Mercury Marine opens plant expansion
Mercury Marine has officially opened its new 49,000-square-foot electro-deposition paint primer system expansion. The new addition, which broke ground in mid-2015, will double Mercury’s current processing capabilities.
“This new and expanded process enforces our ability to make a better product for our customers who expect extreme reliability in their Mercury engines,” said John Pfeifer, Mercury Marine president. “This expansion will improve our flexibility, quality and improve the environment. It also reinforces our commitment to growth in Fond du Lac.”
Since 2009, Mercury Marine has invested more than $730 million in capital investments and R&D. Projects such as these support growth and the company’s commitment to provide the most advanced products, and to increase manufacturing capacity within its Fond du Lac facilities. Close to 90 percent of work done on the EDP expansion involves Fond du Lac- or Wisconsin-based companies such as TTX, CD Smith, Excel Engineering and many more.
“The EDP paint expansion is a critical element to our long-term capacity plan as more than 95 percent of all parts go through the EDP system,” Pfeifer said.
EDP Facts and Figures:
- New expansion is equipped with 50 tons of steel, 40-plus miles of wire, and double the parts capacity of the previous machine
- The new EDP machine has its own wastewater and reverse-osmosis water system, which is a major ergonomic improvement for the operators.
- The new facility has eight hoists capable of lifting three tons, almost a mile of maintenance catwalks, and seven insulated stainless steel 10,000-gallon processing tanks (19 tanks total).
- Mercury employs more than 5,000 people worldwide, more than 3,000 employees at its global headquarters in Fond du Lac.
