Brunswick to Reduce Production Rates of Sea Ray Boats
Sea Ray Plants in Tennessee and Florida will furlough workers one week per month through June but some production from a closed Tenn. plant will move to Palm Coast.
Palm Coat, Florida – January 6, 2009 – Brunswick Marine, parent of Sea Ray, announced additional moves today to reduce production. A Sea Ray manufacturing plant in Riverview near Knoxville will be mothballed. Production will be moved to two nearby Tennessee plants as well as to the Palm Coast, Florida Sea Ray facility and another plant in Mexico. Additionally, Sea Ray facilities in Tennessee and Florida have scheduled at least a week of production furlough each month through the end of June to reduce production rates. The company says it has the option of modifying the furlough period, should marine market demand improve or pipeline inventory be depleted quicker than anticipated.
Enterprise Flagler along with Flagler County and the City of Palm Coast have worked closely with Sea Ray to help keep Sea Ray jobs at the Roberts Road plant. The current construction of an extension to Roberts Road connecting it to Colbert Lane is one result of their efforts.
Sea Ray Business Decision
The extension of Roberts Road is a county project not a City project.
The retention of this facility as a operational production facility, I feel, is not connected to this extension. Yes Enterprise Flagler, Tom Cooley, Flagler Chamber and Doug Baxter, the City of P.C., county of Flagler and all taxpaying citizens of this community should be thankful that Brunswick in their management decisions have elected to keep this facility operational. But to give credit to the extension of Roberts Road stretches the reality of those decisions.
This facility offers many advantages to the Brunswick Marine organization and their decisions are based on those factors, not the impact on Flagler County. Fortunately, I am pleased that they have chosen to retain it operational!!!
Prime location for Marina/waterfront condos
With the new road the property is worth more now. That may give Brunswick the thaught of selling it. I hope so as the area is mostly residential/commercial not industrial.
Reply to Herb
I generally agree with your assessment that these decisions are made for business reasons; however, it should not be forgotten that the grants issued for the Roberts Road project were for the benefit of Sea Ray. So, while Sea Ray makes its decisions for business purposes, there should definitely be an understanding that the locals have bent over backwards to accomodate their business.
Sea Ray and the Retirement Community
Thanks BB for your input. The grants were given and have the potential for increasing the land’s value, but the main focus for the extension and the reason the City is interested, in my opinion, is that the developer has made overtures that he will request annexation into the City. If you look at what Brunswick has closed, the incremental increase in property values is minute in comparison to the mothballed or closed properties nationwide. They have empty standing facilities in Merritt Island, Knoxville and now Washington state with the closing of the Bayliner operation there, so property increases here are such a small part of the overall picture that I dont think this plays into their decision.
Yes I agree we in Flagler have done above and beyond for them, and in my opinion rightfully so. Think how much industry would remain without this production facility.
GM this is mostly a retirement community, with the key word being mostly. We will have no growth without industry, we will not have a stable economy generated by Social Security, we will pay enormous taxes without commercial taxpayers. With the recent downturn in the Nation’s economy and the beatings retirees are taking in their retirement funds where will the money come from to sustain the retail facilities that are already here and you can forget about future retailers coming if the ones here unable to sustain their businesses.
We have to look beyond personal desires and look at the community and what is best for it.