Mercury Marine Groundbreaking

Mercury Marine broke ground Friday for a 53,000 square foot expansion project. Mercury President John Pfeifer says machining for 4-stroke outboard engines will be done at the new expansion. He says it’s about a $31 million investment. It’s the fifth expansion for Mercury in Fond du Lac since 2009. Pfeifer says they have invested about $730 million into expansion and new product programs. In 2009 there was a battle to keep Mercury from leaving the state that resulted in incentives from the state, and about $50 million in loans from Fond du Lac County and further incentives from the City. County Executive Al Buechel says they were right in investing in Mercury. He says the growth, the expansion, equipment and nearly doubling of Mercury’s work force make it a tremendous return on the investment. Pfeifer says right now they have 60 to 70 job openings, they’ve hired 400 people since January and the expansion will create more job opportunities.