Scout Boats to expand manufacturing facility with new Product Development & Engineering building
by Scout 4 Dec 2021 08:42 PST
Scout Boats © Scout Boats
Scout Boats, Inc. is building a new dedicated 21,000 sq. ft. Product Development & Engineering building (PD&E) on its manufacturing headquarters campus in Summerville, SC. The new $3 million facility is set to complete Spring 2022.
Of the 21,000 sq. ft. two-story building, 4,000 sq. ft. will be dedicated to Scout's Research & Development (R&D) offices. The building will also house two new 5-axis routers for cutting new tooling and further advancement of the company's design processes. Fifteen new jobs will also be created by this expansion.
"Our new dedicated PD&E building will allow us to house our research and development as well as our lead engineering teams under one roof here on campus," said Scout CEO Steve Potts. "This is an important move for us because it combines all of our product development teams and incredible minds in one place, allowing them to work together and perform more efficiently so we can continue to develop new and exciting products for our customers."
Scout currently houses their R&D facility onsite in one of their four production buildings, Plant B, and once it's moved to the new PD&E building this space will be allocated to additional Light Resin Transfer Molding (Light RTM) space for composite parts. Process engineering offices will remain inside of the four Scout plants respectively.
"Our manufacturing processes are part of our innovative edge in the industry," add Potts. "With our epoxy infusion, carbon fiber/e-glass, Light RTM, 5-axis routers, CAD programs, 3-D printers, and all the other state-of-the-art processes, tools, equipment and training we have invested into making Scout the absolute best boat in its class, we felt this next investment of our PD&E building expansion made perfect sense to execute. I've always wanted to keep our processes in-house as much as possible so we could control our outcomes and product consistency, and this is the next evolution of our continued growth here at the plant."
"This new expansion will create the need for more employees here at Scout," noted Potts. "Fifteen additional personnel for the PD&E expansion - on top of the fact that we're currently hiring for 55 open positions across our facility - and with our ever-increasing retail demand we're projecting the need for an additional 100+ employees within the next year. But it's not just "jobs". We're continually creating an environment where people want to learn, work, and further their career and future. We've created a campus with a strong labor force that takes great pride in their work and provides dedication to their duties. This helps us continually grow our Scout family and reputation with our customers, vendors, dealers, and within the marine industry."
Scout builds luxury sportfishing center console, dual console, luxury crossover and inshore/bay boat models ranging from 17' to 53'. Since its founding over three decades ago, the company's goal has been to manufacture the best-built boats in its distinctive sportfishing niches. Each Scout hull is a true original, as the in-house research and design team works closely with engineering to take concepts from blueprint to production more efficiently, growing the company's world-class reputation for quality, strength, durability and value.
For more information on Scout, visit www.scoutboats.com