oct-2017

160 161 Providing state-of-the-art solutions to the boating industry Taylor Made Systems has maintained its position as the world’s leading manufacturer of framed glass windshields. Taylor Made Systems has been dedicated to meeting the needs and providing that quality for the marine industry for over 100 years. Tel: 518-773-0636 n Fax: 518-773-2919 taylormadesystems.com n tms@taylormadesystems.com Find us on Facebook yachts in the world. In 2004, the company started the Marquis Yachts line in order to manufacture a world-class yacht built with the most advanced designs, styling, and technologies. Rob Parmentier,who has over 35 years in the boat business, and was once the President of Sea Ray Boats,which, at one time,was the largest boat company in the world, has been President of the Marquis-Larson Boat Group since 2013.He touts the uniqueness of his new company: “We’re like old school Detroit,”he says.“We have our own metal shop-we do all of our own metal and stainless steel work; we hand-build all of our own pontoons; we do all of our own upholstery; we do all of our own canvas; we have our own paint shop; I have a whole building full of very talented welders.We have a number of vendors for engines and windshields and such, but the rest of the boat is 100 percent built here inWisconsin.A tanker truck of resin from Ashland comes in and a boat comes out the door. I know of no other facility in the world like ours. America has a very good reputation for building boats. Even though Europe and some other places overseas have been building them longer,America has a fantastic reputation for production efficiencies and quality-and our plant, in particular.A year ago, we built the boat for Lexus; we were selected from hundreds of manufacturers throughout the world.” One of Parmentier’s recent tasks was to close down the Larson production facility in Minnesota and move all 38 of its boat lines to the Wiscon- sin location.“We had two facilities that were both 700,000 square feet,”he explains.“We had much too big a footprint and our engineering capabilities and THE MARQUIS-LARSON BOAT GROUP the size of our facility to handle our big yachts dic- tated the move fromMinnesota to Green Bay.Now, everything is under one roof.We build a 16-foot out- board that sells for $25,000 and we build a 72-foot Marquis motor yacht that sells for $4 million.” Currently, the combined company has about 400 employees, and Parmentier says that he wants to hire more.“In the last year,we’ve added a hundred people, and we have 50 requisitions for 50 more employees,”he says.“Amajority will be craftsmen and boat builders, but I’m looking for an engineer, I’m looking for a sales person.Our top priority is the training of our employees, getting them up to speed; bringing in Millennials and Gen-Xers and teaching them a craft; a vocational trade where they can still make very good money.” Another current item on Parmentier’s agenda is figuring out how to export more products even as the U.S. dollar continues to be strong.“The dollar is tied to oil,”he states.“When oil is cheap, our dollar is strong; and when oil is expensive, our dollar is weak.We’ve been on a prolonged run now,where a lot of American companies are having a tough time exporting things. So, our number two priority is how can we make our boats competitive even if this dollar situation stays for awhile? Because our export business is extremely important to us.And so,we are constantly looking at leaning out our processes, trying to take costs out of the boat, but still having top quality.We’re looking at new FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic) products and unique layup procedures in our boats to make them lighter, so we can put less power in them, so we can make themmore affordable.”