BOMBARDIER FACTORY TOUR

SEE THE NEW PLANT IN ACTION !!

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1/15/2002 MASTERTECH goes on tour at the new Bombardier Evinrude and Johnson production facility in Sturtevant Wisconsin. As a result of a solicitation from the good folks at Bombardier to come and see for myself the new facility for production of Evinrude and Johnson outboards. Suffice it to say this old engineer was duly impressed.

The group of individuals selected to tour the plant were bussed in from the excellent quarters provided out to the plant early on the 15th of January. A large open reception area where we all were issued ID was just inside the front door. Heritage was evident in a display of an early Evinrude A model single from the teens as well as a 1923 Johnson Light Twin. Across the room were new 2002 Evinrude and Johnson models.

Upstairs we were presented with several display areas highlighting various departments including tech service, parts and accessories as well as having Our pictures taken for possible press release by Our local papers. (yeah, right, West Hawaii Today will have me on the front page - ). The vice president of Bombardier, Roche Lambert and other notables were introduced to us at a short dissertation on the direction Bombardier is taking with the outboard division. Motors have been analyzed from top to prop and redesigned as required to eliminate prior problems. A completely new gearcase has been designed for all V6 models. The one you see here is the fast guys case.

As this plant is a work in progress we were all issued hard hats and a small radio receiver so we could hear the information provided by out tour guide as we progressed thru the plant. The first area we saw was the paint facility for, and the area where the midsections were being assembled. This picture is in the department where power trim units are installed. The planning guys were looking into an assembly problem for production folks. I was told all trim assemblies that were built as of the OMC bankruptcy were taken down and checked, cleaned, reassembled and retested.

As we traveled thru the plant we saw the receivingarea where parts and assemblies are entered into the plant from outside vendors and other production facilities. Currently the block castings and die castings are produced in the Southeast. Plans are to consolidate operations in close proximity to this assembly plant so as to minimize wasted time and parts in transit.

The "Thunder" assembly line is the 90° V6 powerhead build area. Every powerhead has a build sheet, this accompanies it thru production and onto the mating midsection and lower unit. Anyone, at any time, can send this powerhead or entire motor back to square one if need be to correct any evident or suspected problem. That is ANYONE, no supervisor has to intercede. On the other side of the aisle the 60° powerheads undergo a similar procedure.

After the motor is completed mechanically it disappears into the room where EVERY ONE gets a propeller installed and sensors hooked up for a thorough test run. This is a serious test where the motor is run up to temperature and then the hammer is dropped, it gets an EXTENDED wide open test. Not up to snuff? It's outa' here - and back to the rework area where whatever corrective action required is accomplished. Then its' back to the tank for a rerun. This was a pretty impressive setup, measurements are taken of many parameters thru strain gauges, temperature sensors and computer simulations of different RPM regimes.

This view shows the screen readouts during this testing. As can be seen, this test cell is large enough to handle a lot of engines at once. Production here is just underway, they have adequate capacity to handle future growth easily.

Next, the completed motor has the remaining peripherals and cover installed, a last cleaning and detailing is performed before it gets sent to the packers to be crated for delivery. All in all, a most impressive operation. A far cry from what I saw in the late 70's when I was in and about the old OMC plants in the Milwaukee and Waukegan areas. These folks are dedicated to building the best darn motors in the world, I think they might just do it. In my humble opinion the FICHT FFI system is the simplest, best option to the 2 stroke emission problem. With the new Bombardier Corporation of AMERICA, the Evinrude/Johnson brands will be elevated to their former prominence. They got my vote!