Jiraporn Na Pankaew, or Khun Phorn, as she is known to friends & family, first started working for Scott Bradley back in 2005. She was focused on sales and ordering back then with the chandlery business that Scott Bradley started preceding East Marine Asia, which opened in 2006. Khun Phorn then started working with Scott at Precision Shipwright Services (PSS), Co. Ltd., East Marine Asia’s sister company, helping with estimates for boat repairs as well as following up on work lists and issuing invoices.

Khun Phorn did leave the company for a year in 2008 to start her own pottery business and worked part-time for another leisure marine company, but due to a series of struggles she was quite happy to return to the East Marine/PSS in 2009. Phorn was primarily focusing on work with East Marine Asia until 2014, and then she swapped over to focus on Precision in 2014. Today, she splits her time between the two companies, but her official title is Business Administrator for Precision Shipwright Services.

Scott explains that the boat repair business is much dif-ferent and more competitive today than when he started out two decades ago. Back then, it was mostly cruising yachties looking to fix-up their boat, and they knew their vessel back to front. Yacht owners knew what was wrong and they knew more about the repair process, and how much time and money it would take to fix it.

But it’s different today, as many of Scott’s customers are first-time boat owners or simply new to the sea, so they may come in one day with an idea of what they want repaired and give the go ahead to start work. But they can then change their ideas regularly due to information they find on the Internet. It is difficult and costly to make an old yacht look modern, products and images available online make some projects complicated.

This is where Khun Phorn comes into play. Here main job is liaising between the customer and the repair crews, whether it’s Precision’s own, or a firm they have contracted the work out too.

Trying to keep the customer happy can be difficult, but it’s a challenge Khun Phorn actually enjoys: making sure the customer understands the costs involved in making the changes while trying to keep to the repair schedule as much as possible.

Scott also runs the problem of outside contractors trying to the work much cheaper but obviously at a price!

Scott and Khun Phorn need to explain and prove to customers the difference between experience and quality work as compared with a quick fix.

The company has recently employed a new staff member, Anawat “Wat” Khrueachai who Phorn is now training to help her do work in Precision. This will give Phorn more time to focus on East marine Asia’s growth.

Khun Phorn has designed and completed two previous catalogues for East Marine’s inventory, in 2013 & 2017, and is working on a third and much larger version, which the company hopes to publish in August this year.

Khun Phorn has two children: a twelve-year-old boy named Anda and an eight-year-old daughter named Asia. She and her husband Aon are both from Nakhon Si Thammarat and he works for an IT company.

Khun Phorn has spent a third of her life working with Scott and his two companies. She loves her work and has been a big part of the success for both East marine Asia and Precision Shipwright Services.

Summing up, Scott Bradley says, “Everyone expects to see Khun Phorn’s continued dedication, experience and support to East Marine and Precision continue for many years to come.” (www. eastmarineasia.com).