Meeting the challenge: how Decatur-based Thunderbird Products found its course through rough economic waters.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Regional Report Northeast

SCOTT PORTER IS president of the family business in Decatur that manufactures the acclaimed Formula-brand boats. The company, Thunderbird Products, produces boats ranging from a 26-foot, $65,000 powerboat to a 47-foot yacht retailing for $750,000.

"Things started to soften in the spring of 2001," says Porter. "Then 9/11 did impact our business, no question about it. We started to see things coming back in late 2002. Sales had been off about 20 percent from our peak, but now they have climbed back up and beyond that."

How? "We've been very aggressive in our sales area and in offering incentives," he says. For example, the company's Web site, www.formulaboats.com, opens with an offer of zero-percent financing for 18 months or a rebate of up to $20,500.

"There are tremendous opportunities in keeping production levels up," he says. "We're better off to try incentives to keep the volume up."

This year, Thunderbird's 560 employees--representing more than one in 10 of Decatur's industrial jobs--will build 900 Formula boats.

Those levels of production and employment--as the county's second-largest industrial employer--are great news locally, says Mike Ripley, executive director of the Adams County Economic Development Corp. In his book, the company is doing many things right.

"I can't say enough about Thunderbird as a company and what their jobs mean to the community and also the Porter family and their philanthropic contributions to the community. They offer a good family atmosphere and do a lot of training for their employees."

And of its Formula boats, Ripley says, "They've got the Rolls Royce of boats. These are handmade, so to speak, and an excellent product, a high-end market."

Thunderbird's products include yachts, cruisers and performance boats.

"Some people call them 'go-fast' boats," Porter says of the performance boats, many made in vivid colors...