Here's the article I read on this subject:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Northwood Closes Winchester, Va. Plant
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Northwood Manufacturing Inc. will mothball a 117,000-square-foot factory in Winchester, Va., opened in 2001 to manufacturer Arctic Fox, Desert Fox and Nash travel trailers, fifth-wheels and truck campers.
"The low volume of that plant ... makes it extremely difficult to operate it in a profitable manner," said Ron Nash, president of the La Grande, Ore., company. "It's a tough decision when you've got people you are putting out of work."
The current soft towable market had little to do with the decision to shutter the plant, according to Nash, a former Fleetwood executive who had been trying to expand 11-year-old Northwood's reach beyond its West Coast roots. "Our first East Coast show was in Harrisburg (Pa.) on 9/11, and we just never caught on in the East from the start," he said.
Nash said the Fleetwood plant in Virginia will continue to build towable RVs until sometime in July when component supplies will be exhausted. About 65 people will be laid off in Virginia, while 15 to 20 positions will be added to Northwood's La Grande workforce of 375 people as Northwood over time increases production there.
"There will be no liquidation in Virginia at this time," Nash said. "We will run some warranty service out of the plant."
Production of Arctic Fox truck campers was transferred from Virginia to Oregon in March. "We tried to keep the plant open after that, but we couldn't," Nash said, adding that a main problem was that the company was not able to build its own frames in Virginia as it does in Oregon. Production of 95 to 100 units a week " less than 20% of the plant's capacity " also couldn't keep expensive lamination equipment busy, he said.
Nash informed employees of the plant's shutdown on May 14. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
__________________
John & Marilyn Yoder, Sophie & Misha (Bichons)
2008 Vectra 40TD, WIT-151980 FMCA F265880
|