Barletta Pontoon Boats in Bristol, Ind., has added a dedicated space for product research and development. This comes on the heels of the company hiring Josiah Druckenmiller, formerly with Bennington Marine, as Barletta’s new director of design and development.
The company says its current facilities are committed to production, so the new space will be used for development of new products. Barletta has also started on plans to expand its 37-acre campus.
“The team and I have been considering this for quite some time,” Bill Fenech, president and co-owner of Barletta Pontoon Boats, said in a statement. “As our production volume has steadily risen since the introduction of our first boat in January of 2018, the need for dedicated space was quickly turning into a reality. And with the successful launch of our premium entry-level lineup, the C-Class, we just couldn’t wait any longer.”
The L-Class, E-Class, Slide-Toon and C-Class are all currently built at the production facility in Bristol, which opened two years ago.
“We’ve been working diligently on a sensible expansion plan that will help us improve our efficiencies as well as contribute to the quality of the pontoon boats we build,” said Fenech. “We’re not going to build just to build. Any type of expansion plan will only be considered if we know that it will support and benefit our dealers, our customers and our internal teams.”
