Jesse Ortiz assembles a window at Kinro Inc.'s tempered glass plant in Goshen. The company once made 200 windows a day, but now makes 4,000. It is a subsidiary of Drew Industries (South Bend Tribune/SANTIAGO FLORES / May 24, 2013)
Drew Industries
Number of employees: Currently 4,800 in Indiana, but will be more than 5,300 by 2016, most of them in Elkhart County. Plants and offices in Goshen, Elkhart, Middlebury, Topeka and Howe in Indiana. In all, the company has 29 plants across the United States.
History: Drew Industries traces its roots to 1956 when Lippert Components was founded. Through its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Lippert Components and Kinro, the company supplies a broad array of components for recreation vehicles and manufactured homes. Drew's products include windows, doors, chassis, chassis parts, bath and shower units, axles, upholstered furniture, awnings and slide-out mechanisms for RVs. In addition, Drew manufactures components for modular housing, truck cabs and buses, as well as for trailers used to haul boats, livestock, equipment and cargo.
Financials: Drew reported $901 million in sales in 2012 and about $37 million in profits. The company's stock is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DW.
When Jason Lippert talks about being bullish on the recreational vehicleindustry, he's clearly not kidding.
In June, he will be moving the company he now heads -- Drew Industries -- from White Plains, N.Y., to Elkhart, resulting in about six new jobs.
But of greater importance to the Michiana area is that its subsidiaries -- Lippert Components and Kinro Inc. -- are in the process of adding 500 new jobs that will push Drew's total employment in the Elkhart County area to 5,300 by 2016.
And Lippert and Kinro project another 300 jobs being added after 2016.
Lippert Components makes windows, mattresses, upholstered seating, leveling devices, suspension products, slideouts and other accessories for the RV industry as well as components for the manufactured housing industry. Kinro produces doors and windows for the RV and manufactured housing industries.
"Overall, we're just bullish on the industry," said Lippert, who is CEO of Drew Industries as well as the subsidiaries. "The products have never looked better.
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