Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/570649
October 2015 | Boating Industry | 29 www.BoatingIndustry.com [ 2015 Movers & Shakers / BOLD MOVES ] GROWTH CULTURE SERENITY GARDNER COO, SeaDek Marine Products / Rockledge, Fla. As the Great Recession hit and left the boating industry reeling, SeaDek found itself facing a major challenge. SeaDek's business was heavily dependent on OEMs, so with boat builders throughout the indus- try cutting back or going bankrupt, the company was especially vulnerable. The SeaDek team began developing aftermarket programs and focusing on direct consumer marketing. Now, the sales mix is only about 50 percent OEM, with the rest coming from sales through retailers, custom projects and more. A strong brand not only has helped with direct sales, but also helps to drive consumer demand for the product from boat builders, said chief oper- ating officer Serenity Gardner. "We have a pretty powerful marketing machine over here," Gardner said. "A lot of effort goes into creating a brand identity and getting people to buy into that, creating an emotional attachment to the brand." With average annual growth of 50 percent over the last five years, much of Gardner's focus has been on "how to not only scale up, but scale up well." One important factor has been keeping the manu- facturing in the United States, with the company em- ploying 70 people at its Florida factory – a workforce that has doubled in the last 18 months. "It helps us better control our quality," Gardner said. "It's important to us when we're going to put the SeaDek name on it that we can stand behind that. It also allows us to push innovation because we're producing the product here, we're very intimately in- volved in the production." SeaDek also become ISO certified in 2013, giving the company a framework for replicating its success. The company also cross trains all of its employees, so everyone understands what goes into the differ- ent jobs and products. "Every single person who comes in here has to spend time on the production floor," Gardner said. "They get to be inti- mately familiar with every process that we have." The latest innovation is certified fabricator and certified installer pro- grams. SeaDek held its first certified fabricator course earlier this year for companies that have CNC machines and can cut and install the products and are trained to meet SeaDek's level of quality. The first certified in- staller class is planned for this fall for individuals that want to learn how to install the product, but will work through SeaDek or certified fabrica- tors to get the product.