My take is that they’re relying on the economy of scale and that it’s only sustainable to the extent they can move their inventory. They’ll be busy at first while they fill up their pipeline and if they can offer dealer-friendly terms they can guarantee some retail floor space. But ultimately the boards have to sell in a timely manner to make way for the boards they’re building every week. Otherwise their capacity outstrips their demand. And unlike the importers who are brokering someone else’s production, these guys are carrying 100% of their own manufacturing, warehousing and distribution overhead - shop space, labor, waste, etc. They can’t just “not-order” and put someone else’s factory on layoff when they have a slow week.
They need at least enough paying buyers to feed their overhead. That overhead becomes an anchor once their capacity outstrips their demand. And they probably can’t scale back enough if/when the margin between the two exceeds a certain percentage, which depending on their margins may only amount to 10% or 15%. .
Potentially, it’s the same problem the importers have been having, only magnified.
The other problem with their high volume/low-margin model is that thier competition is not going to just roll over and cede that percentage of the market to them. There’s nothing particularly special or innovative about what they’re doing that isn’t already being done; that is, other than the owner deciding he’s willing to work for $10/hr and no benefits.
They may be able to lay claim to a “new” program for now, but if it’s at all effective they’ll generate their own competition.
I’ll betcha $5 that as an employer operating a manufacturing facility they’re cutting a couple corners they shouldn’t be cutting, and which will eventually come back to bite them in the ass. All it takes to sic the government on them is a phone call from a disgruntled ex-employee or a pissed-off competitor and an angry customer.
Half of you guys are pros and all of you guys understand the fact that the “greedy shaper” stereotype he’s using as the bogeyman for the costs of decent surfboards is bullshit. And regardless of what else we say about the surfboard market, it’s way too competitive and (to borrow the economists’ term for it) way too efficient to build a sustainable business on such an untruth.
This has been going on for 50 years. Always someone new trying the same thing. They never last real long. There are more backyard shapers right now than there ever were. Every town has one or two. Utube,Swaylocks and places like Surfsource and Foameze have made it easy for anyone to buy materials and learn how to do the work. That is a good thing. I was part of the original undergound backyard board movement in the late 60’s and it’s Deja Vu.
I saw where he wrote, Im not here to make friends Im here to sell Boards and sad thing is Im being
persecuted for doing it. That’s not exactly the same thing as saying he just wants to make money. And I don’t see where he says, “I will copy any board to a T.” Please, I’d like to know where on his website or blog that quote appears.
Some of his statments came from The 2nd Light we site. He posted on the message board. Honestly He has a good idea on bringing production back to the US. But I also am a little disturbed by some of his statements.
He seems to be alienating the very people he needs as clients. Building a business that is based on customer loyalty and Brand is important. So yes you do have to make friends and show some ethics. By Ethics I mean if you bring in a board to be copied he should guarantee that the file is your file and he or anyone else will never machine a board use that file. if someone comes in with their friends new CI wonder board or a Rusty shape would he make of that board? I also do not see on his web page what materials he is using. Brands of Blanks resin and cloth. I have said this many times if I were a small business shaper I would have a line of Boards that came off a machine as well as my hand shaped boards. The machine boards would be marked as production boards and customs would be a premium Board. There would be no confusion on the part of the client on what they are getting. One would have a hand written signature and the other a lam saying designed by. Serial numbers would also be different.
Okay, I see it now. He wrote, “FOR THE LAST TIME: we use a CNC machine and can duplicate any board to a T. I WILL NOT DISCLOSE OUR GHOST SHAPERS, as we have non diclosures with them.”
That isn’t quite that same thing as saying, “I will copy any board to a T” which is how Aspect paraphrased him. There’s an important difference between “we can” and “I will.” Plus the context is important.
At the end of the day, the guy at Next Level should probably hire a college girl to be his PR person.
Semantics, who cares how it was conveyed the message is still the same. By saying in public you can duplicate any board to a T pretty much says that you will. Otherwise why even say it.
I know of shapers who’ve had their shapes “used” by the machine companies. This has been going on a for a long time. Once you load a file into a computer, or send a file via email to a CNC shop, you’ve passed over your intellectual property. Some of those same shapers have had other well known “travelling” shapers come over and copy templates while being given an opportunity to use a local shapers room years before that.
I’m sure that many top shapers were given a magic board from client that was shaped by another master shaper and then proceeds to make a board for that client.
I’ve always believed that being a master glasser is the key to long term survival in the board industry. A friend of mine told me he pays a master glasser here $600 per board, but he only makes classic longboards. I didn’t know that you could get that kind of money, but then again the glass jobs are top notch and they are the perfect fit to the shapes. These boards sell even at the prices they comand, so there’s a market for high end product, but you need to be known for making that high end product. The guys making the really fancy wood boards are getting $15K now.
Get your skills honed, when the Chinese get crazy about surfing like the Japanese have been, they’ll be coming to where the “real” boards are made and they’ll be looking for that “name” product. I’m sure guys Jim Phillips or Gene Cooper have seen how that works.
Online sales through a website is the modern shopfront , without doubt. The only viable surf shop these days is the traditional one …IE build 'em out the back , and sell’em out the front…Ive loved those classic establishments since I was a kid…they have cultural and historical significance in every surfing country , and should be preserved under a “Surfing World Heritage”.
Well I can’t speak for everybody, but I read different messages in the quote and the paraphrase.
“I will copy any board to a T” makes him sound defiant and unethical…the Earl Scheib of design theft. It makes the villagers want to go grab their torches and pitchforks.
What he actually wrote seemed (to me) like what the factory was capable of doing, and that his ghost shapers wanted to remain ghosts.
I just like to see things kept fair and balanced. I also don’t like the implication that this guy is cutting corners on health and safety just to keep his prices down. His website offers tours of the facility. Maybe someone in Central Florida should vist the place and tell us what’s happening.
…how much a laminator earns there? How s possible that they can underpaid them or keep em in “Black”?
And the taxes?
Where s the profit?
-All these is what s going wrong with the fucking machine; without the stupid cnc machine these mega factories and these entrepreneurs/businessmen would not exist.
Im not Red or hippy but in all the places that I travel, the best things (items, attention, feel, vibe, quality, flavors, craftsmanship, etc) came from Mom and Pop shops…I repeat what I said more than one time here: we do not need these machines, businessmen and megafactories; if we lose the control we ll fuck up everthing like with the surf gear et all.
-and still we have some control due to the blanks factories, like Midget s etc
Inland America has places looking for work and jobs…people can be taught to make anything…sending work to Asia is done for a reason and the reason is usually money…maybe there’s more stigma attached to being made in inland USA by non surfers than there is being made in Asia by non surfers…go figure.
