Airxcel Breaks Ground on Maxxair/Coleman-Mach Expansion

Photos by Travis Pryor/RVBusiness

WICHITA, Kan. – Surrounded by a couple hundred employees, community members and statewide dignitaries, Airxcel broke ground on a 125,000-square-foot expansion of its Maxxair and Coleman-Mach facility on Monday (Oct. 10) in Wichita, Kan.

“When you think about the last couple of years, the demand for RV air conditioners was stressed at times,” Airxcel President Jeff Rutherford told RVBusiness after the festivities were finished. “A big part of this investment is to make sure we’re never in that position as an industry again. We know there are competitive products coming out of Asia, but we’re the only ones who produce this in the United States.”

Rutherford spoke to the gathered crowd along with Rob Leach, president of Airxcel RV Products, which is the Airxcel division that oversees production of the air conditioner brands.

Dignitaries on hand included U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran of Kansas, Kansas Commerce Dept. Secretary Paul Hughes, Sedgewick County Commission Chairman David Dennis and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple, who all touted the American ingenuity and strength of companies like Airxcel and what they mean to communities like Wichita.

Rob Leach

“It’s very exciting for our capacity and the future of our company,” Leach said. “We know RVing is going to continue to grow and this puts us in the position to meet all customers’ demands.”

The facility will increase capacity for both brands, which will allow the current product lines of air conditioners and accessories and the warehouse operations of raw and finished goods to be centralized in one location. It also will include improvements in sustainable energy usage and green technology.

The project will be broken into two phases. Phase 1 will include the new 113,000-square-foot expansion of the current 110,000-square-foot space at 3050 N. St. Francis St. in Wichita as well as improved employee parking, a secured employee entrance and improvement to trucking logistics.

Phase 2 includes designs for a 12,000-square-foot office expansion that is set to begin in 2023.

Sen. Jerry Moran

Whipple said the development for Wichita came out of a desire following the COVID outbreak to not only attract new companies, but to support the ones that were already located in the community.

In July, the city approved $18 million in industrial revenue bonds to support Airxcel’s project.

Jeff Rutherford

“Airxcel, thank you for choosing to expand here,” Moran said. “You had other opportunities. You know the rest of the country. Let me say thank you as an American for finding a way to produce your product in the U.S. and be competitive.”

In total, Airxcel has 13 product lines including Aqua-Hot, Suburban, Can, Dicor, United Shade, Vixen Composites, MCD, Cleer Vision Windows, CV Tempered Glass and ECI.

“The biggest difference is Airxcel has gone from 30 years as a private equity firm with short returns on investment and now that we’re no longer a private equity company we can look at investments differently in terms of size, scale as well as generating return,” Rutherford said.

Source: https://rvbusiness.com/airxcel-breaks-ground-on-maxxair-coleman-mach-expansion/