 | |
| | | | | |
"Mercury Announces New X-Site Test Facility"24/03/2004
The sun will set onMercury's Lake X operations for the final time March 26 whenMercury Marine leaves the legendary test center to open a new8.4-acre, integrated research-and-development site on Watson Bayounear Panama City. Lake X served as Mercury and Mercury Racing'spremier proving grounds the past 47 years, providingconfidentiality for the company's secret, and oftenindustry-changing, test efforts.Lake X has alsoprovided a home base for Mercury Racing's offshore race supportteam. Race teams, OEM boat builders and dealers have valued Lake Xbecause of its secluded location and access to Mercury Racing'son-site rigging and technical support.The new facilityat Watson Bayou - recently named X-Site - will feature multiplein-water slips, as well as an office, laboratory and boat-riggingbuilding. Former Lake X operations, including offshore racesupport, will be based there."Mercury has a richhistory from its decades at Lake X, but we have simply outgrownit," saidFred Kiekhaefer, president of Mercury Racing and son of Mercuryfounder Carl Kiekhaefer. "As a kid, when I wasdriving endurance there, it seemed like hours to get around thelake. At today's boat speeds, it's seconds! This has become alimitation in the services we can provide. Since we could notstretch the lake, we needed a new X-Site."
X-Site isscheduled to open by April 14, though the exact date will depend onthe progress of construction.
Mercury selectedWatson Bayou near Panama City over 52 other potential sites basedon criteria that included realistic boating conditions, availablemarine technical personnel and a degree of seclusion. Watson Bayoualso offers suitable calm and rough conditions in both saltwaterand freshwater, which will allow the same facility and staffmembers to test everything from high-end offshore race boats tosmall outboard-powered tenders. Additionally, a combined testingfacility adheres to the company's lean-thinking philosophy andmigration toward increased integration.
Lake XOperations Manager Bill Harris will oversee Mercury Racing'scustomer support and offshore race activities atX-Site.
"Because of thehigh-speed capabilities of today's offshore race boats, MercuryRacing has outgrown Lake X'susefulness," said Harris."We lookforward to the vast amount of wateravailable to us inPanama City, along with the state-of-the-art building that willfeature drive and engine-rebuilding, and our legendary riggingcapabilities, once construction is complete."
Bill Nesslar,manager of Mercury's former saltwater test facility in Placida,Fla., will oversee all Mercury production research-and-developmenttesting at the new Panama City site. John Sherlock will overseeMercury Racing's research-and-development testing.
| | | |