Brunswick Corporation
02.01.2006
Mercury Boasts World Class Engineering: The Verado Assembly Line Sets the Standard in Engine Manufacturing
You’ve seen the stack of industry awards and accolades earned by Mercury Marine’s Verado engine. The result of five years and $100 million invested in facilities and research and development, Verado has become synonymous with unparalleled marine propulsion and performance. Along with its design and engineering, Verado’s reliability and quality are also lauded, thanks in large part to employees who manufacture the engine at its unique "production line" at Mercury’s Fond Du Lac plant.
"Production line" seems inadequate to describe the multi-million-dollar, state-of-the-art assembly line that was built specifically for Verado. The assembly processes and procedures used to manufacture the Verado family of engines represent a new standard in outboard manufacturing, as components are continually measured and tested throughout the assembly line.
"Everything about this engine is new for the industry," Mercury Assemblyman Randy Visser explained. "It was the first to use a supercharger, which really gives the engine power and a real kick in the pants when you accelerate. New design, new technology … we knew we had to also build it a new way. The Verado line is what came out of that thinking."
"This is state-of-the-art assembly, not just wedged into some other line," Visser explained. "It is totally modern, with computers keeping an eye on every step of the process, not to mention that we are constantly doing validation all along the line."
Using continuous-flow assembly to reduce cycle times and increase efficiencies, tests are run along every step of assembly. If computers or other checks detect a problem, it must be resolved before the engine moves on to the next point in the line.
Engines are checked by both traditional "hot testing," where the engine is run to check such things as oil and water pressure, and "cold testing," which is new to the industry. Using sophisticated technology cold testing looks at such things as sensor functioning, shift function and gear ratio and engine noise, vibration and harshness.
Components and part lots are rigorously tracked and engine "as built" data is easily retrievable through engine serial number to keep tabs on how engines perform in the market.
Mercury Marine also employs Lean Six Sigma fundamentals in its manufacturing processes, and is the first marine-engine company to be fully ISO-certified. Such extra attention to detail makes it extremely unlikely that an engine will leave the assembly area with a potential issue.
