History of Perko: Boat and Yacht Accessory Maker
Made in America
Perko has been manufacturing hardware for the commercial and recreational marine segments for more than 100 years.
A sweet chemical smell hits me in the faceas I walk into what looks like the biggest home chemistry set on Earth. Rows of ceiling-high cauldrons bubble rhythmically with liquids as workers peer down into them from the edges, tweaking the brews. Wisps of steam waft into the air. Hoses gurgle and wiggle between the vats. The carefully prepared concoctions flow through a liquid raceway overseen by workers in heavy protective gear.
Overhead, a parade of sparkling bronze hardware marches on a track, much like you’d see in a dry-cleaning outfit. One by one, the racks of parts are mechanically slow-dipped into vats, pulled out and then dipped again. Wash, rinse, repeat. At the end of the process, the pieces are transformed, sporting a deep, lustrous chrome shine that’s designed to withstand the corrosive brine of the saltwater marine environment.
It’s a process that’s been going on, day after day, since marine hardware manufacturer Perko built a 78,000-square-foot factory in this rural Miami industrial park in 1960. Today, the facility houses 440,000 square feet of manufacturing space that spans 15 acres.
Hundreds of thousands of component parts, and tens of thousands of high-quality marine hardware pieces are built here each year, all of them sourced from American-made raw materials. Anyone who has been on a boat has likely seen or used a navigation light, hinge, latch, switch, strainer, vent or other marine hardware product that Perko produced.
Back in Time
The Perko story begins in the early 1900s in Brooklyn, N.Y., where Russian immigrant Frederick Perkins (né Mendel Persky) started F. Persky & Co., a family tool-and-die-making business, in his basement. He was joined by his cousin Max Persky, a machinist, in 1907.
By 1910, the company had established itself as a manufacturer of small-machine parts, bicycle pumps, automobile headlamps and novelty lanterns for dime-store candy. A serendipitous failure by a customer to pay for a set of marine lantern dies led Perkins to begin building and marketing navigation lights.
In 1913, Perkins moved to Connecticut, and F. Persky & Co. ceased independent operations. He stayed on as the president of National Marine Lamp Corp. until 1916, when Perkins Marine Lamp Co. was incorporated. The company set up operations in Brooklyn and operated there until 1959. It offered cast bronze navigation lights and other hardware for the maritime industry, then to the burgeoning recreational market.
Frederick’s son, Louis Perkins, took over as president in 1947 when Frederick died. Louis’ son Marvin also joined the firm, in 1947. By 1959, Louis and Marvin were making plans to move the company to a new facility in Miami. That factory opening in 1960 put all the company’s manufacturing processes under one roof.
As the company steadily expanded its marine hardware offerings, the factory grew. The company continued modernizing machinery for different types of manufacturing, including die casting, injection molding, sand casting, investment casting, machine stamping and more.
Made in the U.S.A.
The company does just about everything itself, from engineering and building tooling to chrome plating, casting, injection molding and metal fabrication. Perko even gold-plates its own contacts for navigation lights and other electrical hardware, and it creates all of its marketing materials, including a nearly 200-page product catalog. The only items the company sources from outside are small parts that U.S.-based companies can manufacture more efficiently.
Another key to the Perko formula is the commitment that all products are made in the United States. Even raw materials such as sheet metal, plastic pellets, aluminum, bronze and zinc—just about anything you can think of—are sourced from American manufacturers. This vertical integration allows Perko to remain competitive with offshore hardware manufacturers while maintaining a high level of quality. It also means Perko’s customers are generally not held captive by geopolitically fueled supply-chain issues.
The Made in America ethos runs deep in the company’s DNA, and within its fourth-generation leader, president Fred Perkins. He is the great-grandson of founder Frederick Perkins. “We’ve always felt strongly about making everything here in the States,” Perkins says. “Of course, there are some things like screws and other small items that are more efficiently manufactured by outside companies, but almost all of what we build here is made of components and parts made only by us. That’s the way it always will be.”
Perkins has been at the Perko helm since 1997, but his tenure began in 1969, while he was still attending school. An engineer at heart, with a notebook and pens in his shirt pocket, Perkins has detailed knowledge of just about every one of the 5,000 items the company sells. He also understands the dynamics, engineering and regulations behind marine navigation lights. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of the company’s manufacturing processes and an internal memory bank of every machine and its function inside the factory, including a cutting machine I’d noticed in the tooling shop.
