MYS EXCLUSIVE: The essence of semi-custom
SuperyachtNews.com spoke with Gulf Craft CEO, Erwin Bamps, aboard the Majesty 135 about the balance he thinks the yard has struck between efficiency and price point.…
In a candid and enlightening interview aboard the Majesty 135, Gulf Craft CEO, Erwin Bamps discussed the balance he thinks the yard has struck between efficiency and price point, which he believes captures the essence of semi-custom building.
Using a wonderfully adroit analogy, Bamps compared semi-custom building to "making your own spaghetti from scratch".
Despite "never having built the same superyacht twice", Gulf Craft is a semi-custom builder because it offers owners a platform to build up from, rather than working to client designs.
However, to use the 'spaghetti' analogy, what sets a good semi-custom builder apart from its competition is delivering the entire project in-house.
"If you grow your own tomatoes, use your own flour to make the pasta and cook the sauce yourself, you have total control over how the food tastes", he said. In yachting terms this means that, by avoiding subcontracting manufacturing processes out, the yard is wholly responsible for the end result.
Crucially too, like growing one's own vegetables, retaining all services in-house allows one to control costs and manage one's own inventory to reduce waste.
In the case of the Majesty 135 the result, said Bamps, is a project that is delivered 18 months from the point of signature at €15 million.
"Improving the manufacturing process is never-ending and it has to continue to deliver [an appropriate quality]", he said. "We are putting lots of effort into improving the production process and it is the methodology [of building] that always represents the big question. Answering that leads to success."
Using a wonderfully adroit analogy, Bamps compared semi-custom building to "making your own spaghetti from scratch".
Despite "never having built the same superyacht twice", Gulf Craft is a semi-custom builder because it offers owners a platform to build up from, rather than working to client designs.
However, to use the 'spaghetti' analogy, what sets a good semi-custom builder apart from its competition is delivering the entire project in-house.
"If you grow your own tomatoes, use your own flour to make the pasta and cook the sauce yourself, you have total control over how the food tastes", he said. In yachting terms this means that, by avoiding subcontracting manufacturing processes out, the yard is wholly responsible for the end result.
Crucially too, like growing one's own vegetables, retaining all services in-house allows one to control costs and manage one's own inventory to reduce waste.
In the case of the Majesty 135 the result, said Bamps, is a project that is delivered 18 months from the point of signature at €15 million.
"Improving the manufacturing process is never-ending and it has to continue to deliver [an appropriate quality]", he said. "We are putting lots of effort into improving the production process and it is the methodology [of building] that always represents the big question. Answering that leads to success."
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