Enjoy Your Time on Board
Whenever you buy a boat from Cranchi you know that you will have a good time. The superior aesthetics and reliable operation have been the company’s trademark for many years. Paola Cranchi, Marketing and Sales Director, explains the clear company strategy which is behind this success. Also how the long-standing relationship with AOC and Euroresins enables Cranchi to ensure boat owners feel proud and completely relaxed on board.
Already since 1870 Cranchi has been manufacturing boats, with the company’s focus being exclusively on the top segment of the marine market. The power boats, cruisers and fly bridge yachts are exported all over the world, and are highly valued because of their elegant design, completeness in equipment, and flawless operation.
Relaxed on Board
“Whenever a customer buys a Cranchi boat, we want him or her to feel at ease”, Paola explains. "Cranchi boats are easy-to-use by design, so that the time on board is well spent. Customers should not worry about engine reliability or boat integrity; everything just has to work! Integral to our philosophy is paying attention to the detail. This applies to the design of the boat, the materials used, the production process, and the application of new product innovations.”
Production with Precision
The boat manufacturing operation at Cranchi is said to “look like a hospital”. Incoming raw materials are evaluated for consistency. While temperature and humidity are kept constant, the gelcoats, chopped glass and resin are sprayed by robotized equipment to ensure process consistency and a perfect laminate performance predictability. Inside its factories Cranchi has large water basins (“nicknamed the swimming pools” laughs Paola). Here the finished boats receive a detailed end-inspection. Eventual surface flaws and rare production inaccuracies can be resolved, prior to delivering the boat to its final customer.
The work force at the Cranchi facilities has been building expertise over the years. Training is an essential element of ensuring a quality mindset of new employees, and for transferring expertise. Paola is delighted to have a group of experienced employees the company can build on.
Choosing the Right Materials
It goes without saying that Cranchi has to use raw materials of the right quality. Paola says “Cranchi is choosing its partners carefully”. The company has been extremely happy with the support received from AOC over the years. The company is selling to Cranchi tooling systems, laminating resins, and tie coats from AOC.
The company’s slogan “Technological Supremacy” is exemplary for the way its operations are set up, but also for the way it works with its suppliers. A nice example of such collaboration has been the recent introduction of Synolite™ 1389-I-2 resin of AOC. For larger size boat series, Cranchi wanted to make several deck and hull parts with elevated laminate thickness. Obviously, surface quality had to be as good as for conventional laminates. The novel Synolite™ 1389-I-2 resin was designed by AOC to have a low peak exotherm (allowing wet on wet construction of very thick laminates), excellent wetting of the glass fiber reinforcements (resulting in high fiber content and superior mechanical properties), yielding high quality surfaces without shrinkage or strain problems at excellent production efficiencies.
Great Collaboration
“AOC is very proud to have been the partner of Cranchi for all these years”, comments Fabrizio Bianchi, Account Manager at AOC. “They can be very demanding as customer, and continuously challenge us to think with them for better ways to manufacture the boats. But we like that, as they help us to think in new directions and consequently we can bring them creative product solutions.”
Paul Vercoulen, EMEA Technology Director for AOC adds “Composites have been the material systems of choice for Marine applications, because of their intrinsic design freedom and proven durability. We are delighted to see that Cranchi proves that the versatile composite materials can be used for making topline boats, and is setting the industry standard for professional and sustainable boat building.”
Maintaining a strong brand like Cranchi takes a lot of dedication and a continuous investment in time and resources. The reliability and high quality of the Cranchi boats is clearly helping to sustain the brand’s reputation. “After having used our boats for many years, many times our customers decide their next boat should also be a Cranchi”, smiles Paola. “The positive word-of-mouth helps to build a growing group of Cranchi fans.”
