Truth staff
ELKHART -- Patrick Industries Inc. laid off about 20 employees Friday as the company shifted operations out of its facility on C.R. 20.
The downsizing and closure were not the result of the slowing recreational vehicle industry, said Lyle Goward, human resource director at Patrick, but a strategic business decision to realign production.
The lamination work done in the plant was moved to the former Adorn facility, also on C.R. 20. Patrick acquired Adorn in May 2007.
Patrick Industries is a supplier to the RV and manufactured housing industries.
Most of the affected employees were members of International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 364, and received severance packages, said John Dylewski, business agent for the union.
The workers were "for the most part satisfied" with the severance packages, Dylewski said, and should have little trouble finding other jobs because the work they did required them to be skilled.
As positions become open in the former Adorn plant, the laid-off employees can apply for the jobs, Goward said.