With ever-increasing consumer demand for easy, intuitive and maintenance-free systems for their boats, the need for integration and close collaboration between boat builders and their supplier partners has never been more important; the BBA jury has tipped their hand, revealing companies leading the charge in this arena
Collaborative Solution between a Production Boat Builder and its Supply Chain Partner,
sponsored by Ultraflex
Now in its eighth year, the Boat Builder Awards for Business Achievement – organised by IBI and METSTRADE in association with Raymarine – established this category for builders producing boats up to 24m, to recognise the growing requirement for creative partnerships between OEMs and supply chain partners to develop solutions aimed at enhancing a boat model’s sales potential, performance or service requirements.
”Yearly boatbuilders propose new models and new concepts. Ultraflex is constantly developing new items and new solutions to offer to the boatbuilders in order to improve the boating experience of our customers and making this world ever more attractive.”
– Piero Gai, general manager, Ultraflex
After reviewing a competitive group of entries, the BBA panel of judges have singled out the following shortlist candidates as potential recipients for top honours at the 2022 Awards.
Fairline Yachts & Lippert Marine Group Europe
Fairline 68 Squadron side access door
Lippert Marine Group Europe and the Fairline design team collaborated very closely to create a discreet, fully integrated pantograph side access door for the Fairline 68. It enables this motor yacht to have all the benefits of a direct route out to the side deck, but in a fully integrated lightweight and easy to cooperate solution with minimal impacts on space and secure six-point latching. This door also required no changes to be made to the existing GRP superstructure moulding in order for it to be adapted into production.
Beneteau Group & Sailectron / SOLBIAN Solar
Lagoon 51 photovoltaic system
Teams from France, Italy and Austria worked closely together without ever meeting in person to create a fuly integrated 3.4kW solar power system for the Lagoon 51. Beneteau Group and Sailectron / SOLBIAN Solar have still managed to retain other valued features onboard, like full-size deck sunpads, while unobstrusively integrating enough power generation to make this sailing catamaran fully autonomous except for air conditioning demands.
Aquila Power Catamarans & Sino Yachts
Close collaboration to overcome disruptive events
The close working partnership of Aquila Power Catamarans and its boat building partner, Sino Yachts, was fully tested during the global shipping crisis in 2021. Chronic inflation of transportation costs and container shortages were mitigated by radically ramping production levels to ensure more effective use of shipping bookings. The companies also overcame travel restrictions to China by adopting new remotely managed product development methods to launch two new models.
To Attend the BBA
Tickets to the Boat Builder Awards Gala Dinner, taking place the evening of November 15 in Amsterdam, are now on sale with the option to purchase individually or in tables of 10 to enjoy an unforgettable evening with colleagues and industry contacts under the starlit canopy of Amsterdam’s National Maritime Museum:
- Individual tickets are €275 plus VAT.
- A table of ten is €2,750 plus VAT.
a spectactular cruise through Amsterdam's scenic canals,
welcome drinks, gala dinner, entertainment,
the awards ceremony & after-dinner party.
The return of this event is not to be missed, tickets can be purchased here and are offered on a first come, first serve basis.
Past Category Winners for OEM-Supplier Collaboration
2021 – Excess Catamarans, Torqeedo and ZF (winning boat project pictured above)
2019 – Marquis Yachts with Toyota Motor
2018 – (Joint Winner) Hanse Group with Lewmar
2018 - (Joint Winner) Prestige Yachts with Lewmar
2017 – Beneteau and Mutiplast
2016 – Azimut | Benetti and Rolls Royce
2015 – Jenneau and Harken
