His passion for sailing, skill as a high performance boat builder and contacts in the international yachting fraternity have helped Ian Cook turn New Zealand Yachting Developments (NZYD) into a thriving export business, building superyachts for some of the world’s best boat designers.
Involved with boats and sailing since he was child, NZYD Director Ian Cook trained as a wooden boat builder. His involvement as a key builder on Peter Blake’s round the world projects opened his eyes to the opportunity for building race boats using new composite high tech materials, and with a business partner he established NZYD in Auckland in 1992.
The focus from the start was 100 per cent export, with the opportunity to deliver more products to a lot more wealthy people.
“It was pretty much real seat of your pants stuff at the start,” recalls Mr Cook. “We had that typical Kiwi attitude, thought we’d give it a crack. We didn’t have any business plan. Our first Italian customer said he’d appreciate a photo of the facility and who we actually were to make sure we were building the boat.”
Its excellent reputation quickly established, and for the first four years NZYD built high performance race boats. Then, in order to gain more exposure and more business, it changed its focus to the bigger market of high performance cruising yachts – cutting edge composite vessels that cost their owners anything from $8 million to $30 million.
“That extended our skill base and by having lots of disciplines involved enabled us to streamline our processes. We’ve got a very diverse team of tradesmen involved, from composite specialists and engineers to woodworking, stainless and paint departments.”
NZYD’s change of focus enabled the company to increase productivity, and that, along with continually bigger projects, has seen export earnings almost double over two years to $13.9 million in 2005, with projected earnings of about $30 million in 2007.
Clients come from around the world. What they have in common is a passion to own an outstanding high performance superyacht and the disposable income to achieve that. The introduction is usually made via a yacht designer and/or project manager. Some approach NZYD, and the company also exhibits at international boat shows, where it has received a string of accolades. Its yachts are recognised classics, with components and systems, engineering and build in-house designed to work together perfectly.
NZYD’s website is a marketing tool and is also interactive so that an owner can view the progress of their build via webcams set up in the workshop area.
The business is built on reputation and supreme client relationship development. A key part of that is Ian Cook’s impressive resume and standing in the industry. He manages all client relationships, giving the client a feeling of real exclusivity in dealing directly with the top.
“You’ve got to be really focused on the relationship with the customer and/or his captain. It’s about a two year relationship from start of build to finish, and there’s quite often a six month relationship to start with in terms of getting the project organised. Then the relationship continues 18 months after delivery with warranty.”
Ian has become more selective about which projects NZYD accepts. “It’s a long relationship period, we’re not getting married but we are taking an awful lot of money off them and must be able to deliver what they are looking for.”
Today NZYD is 85 per cent owned by Ian Cook and his wife Blanche who is responsible for the financial side of the business, with the balance owned by the company’s General Manager Bruce Vujnovich, who served his apprenticeship with the business.
“One of the reasons the business has grown profitably is that Blanche has kept tight control of the finances,” says Mr Cook. “Boat building is a pretty fragile business environment to be in, and that control has played a key part in making sure we didn’t go off the rails.”
NZYD recently moved into new premises, three times the size of its old plant. This will enable it to focus on three projects simultaneously rather than two, and increase staff levels from 80 to about 120, though finding skilled staff is an ongoing challenge which Mr Cook works to address by being actively involved in the industry training organisation.
His advice to companies looking to export to this market – know your customers and know your costs.
“You’ve got to understand what their expectations are, that’s pivotal to the success of the project.
“And you need confidence to take risks so you can be innovative - in order to have a competitive advantage you have to have an innovative facet to what you are doing.
“The reward for us is creating something that a lot of people appreciate, and job satisfaction; it doesn’t matter how much money you’re making if you haven’t got that!”
Image: Ian Cook, Director, New Zealand Yachting Developments, at work with staff.
Contact:Ian CookDirectorNew Zealand Yachting DevelopmentsPhone: +64 9 417 0060Email: info@ydl.co.nzWebsite: www.ydl.co.nz
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