Mercury Marine has broken ground on a 30,000-square-foot addition to its propeller-casting facility. When complete, the total footprint of the Mercury propeller facilities will encompass 90,000 square feet. The expansion, which was announced on May 3, will be at Mercury's global headquarters in Fond du Lac, Wis., and will allow the company to almost double its current output for stainless steel propellers.
In total, Mercury will invest $17 million dollars to expand the propeller facility, which increases the company’s overall investment to more than $1.1 billion since 2008.
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“The market growth in high horsepower four-stroke outboards plus the market reception to Mercury’s new V6 and V8 outboards has driven an unprecedented demand for stainless steel propellers,” said Dirk Bjornstad, Mercury Marine Propellers general manager. “This capital expansion will align the propeller business with our increased growth as well as position the business to gain additional market share with new best in class propeller designs.”
Mercury claims to be the global leader in outboard and sterndrive propeller production, both in aluminum and stainless-steel materials, producing more than 400 different propellers for a wide variety of boat applications.
“Growing our operations in Fond du Lac not only shows our commitment to our global customers but our commitment to growth in the community,” said Bjornstad. “This expansion will also allow us the opportunity to improve on our best-in-class sustainability at the plant. Mercury consistently sets a new benchmark in energy and water consumption and both of those will be a major focus in our manufacturing processes.”
