Mercury Marine turns 80, celebrates generations of employees, community

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Mercury Marine turns 80, celebrates generations of employees, community

Mercury Marine assembly workers from Plant 15's third shift stand with the final inline four-cylinder Verado engine to come off the line. Mercury’s new V-6 Verado engines replaced the retired inline four-cylinder models in 2018 when Mercury Marine launched its largest single product development program in its history.
COURTESY OF MERCURY MARINE

SARAH RAZNER | FOND DU LAC REPORTER | 8 hours ago
   [email=?subject=The%20Reporter:%20Mercury%20Marine%20turns%2080,%20celebrates%20generations%20of%20employees,%20community&body=From%20The%20Reporter:%20%0D%0A%20Mercury%20Marine%20turns%2080,%20celebrates%20generations%20of%20employees,%20community%20%0D%0A%20%20%0D%0A%0D%0A%20https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/2019/01/21/mercury-marine-turns-80-celebrates-generations-employees-fdl/2501453002/][/email]
FOND DU LAC – Eighty years ago, Carl Kiekhaefer began repurposing engines to a higher quality than their originals. Eighty years later, Mercury Marine’s employees in Fond du Lac ­­— and around the globe — are continuing the legacy as they turn out engine after engine.


The engine maker got its start on Jan. 22, 1939 in Cedarburg with Kiekhaefer at the helm. Described a “very innovative man” by Mercury Marine President John Pfeifer, Kiekhaefer began the business with dreams bringing innovation to the dairy industry after growing up on a farm. To do so, he purchased a bankrupt business, Cedarburg Manufacturing Co., with plans to make magnetic separators there.

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[url=http://www.fdlreporter.com/picture-gallery/news/2019/01/21/mercury-marine-celebrates-80-years/2594071002/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=amp&utm_campaign=gallery]Mercury Marine through the years
However, it was with product left in the business that he found a new venture: fixing Montgomery Ward outboard engines. While originally the plan was to sell the engines back to the company and make money for his own, his own skill got the better of him. Returning high-quality engines to the company, they continued to order them, landing him in the marine business, said Pfeifer.

Mercury Marine president John Pfeifer.
DOUG RAFLIK/USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
Over the years, the business delved into other industries, while staying primarily in the “marine engine or marine propulsion” industry, said Pfeifer. During World War II, as the country put a ration on the aluminum needed to make engines, he produced other items, including chainsaws and drones for the Air Force,, to sustain the company. This earned awards from the government.


In addition, in the 1950s, Kiekhaefer started a NASCAR team to display Mercury product. Competing for two years, his team won the NASCAR Grand National championship twice, according to Mercury Marine records, and in the 1960s Mercury delved into snowmobiles. Today, the company makes car engines, as well as technology for boats, including joysticks, propellers, ECO-Screen and SmartCraft. 

United States soldiers use a Mercury chainsaw during World War II.
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A family affair

Mercury Marine's Teri McDermott.
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As innovation continued, Mercury employees steered it, with the business becoming a family affair. Senior Account Representative with the OEM Boat Builder Group Teri McDermott’s history with Mercury spans nearly as long the business’ life. With four generations of Mercury ties, her great grandfather, Maurice J. Nelson, and grandfather, Maurice D. Nelson, began working with Kiekhaefer when the business was still operated out of Cedarburg and followed as it moved to Fond du Lac in the mid-1940s as the Kiekhaefer Corporation.
McDermott’s great grandfather served as groundskeeper for the Plant 4, while her grandfather was a purchaser. As Mercury grew, so did her family’s connection, with her mom, Maureen Sheppard, and, dad, Kent Rockweit, working there at one point in time, as well as her two aunts, uncle and brother. Twenty-two years ago, she, too joined, taking a job in the parts division as summer help, she said.
“It’s pretty neat to think that your family has been a big part of 80 years — maybe not in the whole 80 years, but a lot of the 80 years,” she said.



A 1957 Mercury Marine engine
COURTESY OF MERCURY MARINE
Being in a place where her family was so ingrained brought a comfort, she said.
“You always knew if you needed somebody, you had a family member there,” she said.
She's not alone. Fernando Tovar began working as a machinist in 1993, following in the footsteps of his parents. His father, Jorge Tovar, was a machinist for 43 years, while his mother, Luz Maria Tovar, moved up the ranks from shop cleaner to operating machines and supervisor over her 25 -year career. Uncles could also be found throughout Mercury.

Fernando Tovar of Mercury Marine.
DOUG RAFLIK/USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
“It’s was kind of neat because everyone watched over you. Everybody taught you. Everybody took you under their wing because they knew my mom and dad for so many years,” Fernando Tovar said.
Getting married and looking to get off the road, Tovar came to Mercury and enjoyed the challenge that comes with setting up new process sheets, plans and products from engineers. However, it is not only the work he likes, but the camaraderie of employees. Growing up, his family formed many relationships with other employees and their children, some of whom, too, came back home to work at Mercury. No matter where he goes, he runs into someone from his workplace.

