DATRON Hudson Boat Case Study

Hudson Boat Works is a rowing racing shell manufacturer based in London, Ontario. Jack Coughlan and his brother-in-law, Hugh Hudson, founded the company in 1981. Hudson is an official boat manufacturer for the Canadian National Team and their boats have won 84 World and Olympic Medals since 1984.

In March 2007, Hudson began production of their "Shark" line of boats. Their Great White 1x and Hammerhead 8+ shells are currently designed by Steve Killing (Canadian Naval Architect). These sleek boats are faster, more stable, and more comfortable for rowers. Since 2005, Glen Burston, Operations Manager, has been the driving force behind Hudson's innovation. Glen has applied his Master of Engineering knowledge and National-level rowing experience to transform the company into a cutting edge manufacturing success.

In 2015, plans were set to build a line of lighter, faster boats comprised of all carbon fiber components named Ultimate Super Predator (USP). Hudson's ability to quickly bring this line to market would solidify their competitive advantage and their standing as industry leader. However, their ability to do this was being hindered by the slow turn-around and high costs associated with outsourcing 90% of their machined parts. In particular, the molds required to make all of the carbon fiber parts that comprise a rowing scull were projected to be completed over a 3-year period — and that time frame simply wouldn't do.

Hudson's Mechanical Engineering Technologist, Cam Fisher recalls, “We have a fairly large 3-axis CNC router that does all of the trimming for the boat hulls and all of the edge profiling of the boats, but it doesn't have the accuracy needed for mold making."