mercury factory tour

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New Fond du Lac Factory Innauguration

Assortment of mercury racing propellors, powerboat p1 ceo, axam rangoonwala stands in front of a mercury racing 1100r engine as used in class 1 with mercury m8 outdrive, mercury racing 500 engine, new mecury racing engines awaiting shipment to customers, external shot of the fond du lac factory, fri aug 11 2023, mercury racing factory tour in fond du lac.

As a prelude to this weekend’s Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge in Sheboygan, the world-class manufacturer of marine and automotive engines opened the doors to its 120,000 sq.ft. facility in nearby Fond du Lac yesterday as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.

Amongst those invited behind the scenes was P1 CEO, Azam Rangoonwala who said: “The factory tour was a very special way to kick off this unique event here in Wisconsin. We were asked in January 2022 to stage a powerboat race to celebrate Mercury Racings fifty years of innovation and it was a great experience to visit their global headquarters here on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago. This weekend we move to Lake Michigan to enjoy two days of racing with around 40 powerboats in action.”

Mercury has invested significantly in its primary production facility at Fond du Lac where it manufactures not only propulsion systems but also propellers, accessories and parts.

Photo Credits

City of Sheboygan/SCEDC Shelley Jory-Leigh

P1 Offshore;

Powerboat P1 is the fastest growing marine motorsport series in the world and has a long term commitment to growing and developing the sport of power boating at all levels. The Powerboat P1 team works closely with the sport’s governing bodies, the UIM, APBA and the IJSBA. P1 has delivered more than 85 world championship events in over twelve different countries for more than a decade.

Cookie Policy

Contact info.

• Address: 2320 Clark Street, Suite A1 Apopka, FL 32703 United States
• Phone: +1 407 985 1938
• Email: [email protected]

Cocoa Beach

Fri 17 - Sun 19, May

Lake of the Ozarks

Thu 30, May - 01, Jun

Fri 09 - Sun 11, Aug

Fri 23 - Sun 25, Aug

Fri 13 - Sun 15, Sep

St. Petersburg

Fri 18 - Sun 20, Oct

New Fond du Lac Factory Innauguration

Powerboat p1 ceo, axam rangoonwala stands in front of a mercury racing 1100r engine as used in class 1 with mercury m8 outdrive, fri aug 11 2023, welcome to sheboygan: mercury racing factory tour in fond du lac.

It is Mercury Racing's 50th year as a world-class manufacturer of marine and automotive engines. As part of a year of celebrations and activities across the country, it was decided to create a race event to highlight their racing heritage, the Mercury Racing Midwest Challenge. Their choice of location is the beautiful City of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, on the West coast of Lake Michigan, and close to their principal production facility in Fond du Lac.

This race event is open to four classes of Powerboat from both offshore and Inshore racing, plus a host of other events to entertain racegoers and racers alike. The four classes of powerboat represented are F1 Inshore Boats of the kind raced by Shaun Torrente, Super Stock, Factory 450R and UIM Class 1 World Championship boats. They all have one thing in common, they all race with Mercury Racing engines.

As a prelude to this weekend’s events, Mercury Racing has opened the doors to its 120,000 sq.ft. facility in nearby Fond du Lac yesterday as part of its 50th anniversary celebrations.

Amongst those invited behind the scenes was P1 CEO, Azam Rangoonwala who said: “The factory tour was a very special way to kick off this unique event here in Wisconsin. We were asked in January 2022 to stage a powerboat race to celebrate Mercury Racings fifty years of innovation and it was a great experience to visit their global headquarters here on the southern shore of Lake Winnebago. This weekend we move to Lake Michigan to enjoy two days of racing with around 40 powerboats in action.”

Mercury has invested significantly in its primary production facility at Fond du Lac where it manufactures not only propulsion systems but also propellers, accessories and parts.

Photo Credits

City of Sheboygan/SCEDC Shelley Jory-Leigh

Mercury Marine plans expansion in Fond du Lac and relocation of distribution to Indiana

FOND DU LAC - Mercury Marine is poised to once again expand its footprint in the community while at the same time relocating its parts distribution center to Indiana. 

