Verado Manufacturing Article

[Riverman]

Interesting article on Verado assembly and testing processes. From SME's Manufacturing Engineering magazine.

http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-mag.pl?&&ME05ART19&000009&2005/ME05ART19&ARTME&SME&

RM

[Riverman]

An interesting note, the last para of the article reads as follows:


"On our older, high-horsepower V-6 products, cycle time could be up to 120 hours from the start of a power head to the box. Now, we can put an end-model-specific order in the system, and we can box the engine two hours later.

[Reese]

That was interesting....very automated and very modern. I have to admit that from a business point of view, you don't spend that much time and money on producing a new product unless you truely believe that is the direction the company should take.

The next few year will be very interesting.

[Matt Gent]

An interesting note, the last para of the article reads as follows:


"On our older, high-horsepower V-6 products, cycle time could be up to 120 hours from the start of a power head to the box. Now, we can put an end-model-specific order in the system, and we can box the engine two hours later.


Its not an entirely apples-apples statement though, as when an end-model-specific order is placed, the powerhead has already been built and is in the store, just needs to be assembled to the tower housing.

[1BadAction]

That was interesting....very automated and very modern. I have to admit that from a business point of view, you don't spend that much time and money on producing a new product unless you truely believe that is the direction the company should take.

The next few year will be very interesting.

havent you heard reese? verados are the water version of a harley, tree hugging, heavy, 4 suck, no torque, overcomplicated, slow, no-revving junk... thats what the etec infomercial says, so it must be true :D

[Riverman]

Its not an entirely apples-apples statement though, as when an end-model-specific order is placed, the powerhead has already been built and is in the store, just needs to be assembled to the tower housing.

Very true, but with modern manufacturing economics being how they are, I doubt that there are a large number of completed powerheads in inventory at any given time.

[Reese]

Well Badstream it does seem like the war is on....good for anyone who still wants a lightweight 225+ outboard. The big Verado's will never loose enough weight to ever satisfy the under 22 foot crowd, but the smaller 4's....who knows.

[1BadAction]

reese, I pmed you (rant) lol

[Markus]

Very true, but with modern manufacturing economics being how they are, I doubt that there are a large number of completed powerheads in inventory at any given time.

Very true, but if there are no powerheads in inventory, it will take more than 2 hours.

[Burley1]

The E-tec have great power make no sound and make less emissions than the 4 strokes,


oh and did I forget a 150lbs lighter :eek:

[sosmerc]

Riverman, thanks for posting that article...it was quite interesting.
It sure looks like alot of thought and money have gone into the process to insure success of this new family of engines.
From what I am reading on various message boards Mercury should set aside a few bucks and assign some talented folks to "re-tool" their customer relations department. It doesn't matter how good the product is, there are still going to be problems and when folks can't get fair, timely assistance when they need it, the industry suffers.

[Mark]

When will a 150 hp ETec be born???

[aqualoony]

etec 150/175 etc are meant to be out in fall this year , or in other word around springtime for us Aussies. I was hoping that they will be on display at the Sydney show this year, as that was when the 200-225-250 were realeased in aussie last year! so that may mean we will see them in the next 2 months! I'm sure they will be out soon though seeing as the verados are now out in the same size range....