ELKHART -- The last three companies Tim Bair worked for all went out of the business and, now, so is he.
Riding the wave of van conversions that swept through Elkhart County, the lean and quick-smiling Bair liked the fast pace of the work and loved the money.
The production crew came to work in shorts and spent their shift crawling around the cargo vans installing stereos, televisions, carpet, cabinets and couches, all to the tunes from a blaring radio echoing through the factory.
The rise of the sport utility vehicle and the minivan, however, ate into the van conversion market until the industry today exists practically only in memories.
The ups and downs in the industry, along with the plant closures, sent Bair searching for a new career outside the factory.
"I've been doing it long enough," Bair said. "I'd like to try something different. I'm not knocking it. I had a lot of fun."
Now Bair is studying for a commercial drivers license and preparing for a career as a delivery truck driver. He mused that sitting behind the wheel all day might get boring but he was lured to the transportation field by the promise of steady work and the ability to find a job anywhere in the United States.
The recreational vehicle industry, which includes van conversion companies, is a mainstay of employment within Elkhart County, providing jobs not only for county residents but for those who live outside of the county's lines.
Working on the production line in the RV factories is physically demanding and subject to swings from clocking overtime to receiving a layoff notice.
Still, the industry continues to attract skilled and unskilled workers.
David Gilley moved to Elkhart County about 20 years ago and has had a front-row seat as the RV industry has struggled against oil embargoes and high interest rates and then soared as the national economy sizzled.
A maintenance worker at an RV factory, he enjoys his job, which may have him inside one day repairing a machine, outside the next working on the dust-collection system and back inside the day after fixing the toilet.
"I couldn't do the same job day in and day out," Gilley said. "I'd go nuts."
Answering the phone, taking care of customers' needs, handling dealers and setting production schedules kept Bair hopping and happy as well. He joined the production line shortly after graduating from Memorial High School in 1976 and was promoted into management five years later.
Bair never thought he would stay in the van conversion industry long enough to retire from it but, he said, jobs were available and the paychecks were fat.
Once in management, he learned that an uptick in dealers' complaints usually signaled trouble within the company, which meant he would have to start preparing to close the facility for good.
"That's hard because you're not only worried about yourself and your family, you're worried about the people working for you," Bair said.
Even with the plant closures, Bair was still able to step from one van conversion business to another. There was always another company looking for workers.
When his last employer shut the doors in November 2006, however, Bair decided he was tired of losing his free time to paperwork brought home and Saturdays at the plant.
Gilley, on the other hand, is confident that he will have a job in the RV industry until he decides to retire. His two grown sons have followed in his footsteps and now work in RV factories.
"I would liked to have seen them better themselves where they didn't have to work real physical labor day in and day out," Gilley said of his sons. "But like I say, you can make a good living in the industry. It's nothing to sneeze at."