Jayco To Expand Manufacturing Facility, Add Jobs
Jayco’s Motorhome Group plans to expand its manufacturing facilities at its Middlebury, Indiana, headquarters, adding up to 50 jobs by the end of 2015.
“The expansion comes as a result of the high demand of our motorized products,” said Derald Bontrager, president and CEO of Jayco Corporation. “The motorized team continues to exceed expectations, leading to enormous growth and success of the division. We’re looking forward to the expansion and the opportunities it will bring.”
The new building will serve as the Entegra Coach manufacturing facility and will allow the current motorized building to house Jayco motorhomes. Jayco officials expect construction to be completed by the second quarter of 2015.
Trip-Planning Tool Highlights Places That Appeal To Quilters
Quilters can discover hidden gems such as out-of-the way shops, little-known museums, and special events as they travel by visiting www.quiltinghub.com. QuiltingHub is a Web site with a trip planner and other search functions that lets quilters stay in touch with their favorite hobby while on the road.
The trip planner is touted as being user friendly, current, and accurate. Quilters preparing for a long road trip simply enter their starting and ending locations — a city and state are all that’s necessary — and watch the map populate with interesting attractions. The planner displays all shows, sales, and shop hops within a designated radius of the route.
By default, the maps (those without a destination) on QuiltingHub show everything that might be of interest to quilters, including guilds, museums, and service providers.
QuiltingHub is also curated by the quilting community, which helps to ensure that all information is relevant and up-to-date. From the home and search pages, anyone can add or suggest a shop, museum, guild/group, service, or event to the site’s listings.
On top of this, QuiltingHub has a forum for quilters, who share information with their peers. It also has a question-and-answer page and links to other helpful sites.
QuiltingHub is the brainchild of Florida native Paul Johnson. He was introduced to the idea for the site by patrons of a quilt shop in November 2009. Three years later, QuiltingHub became a reality. Within eight months of launch, the site had more quilting events listed than any other Web site in the world.
Shipments Of Motorhomes Are Tops Among RVs
Motorhome wholesale shipments totaled 23,328 vehicles in the first half of 2014, an increase of nearly 20 percent compared to the same period last year, when 19,472 vehicles were shipped to dealers. That percentage gain topped all RV market segments, according to Recreation Vehicle Industry Association’s June 2014 survey of manufacturers.
Shipments of Type A motorhomes rose 22.7 percent, to 11,274 vehicles; Type B motorhome shipments increased 43.8 percent, to 1,595 units; and Type C units saw 14 percent growth, to 10,459 vehicles. Motorhome shipments represented 12.2 percent of all RVs manufactured, while towables accounted for 87.8 percent of the market.
Overall, the RV market showed continued strong growth in the first half of 2014. Total RV wholesale shipments reached 192,065 units through June, an increase of 9.8 percent over the 174,918 units shipped in the first six months of 2013, the RVIA survey showed.
More information about RV market statistics and research can be found in the “Market Data and Trends” section of www.rvia.org.
Great American RV Experience On Capitol Hill
If you can’t bring members of Congress to an RV park, bring the RV park to Congress. That’s essentially what happened on July 23 in Washington, D.C., when Recreation Vehicle Industry Association hosted the Great American RV Experience event on Capitol Hill, with special guests from the House RV Caucus. The purpose was to educate elected leaders and their staffs about the RV industry.
During the day, members of Congress and their staffs toured a Winnebago motorhome and an Airstream travel trailer, which were displayed at the U.S. Botanic Garden. An evening reception, held in the Cannon House Office Building, featured four campfire-like settings and a picnic atmosphere.
Industry leaders representing the RV manufacturing, dealership, and campground segments, along with representatives of The Great Outdoors, hosted the “campfires.”
“We were thrilled with the strong turnout and the high level of interest shown by the members of Congress and staff,” said Dianne Farrell, RVIA vice president of government affairs. “But, even more encouraging were the great conversations that were taking place around the campfires. We wanted to make this a fun event that was a departure from the normal cocktails and podium speeches. I think we accomplished that with the campfire hosts fostering a more personal dialogue with our guests.”
The RV Caucus was created by Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Florida), who has a lifelong passion for the RV lifestyle, and Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Indiana), whose district encompasses much of Indiana’s RV manufacturing. The caucus was organized to help educate members of Congress on the value of the RV lifestyle, highlight the economic benefit the RV market provides across the country, and find common ground on matters of concern to the RV industry.
Triple E Asking Current And Past Owners For Stories
Triple E Recreational Vehicles officials are asking owners of its products to help create a book that will celebrate the company’s 50th anniversary in 2015. Any owners of Triple E RVs, including Type A, Type B, or Type C motorhomes, are invited to share their stories of life on the road. Submissions are welcome from past and present owners, from 1965 to today. Participants whose stories are published will receive a free copy of the book. To share a story, visit www.tripleerv.com/yourstory.