Regal Marine

Forty years after its founding by potato farmer Paul Kuck, Regal Marine has become a powerful force on the waters of the world. The world's third-largest boat manufacturer (by global sales), Regal exports to 30 countries, including Russia and China. Almost one-third of its sales are overseas.Product design is critical in the highly competitive pleasure boat business: "We keep in touch with our customers and we respond to the marketplace," says Kuck. "We're introducing six new models this year alone. I'd say we're definitely on the aggressive end of the spectrum."

With changing consumer tastes, compounded by material changes and ever-improving marine engineering, the design function is under constant pressure. Added to these pressures is the constant issue of cost competitiveness combined with the need to provide good value for customers. CAD/CAM is used to design the rain cover of a new product. This process results in faster and more efficient design and production. Barry Render

Here the deck, suspended from ceiling cranes, is being finished prior to being moved to join the hull. Regal is one of the first boat builders in the world to earn the ISO 9001 quality certification. Barry Render Here the finishing touches being put on a mold used for forming the hull. Barry Render

Once a hull has been pulled from the mold, it travels down a monorail assembly path. JIT inventory delivers engines, wiring, seats, flooring, and interiors when needed. Barry Render Consequently, Regal Marine is a frequent user of computer-aided design (CAD). New designs come to life via Regal's three-dimensional CAD system, borrowed from automotive technology. Regal's naval architect's goal is to continue to reduce the time from concept to prototype to production. The sophisticated CAD system not only has reduced product development time and cost, but also has reduced problems with tooling and production, resulting in a superior product.All of Regal's products, from its $14,000 19-foot boat to the $500,000 52-foot Sports yacht, follow a similar production process. Hulls and decks are separately hand-produced by spraying preformed molds with three to five layers of a fiberglass laminate. The hulls and decks harden and are removed to become the lower and upper structure of the boat. As they move to the assembly line, they are joined and components added at each workstation. Wooden components, precut in-house by computer-driven routers, are delivered on a just-in-time (JIT) basis for installation at one station. Enginesone of the few purchased componentsare installed at another. Racks of electrical wiring harnesses, engineered and rigged in-house, are then installed. An in-house upholstery department delivers customized seats, beds, dashboards, or other cushioned components. Finally, chrome fixtures are put in place, and the boat is sent to Regal's test tank for watertight, gauge, and system inspection. At the final stage, smaller boats, such as this one, are placed in this test tank, where a rain machine ensures watertight fits. Barry Render Regal's larger yachts are put through a series of final tests on open water. Barry Render

Heizer, J., Render, B., & Munson, C. (2019). Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management (13th ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://online.vitalsource.com/books/9780135202722

Read the Case "Product Design at Regal Marine" - CH 5 and respond to the following:In your post please don't use the Q&A style, instead use titles maybe e.g. 'strategy'

• Detail the concept of product life cycle as it applies to Regal Marine products?
• Elaborate the company's strategy to stay competitive.