The company announced Monday its plan to increase capacity at both its foundry and machining facilities in the city by adding close to 100,000 square feet to its now 3 million-square-foot campus.

The expansion is already underway. Mercury president Chris Drees said in a press release that additional space is needed to meet record demand from global customers.  

A new, 512,000-square-foot distribution center scheduled to open in October near Indianapolis will house Mercury's parts and accessories business, improve delivery and service, and reduce logistics costs, the company said. 

The Fond du Lac distribution facility will be converted into manufacturing space to support Mercury Marine's engine propulsion systems division. The 250 employees currently working at the distribution facility will be given opportunities to transfer to other Fond du Lac-based operations once the transition is complete. 

“Expanding these two facilities in Wisconsin will give us the opportunity to produce more engines and meet the growing needs of our global channel partners,” Drees said. 

Mercury has invested more than $1.7 billion in capacity and expansion since 2009. It has more than 4,000 employees in Fond du Lac and more open positions that it has yet to fill.

Since 2016, Mercury has implemented eight major expansions of its facilities. The latest, in 2019, added a $9 million expansion to its diecast facility for space to make complex blocks, driveshafts and gearcases for Mercury outboards.

The company's annual economic impact on the community exceeds $5 billion, according to  a recently released study  conducted by Envision Greater Fond du Lac and Impact DataSource. 

The announcement comes just before the company is set to retire a $50 million loan provided by Fond du Lac County in 2009 after Mercury announced plans to relocate to Stillwater, Oklahoma, if certain conditions weren't met.

Mercury is scheduled to make its final payment in December.

The company also was awarded $65 million in tax credits from Wisconsin in 2009 — the largest amount given out to a business in Wisconsin’s history until the $2.85 billion Foxconn deal was awarded (although that figure has since been reduced to $80 million).

Following the incentive offers and union vote, Mercury Marine closed its plant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and moved about 385 factory jobs to Fond du Lac.

Contact Sharon Roznik at 920-907-7936 or [email protected]. Follow her on Facebook at facebook.com/reporterroz/

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Inside the Mercury Marine factory, Fond Du Lac

So just how are outboard engines made? For countless years I've wanted to see how Mercury Marine makes its outboards and other engines. So when its Aussie division, Marine Power International, gave me the opportunity to spend a couple of days meeting the Mercury engineers and observing manufacturing processes, I would have been out of my tiny little mind to say no!

HISTORY OF MERCURY MARINE

Last year was the 75 th anniversary of Mercury outboards, a company established by Carl Kiekhaefer in Cedarburg, Wisconsin in 1939. From there the company expanded in leaps and bounds thanks to innovative war machinery, moving to its current Fond du Lac (French for “at the bottom of the lake”) location near Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin's third largest lake, in 1946.

Mercury established several firsts, including through-propeller hub exhaust and CD ignition and, in 1961, the year it was absorbed by the Brunswick Corporation, released the world's first commercially viable sterndrive engine. In 1971 the company changed names from Kiekhaefer Corporation to Mercury Marine, which it still trades under.

Other Mercury manufacturing facilities include Juarez in Mexico, St Cloud in Florida and a remaining engineering connection with the old sterndrive facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

ENGINEERING

Mercury's Ron Bates showed me the engineering division, where Mercury engines are tested in closed cells for shift reliability and longevity. The testing goes over extended duty cycles, and includes such things as running an engine at Wide Open Throttle for 300 hours or more with props modified to maintain constant loadings within Mercury's recommended WOT rpm range for each engine. They are also evaluated in a variety of conditions, such temperature and moisture extremes.

Mercury also has a non-destructive test facility where components from outside suppliers are measured and checked for compliance with the rest of an engine's assembly process. As Timothy Kaiser of the facility pointed out, it's up to the suppliers to meet Mercury's requirements. Balance shaft components are sourced from Australia.

To meet US EPA emissions regulations, Mercury has a scrubbing system that removes 98.6 per cent of pollutants before they reach the atmosphere. Where possible, leftover alloys and steel used in the manufacturing processes are recycled.

