Scout Boats expands manufacturing facility
Construction is underway at Scout Boats’ South Carolina-based headquarters, with a new 24,000 square foot plant addition, including a 1,100 square foot paint booth, being added on to the facility.
“The expansion is two-fold,” said Scout CEO & Founder Steve Potts. “We’re keeping up with demand of our models, as well as continually looking at how we can streamline our production operations for better efficiency.”
The additional 24,000 sq. ft., referred to as ‘Plant C’, increases the current facility size from 187,000 sq. ft. to 211,000 sq. ft. Scout’s new flagship 420 LXF and it’s 2016 380 LXF will be produced in Plant C. Plant A will continue to produce models 17’-25’. Plant B will produce models 27’-35’.
“Our new spray booth will allow us to custom paint our boats and engines, something customers are demanding more and more,” added Potts.
During the construction expansion, Scout has also been increasing its work force, and are now at a level surpassing pre-recession times.
“The introduction of our new innovative models, as well as our continued business focus company-wide to build the best boats in our niche, have both afforded us the opportunity to see increased demand for our product, the expansion of our brand itself, and the ability to hire back our work force post-recession,” said Potts. “Between the need to grow and the number of people coming to us wanting to work for Scout because of the product we produce and the way we produce it, our employee count is higher now than it was pre-recession. To us that speaks volumes.”
Scout builds sportfishing, fish ‘n ski, walk around, flats and bay boat models ranging from 17’ to 42’. Since its founding 25 years ago, Scout Boat’s goal has been to manufacture the best-built boats in its distinctive sportfishing niches. Each Scout hull is a true original, as the in-house research and design team works closely with engineering to take concepts from blueprint to production more efficiently, growing the company’s world-class reputation for quality, strength, durability and value.