A photo of Mercury Marine's Fernando Tovar's parents, Jorge and Luz.
DOUG RAFLIK/USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
“I love it when people ask, ‘do you know so and so at Mercury?’ That’s the funniest question I always get … Well, you know, Mercury’s pretty big, but it’s neat to meet people who ask you those questions and just to be a big part of the community,” McDermott said.



A 1980 photo of Fernando Tovar's parents, Jorge and Luz, of Mercury Marine.
DOUG RAFLIK/USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
A Fond du Lac centerpiece
That sense of community is because, for much of Fond du Lac, Mercury is focal point. Of the more than 6,000 who work at Mercury globally, 3,200 are based in Fond du Lac, doubling from 10 years ago, said Mercury Director of Global Public Relations & Communications Lee Gordon.

Bob Krudwig of Mercury Marine.
DOUG RAFLIK/USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
For Plant 15 Maintenance Manager Bob Krudwig, Mercury was at the center of family life. His dad worked as an assembler in manufacturing, and his mom in sales, spending 44 and 25 years at the company respectively prior to their retirements in the early 2000s.
“With both my parents working there, obviously Mercury was always talked about and referred to in everyday life,” he said. “(Mercury) provided for my parents a way of living and I continued that and they’re a great part of my life through advancements, schooling, jobs opportunities. It enhanced my life quite a bit.”
Following his service in the Navy, Krudwig became employed at Mercury and started in a position where he ran a washer for an engine. With opportunities for schooling and apprenticeships, he worked as an electrician and moved into maintenance management, he said. In his role, what he most enjoys is interacting with all the people and making their jobs easier through enhancing reliability, he said.



Mercury Marine gets ready to celebrate it's 80th birthday.
DOUGLAS RAFLIK, FOND DU LAC REPORTER
Krudwig is just one of many veterans that work at Mercury Marine, which, for many years, was the only manufacturer in the state to guarantee an interview to veterans, said Gordon. On-site is a veteran’s organization, M3VN, which hosts events for retired service members at the headquarters and from around the community, as well as stops production on Veterans Day at 11:11 a.m. and 11:11 p.m.
“You can send someone to school and teach manufacturing and teach assembly and teach the paint process, but you can’t teach the hard work they (veterans) already come with and the discipline,” said Gordon.
Business grown by people
No matter their background, each employee around the world contributes to the growth of the company.
"Companies are basically ... made up of people and it's people that put their minds together and create things and make things happen and the people here are phenomenal," Pfeifer said. 


Since joining Mercury 13 years ago to run its Asia Pacific companies, Pfeifer has seen growth in multiple facets including: revolutionizing the product line as engines went from two-stroke technology to four-stroke; digitization of products, including the addition of electronic controllers, like joysticks; and connectivity, in which a person can be connected to their product and their dealer, allowing them to know an issue before it becomes a problem, he said.
In the past 10 years alone, as the manufacturer maintained its culture of being “a foundation of product excellence and product innovation,” said Pfeifer, it saw significant progress.
In 2009, the company considered moving jobs to Stillwater, Oklahoma, and, in order to stay in Fond du Lac, Mercury’s 850 International Association of Machinist and Aerospace Workers Local 1947 voted to approve contract negotiations. Fond du Lac County gave a $50 million loan to be paid back with interest over 12 years, as well as $3 million in financial assistance from the City of Fond du Lac and $70 million in incentives from the state.
Since 2008, more than $1 billion has been invested in buildings, equipment, environmental stability and research and development — including its largest single new-product development in its history with the launch of 20 engines, a $25 million assembly line and a $10 million Noise, Harshness and Vibration facility in 2018.



Eighty years young
Recognizing how integral the city is in employment and support, Mercury will thank city in celebration of the 80th anniversary with billboards, reading “Mercury. Powered by Fond du Lac,” and “The heart of Mercury. Thanks, Fond du Lac.” For employees, celebrations will be held globally at Mercury’s 90 facilities at the end of summer.

Billboards will go up around the city to celebrate Mercury Marine's 80th anniversary and thank the community.
COURTESY OF MERCURY MARINE
It also will continue its support of the community. Over the years, the manufacture has held food drives and fundraisers for local organizations, said Krudwig, as well as assisted Fond du Lac STEM Academy and been a main contributor to Walleye Weekend. This year, the company will have sponsorship with Dock Spiders, and already renewed its sponsorship with Marian University, said Gordon.


Billboards will go up around the city to celebrate Mercury Marine's 80th anniversary and thank the community.
COURTESY OF MERCURY MARINE
Looking forward, it is the future that excites Mercury. Pfeifer sees even more changes in technology, and advancements which the company will be able to apply to make the industry and Mercury itself better. Tovar looks forward to more expansions in robotics, and hopes to see automation similar to the auto industry, in which there is less strain on employees and less cost for the company.

Mercury Marine’s Tim Reid talks to guests Thursday, Dec. 6, 2018, in one of the rooms at their new NVH facility in Fond du Lac.
DOUG RAFLIK/USA TODAY NETWORK-WISCONSIN
“You never know what else they have going on or what’s going to happen,” said McDermott. “To have a business like this survive 80 years through all the ups and downs, it’s amazing and I hope it’s here another 80.”