New buying group to hold first meeting

ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. – After months of preparation, the industry’s newest marine buying group, the Affiliated Marine Manufacturers Group (AMMG), will hold its initial Board of Directors and membership meeting during the International BoatBuilders’ Exhibition & Conference, Oct. 19-21 in Miami Beach.

The timing of the meeting was chosen to reduce travel costs and lost time for the members, according to a statement from the group, which was established to give independent builders an opportunity to belong to a builder-owned and controlled buying group.

Linda Williams, AMMG president, has spent much of the last four months meeting with manufacturers and suppliers.

“Builders were receptive to AMMGs mission and now appear eager to take control of their collective buying arrangements,” she said.

AMMG is still accepting applications for membership, although a full roster is expected to be achieved quickly.

“As soon as the board is in place, approval of new applications for membership will be up to the membership itself. At that point, I will have assumed an administrative and consultative role, allowing the members to set agendas and determine priorities,” Williams explained.

Over 175 vendors, suppliers and distributors have been invited to collaborate with the new group and a large part of Williams’ time at IBEX will be spent following up on those contacts and expanding AMMG’s reach, she stated.

“The group will establish long-term partnerships with a wide range of vendors in order to protect members from the uncertainty that has begun creeping into our industry,” said Williams. “The recent volatility of material costs exposes a builder without solid purchase contracts to suffer needlessly. AMMG was specifically created to prevent that kind of economic injury.”

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