ATC Trailers’ New Production Facility Nearing Completion
ATC Trailers will move RV production into this new 210,000-square-foot facility on U.S. 6 at the east edge of Nappanee in early June. (Photo: RVBusiness)
NAPPANEE, Ind. – A 210,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and office complex is on the cusp of completion for high-end cargo trailer and RV builder Aluminum Trailer Company (ATC).
ATC – known for it’s all-aluminum construction methods and currently employing about 440 workers – broke ground for the project on a 35-acre plot at the east edge of Nappanee last April and completion was originally slated for early 2023.
“We moved the launch date to the end of May, first of June, so the building is currently scheduled to be completed late April, first of May,” said Duane Yoder, ATC CEO. “It gives us a little time to get everything buttoned up as we plan to move the RV side of things out there.”
ATC will be relocating RV production out of an existing 88,000-square-foot building in Nappanee, which it has already sold. Production will continue there until the new facility is up and running, Yoder said. Cargo trailer production will remain in its current location.
Yoder – who took over as CEO in September after serving numerous leadership roles at ATC including COO, VP of operations, GM, value stream manager and production manager – also spoke briefly about current market conditions.
“It’s a bit of a tough market overall. Things have slowed. Really, it started in early ’22. There were already indications it was slowing when we looked at Statistical Surveys,” he said. “That indicates coming out of ’21 into ’22, the RV side of things was outpacing retail demand by about 150,000 units overall.”
After the industry ramped up and overshot retail demand, manufacturers began pulling back.
“We pulled back in August of last year,” Yoder said. “We’ve been a little slow. The overall economic outlook is tough to gauge, based on what the Fed continues to do with interest rates. It’s tough to understand what the job report really means and how it relates to the situation we’re in as an industry. It doesn’t seem to compute. I think there’s still a possibility of a decent year this year. From my perspective, I think we’ve probably hit kind of the bottom of the run rate, but that remains to be seen.”
Despite the confusing signals in the market, ATC had a solid showing at the Florida SuperShow in Tampa, Yoder said.
“This year, for ATC, we had a decent show,” he said. “That was positive, and we’ve had some other good movement.”
ATC’s current RV lines include the Pla, Game Changer and Game Changer PRO Series toy haulers, made with premium-quality aluminum construction. For information on current ATC products, visit ATC’s new website: www.atctrailers.com.
Source: https://rvbusiness.com/atc-trailers-new-production-facility-nearing-completion/
