The Power of Unity and Innovation with Phil Smoker of Smoker Craft Boats

This week hosts Nick Kuhn and Bethany Hartley talk with Phil Smoker, Vice President of Sales at Smoker Craft Boats. Phil shares the history of the family-owned business and how the company transitioned from a lumber company to building boats and eventually merged with StarCraft to create a larger and more innovative product line. He also highlights the cooperative spirit in the South Bend Elkhart region and the company's focus on innovation and technology, including the use of robotics in their manufacturing process. Phil shares his own entrepreneurial experience and emphasizes the importance of creating a thriving community for future generations.South Bend business owners and entrepreneurs, if you’ve been in business for five years or less reach out to us to be featured on the Rooted and Reaching Podcast!QUOTES "We found that there wasn't any magic formula or there wasn't a way that you had to do everything exactly written out for you. You had to just find a way to make it work. And I think if there's anything I learned, it was that you just went out and found a way to get it done." -Phil Smoker [09:18]“Especially with the last two years, it's been challenging with materials and supply chain. As challenging as it is, we've had to adapt. So you never followed the exact order in which you scheduled things. You did it based on what you had materials for. So our schedule would change within the week and now production tracking allows us to know exactly what boat is running at what time and where.“ -Phil Smoker [13:02]TIMESTAMPS00:23 The history of Smoker Craft Boats03:49 Cooperative spirit and competition in the South Bend Elkhart region10:17 Innovation and problem-solving at Smoker Craft11:14 Implementation of industry 4.0 and automation in the manufacturing process13:45 The increase in boat sales during the pandemicRESOURCESSmoker CraftCONTACTNick Kuhn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kuhnnick/ Bethany Hartley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanyhartley/ Mentioned in this episode:Proof of Concept Funding for South Bend & Elkhart RegionProof of Concept Fund