Alubat, a specialist in aluminium sailboats
Since 1973, based in Les Sables-d'Olonne, the Alubat shipyard has been renowned for its yachts built entirely in Aluminium. Keelboats then integral dinghies, recognizable by their chine hulls that the brand claims as its concept, these yachts are intended more particularly for long distance cruising.
In 2014, after a few setbacks, 14 industrialists from Vendée who love sailing and long voyages, represented by Michel Berson, took over the shipyard and placed Christian Picard at the helm. In December 2019, he retires and Hakim Rahmoun joins the Sablais shipyard.
Hakim Rahmoun's career path
Hakim Rahmoun's nautical adventure, diving and funboarding, began at a very young age, well before his studies in fluid mechanics. His father, Larbi, himself a steel and aluminium boat builder, was an unconditional fan of Alubat's constructions and especially of the "Cigale" models. It was a natural step to learn sailing and then motor sailing, which led to the takeover of the Olbia shipyard in Hyères in 2000. Since 1988, this shipyard has specialised in the fitting out of ocean-going hulls, refit and upholstery. Like his father, Hakim directs the Olbia shipyard towards steel and wood construction, and avoids polyester.
In 2014, Hakim decided to set up the yard in the Arcachon basin and launched the New World, a thick aluminium sailboat designed for ocean cruising. After this first 9-metre model, the aim is to extend the range with an 11-metre. It is precisely with this new model that he is getting closer to Alubat.
" The artisanal structure of the Olbia shipyard did not allow an efficient production, I tried to get closer to more industrial shipyards able to ensure an adapted and less expensive production ". Logically Alubat is contacted. " It was during a meeting with Christian Picard that he told me about his upcoming retirement. But we can't find any possible connection with Olbia to produce the New World. The priority of the 14 shareholders is to recruit a Managing Director, not to diversify the site's production. "
Christian and Hakim remain in contact and finally Hakim offers to take over the leadership of Alubat as Managing Director.
" For 4 years now, the Alubat shipyard has been showing positive results, the Ovni 400 is selling well and the work done by Christian is remarkable." The choice of the 14 shareholders is for Hakim a true recognition of its expertise.
What daily life, what responsibilities?
Working closely with decision-makers and operational staff
In its preamble, Hakim states that the yard's shareholders had predefined a typical profile of the manager sought. " They wanted the general manager to be a sailor, a manager and a salesman. What I brought in addition is boat design, project management, thanks to my experience of one-off and travel boats. "
Not being aware of these criteria, it is obvious that Hakim's 'all-weather' profile certainly made his decision easier. " To run a shipyard the size of Alubat, a managing director must be able to span the full spectrum of different departments and skills says Hakim, "to combine the function of key man while knowing how to delegate and be the standard bearer of the company with any partners.
Based on the three prerequisites of the typical executive profile, " My daily job is to support all the employees, to take advantage of my past experience in order to be as relevant as possible with each department. The organisation of the Alubat site is based around the Purchasing and Production functions, which include After-Sales Service, Design Office, Marketing / Sales. For yachts whose programme is to travel around the world, the after-sales service function is essential in order to be able to provide assistance in the event of a breakdown on the other side of the world. The role of the after-sales service is therefore very important in practice, but also in terms of sales and marketing " insists Hakim.
Our Managing Director is therefore in direct contact with 6 employees who themselves lead a team. The production manager supervises 4 workshop managers, while the 2 sales representatives are much more autonomous and report directly to the General Manager. " Nevertheless, for each case with a sharp or delicate file, I take it in charge with the commercial team " confirms Hakim.
" In practice, the company is managed by two people, the Chairman and CEO who represents the shareholders and the CEO for the operational part and in this capacity, I sit on the management committee which decides on the orientations and we work together with the CEO, in fact we present to the management committee completed projects on which we agree. The objective is to work upstream so that the subjects that are presented are sufficiently mature to be validated. We work in a collegial way and exchange a lot on our analyses and share the budget follow-up. "
The CEO is the link for going up or down information, which is easy thanks to his daily presence and his proximity to all employees. " As the presence of the CEO is not daily, the mission of the DG remains of course operational and also to project the site into the future, I propose the new directions of development and argue for the management committee to give the means for a new project. "says Hakim
What are the possible developments?
Develop new ranges and increase production
Present for just over 12 months, the spontaneous answer to the evolution question is: " I know the whole team and often make 50 micro-decisions in a day. It makes them feel better " Either you become a shareholder, or you manage a more industrial site. "..." The future of Alubat is good to remain an aluminium shipyard in the field of travel boats. The evolution of the post of DG remains in fact closely linked to the development of the yard by enlarging the range towards motorboats or multihulls, reviving the Cigale range and increasing the production volume to imagine the opening of a new site if the increase in activity persists. "
Hakim Rahmoun therefore has some challenges to face before thinking about managing his career..
