Something about effective managers

«The second day of the Dusseldorf show was dedicated to busy scheduling meetings (or, as it is popularly called now,») for the upcoming week. We could not but admit, however, that in comparison with the previous years the exposition seemed to be very slow and sparsely populated. Talking about the sixth pavilion - just there «Dead zone». Only sad people on the stands and no «movement»...

I managed to catch a number of interesting people for short meetings whose stories and interviews I shall present today and in the coming days.
The first people I came across were Bavarians and the President of Farr Yacht Design Patrick Shaughnessy who were proudly exhibiting the new Bavaria 46 Vision. Alas, the close inspection of the boat had to be postponed again for tomorrow - too crowded and I do not enjoy the same authority at the Bavaria booth as, say, at Jeanneau (where for me the Jeanneau 57 was closed from visitors for half an hour for a close inspection, conversation with staff and photo session). So today I will feed you with fables.
So, Bavaria. « All is well, beautiful marquise», - the entire management of the company sang in a chorus into the recorder what happened at the stand. But the details...
- Not only the owner has changed. A totally different group of people joined our management. They are from another industry, with another style of technological thinking, - told me one of the top managers of the company. - Who exactly? Firstly, the head of the development team of the European Ford Focus 2011 model, Jens Lundmann! He is the CEO, has been with us since mid-August 2010 and has already brought a lot of changes to our technology.

Jens worked at Ford for 10 years - he knows something about mass production.

In fact, he rebuilt the firm from the ground up - from the very approach to product creation. It's just amazing how we didn't notice the most obvious... However, let's not go into details... Secondly, it's Heiko van der Luit - also «automotive» man. In Germany, he was responsible for sales and promotion of such brands as Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge, and also has experience with Alfa Romeo. He has been with us less than a year - he is in charge of marketing and sales organization - but he has already introduced a lot of innovations in the sales organization system. But the main thing is the new 46 Vision. Just look at it - isn't she beautiful?

It is a new concept, a fundamentally new model for the shipyard in general.

It will be the start of our new life! Although we're doing fine... How many boats a year did you say we make? You're asking a lot of questions. We made 1,700 or 2,000 last year...

- Bavaria 46 Vision is indeed a completely new concept, says Patrick Shaughnessy, president of the company that has developed both the boat and the technology for its production. - It's a completely different hull design. From the very beginning we set a goal to minimize any number of extra glues, «wet corners» and other weaknesses that can't withstand the stresses of long term operation. In addition, the hull design had to be manufacturable for mass assembly. We spent a long time «spinning» individual hull sections in 3D before achieving what we wanted. The end result is minimal dies, easy assembly, and a robust design that lasts. All for the sake of quality and productivity. Mr. Lundmann's automotive experience helped a lot there, too.

We simply had a different level of cooperation!

It turned out to be useful for our design bureau as well - we started to look at many things differently, at least in matters related to design and production of large-scale mass-produced yachts...

P.S. Yeah. At one time, as I remember, one highly effective manager (that is simply - comrade Stalin) has appointed the people who have organized mass production of tanks T-34 on the Ural factories, being in sad and grief, to head shipbuilding industry of the country. The result was the introduction of fundamentally different assembly technologies and a phenomenal jump in productivity (as well as in launched tonnage), which the USSR never knew later on. The personnel are decisive for everything, after all. Comrade Stalin was right. Oh, he was right... Destruction is not in Bavaria, it is in our heads. And what's interesting is that Mike Royer, one of the long-standing employees of Bavaria Yachtbau GmbH, went into the automotive industry. For experience?

(Continuation, as usual, follows, and we are in the middle of the night and Scheherazade stops allowed speeches)