AIRTOOL, Canyon is at its historic low. I am not even sure you can get your boat in. Come see us at Medina Lake. You can launch in my yard. Prettier lake and my M's are hard to beat. I have a three slip boat dock and the parties are usually memorable. Would love to have you.
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read these comments regarding layoffs at MC
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I agree. I just dont see 200 people left at the plant everyody i know that works there is gone. What about the people who are working on next years model all of them are laidoff to. To me that seems like this could be the end for them. You dont just let the people go who are working on next years models go if something else is not going to happen.
2/28/2009 4:10 PM EST on WBIR.com
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crft90 wrote:
I need help to understand wasn't the first layoff in Aug. of atleast 60 plus. Then another layoff about 60 plus in Jan. and now 110. If you add it up that is over 240 plus layoffs. Yet , its said cut back a third and still have 200 workers. These numbers just don't add up. 220 laid off 200 working. OK it shows they cut their work force well in half not no 1/3. This has also brought alot of their production standards down as quality control was taken out and left to line supervisors. Buy a boat, you better inspect or have your own quality control check it out top to bottom.
2/28/2009 1:32 PM EST on WBIR.com
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BothOpenEyes wrote:
MasterCraft is in a survival mode at this point. The investors could opt to shut the doors at anytime now that the director/CEO John Dorton has ran this company into the ground. He had plenty of help with his marketing dept that lined their pockets with production bonuses as the company continued at a record pace of 18 boats/day until only a few weeks ago. Everyone wondered why they refused to cut production several months ago, as even joe worker could tell the light at the end of the tunnel was the train coming at them. Now production workers are left jobless, No severance, lost vacation pay and trying to pay COBRA while on unemployment. MasterCraft was once a well rspected name in Monroe county as well as in the boating industry, but now BAD leadership and the third lay-off in less then six months has left this company fighting to stay afloat. My wife was one of the first to go, now they've given me my walking papers, and nothing more. Thanks for the memories John.
2/27/2009 7:08 PM EST on WBIR.com
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crft90 wrote:
Yes, I heard about this coming. The employees after years of service loose everything from all insurance the night your discharged to any vacation time gone. This is the way you don't want to treet these employees. They say hard times what about the worker ? After all didn't PENSKE buy Mastercraft out at the first of 2008. Is Penske doing that bad I see their trucks out all the time. Their a nascar sponsor. Don't they sell motor oils and patroleum products ?
2/27/2009 5:18 PM EST on WBIR.com
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A company that plans to remain in business is careful about the bridges it burns. If Mastercraft expected to ramp production up again at some point in the future would they not have treated outgoing employees a little better? Engender a little bit of loyalty?
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Tough call.
Do you lay off early with extended benefits or hang on hoping for a turnaround and if it doesn't you get caught cash short?
Biggest problem may have been the planned doubling of production 2007. Gear up and the bottom falls out.
To be honest I don't see the economy turning around for probably 2 very long years. Hope they can hang on in some form and get through this. Realistically sales will never return to pre 07 years so a smaller company like CC might be able to make it.2018 200 Team H6
2009 196 Team ZR 409
2005 196 Limited ZR 375
2003 196 Limited Excalibur
1999 196 Masters Edition
1995 ProStar 190 LT1 (Bayliner)
1987 ProStar 190
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This thread is crazy. Bullets for Bankers and all that. I'm a banker and I didn't make bad loans to start with. (we have to collect our own loans that go bad - a great idea that makes you a little more careful who you give credit to!!!) and we've only had 2 foreclosures in the last two years, or so. We're a really strong little bank who makes individual decisions on every loan, the way it should be... let the big guys fail, someone with great wits and smarts will pick up the pieces at a discount, the way it should be, and make a landslide of money on their way to doing their part to turning this thing around. I don't feel bad for investors who put money in these companies without paying attention to what they were doing, and doing their due diligence and researching, just like I don't feel bad for someone who bought their first house and it was 3200 sq. ft. of luxury on a stated loan with no money down. The bank that issued it should have to pony up, go under, take their lumps, etc. Without the sting of failure we're doomed to repeat. You prop it up and it will still fail, just farther down the road. Wasn't the bailout money meant to correct the balance sheet? I didn't see one bank write down the balance on one bad loan... Did you?Travis Fling
Choctaw Lake
Current - 1989 Ski Nautique 2001
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It's a tough call for anyone out there that is running a business. The balance is between cutting profits and cash or cutting people, even if they are loyal and you may need them in the future. It just goes to show that anyone at anytime can over-extend themselves regardless of how well they are doing. Only the strong will survive this.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've heard that even CC is down to 3 productions days a week. I wonder if they are cutting poeple or just reducing hours.
A little advice for CC and the rest of us...it's during these times of struggle and despare that some can make great strides of progress. While competitors are dragging their feet and doing as little as possible to just stay alive, these times provide an oppoturnity to run as fast and do as much as you can. Once all is said and done, you will have crushed the competitors.
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Originally posted by TravisFlingThis thread is crazy. Bullets for Bankers and all that. I'm a banker and I didn't make bad loans to start with. (we have to collect our own loans that go bad - a great idea that makes you a little more careful who you give credit to!!!) and we've only had 2 foreclosures in the last two years, or so. We're a really strong little bank who makes individual decisions on every loan, the way it should be... let the big guys fail, someone with great wits and smarts will pick up the pieces at a discount, the way it should be, and make a landslide of money on their way to doing their part to turning this thing around. I don't feel bad for investors who put money in these companies without paying attention to what they were doing, and doing their due diligence and researching, just like I don't feel bad for someone who bought their first house and it was 3200 sq. ft. of luxury on a stated loan with no money down. The bank that issued it should have to pony up, go under, take their lumps, etc. Without the sting of failure we're doomed to repeat. You prop it up and it will still fail, just farther down the road. Wasn't the bailout money meant to correct the balance sheet? I didn't see one bank write down the balance on one bad loan... Did you?
Reading the article about MC, the big problem for the industry is the state of the floor plan companies. How do you foresee dealers being able to stock inventory?
I'll bet your bank won't lend even the best CC dealer the money to buy boats and only pay the interest on them for a year. That is what the floor plan companies do/ did. And that will change the industry.
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Originally posted by JohnEthe big problem for the industry is the state of the floor plan companies. How do you foresee dealers being able to stock inventory?
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Originally posted by SkiTundraOriginally posted by JohnEthe big problem for the industry is the state of the floor plan companies. How do you foresee dealers being able to stock inventory?
And my understanding is the 'bu has always built boats as they were ordered. So they didn't oversupply anything. Don't you think the lack of financing is adversely affecting their dealers?
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Article in Boating Industry Today
Mastercraft slices another 110 employees referencing it as an atomic bomb that has hit the marine industry.
http://www.boating-industry.com/output.cfm?id=2052757Current Boat: 2007 Super Air Nautique 220 Team Edition
Former Boat: 2003 Air Nautique 216 Team Edition
Former Boat: 1994 Ski Nautique
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