Workforce issues are a top concern for recreational marine business owners and CEOs alike. Recently, some told Soundings Trade Only that experienced and hardworking Latino employees who have become the backbone of many workforces have been leaving — especially when it comes to grueling fiberglass work. In their place, companies are seeing newcomers bring some truly awful work habits, including theft, drug activity and simple laziness.
Sources I’ve spoken to in South Florida during the past five years — mainly builders of high-end center consoles — say they’ve found workers from all walks of life snoozing inside hulls. They have endured rampant theft, firearms being brought to work, and substance abuse. “We have one person who is solely in charge of policing the workforce,” one manager said. “If we don’t keep on top of things, the whole operation can go sideways pretty fast.”
Amid this industrywide challenge, Warbird Marine Holdings is making a move. Ben Dorton, vice president of brand strategy, says this parent company of Yellowfin Yachts and Invincible Boats just christened a composites and lamination facility that the company built in Mérida, Mexico. Ben and his father, John, who is Warbird Marine Holdings CEO, say this factory in the Yucátan is used to building hulls, decks and other fiberglass components before they are transported to Yellowfin Yachts and Invincible Boats factories in Florida for final assembly.
To see how the concept is playing out, I began with a tour of the Invincible plant in Opa-locka, Fla., this past December. The company employs 250 people at this facility and builds approximately 150 boats annually. The multibuilding facility, situated in an industrial complex, is where competitive angler and entrepreneur Alex Lipworth started building offshore center console fishboats under the Invincible name in 2006. Lipworth sold the outfit in 2019 to private equity firm Eagle Tree Holdings, which later was formed into Warbird Marine Holdings.
Yellowfin Yachts, which was founded by Wylie Nagler in 1998, is also in the Warbird Marine Holdings portfolio, having been acquired in 2021. Today, Yellowfin operates out of a factory in Sarasota, Fla., where 200 employees turn out about 150 boats each year. However, Invincible’s and Yellowfin’s operations are now transitioning toward being final-assembly plants, rather than start-to-finish builders. At the time of this writing, only two hull molds remained on the Invincible Boats factory floor, along with several hardtop and other component molds that are soon to be shipped to Mérida.
“Within four to six months, all of our hulls, decks, hardtops and components will be fabricated in Mérida, and then shipped twice a week on a ship,” Ben says. “This whole building used to be nothing but lamination, and now we’re moving our way out of here to make way for assembly space where Mérida-built components are joined together.”
The idea has been a long time coming, according to John, who previously served as CEO of MasterCraft, Hydra-Sports and HeyDay, among other companies. He became CEO of Warbird in 2019 and served for a long time on the board of directors for the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
“Sitting on the board of NMMA for 16 years, we would do roundtables at the end of each meeting,” John says. “For 16 years, the question was, ‘How’s your business?’ The response was always, ‘Well, good. We just can’t get lamination labor,’ or ‘having a hard time with labor in general.’ There might’ve been something else too, but lamination labor always came up.”
After being off the board for a while, he returned as a guest to listen in. “They go back around the room again,” he recalls. “Lamination labor. I was like, oh my gosh, it just never goes away. Meanwhile, I hired Thomas Wieners to run our facility. It didn’t take long for him to come in my office and say, ‘I can’t find people to work.’ And I said, ‘It’s been an ongoing problem.’ He goes, ‘Why do you guys just live with this?’ ”
Wieners, now president of Warbird Marine Holdings, had a manufacturing background with stints at ICON Aircraft, Bombardier and Mercedes-Benz. He had moved Bombardier down to Mexico, John says. “They were building fiberglass parts for Sea-Doo and even for some of their other products, like the Can-Am vehicles. And Thomas tells me, ‘It’s a great place.’ He described an engaged workforce with dexterity that are happy to learn the skills, and they want to work.”
He adds: “I’m all about made in America, but if you can’t get Americans to work, what do you do? So we decided it was the perfect place for the labor for doing composites and fiberglass work. The rigging and the electricians, the plumbing and all that? There’s a better skill set here in the States for that.”
The quality of the finished product is what matters to consumers, he says. Anyone with bigger-picture concerns can simply tour the operation. “We’ve had a couple of buyers see the factory in Mérida who were concerned about outsourcing these activities to Mexico,” he says. “As soon as they see the plant and the quality of work coming off the line, they’re sold.”
I boarded a commercial flight to Mérida the next morning with Ben. From the air, the city looks like an isolated disc amid lush, tropical forest. The tightly packed city is home to nearly 1 million people who work in hospitality, government, manufacturing and other industries. Our tour guide said Mayans were the first to occupy the the area but were overrun by the Spanish in the 1500s. The French would arrive later. Today, the area is rich with history.
Warbird’s facility is about 30 minutes by car from central Mérida, inside the SkyPark Industrial complex. Outside the main entrance are Mayan ruins. The company respectfully fenced off the area and built the facility around them.
Past a security checkpoint, site director Rafael Rubio guided us down to the far end of the factory floor, where raw materials enter the manufacturing line. Resins and other temperature-sensitive materials are kept in separate storage areas that are climate-controlled. Less-sensitive building materials are neatly stored on a vast array of wire shelves. Two employees tapped away at computers, entering orders and monitoring inventory levels.
The 420,000-square-foot factory is only partially utilized as the company ramps up production. All the employees I saw in the laminating and grinding areas were wearing protective respiratory gear, heavy-duty gloves, Tyvek suits and safety glasses. I’ve toured several American boatbuilding facilities where only a few workers wore personal protective gear like this.
The rest of the factory is expected to fill out in the next few years as Yellowin and Invincible ramp up resin-infusion in their manufacturing processes. By the time it’s rolling at full tilt, the floor should house 600 employees.
Boats progress down a choreographed line toward a shipping dock where the hulls, decks, grids and interior components are packaged on custom stands designed to fit reserved spaces on a ship. They then travel to Sarasota and Opa-locka from Puerto Progreso, a shipping port to the north of the factory. Shipments leave here by water twice a week.
“It’s an added cost,” John says. “But between labor savings, insurance, taxes and other costs that are higher in the States, we’re still saving money while also eliminating the labor-shortage problems that caused so many problems for us in Florida.”
Taking care of the Mérida factory’s people is top of mind. “One thing we do is feed our people twice a day,” Wieners says, pointing to the nearly complete factory cafeteria. “We also provide on-site medical care for employees and their families at our clinic. There’s a soccer field and locker room on the first floor. We have two shuttle buses that bring in workers each day and take them home. We’re also very serious about providing clean and safe work conditions, and training people in their jobs so they can feel confident in their work.”
Twenty-three-year-old Fernando Moo has been at the factory for two years. He started as a laminator. Today, he is a skin coat station leader. Before working for Warbird, he bought and sold cars. “I really enjoy learning these boatbuilding skills,” he says. “The attention to detail needed for the job is rewarding for me. I also enjoy the benefits, like health care and meals that they provide. The pay is also higher than in many of the places I could work around here. I also look forward to being able to advance. That’s something I’d never have been able to do with cars.”
Omar Garcia, who is 32, is originally from Mexico City and has a background in woodworking. His current role at Warbird is as a finisher, overseeing the final steps before hulls, decks, stringers and other components head out the door. “I appreciate all the training I’ve received here and the opportunity to move into better-paying positions with more responsibility,” he says. “The health benefits are hard to find elsewhere, and I wanted to find a position where I could advance.”
It’s a win-win solution for workers and the company alike, it seems, at least right out of the gate.
This article was originally published in the February 2024 issue.
