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Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2009
Merced company hiring back 25 percent of workers
Better times expected for boat-building Centurion.
The new year will bring good news to at least one Merced company hit hard by the economic downturn in 2009.
Centurion, a boat-building company, saw its business sink at the beginning of the year, when the economy tanked. But after laying off employees because of no business, Centurion is in the process of hiring back 25 percent of those who were let go.
"We anticipate bringing back our trained work force and look forward to doing some hiring to support our newly growing demand," said Centurion president Rick Lee.
Merced Sun-Star - Leo Goldstein, 21, from Los Banos, rides during the 2007 World Wake Surfing Championships, towed by Centurion Boats. After a rocky 2009, business is looking up for Centurion Boats.
"The good news for us is that when this whole thing imploded, we started several engineering projects," said Mark Overbye, chief marketing officer for Centurion.
Those projects included starting a new division that specializes in products sold to commercial marine businesses. Resorts and parasailing companies have lined up to buy boats that will be used in their businesses, Overbye said.
Centurion started in Merced in the mid-1970s and specialized in boats used for water sports, such as water skiing, wake boarding and wake surfing.
But when the economy went south, the people who'd been buying Centurion's inventory also disappeared.
"The biggest problem was the lack of wholesale credit," Overbye said. Dealers who carry boats like Centurion's don't actually own those boats -- banks do. And those banks didn't want to finance dealers as the economy cratered, Overbye said.
"There were five different companies financing dealers," Overbye said. "Now there is only one."
And while Centurion now focuses on building commercial boats, Overbye said buyers who quit buying boats over the last year may be coming back.
"Most buyers of our boats before were people with discretionary income," Overbye said. "They stopped buying when they didn't have that extra income."
Those buyers have started looking again, though, according to Overbye. And Centurion has launched marketing strategies to help them.
"We have a Web site that people can use to order a boat from scratch, picking exactly what they want," Overbye said. "They can then take that to a dealer, which makes ordering much easier."
The company has logged enough orders to keep workers busy until June, Overbye said.
"We have added dealers, and we're very optimistic right now," he said.
Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.
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