(Editor’s note: This is the 10th installment in a monthly series highlighting some of the region’s unsung manufacturers that make products essential to the economy and, in many cases, our way of life. See previous installments here.)
When using a WaterRower Inc. product, “you are the engine.”
The simple design of the handcrafted rowers features a paddle system through water in a circular tank to provide resistance when users pull back the handlebar, offering a low-impact cardio workout from an eerily quiet machine that could blend into a Norman Rockwell painting.
One model was famously featured on the Netflix series “House of Cards.”
“The furniture effect. That’s our signature,” said CEO and President Peter King during a recent tour. “You are not going to use it if it’s hidden in a basement or garage. The aesthetics is one of the most functional elements.”
Founded in 1988 in Warren by John Duke, a Yale University engineer and U.S. rowing team candidate, WaterRower now builds 750 machines weekly at its factory on Metacom Avenue, where the company relocated in 2017. The factory is the company’s sole production facility and North American headquarters.
Originally from Sydney, Australia, King moved from the company’s London office after taking the reins of the company in 1996.
Rowers come equipped with performance monitors to measure distance and speed. But King doesn’t foresee a move to “gamified” indoor exercise, such as the use of virtual reality headsets or VR-enabled applications.
“When you are on these, you sweat,” he said. “It’s really about performance.”
On display in a showroom at WaterRower’s Warren headquarters are dozens of models of the company’s exercise equipment from over the years, beginning with some “antique” models built by Duke in the late 1980s.
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EARLY STAGE: Assembler Izabel Cortez works with one of the rower parts at WaterRower Inc. in Warren. There are approximately 120 employees at the company’s Warren facility, including its entire engineering department.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
The facility also includes a gym for product demos and an open-floor office. In the production area, there are seven assembly lines with employees cutting and hand-polishing wooden planks.
In addition to selling direct to consumers and to gyms and fitness companies, WaterRower has relationships with more than 300 retailers. During the busy run up to the winter months, there are usually between 5,000 and 6,000 preorders from customers now more eager and willing to invest in combating the holiday gluttony.
Domestic sales make up 20% of revenue; overseas sales make up 65%, mostly in Europe. King says the company now has approximately 120 employees in Warren, including its entire engineering department.
Matt Curti, quality control supervisor, said what started as “just a job” when he was 23 is now a career. Curti, now 38, said he spends his workdays maintaining standards “across the board,” from in-house products to those shipped from outside vendors.
Though an international company, Curti says the Warren facility retains a startup vibe.
“I tell my friends that I sort of won the lottery when it comes to work,” he said. “I’ve always liked the fact that WaterRower encourages improvement ideas from anyone on staff. I am very proud to see ideas come to fruition and that are now part of our process, whether [those] ideas came from myself or my colleagues.”
Asked about his biggest concern regarding marketplace competition, King said the company has been battling for years with “copycat” theft, mainly from China. There is currently a lawsuit in the London courts. The company is resting its case on its products being “works of artistic craftsmanship.”
Like many manufacturers, WaterRower is experiencing a correction after the cheap debt and flood of cash available during the pandemic was followed by the economic shock of gummed-up supply chains and creeping inflation. King says the company on average held about $4 million of inventory during the pandemic as consumers snapped up available exercise equipment. Today, it’s $20 million.
“The pipeline was so long,” he said. “But a lot of that is washing out at the moment.”
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UP TO SPEED: Assembler Carlos Cepeda, left, and assembly lead Felix Trochez put together an exercise machine at WaterRower Inc.
PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO[/caption]
Staffing at its pandemic peak reached 360, including 200 short-term contractors to deal with workforce shortages.
“It’s not commodities [that’s the biggest issue],” King said. “It’s labor.”
Annual revenues are now at $30 million, down from a pandemic peak of $70 million. With a predicted downturn, King is confident the company can weather any economic turmoil with a simple recipe: strong balance sheet, low debt, high cash.
But inflation and overseas conflicts remain a concern, King says, especially since WaterRower ships 80% of its exports to Europe.
“It has been a shock,” he said, citing energy prices, political turmoil and foreign currency fluctuations. “We keep an eye on how we compete with input costs around the world.”
King likes to steer clear of the growing trend toward hiring social media influencers or chiming in on social hot topics, which can often backfire in today’s partisan political climate.
“The consumer has wised up,” he said. “We focus on exceeding customers’ expectations.”
Local cities and towns should toss aside “the smokestack mentality,” King said, and encourage zoning and planning changes to boost manufacturing activity, part of the state’s historic pedigree.
“Otherwise, you are just a bedroom community,” he said. “It’s nice to have a mixture.”
The six different types of wood are mostly sourced from the Appalachian Mountains region, the site of fierce competition for lumber leading to rising prices. But King has no intention of replacing the company’s hardwoods with a cheaper and more accessible alternative.
WaterRower even installed a massive furnace that recycles unused wood pieces for energy, burning at 150 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Part of our ethos is sustainability,” King said.