CASTING ENGINES

Mercury adopted ‘lost foam’ casting in 2001, which has dramatically cut casting and machining time. Mercury's Bill Hesterburg took me through the steps from raw form to cast engine blocks, cylinder heads and exhaust systems.

An outside supplier moulds the components in Styrofoam to Mercury's specifications. These components look nothing like a foam coffee cup and can have an incredible degree of complexity. These are then dipped in a thixotropic (no drip) slurry, before they dry for 24 hours.

All cavities are filled with sand and are then moved to the alloy pouring area. A mix of alloys including magnesium are poured into the moulds and, after quickly vaporising the foam, fill all the cavities. The castings are then baked at 70psi (or five bar) then sent to a checking area. Pour to cast takes about 90 minutes.

The castings are re-heated to almost melting point to increase strength, at the expense of some ductility. After quenching and removing any sand left in the cavities, the cylinder blocks are re-heated to allow insertion of steel cylinder liners, which are honed with a 60 degree cross hatch pattern to retain lubricating oil. These liners can also accept up to four oversize honings.

MERCURY PROPELLERS

Mercury manufactures over 500 different propellers. A tour through the propeller facility shows just why Quicksilver stainless steel propeller are more expensive than the competition.

Mercury's Justin Ericson explained that Mercury Marine also casts parts for electric car manufacturer Tesla and John Deere's ATV division.

The propellers are initially formed from a mix of wax beads that are 20 per cent polystyrene, which are then dipped in a slurry of silica sand before being dried for around two hours. The props are baked in an autoclave at 120psi and 250 o C, then cast with the stainless steel mix. After cooling, they are shot-blasted to remove any remaining sand and polished in a rotating drum. Every propeller is checked for correct balance before being boxed and shipped.

Mercury has three assembly lines, of which the Mercury Verado one is the newest. Mercury's Robin Senger, who accompanied me for the entire factory tour, showed every aspect of assembly.

Mercury engines are assembled by teams with components checked on a computer screen before being moved to the next station. When the engines are completed, they are given a ‘dry’ run up to 1100rpm to check for any binding. Once the engines are mated with the pan, leg and lower unit, *every* engine is run in a test tank for seven to 10 minutes through a range of rpm including one minute at WOT.

All Mercury Verado engines are shipped with semi-synthetic break-in oil, which is changed at the first 20 hour service with follow up intervals of every 100 hours or annually.

Non-racing sterndrives such as the recently released Mercury 4.5-litre V6 250 and 200 are also assembled.

Separate from the main Fond du Lac factory and up the hill from Carl Kiekhaefer's family home (kept as a memorial since his death in 1983) is the Mercury Racing Division, which assembles the 8.6-litre sterndrive engine, the 9-litre racing engine and the Mercury OptiMax 225, 250 and 300 XS engines.

The division also assembles an OptiMax 185 that can run on a range of kerosene-based fuels including JP5, JP8 and JetA. According to the division's Rick Mackie, these are primarily for military use. And of course, there’s the Mercury 400.

THE TRADE-A-BOAT VERDICT

The dream came true and I have nothing but admiration for the dedicated Mercury Marine staff, some of whom have worked most of their lives for the company. And the Mercafe on site has great food and some of the best coffee I've ever had…

Thanks Robin Senger for all your patience with my endless questions and constantly slowing down the tour by having our photographer capture every little detail.

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See the full version of this review in Trade-A-Boat #463, March / April 2014. Why not subscribe today?

News and Press Releases

Mercury Racing Breaks Ground on Major Plant Expansion to Meet Global Customer Demand

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (Sept. 13, 2022) – Mercury Racing, a division of Brunswick Corporation (NYSE:BC), held a ground-breaking ceremony today for its manufacturing operations plant expansion to help meet global customer demand for the company’s high-performance marine propulsion systems.

