Georgia lawmaker visits Yamaha Marine Innovation Center
Boating Industry magazine recently shared that on Jan. 8 Representative Barry Loudermilk (R-Georgia) visited the Yamaha Marine Innovation Center. The 75,280 square foot facility is located in Kennesaw, Georgia, and houses the Yamaha Marine Connected Division as well as Yamaha U.S. Marine Development, Yamaha Marine Product Management and Yamaha Marine Technical Marketing.
Loudermilk toured the facility, met with employees and learned more about Yamaha’s current career opportunities as well as the company’s economic impact within Georgia.
“Yamaha makes its home in Georgia because of the exceptional opportunities the state offers for growth and development,” said Mike Chrzanowski, president, Yamaha Motor Corporation, U.S.A. “We employ 2,300 team members across four major facilities in the state: the Marine Innovation Center, Yamaha’s Marine headquarters in Kennesaw, the Yamaha Motorsports and Intelligent Machinery Group headquarters in Marietta, and the Yamaha Motor Manufacturing (YMMC) facility in Newnan.”
“The Marine Innovation Center represents the cutting edge of product development within our Marine division, currently employing 75 individuals with plans to fill an additional 30 positions in areas such as engineering, product planning and procurement,” he continued. “As we move more development and engineering to the U.S., we will continue to work with local universities to recruit for those positions. We’re excited to develop these innovative products here in Georgia.”
Products currently under development within the Yamaha Marine Innovation Center include DockPoint, a new prototype feature of Helm Master EX Full Maneuverability, which assists in docking a properly equipped boat at the touch of a finger, in addition to Siren Marine products, which allow customers to monitor and control the functionality of their boats from mobile devices, as well as new Yamaha WaterCraft vehicles and accessories.
Yamaha executives in attendance during Rep. Loudermilk’s visit to the Marine Innovation Center included Chrzanowski, Ben Speciale, President, Yamaha U.S. Marine Business Unit, Stephen Donnell, President, Yamaha Golf-Car Company, and Mike Martinez, President, Yamaha Motorsports Division.
