Brett Martin’s Trailcraft group of companies manufactures aluminium trailer boats, boat trailers and caravans and sells them through five of its own retail stores and 27 independently owner retail outlets across Australia.
With no previous experience in manufacturing, Mr Martin purchased a small, fledging aluminium boat company called Trailcraft five years ago. At the time, the business’s two staff produced 10 boats a year.
This manufacturing operation has grown into what Mr Martin claims is the biggest producer of plate aluminium trailer boats in the world, with more than 200 staff producing 1,200 boats a year.
And his Saltwater Marine sales outlet in Fremantle has been the biggest Mercury Outboard dealer in WA for the past five years.
In Tailcraft, Mr Martin has created his own brand powerhouse, and the Trailcraft World stores have put him one step closer to his goal of selling boats, trailers and caravans direct to the market.
The business has recently moved into caravans.
Mr Martin spent 18 months and around $1 million on research and development, with Trailcraft now producing five caravans a week. Next year’s goal is to increase that more than five-fold and expand the manufacturing workforce.
Ensuring quality staffing during the manufacturing process has been essential to the business’s success, while a defined business plan and a sense of the bigger picture helps Mr Martin stay on course to greater success.
Motivation
“A sense of achievement. I would be lying if I didn’t say money didn’t come into it and we are all driven by money and things money can buy. But of course we are all driven by a sense of achievement [as well] and getting other people to believe in your vision which you can’t when companies get to a certain size, you just cannot do it physically yourself and to be able to inspire other people to work on your idea and for your idea is a terrific sense of achievement for me.”
