Just heard on the local news that the SeaRay plant on Merritt Island
In FL is closing.
A few hundred workers there.
They build the larger 40-60 something foot yachts there.
I guess the moneyed folks aren't buying big SeaRays.

On Feb 28, 9:38*pm, wrote:
Just heard on the local news that the SeaRay plant on Merritt Island
In FL is closing.
A few hundred workers there.
They build the larger 40-60 something foot yachts there.
I guess the moneyed folks aren't buying big SeaRays.

huh? i thought Se ray was a pretty good sized affair?

One more (?) Were they owned by Bruswick?

Of course, i suppose I could look it up myself....

On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:14:59 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Feb 28, 9:38*pm, wrote:
Just heard on the local news that the SeaRay plant on Merritt Island
In FL is closing.
A few hundred workers there.
They build the larger 40-60 something foot yachts there.
I guess the moneyed folks aren't buying big SeaRays.

huh? i thought Se ray was a pretty good sized affair?

One more (?) Were they owned by Bruswick?

Of course, i suppose I could look it up myself....

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbc...GNEWS/80228057

It's not closing entirely - just some boat aren't going to be built.

On Feb 29, 2:54�am, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:14:59 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Feb 28, 9:38�pm, wrote:
Just heard on the local news that the SeaRay plant on Merritt Island
In FL is closing.
A few hundred workers there.
They build the larger 40-60 something foot yachts there.
I guess the moneyed folks aren't buying big SeaRays.

huh? �i thought Se ray was a pretty good sized affair?

One more (?) �Were they owned by Bruswick?

Of course, i suppose I could look it up myself....

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbc...20080228/BREAK...

It's not closing entirely - just some boat aren't going to be built.

And it's even as bad as that. Production of some models will be
"moved" to other Sea Ray plants. 350 jobs are being eliminated at
Merritt Island, but 270 jobs are being added at the plants where
production is being shifted.

Either the other plants are more efficient, or current staffing levels
there
afford some excess capacity.

Chuck Gould wrote:
On Feb 29, 2:54�am, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:14:59 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Feb 28, 9:38�pm, wrote:
Just heard on the local news that the SeaRay plant on Merritt Island
In FL is closing.
A few hundred workers there.
They build the larger 40-60 something foot yachts there.
I guess the moneyed folks aren't buying big SeaRays.
huh? �i thought Se ray was a pretty good sized affair?
One more (?) �Were they owned by Bruswick?
Of course, i suppose I could look it up myself....
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbc...20080228/BREAK...

It's not closing entirely - just some boat aren't going to be built.

And it's even as bad as that. Production of some models will be
"moved" to other Sea Ray plants. 350 jobs are being eliminated at
Merritt Island, but 270 jobs are being added at the plants where
production is being shifted.

Either the other plants are more efficient, or current staffing levels
there
afford some excess capacity.

How about cheaper labor.

BAR wrote:
Chuck Gould wrote:
On Feb 29, 2:54�am, Short Wave Sportfishing
wrote:
On Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:14:59 -0800 (PST), Tim
wrote:

On Feb 28, 9:38�pm, wrote:
Just heard on the local news that the SeaRay plant on Merritt Island
In FL is closing.
A few hundred workers there.
They build the larger 40-60 something foot yachts there.
I guess the moneyed folks aren't buying big SeaRays.
huh? �i thought Se ray was a pretty good sized affair?
One more (?) �Were they owned by Bruswick?
Of course, i suppose I could look it up myself....
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbc...20080228/BREAK...

It's not closing entirely - just some boat aren't going to be built.

And it's even as bad as that. Production of some models will be
"moved" to other Sea Ray plants. 350 jobs are being eliminated at
Merritt Island, but 270 jobs are being added at the plants where
production is being shifted.

Either the other plants are more efficient, or current staffing levels
there
afford some excess capacity.

How about cheaper labor.


Blurtie wants everyone to work for minimum wage so he can pretend he is
wealthy.

On Feb 29, 5:26�am, BAR wrote:


How about cheaper labor.- Hide quoted text -


Some of the production is being moved from Merritt Island, FL to Palm
Coast, FL. It would be hard to imagine that there would be substantial
differences in prevailing wages in one small FL town vs another small
FL town. The rest of Sea Ray's plants are in Knoxville, TN. TN isn't
as far into the deep south, so at first brush one might expect
prevailing wages to be slightly higher there. I would bet that some
other factor is driving the relocation of production- maybe the other
plant is newer, or has equipment that is better suited for certain
processes.

Chuck Gould wrote:
Either the other plants are more efficient, or current staffing levels
there afford some excess capacity.

I have no inside info but I think Merritt Island must be one of Sea
Ray's oldest plants (if not THE oldest). When I first heard of Sea
Ray, back in the 70's, there were only two plants. Merritt Island and
another in some odd place like Arizona. Not that Arizona is odd but I
remember wondering why anybody would build boats in a desert. Anyhow,
my uninformed guess would be they're just moving some production to a
newer and more modern plant rather than spending $$ on updating at
Merritt. That's just a wild ass guess though.

Rick

wrote in message
...
Chuck Gould wrote:
Either the other plants are more efficient, or current staffing levels
there afford some excess capacity.

I have no inside info but I think Merritt Island must be one of Sea
Ray's oldest plants (if not THE oldest). When I first heard of Sea
Ray, back in the 70's, there were only two plants. Merritt Island and
another in some odd place like Arizona. Not that Arizona is odd but I
remember wondering why anybody would build boats in a desert. Anyhow,
my uninformed guess would be they're just moving some production to a
newer and more modern plant rather than spending $$ on updating at
Merritt. That's just a wild ass guess though.

Rick


I read some of the comments related to the news release of the closing. One
affected person who claims to work at the plant and is now being offered
employment elsewhere in SeaRay (or Boston Whaler) claims that local
government and environmentalist actions establishing manatee zones and speed
limits in the waters adjacent to the plant that were used for testing the
boats have made it impractical to continue building the boats there.
Because of the new restrictions, the boats under test must be idled out too
far requiring time and raising additional issues should a new boat under
test develop problem requiring assistance.

Eisboch