“That’s the Mitsubishi-made machine,” he says, not missing a beat. When I ask how much an injection-molding machine had cost, he replied, “We got a good deal on the machines you saw being calibrated. Those were being used in the medical field and had to be taken offline because of regulations surrounding manufacturing medical parts, but they will work just fine for us.”
Vice president of sales and marketing Michael DeLillo says some people don’t believe that Perkins comes into work every day. “I’ve even talked to others who think he plays a very hands-off, in-the-background role at Perko,” DeLillo says. “He’s got an unbelievable engineering knowledge, especially with navigation lighting, and he’s a great boss. I feel lucky being able to work for him.”
Clean And Green
As DeLillo and I walk through the foundry, where workers in heavy protective gear pour molten bronze into sand casting molds, I can feel the heat coming off the crucible where the bronze is melted. Next, we walk past die-casting machines, then through a row of stamping machines that form sheet metal into marine parts.
The factory floor vibrates when we visit the tumbling machines, which rumble crude metal parts through a bath of ceramic and plastic polishing shapes and water. I notice a liquid draining off the drums into hoses that run into a maze of in-floor drains.
“What happens to that water?” I ask.
“Oh, everything, including the plating chemicals, is processed here on-site before being released into the city’s water treatment system,” DeLillo replies. “It has to be drinkable when we release it, and the government frequently tests the discharge.”
Somewhat surprising is the amount of metal waste created by the factory’s casting and machining processes. DeLillo shows me an area where Perko captures it and sorts it into drums and stand-alone masses of what was once molten metal. “The zinc, aluminum, bronze and even the plastics go to be recycled and reused again,” he says. “There’s virtually no waste.”
Power in People
Between factory and administrative staff, Perko employs about 250 people. Some have been with the company more than 50 years. The variety of jobs on the floor is mind-boggling.
One room houses a battalion of mechanized polishing wheels where workers buff and shine parts before plating. Another area is home to tooling craftsmen who maintain the hundreds of dies and molds the factory uses. Other workers inspect and package finished parts, while a small army assembles the company’s battery switches. Then there are inventory specialists, employees who package and ship orders to authorized dealers and resellers, and a staff of mechanics who keep everything, including the factory golf carts, running just right.
Like much of the marine industry, Perko has had its challenges with finding and maintaining its workforce. “Covid changed things drastically,” Perkins says. “People were receiving so much government assistance that it didn’t make sense for them to work. They’d make more staying home than we could pay them. Things have
improved, but getting quality people remains a challenge.”
Always Innovating
Perko manufactures hundreds of parts—5,000 total SKUs—that have remained unchanged for decades. But that doesn’t mean the company has stopped innovating. It remains active in the American Boat & Yacht Council, and maintains ISO, Coast Guard, UL and National Marine Manufacturers Association standards. Recently, the company updated many of its navigation lights to the ABYC C-5 LED standard, which let Perko redesign many of its navigation light products for the better.
As an example, Perkins shows me a pop-in, all-around light with a plastic insert that’s no wider than the aluminum tube it sits in. This design is a far cry from the stern lights that preceded it. They typically had large, bulbous housings where the lens and light lived — and they were easy to bang with one’s noggin. In the modern version, the light portion is no wider than many wedding bands, but it still meets all navigational light regulations, and standards for beam distance and angle.
The company also produces a line of Environmental Protection Agency-approved fuel vent canisters and plumbing apparatuses that solve the problem of gas fumes venting into the atmosphere, and the problem of spills caused by normal fueling procedures. DeLillo also shows me a digital deadbolt that runs without batteries and can be used with gloved hands in cold-weather environments.
“We haven’t stopped changing and innovating,” he says. “We’re always working to improve the products we have and create useful new ones. Things are always changing, and it’s our job to stay on top of it so we’re offering customers the best.”
A Family Affair
Perko started as and continues to be a family business. Perkins’ daughter, Deborah Hilyard, is executive vice president and is as knowledgeable about the company’s processes and machinery as her father. “I’ve been coming to this factory since I was a kid, so it’s all I’ve ever known,” she says. “I look forward to many years to come.”
Perkins’ son, Cameron, is the chief information officer. He is tasked with safeguarding the company’s computer infrastructure, including against cyberattacks.
The administrative offices are still clad in the same oak paneling as when the space opened in 1960. It even smells like the ’60s. The décor is a unique juxtaposition to the modern processes being used outside the office doors, where quality and innovation still lead the way after more than 100 years.
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2024 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
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