We welcome you to JobBank USA and hope your job hunting experience
is a pleasant one. We hope you find our resources useful.
August 20, 2009
More good economic news right across the state line was announced Wednesday afternoon. Fleetwood RV announced it will make Decatur, Indiana it's company headquarters by moving the company's California and Pennsylvania manufacturing operations to that city. The net result will be 300 new jobs by 2012.
Those new jobs are in addition to the 650 employees the company has already hired within the past month. A portion of those workers are Van Wert County residents, taking some of the stress off the unemployment situation here.
The RV manufacturing facility in Decatur was functioning on a skeleton crew just weeks ago. Around 550 of the 600 workers were laid off in a 12-month period. Then on June 2, Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. was sold to American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV (AIP) of New York for $53 million. Once the sale was finalized, the new company began hiring again.
Decatur Mayor John Schultz is feeling much better about the employment outlook in his city. "Have no doubt - as Mayor, you don't sleep at night when worrying about people needing jobs but this is a giant leap for us on the way to recovery. We are grateful to Fleetwood RV," he stated.
A major incentive for the company to center its operations in western Indiana was help from the state. According to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, that state will provide up to $9 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $100,000 in training grants to the company. The Decatur City Council approved an additional property tax abatement at the request of the Adams County Economic Development Corporation.
"The decision to establish our company headquarters in Decatur was two-fold," said John Draheim, president of Fleetwood RV. "First and most importantly, was the high-caliber workforce in the area, and the second was the cooperation from the state and city to develop a plan that would be best for the company, the local community and the RV industry as a whole."
Plans call for Fleetwood to make $7.4 million in new investment toward building improvements, machinery and equipment and retooling. Another $8 million in equipment will be shipped in from other plant locations.
The new jobs will be phased in over the next three years. If the current employment situation does not improve greatly in that time period, demand will remain high for those manufacturing positions. Industry publication RVBusiness reported Wednesday that more than 1,000 people had applied for 200 jobs this week after Keystone RV announced it would expand in Goshen, Indiana.
Fleetwood RV manufactures Class A and Class C recreational vehicles under brand names like American Coach and Bounder. The company also owns Goldshield Fiberglass Inc., a maker of custom-molded composite products across a variety of industries including heavy truck and RV.
"Indiana is determined to make opportunity from hard times. We're reaching out to companies like Fleetwood and saying, if you are consolidating, do it in Indiana. Jobs have been coming to Indiana from everywhere," said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.
Email This Page!