Malibu Boats among the top in boat manufacturing | Made in Tennessee

 

LOUDON, Tenn. (WVLT) -- If you're heading out on the water this weekend to celebrate the waning days of summer, chances are you're going to see a Malibu Boat.

It doesn't really matter what body of water you're on, what part of the country you live in, or where in the world you call home; chances are there are several Malibu Boats floating around.

The company makes all of its power sport boats in its Loudon, Tennessee facility with a workforce of about 375 people. In one year, Malibu Boats can produce about 3,500 boats, more than any other boat building company, said company president Jack Springer. And every boat is bought and paid for before it's even built.

But Malibu hasn't always done all of its business in East Tennessee. It started in a garage in California by a couple of guys, then expanded its production to Tennessee. In the height of the economic crisis, boats weren't in high demand so the company decided to move all of its production to the shores of the Tennessee River in the small town of Loudon.

That move to Tennessee turned out to be a very successful one.

"Just the general environment of the state of Tennessee verses California made it much easier to do business. We're able to attract what we thought were better employees, and we just had a better opportunity to make the business," Springer explained.

And right now, business is good. The company is looking to expand within the coming year to beef up production to about 5,000 boats a year, Springer said. In the past few years, Malibu has almost doubled in employees.

Malibu is also leading the way when it comes to technology for sport boats, innovating new features like blue tooth controls for a wake-surfer to be able to control the wake while he's surfing behind the boat. That means the surfer can make the wake switch from one side of the boat to the other with just the push of a button. No other boat manufacturer currently offers that technology.

"We have brought new products and new features to the market, more than any of our competition combined over the last five years," Springer explained.

Malibu Boats also offers factory tours of its production facility. To get more details, click the link to Malibu Boats' website.