General Manager of Fora Marine since March 2017, Olivier Gainon took over as President of the RM sailboat builder in January 2019. He answers BoatIndustry's questions about the Rochelle-based nautical company.
You have just taken over the presidency of Fora Marine, in addition to the operational management. What does this change mean ?
I had been a partner with Stéphane Sénacq since the takeover of the company in March 2017, but I was following this from a distance. When he had to step down in March 2018 for personal reasons, I took over the operational management. I am now taking over the presidency, but the shareholders remain the same.
What organizational changes have you launched since your arrival?
2018 has been a year of reframing and re-establishing production, with a team that mixes new recruits, through production manager Pierrick Roy, administrative and financial manager Corinne Delhoume with the experience in the design office of Edouard Delamare and Maxime Védrenne in the sales department. We have set up a planning and simulation software for production management. We also relaunched a superior quality approach after having experienced some concerns at the end of 2017 related to a significant increase in production. A new service manager, Franck Chacun, joined us in October 2018. We have also created a strategic committee of 7 people with outside players such as François Gabart or Jean-Marie Piaton and business leaders from outside the nautical industry.
After resting the fundamentals in 2018, we want to regain the momentum of the last few years. 2019 sees the launch of the new RM 11.80, 15 of which have been sold off-plan. We're going back to growth and reconquest.
What are your production objectives and the industrial means you have put in place?
In 2018, we built 40 "boat equivalents". To compare a RM 8.70 and a RM 13.70, we calculated a ration on the production time, with the RM 10.70 as a reference. In 2019, we expect 48 boat equivalents. The order book is full until December.
To achieve this, we are counting on an acceleration of production linked to training and the increase in the skills of the teams, which are stabilizing after having experienced turnover. We are also counting on a simplification of production methods. We are also going to take the RM 13.70 off the production line, which had a tendency to slow down the rate. A team will be exclusively dedicated to it to produce 3 to 4 boats per year and to be able to work with the client with a good level of quality. It is a strategic choice to limit the number of RM 13.70s because it allows us to work in greater depth with customers.
You have chosen high walls in sandwich for the new RM 11.80. Weren't you afraid of blurring the image of RM? Is Fora Marine intended to be an infusion boat?
This was the result of a long debate. It was an aesthetic choice for the shape of the liveaboard and to offer a more resistant wall in port maneuvers. We discussed with customers and prospects and we concluded that the image of RM was above all a quality sailboat, comfortable, fast and pleasant to live with, whatever the construction technique. Some people come to see RM on boat shows without knowing that our boats are built in wood!
Regarding production, the walls are made at Ofcet and most of the decks at A2J Composites. Fora remains an assembler and does not have the vocation of infusion. We are also proud to work with the French and La Rochelle nautical ecosystem.
What are the commercial objectives of RM Yachts in France and for export?
In 2018, we evolved our network of agents and resellers in France. Today, we work 50% directly and 50% through the network. 80% of the boats sold in 2018 were sold in France. I think we are now mature to develop in Europe. We need to think about how we operate. How much direct and how much distribution? We have an active dealer in Italy and François Gabart has signed up in Scandinavia. But we also need manufacturing slots that are not 18 months away, hence the industrial work.
