Middlebury's Pilgrim will shut down for two weeks to retool plant for new RV panels

 

Pilgrim International Inc., an RV and travel-trailer manufacturer, is shutting down its Middlebury plant for two weeks to retool equipment so it can begin production of its new lines that feature company's CosmoLite composite panels

The company, in a statement, said the panels take the place of traditional wood substrates used in its lines.

"After five years of research, design and testing, it's remarkable to see everything come together as quickly as it has this past year," Dave Hoefer, Pilgrim chairman, said in the statement.

The company said the panels streamline the production process because they are made from continuous coils that become bonded together. It eliminates the joining of several 4-foot-by-8-foot panels to create a sidewall, Hoefer said.

The first units made with the new panels are due off of the production line by mid-June and will have different branding than the company's existing products, Jerry Sell, vice president of sales and marketing, said in the statement.

He added that the transition of Pilgrim's current brands to composite construction will take place later this summer.