For the second consecutive year, ER Wagner took its Seaware line of superior stock and custom marine hinges and latches to the International Boatbuilders’ Exhibition and Conference in Tampa, Florida. One of the things we love about IBEX is it gives us a chance to visit face-to-face with our customers and learn a thing or two from them. Here’s a few things we found out from them.
Here are 5 things we learned at IBEX 2017
- The marine industry is growing. The industry is growing at a nice pace (5% to 10%) and 2018 is expected to continue this trend.
- Innovation: Wisconsin’s own Mercury Marine won an innovation award for its VessleView mobile system that gives boaters the ability to view engine performance parameters with a smartphone app. Nice work!
- Hurricanes and IBEX don’t mix! For the second year in a row, IBEX was affected by a hurricane. This year, Hurricane Irma prevented 13 companies from exhibiting and the full IBEX dock build-out was unable to be implemented.
- Hinging on success. We had a lot of interest in our Seaware Gate Hinge. Tough, durable and corrosion resistant with an electro-polished high luster finish, it’s easy to see why.
- For their eyes only. We also caused quite a stir with a new product we debuted at IBEX. In fact, we realized we under anticipated interest in it after we ran out of sales sheets. We’re not ready to share it with the public, yet, so be on the lookout for an exciting product announcement from ER Wagner.