Ben SpecialeRead profile of Yamaha Marine President Ben Speciale
Read profile of Yamaha Marine President Ben Speciale in November Edge magazine. Speciale is a Rhea County native who now heads Yamaha Marine Group.
America’s biggest manufacturer of midsize sports boats is riding the rising economic tide with plans for a $17.7 million expansion of its boat production plant in Vonore, Tenn.
Yamaha Jet Boat Manufacturing USA announced Monday it will buy a building adjacent to its current facility in Monroe County and add 150 jobs by the end of next year. The new production site should be operational by the end of 2015 and boat building should begin in mid- to late-2016.
“Having just completed a plant expansion in 2013, we are excited to continue to invest and grow our production operation in Monroe County,” Mike Fishback, the company’s general manager, said in the company’s announcement of the expansion Monday. “We have one of the most innovative boat manufacturing facilities in the world which has enabled Yamaha boats to continue to be the best-selling 16-foot to 25-foot family runabout boats in the industry.”
The new facility will add more than 36,000 square feet of production and office space to its facility on Tellico Lake near Vonore.