Refections On A Pivotal Year—Catching Up With Jeff Johnston Of DCB Performance Marine – Speed on the Water
For the team at now Arizona-based DCB Performance Marine, no year has been more important than this one. In fact, you could make a compelling case that 2023 has been DCB’s most significant year since Dave Hemmingson founded the company some three decades ago.
With a clear vision of the future for the ultra-custom high-performance catamaran company, longtime customers Craig and Kim Hargreaves finalized their acquisition of the company in late June. Their first order of business was relocating the company from its original, outdated digs in El Cajon, Calif., to a sparkling new 27,000-square-foot facility in Phoenix. Though the Hargreaves are the majority owners of DCB, Jeff Johnston, Tony Chiaramonte and Paul Miller retained their ownership stakes.
Just five months after DCB’s relocation from California to Arizona, things are humming along at the company’s new facility. Photos courtesy DCB Performance Marine.
The timing could not have been better as DCB launched the M37R Widebody catamaran just two years ago. The full-tunnel, outboard engine-powered 37-footer is the most successful new model in the company’s history and demand is high.
While most of the El Cajon team relocated to the Phoenix, DCB also made a couple of big hires to bolster their efforts in form of Johnny Bauer as its new production manager and John Teague (formerly of Teague Custom Marine) joining the company’s top-flight rigging crew headed by Deron Retke.
A former Powerboat magazine advertising representative, DCB president Johnston, speedonthewater.com co-publisher Jason Johnson and I go back more than two decades as we worked together at the publication. As little more than a month remains in the company’s most pivotal year, so I decided to catch up with him this morning.
Flanked by M37R catamaran owners Kiran Pinisetti and Kelly O’Hara, DCB president Jeff Johnston views this year’s ownership and location changes as “the best things that could have happened” for the company.
Here’s what he had to say.
SOTW: DCB’s original El Cajon headquarters was a tough place to build boats as the models grew larger—but it had a lot history. At some level, saying goodbye to it must have been difficult.
JJ: Yes, there definitely were mixed emotions. The El Cajon was facility was the original foundation of DCB. The company had been located there for more than 25 years. Lots of DCB heritage and DNA were cultivated there.
But we had outgrown the El Cajon facility years ago and we needed a larger facility. We also needed to be in a more manufacturer-friendly state.
SOTW: Relocation took longer than you expected, though.
JJ: It did. We were poised to make the move with the company in late 2019. Then a few months later COVID hit. So we parked the relocation idea and hunkered down to ride out the pandemic.
Then about 18 months ago, discussions with the Hargreaves picked up again. Those conversations were about a majority ownership change, which would include a relocation to the Phoenix vicinity.
Given the popularity of the M37R catamaran, DCB’s move to a new facility in Phoenix could not have been better-timed. Photo by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
As you can see, everything fell into place and now we are in this amazing new boat-manufacturing facility.
SOTW: The DCB facility in El Cajon was 22,000 square feet. The Phoenix facility is 27,000 square feet. That doesn’t seem like a very big change in terms of “space.”
JJ: Yeah, but the footprint and layout are much more conducive for us to improve flow and efficiency. Not to mention—everything is new and fresh. That hasn’t just provided the tools needed to effectively build boats. It has had a dramatic effect with boosting morale with our employees.
SOTW: That’s a significant benefit beyond having a newer and larger facility.
It definitely is. The emphasis that both Craig and Kim Hargreaves have put on employee safety and retention has already had a dramatic effect on an improvement of overall hours needed to produce our boats.
This move and transition is the best thing that could have happened to our company.
DCB’s new facility has made a dramatic impact on the morale of its employees.
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