Junction City Leaders Laud
Winnebago’s Planned Arrival
JUNCTION
CITY — City leaders called Winnebago Industries’ new plant the first big sign
since the recession that Lane County’s recreational vehicle industry has a
pulse. The Iowa-based RV giant plans to phase in production of its diesel
vehicles at the former Country Coach plant during the next 18 months, hiring up
to 200 workers. That’s far fewer than the 1,800 employees who produced Country
Coach RVs a decade ago, before the recession. But it’s welcome news for a town
still reeling from several thousand lost manufacturing jobs, Mayor Mike Cahill
said.
“We have
highly skilled, trained people here in the area that were displaced due to the
loss of all those jobs in 2008 and ’09,” he said. “So we’re really excited as a
community about getting some of those people back to work.”
Some laid
off RV workers found new jobs with related firms, including those in the former
Monaco Coach plant in Coburg, which developer Steve Lee has converted into the
Coburg North Industrial Park. Marathon Coach in Coburg was forced to downsize
during the recession, but it held on and now has more than 200 workers. Other
former RV workers went back to school to re-train in new fields or took
lower-paying jobs.
Winnebago’s
plans come amid a revival in the RV industry. RV manufacturers shipped 356,700
vehicles to dealers nationwide last year, the highest total since 2006,
according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association. From 2008 to 2012,
the annual average was 236,000.
An
improving economy is prompting more workers to retire by choice, said Brian
Rooney, a regional economist with the state Employment Department. Many are
moving from the Midwest to the coasts, where they’re opening their wallets for
big-ticket items like RVs. Those trends could be leading firms like Winnebago
to go west for growth. “The western U.S. is kind of RV country,” Rooney said.
“Most of the RV manufacturers have been centered in the Midwest, so it might be
a good idea for them to establish a West Coast presence.”
Winnebago
officials on Tuesday said their Iowa plants were operating at capacity, leading
them to move their diesel RV operations to Junction City.
Besides
occupying the 104,000-square-foot Country Coach headquarters at 135 E. First
Ave., Winnebago has an agreement to use the 80,000-square-foot complex across
First Avenue from the headquarters, spokesman Sam Jefson said. The Lee family,
which founded Country Coach, owns both buildings, Lane County property records
show.……“There’s been no appreciable recovery in the RV industry in Lane County
since the crash,” he said.
If
Winnebago’s arrival in Junction City boosted the total to 700, it would be the
highest job count for the industry since April 2012, Employment Department data
show. The loss of 4,000 Lane County jobs came as the entire RV industry
downsized in the recession, University of Oregon Economist Tim Duy said. National
shipments of RVs from wholesalers to dealers is back around pre-recession
levels, but many companies are still boosting production with fewer workers
than in the past.
“Is this
the beginning of a return to 4,500 jobs? That I’d be somewhat cautious of,” Duy
said. Still, companies that survived by getting leaner in the recession are now
riding pent-up demand for their products, he said. Many are investing in big
expansions, and Lane County’s slew of former RV manufacturing sites — and
workers with manufacturing backgrounds — makes it a logical place for companies
looking to expand. “There are some
fundamental resources relative to RV manufacturing that are still in the
region,” Duy said. “And sooner or later it’s likely somebody is going to try to
take advantage of those resources Source:
Register-Guard, Elon Glucklich
