Mercury Marine to open plant in China
Company says move won't necessarily mean job cuts in Fond du Lac
Miami - Mercury Marine Inc. is opening a new factory in China in about two weeks, the Fond du Lac outboard engine company said Thursday.
Mercury Opens Plant in China
The $30 million plant will produce four-stroke engines that are commonly used on recreational boats and small commercial boats.
"We are making a lot of these engines in Fond du Lac at the moment," company President Patrick Mackey said in an interview at the Miami International Boat Show.
Mercury currently manufactures some engine components in China and is shifting production of 40- to 60-horsepower four-strokes to the new factory near Beijing. The decision to move more manufacturing to China was driven partly by economics, Mackey said.
"We wanted to make an engine at the lowest possible price, and China seemed to be a place that we should be for the future," he said.
Better economic position
Mercury has opened a new factory in Japan, in partnership with Tohatsu Corp., to build small Mercury outboards. The first engines rolled off that assembly line about three weeks ago.
"Our strategy is to get the smaller engines into the best economic position we can," Mackey said. "North America is difficult when you consider the cost of labor, health care and other things here."
Mercury is one of the Fond du Lac area's biggest employers. But as some engine production is shifted to Asia, it won't necessarily result in job losses in Wisconsin, according to Mackey.
Some employees won't be replaced when they retire, he said. And the work that's headed to the new China factory from Fond du Lac is being replaced by the production of Mercury's new Verado outboard engines, which are more expensive and have more sophisticated technology than the smaller engines.
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