide. More acrylic suppliers [...]

By Jeff Rasmussen Survey results show that suppliers and end-product manufacturers are feeling the impact of a more competitive environment resulting from trends such as low-cost imports, price discounting and slow market growth due largely to a weak economy. These trends have caused many marine end-product manufacturers to diversify their businesses to compete more effectively. [...]

By Peter Hildebrandt Ryan Polcyn of Dr. Shrink Inc. supplies shrinkwrap to fabricators. Shrinkwrapping is typical offseason work for marine fabricators. Polcyn finds that their downtime depends on location and climate. “Our sales pick up considerably September to November due to snow and cold weather across many areas of the United States,” Polcyn says. “In [...]