Some good news out of the boating industry: Legend Boats this week announced the purchase of a new 75,000-square-foot state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in north-central Arkansas. The facility, just minutes away from the current Legend plant in Midway, Ark., is set to house all production and operations and will completely replace the current factory.
Legend president Randy Qualls announced the news and stated: "Sales of our boats are through the roof, and we just can't keep up with the demand in our current facility the way we'd like to – we need more space."
The current Legend factory is a 20,000-square-foot facility in Midway, Ark. that produces approximately 300 boats per year. According to Legend, current lead time for production orders is 16 weeks, "so the new manufacturing facility is an absolute necessity."
BassFan asked Legend brand manager Kody Bradbury whether Legend's goal is to simply improve its lead time, or build more boats as well. Bradbury said: "Well definitely be doing both. We're not looking to mass-manufacture boats by any means. We don't ever want to be as big as Ranger. We'll become more efficient and in turn build more boats, but we're not wanting to double the amount of boats we build. We want to keep it small and custom and focus on quality and craftsmanship and the core values that got us to where we are."
Legend plant manager Lou Ovalle noted: "I'm thrilled about our transition into the new facility. I've been in the bass-boat industry for over 25 years and I've never seen a facility like the new Legend Boats plant. It's going to afford us the opportunity to be the absolute best we can be, both in terms of producing the absolute highest-quality product on the market, and maximizing our efficiency in getting boats to our dealers and customers."
