Posted on: Saturday, March 5, 2005
Brunswick enjoys smooth sailing
By Dave Carpenter
Associated Press
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — A handcrafted, vintage-1880 pool table adorns the executive suite at Brunswick Corp. headquarters, emblematic of the company's roots.
Nam Y. Huh • Associated Press Founded on billiards and best-known for bowling, Brunswick Corp. is a fast-expanding power in the boating business. From runabouts to cruisers to $10 million yachts and the engines that power them, the company gained more than 80 percent of its $5.2 billion in sales last year from boats and marine engines.
What's really drawing attention lately, though, is Brun-swick's aggressive strategy as it tries to reshape an industry that has seen millions of boaters quit the pastime since the 1990s.
The 160-year-old company, which didn't get into boating until the ripe age of 115, has been buying up boat and engine brands and suppliers and trying to extend its influence to all parts of the business.
In the past year, Brunswick has scooped up seven brands — including such well-known names as Lund and Sea Pro — to leapfrog Genmar Holdings Inc. as the world's largest manufacturer of recreational boats. Those acquisitions followed the 2003 purchases of Land 'N' Sea and Attwood, top marine parts suppliers.
Description: World's largest manufacturer of pleasure and fishing boats, marine engines, fitness equipment and billiards and bowling equipment.
Headquarters: Lake Forest, Ill.
Employees: 25,000.
2004 Sales: $5.23 billion.
CEO: George Buckley, age 58 (CEO since 2000).
History: Founded in 1845 in Cincinnati by Swiss immigrant woodworker John Brunswick, who built one of America's first billiards tables. Expanded into bowling at the end of the 19th century and got into the marine industry in 1960. "What that means is we want to be in engines and boats, we want to be in related services, we want to be in marina management," Buckley said in an interview. "We want to be essentially everywhere the consumer is spending money."
The fifth-year CEO aspires to make his company the Toyota of the boating industry — selling well-engineered products at every price level and every market, backed by a powerful dealer network and service for boat owners after sales are completed.
But Brunswick's quest for dominance has perhaps inevitably thrown a scare into independent builders and suppliers and made many dealers uneasy about devoting their loyalties to a single company.
The United Marine Manufacturers Association, the largest organization of independent boat builders, has urged its members to avoid buying the company's products because "Brunswick intends to put you out of business." Group president Kent Wooldridge likens the big manufacturer to Wal-Mart with its growing presence and clout.
Buckley maintains the changes are aimed at letting Brunswick take control of all elements of a boat, thus lessening the hassle and cost for consumers, and not at running competitors out of business.
"This is a design and process issue, not a Machiavellian plot," he told analysts recently.
The elegant table stands cluttered with papers, however, and CEO George Buckley has never shot a game on it. He's preoccupied with plotting Brunswick's next course on the water.
George Buckley, chief executive officer of Brunswick Corp., poses in his office at company headquarters in Lake Forest, Ill. Brunswick, which makes more than 130,000 boats a year, is barreling ahead with an ambitious strategy it calls "Cover the waterfront."
More deals are envisioned as Brunswick, which makes more than 130,000 boats a year, barrels ahead with an ambitious strategy it unabashedly calls "Cover the waterfront."
About Brunswick