The two-phase construction project will add 40,000 square feet of manufacturing operations space to the southwest corner of the existing Fond du Lac, Wisconsin facility and expand the current Propeller Shop by 8,000 square feet on the north side of the building. The project will bring the Racing facility to nearly 150,000 square feet.

“Racing is an integral part of the long-range strategy for Mercury,” said Chris Drees, Mercury Marine president. “This facility expansion gives us room to grow, bolsters our ability to meet the demand for innovative new products and demonstrates our continued commitment to the Fond du Lac community.”

The expansion follows several recent innovations and successful product launches for Mercury Racing including the 300R outboard, featuring an exclusive Advanced Mid Section (AMS), and the 200 APX and 360 APX circuit racing engines. Racing also formed a partnership with the E1 Competition Racing Series . E1 is based in Europe and developing a battery electric powered hydro foiling vessel, of which Mercury Racing is the official propulsion and propeller partner.

“As our business continues to grow and our line of luxury sport products expands, this project meets our need for more space to develop new technology and innovations that excel in high performance, competition and beyond,” said Stuart Halley, general manager for Racing.

Construction of the manufacturing operations space is expected to be finished by April 2023 with the Propeller Shop completed by October 2023.

For more information about Mercury Racing, please visit MercuryRacing.com .

About Mercury Racing

Based in Fond du Lac, Wis., Mercury Racing, a division of Mercury Marine, is a leading provider of high-performance marine propulsion systems for discriminating boaters worldwide, offering an exciting and fulfilling power boating experience on the water. Using leading-edge technology, Mercury Racing produces high-performance outboards, sterndrives, propellers, parts and accessories. Mercury Marine is a division of Brunswick Corp. (NYSE: BC), the world’s largest manufacturer of recreational marine products.

Released September 13, 2022

Mercury Marine turning Fond du Lac distribution center into manufacturing space

Mercury will make two additions to its foundry and one to its machining facility, adding 100,000 square feet to its global headquarters.

FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WBAY) - Mercury Marine announced big changes to its Fond Du Lac plant Monday, revealing it will be expanding and converting the space from distributions to manufacturing.

The company plans to move its distributions center to a new 512,000 square foot facility near Indianapolis, Indiana. They say the new space is in a strategic location that will improve delivery and service to Mercury’s global customers while adding much-needed capacity for scale, stability, and reduced logistics costs.

“The Marine industry this year is, has grown exponentially, certainly over the past 20 or so months after COVID and with us at Mercury Marine and Fond du Lac, we are at a place right now where we need to continue to expand,” Lee Gordon, the Communication Director for Mercury Marine said.

Meanwhile, Plant 3 in Fond du Lac, Mercury will make two additions to its foundry and one to its machining facility, adding 100,000 square feet to its global headquarters. With these additions, Mercury will now have three million square feet of manufacturing in Fond du Lac.

“What really is happening is we are expanding and we are just turning plant three into, manufacturing production for our outboard engines. We are in desperate need of more facility and more production,” Gordon said.

Gordon said while Fond du Lac will be experiencing a lot of changes, they are dedicated to keeping all their employees, employed through the changes. They also plan to train all current employees to fit new positions if they want them.

“Everybody who is there is still going to be working at Mercury Marine, still going to be working in fond du Lac, Wisconsin. There, there will be a learning curve, but it’s extremely exciting. I think it’s an opportunity for everybody to continue to grow with,” Gordon said.

Mercury also plans to hire an additional 300 employees.

Since 2009, Mercury has now invested more than $1.7B in capacity and expansion, growing to now more than 4,000 employees in Fond du Lac. Gordon hopes this expansion will prove to the city that they are here to stay, and invested in the community.

“Fond du Lac as our home Fond du Lac, like as our global headquarters, it has been for more than 80 years. And that’s never going to change,” he said.

All facilities are set to be up and running in 2022.

Copyright 2021 WBAY. All rights reserved.

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With over 250,000 square feet of advanced manufacturing floor space our Faribault, Minnesota facility is located central in the mid-west serving customers since 1957. View our factory tour and see how decades of experience coupled with state-of-the-art technology and advanced manufacturing processes lead to successful product launches.

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