7 minute read
A Rising Tide
Ranger: Flippin Plant, Gel coating process
New boat manufacturing program is big news on workforce front
by DWAIN HEBDA
»Spend a little time in Mountain Home, and you’ll quickly see how important the wilds are “I thought it was a pretty good idea, and it definitely might get some of those younger kids interested in to our quality of life. From the emerald mountains to the crystal-clear waters, outdoor enthusiasts from across the country and around the world come for the fresh air, breathtaking scenery and unmatched fishing.
With all of that, it's no real surprise that some of the nation’s top sporting boat builders also call the area home. Boatbuilding is a huge part of the local economy here; in fact, according to an industry snapshot prepared by Emsi, the national average in an area this size is 184 employees. Baxter County companies boast 2,200.
So, it’s little wonder that an innovative new curriculum, recently unveiled at ASU-Mountain Home, has local boat manufacturers looking to the future of the area’s workforce with optimism. this line of work,” said Chris Miller, plant manager for Shawnee/Supreme Boats in Midway. “Right now, everything has been running fairly well, but we’re in the middle of some construction work. Once that gets set up, we could be looking to hire more individuals and see where it goes from there.” Victor Beck, ASUMH director of workforce development, is the propulsion for the creation and launch of the program. He said it all came together thanks to many different partners. “The chamber, the city, they’re all on board with whatever we need,” Beck said. “We’re trying to establish even more community buy-in from this, but so far there’s been very positive feedback.
“We worked very closely in a short amount of time with the boat manufacturers. I told them, ‘You guys are the experts. We can’t just develop something and say, “Here you go,” and make it successful.’”
“I really appreciated how the college reached out and asked us what we thought,” said Fred Dwyer, production manager with Triton Boats in Midway. “We were happy to tell them what we thought and what we needed. We’re pleased to see this program get off the ground.”
The marine manufacturing program, for which Beck landed a $1.2 million grant, will teach several steps in the boatmaking process through the school’s Office of Workforce Development.
“With this grant, we’ll focus on welding for the aluminum boats and also gel coating. That’s our initial focus, and we’ll expand from there,” he said. “The gel coating training in particular was something manufacturers said they wanted.
“All the boat manufacturers told us a production gel coater, one who they can trust with a $2,000 or $3,000 hull, is someone who can take years to develop. There’s not a lot of them around, so they really wanted us to focus on that to start,” Beck said.
Learning about gel coats and riding herd over grants were just part of the baptism by fire Beck experienced since joining the ASU-Mountain Home staff in January.
“Karen Heslep, who is my boss and the Dean, had a meeting with Ranger Boats in Texas before I got here. They told her what was needed locally,” he said. “When I got here a month or so later, she handed it to me and said, ‘Go do good things.’
“My background is mostly in command control-related stuff, from ships and satellites. Before this, I only owned boats, and I didn’t have a clue how these guys built them. It’s been a very big learning curve. I’m getting better.”
Beck set out to create a program the only way that made sense to him, to ask the marine manufacturers in the area to give their input, which they were all too happy to do.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to partner with ASU-Mountain Home to attract, train and retain the next generation of boat manufacturers,” said Craig Bach, vice president of operations with White River Marine Group which owns Ranger Boats, made in Flippin.
“This is an extremely valuable resource to us, as the boating industry across our nation faces the challenges of product demands and talent retention in a growing market.”
One by one, the hurdles to making the program a reality were cleared, the most substantial one being the hiring of Brian Bigelow, an experienced marine manufacturer who will be the instructor. Next, the department turned its attention to equipping the appropriate workspace on campus.
“We’re adding onto the technical center because we don’t
— Victor Beck, director of workforce development
Victor Beck and Brian Bigelow standing in front of the welding booths at the ASUMH tech center. Currently, there are 23 booths total in the tech center, and they’re in the process of adding 13 more.
BOAT MANUFACTURERS
BOATS ASUMH TECHNICAL CENTER
MARION COUNTY
Clockwise from left: Vexus, Ranger, Triton and BassCat.
BAXTER COUNTY
have enough space to put in the gel coat booth we are going to purchase under the grant,” Beck said. “We have to build a large add-on to our existing facility that will contain a classroom and the gel coat booth.
“For the welding side of it, we’re going to add additional welders and welding booths. We have 23 in the tech center already, and we’re going to add 13 more booths to that. We’ll have to do some remodeling but won’t need to add-on to the property, which is good.”
The gel coating curriculum is joined by a new welding apprenticeship program, also targeting the local marine manufacturing industry.
“That’s brand new; it’s not part of the grant,” he said. “We worked with the state of Arkansas to get it approved by the Department of Labor. It’s a 2,000-hour course consisting of on-the-job training and 144 hours of classroom instruction related to welding.
“After their 2,000 hours, students will get a certificate saying they have completed that apprenticeship. They would be able to take that and go work anywhere they want in the world, although we don’t want them to leave the area.”
All of this is music to the ears of boat manufacturers, given the labor crunch of the past few years. Heather Curtis, human resources manager with Bass Cat in Midway, said the company employs 200 and she’d add 30 more tomorrow if she could. And that’s just to get up to current needs and doesn’t take into account the potential for growth.
“We build a boat by hand,” she said. “We have no robotics, no assembly lines, no machinery. The employees are our machines. They are the ones that hand-grind, hand-lay, hand-assemble; they do everything. This means, to do more boats, it’s not as simple as going out and buying a piece of machinery. To increase production, we have to hire additional bodies and then train those bodies.
“I think the program is going to be very good for our local area and our industry — not only us but all of the other boat manufacturers here, because we do have a very low labor pool.”
Lance Newton, vice president of operations for Vexus Boats in Flippin, Arkansas, said he liked how ASUMH’s program was customizable to their unique manufacturing processes.
“We build all of our fiberglass parts under a vacuum, so there’s zero emissions, zero VOCs emitted into the atmosphere,” he said. “Our processes are a scientific approach to boat building and different from most other manufacturers. We had to develop that process ourselves to achieve what we are trying to accomplish. The college is helping us in that by incorporating some of that technology into their curriculum going forward.
“I appreciate their willingness to work with us. North Central Arkansas is full of talented individuals who know how to work hard, and it’s full of manufacturers who provide a good product. However, there’s a growing need for people with certain skill sets here. This is a nice place to live and we’re excited to partner with ASUMH to help cultivate the next generation of boat builders and young manufacturing minds,” said Newton. ■
