If you are a customer or have been paying attention to the Apex Journey, you’ll know that the past two years were spent on a variety of different manufacturing plans, locations, and talent. If you have read the book “Good to Great” and know the “flywheel concept”, of which I am a huge believer in, you’ll know that Apex has not had time to get any momentum due to the constant starting and stopping of manufacturing people. Most of my successes over the years have come from having a single focus in any given area and pushing that plan forward without letting up. This way, like a massive, heavy flywheel, if you push on it long enough, it will start to move with a bit of speed, and ultimately carry enough momentum to carry you through any temporary challenge. I am proud to say that the flywheel I am pushing on right now is one that I am committed to and will gain the needed momentum. That is Nelo.
Nelo is a 40 year old manufacturer of sprint racing, composite kayaks. Over the past few years they have branched out into paddles, sea kayaks, surf skis, and even sail boats. More importantly, they have committed to Apex Watercraft in making our fishing kayaks, and our whitewater kayaks. This is isn’t something that happens overnight. First, for a company, such as Nelo to decide to partner with Apex, they need to get comfortable with us first. What can we bring to the Nelo world? Well, fishing and whitewater kayaks for starters. A company that built itself in the flatwater world meets up with me, who built myself and brands on whitewater and fishing. Nelo has an 80% marketshare in sprint racing kayaks. What does that tell you about their ability to grow without diversification? Unlikely. Much like JK with freestyle kayaks- with an 80% marketshare in freestyle it was difficult to grow unless you grow the market, which we worked hard to do. Every boat Nelo makes for Apex is incremental revenue.
It takes time to get it right. Fishing kayaks- Nelo is a bit of a fish out of water in some ways and it will take time to get the total package where we need it. However, they are way better than anyone else In the areas that matter- lamination of thin walled advance composites, specifically for watercraft. Like any company that does things better than the competition, it is about the individuals, period. It always starts with the leadership- who is in charge? Nelo is in charge. A national champion sprint racer, who is wiling to do what others are not, in order to make his product stand out front the rest. He provides his #2 guy, Andre’, with the resources to implement his vision. Andre’ is a hands on plant manager, who has a very unique set of skills that you rarely see in a factory, one that I never had. He is a strong sales guy, marketing guy, manufacturing guy, and understands every step of every process that happens at the factory, including building Apex 50,000 square feet of space in 6 months to manufacture plastic whitewater kayaks. Wow.
Anyone who watches him work would be impressed. His challenge is that he is involved in every step and those under him rely on his direction to get the job started.
Molding plastic boats. In 2023 a Apex Watercraft rotomolded whitewater kayaks will be underway with a brand new oven, new factory, and a lot of excitement around the project. Planning around the construction of the boats, etc. is happening now. My job be will be to assure that the boats are molded well, lightweight, and that the best practices for molding kayaks are being used. Whitewater Kayaks are the most difficult product to mold properly of any rotomolded product if you are trying to make them lightweight, durable, and shaped properly. Fishing kayaks tend to be very heavy and every ounce is rarely accounted for, because so much weight ends up being added in outfitting anyhow. The Oven is already in Portugal and ready to test. Things are heating up.
Shipping from Portugal to the USA is a challenge right now and smoothing out the system will take time. Covid all but shut down ports and created a huge backlog, supply chain issues, and price hikes that were crazy. Navigating these waters is a challenge. What should take 3 weeks, is now taking 6. What should cost $4,000 is averaging $12,000. However, Bob Blair (Speedboard USA) and designer of the Apex Tyr has found a potential solution for lower cost containers for now.
A boat that is finished at Nelo today, may have to wait until enough boats are ready for a container, and that could take another 45 days, and then another 45 days after that to get to the USA, and then another 30 days to get to the dealer or paddler. This means that it takes a bit of time to “fill the pipeline” with boats. Custom boats would be a full 120 days in the best of circumstances in the USA, while it will only be 30 days in Europe. Standard boats can be 75 days at best, assuming we don’t have any in stock in our warehouse yet.
I hope this helps paint the picture of where we are at and where we are going! Eventually we’ll start having inventory in stock in our warehouse and things will be a much faster turnaround. Every boat that comes into the our warehouse today has a customer waiting for it. That will likely be the case through Spring of 2023. I hope to get ahead of demand by Summer of 2023, but that depends on how many people are getting new Apex Watercraft kayaks next summer.
Fun stuff! Feel free to email me with any questions! eric@apexwatercraft.com