Steven Clarke, CEO and co-owner of Silver Ships, Inc.
Steven Clarke, CEO and co-owner of Silver Ships, Inc. – an Alabama-based mid-sized boat builder – discusses how the current award of the most important federal contract in his firm’s historical past reemphasizes the necessity for {industry} help and safety of small and medium-sized boat builders.
As the marine {industry} and the remainder of the American manufacturing base navigate the financial turmoil of the previous few years, it is very important step again and admire the resilience of the American protection industrial base, writes Steven Clarke. These member companies have withstood the turbulence of market shifts with the drawdown of two wars, unprecedented provide chain disruptions, unanticipated tariffs on metal and aluminum (with no contract reduction), the very best inflation in a long time and the tightest labor market in historical past. Despite such challenges, these companies proceed to fabricate the required materiel that helps our army and people of our allies. The Small Business put aside program for federal purchases acts as an integral part of this industrial base. Competitively bid, massive federal contracts function the steady work that enables us to flourish. These contract awards promote the economic system of scale essential for small and medium producers to thrive. Yet the federal limits on agency measurement set by the Small Business Set Aside regulations stop these producers from consolidating into just some corporations, like so many different oligopolistic market segments in our fashionable economic system.
Silver Ships is a primary instance of a producer that has skilled upward progress from a small to mid-sized builder over our 38-year historical past. Since our first HSMST award in 1994, we’ve got frequently benefited from the regular income and technical problem these contract awards have delivered to our enterprise. These advantages have been prolonged again to the army in our skill to fabricate revolutionary, personalized, designs which can be fabricated effectively inside price range and time parameters. It has additionally allowed us the income base to help the employees and tools essential to design and construct boats to fulfill the wants of quite a few companies at each degree of presidency (municipal, state and federal) in addition to a number of industrial clients at an reasonably priced value. A a lot smaller firm couldn’t afford the engineers, designers, undertaking managers, high quality assurance workforce and different help employees nor the tens of millions of {dollars} in capital tools essential to design and construct these advanced vessels.
The expertise and resilience of builders like Silver Ships has resulted in vessels that exceed primary capabilities and shut the hole of measurement versus innovation. From this, Silver Ships has been in a position to fulfill a needn’t just for army vessels but additionally for boats that may help all governmental companies: from legislation enforcement to fireside districts and past. These federal contracts not solely afford us essential manufacturing efficiencies and a steady income base but additionally push us to enhance our merchandise. The problem of assembly demanding federal contract specs (validated by buyer inspections and design evaluation) drives us to innovate and enhance our vessel designs. The want to fulfill manufacturing timelines for a number of boats pushes us to enhance our manufacturing and enterprise processes. There is one thing to be mentioned for effectivity of execution and we small to mid-sized builders excel on this enviornment. We possess the flexibleness required to actually customise mission-specific, sturdy, high-quality boats.
In an {industry} the place builders of all sizes face lots of the similar challenges, the power to help every degree no matter scale issues. The viability of small and mid-size boat builders is not only every proprietor’s duty, however an industry-wide subject that in flip impacts our shared economic system and nationwide welfare.
