2025 Coolest Things Made in the Ozarks: Electric Table Pedestal

Danny Sweeney

Headquartered in Nixa with an additional facility in the Queen City, Springfield Marine Co. manufactures products that target boat builders, marine distributors and retailers across North America. Its products are used in Ozarks-area boating brands including Bass Cat, G3, Ranger and Tracker, as well as retailers such as Bass Pro Shops and Walmart. Springfield Marine Co. officials say its products are designed to fill a critical gap in the boating market, offering superior quality that exceeds American Boat & Yacht Council standards and passes rigorous testing. Engineered for versatility, its electric table pedestal features an aluminum extrusion and a quiet 12-volt actuator, adjusting from floor level to 28 inches. It also has an ingress protection rating of 65 for water and dust resistance and can lift up to 125 pounds. The pedestal is a new product for the 1952-founded company.

SBJ: How does the electric table pedestal function?
Danny Sweeney (director of sales and marketing): It functions using two electric actuators and it has three different sizes of aluminum extrusion. I guess you could say an oval shape, and the oval shape helps the stability of the system.

SBJ: Who is your targeted audience for this product?
Sweeney: Boat builders. It has to be designed into the boat.

SBJ: How long have you made the electric table pedestal, and has how it’s manufactured changed over the years?
Sweeney: It’s a new product for us, although we’ve had multiple different table pedestal systems. But this electric version is brand new for us. It’s a new design for the 2025 model year.

SBJ: What led you to create this new product?
Sweeney: There was a need in the marketplace. We had builders asking us for something different from what they were buying from other suppliers, so we designed it from concept to finish.

SBJ: How long of a process was it to bring to market?
Sweeney: I would say a full year. It was engineering, design and then tooling, and then production.

SBJ: How does the company’s manufacturing of this pedestal impact the local economy?
Sweeney: We’re building it all in-house in Nixa, Missouri. We’re using local aluminum extruders and we’re using our local labor staff and sales staff. It’s a possibility that it’s going to be sold to some of the local builders.

SBJ: Where do you all sell and ship your products?
Sweeney: Globally. We focus anywhere where recreational boating is strong. Our biggest market is of course North America, with the United States being the largest, and Canada next. And then we have customers across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. I can tell you that the boating industry as a whole globally had a big bubble during the COVID crisis. Then once COVID stopped, there was a slowdown and it’s now stabilizing and coming back to pre-COVID numbers.