The boat rant

 I was really going to rant about my job today. I described Thursday as "the most 'what the hell just happened?' day in the history of such days." Our company has significantly less corporate support than we need- Our 'front office' is down to my boss and the production manager/chief cook and bottle washer, and two engineers.  Upper management, HR, and scheduling all handled from our 'main plant' in Missouri (Main plant by default- they sit across the street from Tracker Boat's main plant).  Scheduling especially has become a problem- I hate to pick on the basically one-woman operation (a lady that will probably still be working at age 100), but since returning from a recent vacation, her not-really-trying for us has reached new levels of not-really-trying, at least from our perspective.  I pray for her- you can't really blame Custer when he's down to two one-legged soldiers and a cook hiding under his horse- but what we have cut in the last week that we didn't actually need is a number that usually takes 6 months to hit.  Add to that a system of sewing, packing, and shipping that makes me wonder how we manage to get things right in the best of circumstances- and it ain't working right right now.  Personnel changes keep hurting us; but so does a system in which a) one cover can't be found around 1-2 this afternoon; b) at 330 I'm asked to re-cut it; c) when the sewing lead gets the cover from me, she recognizes it as one she had to ask the pack-out people how the straps went, so she knew it was out there; d) finds that it HAD been sewn, HAD been packed, and HAD been shipped- but someone failed to mark it off; and e) returns it to me right at quitting time "so you can use it next time", never mind it is an older model that may never be ordered again...

And rising above them all is an older equipment array that is constantly in need of repair- and my boss can't get them fixed because "OMG we can't spend anything", plus the fact that our only maintenence outside himself is a retired guy who looks like the Skipper and comes in once or twice a week for a few hours (just for the sewing machines).  Right now we have 4 cutting machines.  #1 has a pen holder that cost a grand and is about to fall off; #2, my machine, badly needs a new belt and just today (Thursday) started sticking on the far side; #3, also in bad need of a belt, has developed such a slip in said belt we can't trust it; and #4 is a multi-ply machine we got when they closed the Wisconsin plant that has so far defied every effort to figure out how it works. 

Given all this, I decided, before I rant and point fingers, let's take a look at the financials.  Our company is owned by a large conglomerate who stretches across the marine, RV, and related industries.  In February, when we had bupkiss for orders and the Q1 report was still to come out, it was trading in the $140-150 range. Since then, and with a dismal Q1 report, it has been sliding steadily- In April, it was down to a bump over $100 a share when word slipped that they were looking into a merger with our biggest competitor.  Why?  Because both were heavily in the RV industry, and the RV industry- led by trailerable units- were sucking like a lamprey on a shark's butt.  They like to judge these things by comparing this years sales to sales last year at the same time (Year over Year, or YOY).  February through May's YOY were -24%, -22%, -17%, and -19%.  Marine (AKA my part of the business) was much better, but with marine being only 15-17% of our total, it was a drop in the ocean.

Stock prices continued to meander, along with the talks- until early May, when the talks broke down and our stock cratered at around $85 (and thank you Jesus they don't give us stock options!).  But things continued to be desperate, and the talks soon resumed.  However, any excitement had died off, and the official annoucement that the merger was going through only gave the stock a bump to around $89, where it has remained.

After peppering grok with questions, the final assessment for my job is- once the merger is cleared in late 2027, synergy teams will come in to look things over, and with our positioning, medium-term it could be very promising.  Short term (in the meantime), bend over and smile, it will only get worse. Until or unless we find a way to mitigate the anchor that is the RV industry tied around our collective necks, we'll be blowing a lot of bubbles.

And you wonder why I can't move "weekend beer" off of "neccessary expanses..."