Truth Staff
GOSHEN -- Terra Group, a supplier to the recreational vehicle industry, is consolidating operations even more in a continuing effort to weather the economic downturn.
The company will be closing the aluminum extrusion mill near C.R. 40 and C.R. 27, said Terra chief executive officer Steve Brenneman. About 30 workers are employed at the plant and some will be given jobs in another part of the organization while the others will be laid off.
"The general economic conditions and overall health of the RV industry made it difficult to get it to the place where it would be profitable," Brenneman said of the mill.
Prior to this latest closure, Terra Group, formerly Nappanee Window, had consolidated operations in Nappanee into one plant on U.S. 6 and, in June, laid off an undisclosed number of local workers. In addition, the company has stopped operations in Idaho, moving the process to its plant in California, and sold its share of Lucid Energy Technologies to Vigor Clean Tech.
The company primarily supplies RV manufacturers but also provides products for the bus and transit industries as well as cargo trailer makers. Brenneman is hopeful the closures and lay-offs will enable Terra Group to survive the sluggish economy.
"At this point, we plan on riding it out," he said.
Initially, in September 2006, neighbors near the extrusion plant site opposed the plan to rezone the property which would have allowed the Terra facility to be built and the Keystone RV manufacturing campus to be expanded. The Goshen City Council approved the rezoning and the company broke ground in October with hopes of starting production in the spring of 2007 and possibly adding a second shift by the end of that year.
The plant supplied products for Terra's other operations along with supplying direct to RV makers. With the closure, Terra will be getting out of the aluminum business altogether. Brenneman declined to comment about whether or not the property or the business would be sold.
"We're very disappointed," Brenneman said of the mill's closure. "It would have been a great operation. It still is a great operation. It was a huge disappointment for us."