Cruise miss: “I’ll never let that happen again”
Zimmermann Zschocke takes over as the new CEO of Oyster yachts/
The next time Hollywood mega stars come knocking, Oyster Yachts plans to be ready.
They don’t come much more mega than Tom Cruise, but when Maverick swooped in to ask about building a super sailing yacht, Oyster was forced to pull off one of his favourite Top Gun moves – “hit the brakes, he’ll fly right by”.
And fly right by, he did, reportedly to Nautor Swan.
“He asked us first. He desperately wanted to have something above 100ft. We couldn’t sell it to him. But this will not happen again, I tell you,” said Oyster’s new CEO Stefan Zimmermann Zschocke as we chat in the cockpit of a shiny new Oyster on display at the Cannes Yachting Festival.
Zimmermann Zschocke is bouncy and unguarded in what is only his second week in the job. When it’s suggested he may not actually be able to answer anything yet, he laughs and says: “Let’s see. Try me.”
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Industrialisation
The German, who joins from Hanse Yachts, has extensive experience in operation leadership rolls after beginning his career in the automotive industry, notably with Ford.
He takes over from Ashley Highfield at Oyster, the builder of luxury bluewater cruising yachts from 50 feet (16m) up to 88 feet (27m) with manufacturing based in the UK and a main service centre in Palma, Mallorca.
One pillar of his manifesto when discussing the role with Oyster owner Richard Hadida was “driving for efficiency” without compromising on quality.
“What you see at Oyster is great products and a great team but it might need a little bit more industrialisation in order to drive the efficiency and process stability,” says Zimmermann Zschocke, who describes himself as a lifelong, “passionate sailor”.
“You need to drive a business case where quality is so good compared to labour costs that you can still run it. And I can’t reduce the labour costs, obviously. So we need to work on efficiency everywhere.”
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He gives the generic example of an engineer spending hours sourcing the right part, rather than focusing on the work.
“This is where you can drive efficiency and cost,” he says. “In automotive, if you could achieve 2% [efficiency], you would be the hero.
“I don’t know enough at the moment to see if 20% or 30% is achievable. But at least 5-10% is always possible. So I’m pretty sure we can do a lot.”
Bigger boats
Zimmermann Zschocke says Oyster is “fully sold out” for now and doesn’t see a “negative trend” despite a sense of instability in the world.
“Certainly we need to watch the markets. But compared to others, we are doing really good at the moment,” he insists.
He is also mindful of the escalating costs of new builds and the dilemma of putting up prices to stay viable without scaring off customers.
“I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. We feel that our price is good,” he says. “Having said that, we would also need to work on option prices.”
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With Cruise and his pals in mind, and conscious that an environmental conscience might lead some superyacht owners into the sailing realm, Zimmermann Zschocke has designs on building bigger boats, although he warns against going too big, too soon.
“You need to evolve over time,” he says. “You need to add 10, 20 feet more. Because the whole organisation needs to adapt it. Because it’s a different customer, it’s a different market, it’s a different quality. But certainly we have to drive for that and I’m looking into it.”
One thing he is not keen on pursuing is innovations such as foils, preferring to focus on improving existing concepts.
“We need to grow on one side, but we need to optimise our fleet in the current size,” he says.
“It’s more an evolution rather than innovation. We need to drive more for comfort and high quality rather than putting wings in and foiling the boat.”
Visionary
A key strand for Oyster as a brand is its experiential segment, with a World Rally for owners to join together to voyage around the globe – the next is in 2028/29 with 23 yachts signed up – and an Explorers Club where owners share specific supported adventures.
“What we do deliver is not only the boat, but the life experience that comes with it,” he says. “That’s what makes Oyster unique. Doing a World Rally with their own boat is something very special. That’s where we can gain more market share.”
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In his first week, Zimmermann Zschocke conducted a series of “town halls” at each of Oyster’s facilities to lay out his vision and meet the personnel.
“I need to focus on my team,” he says. “I can’t do it if the team is not good. I can’t press buttons and say this is what I want and I will get it.” He is a big believer in giving his staff, partners and clients licence to speak up and challenge the system.
“Then we can talk about it,” he says. “My strength is to sit there and listen but then say, OK now it’s time for decision. I don’t want to make mistakes. I want to get this company up to the next level.”
His idea to explore catamarans is an early example, where the feedback was that the company was not ready. “I need to make sure that I’m not sometimes too fast,” he says. “I put the ideas in and maybe half of it we will do. But that vision is important because you need to follow up with the partners on how to get there.”
One thing Zimmermann Zschocke is certain about is that the next time Hollywood calls, Oyster Yachts will be ready, even if at first it seems like Mission Impossible.
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