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Article published Jan 8, 2009 MasterCraft Boats continues layoffs; 100 since early fall
By Iva Butler of The Daily Times Staff
MasterCraft Boat Co. in Vonore continued layoffs Wednesday, which takes the layoff number to over 100 since early fall 2008.
Jason Boertje, public information officer for the company, said eight people were laid off Wednesday. That leaves the company with approximately 450 to 460 employees.
From 19 boats a day at the height of demand, Master Craft now produces 10 boats per day.
“We feel at that level we can sustain the employee level and sales goals,” Boertje said, adding that the company is mainly being affected by external circumstances over which it has no control. Such circumstances include the credit crisis and consumer confidence.
“Dealers are having problems getting credit. We have dealers that want boats but they can’t get commercial credit,” he added.
Boertje said the credit issue is ironic because MasterCraft just moved into the No. 1 market share in its category.
The first massive company response to the current economic problems was a tiered effort. There were massive cost reductions in the everyday expenses of running a business, he said. MasterCraft negotiated with suppliers for better prices. Then the company started shutting the plant down for a few days during holiday periods. For example, during the July 4 holiday the plant was shut for three other days that week.
In early fall, the company asked for voluntary employee reductions. Since then, the layoffs now total more than 100 employees.
“We’re doing everything we can to avoid more layoffs. Collectively the workers probably have over 100 years of experience. They’re very, very key to our operations,” Boertje said.
“We are fighting the situation with aggressive sales promotions.”
The company has unveiled is winter/spring boat program, with shows starting in December and running through April.
Boertje said the company hopes that in four to six months things will start to turn around and production can ramp up again.
In 1993, MasterCraft moved from Blount County to Monroe County. The plant is currently located on Excellence Way, in a Tellico Reservoir Development Agency industrial park located directly on Tellico Lake.
The company makes four types of boats: ProStar ski boats, X-Series weight board boats, MariStar luxury family personal boats and Salt Water Series designed for brackish water and the inland coastal waterway conditions.