Yamaha opens new Marine Innovation Center

Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit has announced the grand opening of a new Marine Innovation Center in Kennesaw, Ga. on April 12. Governor Brian Kemp, First Lady Marty Kemp and Mayor Derek Easterling of Kennesaw attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new 75,280 square foot facility which now houses the Yamaha Marine Connected Division as well as Yamaha U.S. Marine Development, Yamaha Marine Product Management and Yamaha Marine Technical Marketing.

“We believe Georgia is an exceptional location for business growth and development. The Marine Innovation Center represents the fourth major Yamaha facility in the state, joining Yamaha’s Marine headquarters in Kennesaw, the Yamaha Motorsports and Intelligent Machinery Group headquarters in Marietta, and the Yamaha Motor Corporation manufacturing facility in Newnan,” said Ben Speciale, President, Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit. “Yamaha employs approximately 2,300 team members in Georgia. We plan to add more as we partner with local education institutions to hire engineers for our new facility in Kennesaw, where we’re developing exciting, innovative products that will deliver more exceptional experiences for Yamaha customers across the globe.”

Products currently under development within the Yamaha Marine Innovation Center include DockPoint and Siren Marine products, as well as new Yamaha WaterCraft vehicles and accessories.

Yamaha career opportunities within Marine Connected Division include business planning, user experience, IoT/Cloud Infrastructure, product planning, data analysis, sales and marketing positions. Positions within the Yamaha U.S. Marine Development, Product Management and Marine Technical Marketing Division include control engineers, perception engineers, product development engineers, project managers, hydrodynamics engineers and various software engineers.

“I know this [Yamaha] Marine Innovation Center is another great win for our state, and this is an example of why I believe we continue to remain the number one state in the country for business, which we’ve done for nine years in a row now,” said Governor Kemp. “According to the Outdoor Industry Association, recreational businesses bring over $27 billion to Georgia’s economy every year and employ around 238,000 people, which is a lot. Certainly, Yamaha is a big part of that industry and we’re just so thankful that Yamaha continues to choose to build and grow as they’ve done over the past several decades.”