Outdoor Retailer - June 2021 - 18

Feature .01
Seakayakers
explore the Maine
coastline.
L
ast February, high-end boat manufacturer
Eddyline doubled its production
space. Two weeks later,
the world shut down. Eddyline
thought its timing sucked. But by
Memorial Day, hordes of people
had discovered paddlesports-the ultimate social-distanced
activity-overwhelming brands
and retailers with business. Eddyline and every
other paddlesports brand logged record orders.
But a COVID-19-induced shortage of fittings
and raw materials; a deep freeze in Texas that
shut down refineries critical to boat glues, resins,
and plastics; shipping delays; and a waning
workforce bolstered by extended unemployment
benefits hampered production. The
market couldn't satisfy the spike in demand,
and in some cases, brands weren't able to deliver
preseason orders.
" Early last year, the pandemic impacted
the Asian supply chain, " explains Larry Baab,
group vice president and Global Division GM
18 OUTDOOR RETAILER / June 2021
at Johnson Outdoors. " We shut down in April
to address COVID-19, and things got behind
before the demand was strong. With supply
chains thin everywhere in the last decade, with
brands running lean and using technology to
forecast and plan, ripples in supply get felt a
lot longer. Even a blip of a few weeks can have
an impact. "
In early February, Wenonah maxed out its
capacity to make boats for the season, so it quit
taking orders throughout the season for the first
time in 54 years.
" We'll get retailers any orders on the books
this season, and we're doing our best to deliver
those boats on time, " says Bill Kueper, Wenonah
vice president.
Wenonah has enough polyethylene to make
the boats it has committed to, and it is looking
at alternatives that meet its quality-control criteria
for the next batch. To make good on his
promise, Kueper has been working weekends
in the factory, and all employees are on a mandatory
50-hour workweek through Memorial
Day, when 50 hours a week becomes optional.
Eddyline also made cuts to preseason orders.
So did Johnson Outdoors. Most brands will
open for 2022 preseason orders in June, with
deliveries starting in September with restricted
availability across brands.
" At the beginning of the pandemic, we
stocked component inventory deeply because
we had space, we wanted to hit price
breaks, and we anticipated supply issues, " says
Scott Holley, Eddyline Kayaks president. " We
moved to two sources for any component that
wasn't patented. We entered into master services
agreements with key suppliers that allowed
Eddyline to have preferential positioning.
And with a couple of suppliers, we made
agreements for consignment inventory. We
have some great advisors, and we were smart
enough to listen to them. "
Strong supply chain and retailer relationships
also helped brands mitigate shortages.
Scott Martin
http:// https://eddyline.com/ http:// https://www.johnsonoutdoors.com/ http:// https://wenonah.com/
Outdoor Retailer - June 2021

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