Published: July 18, 2008 07:15 am         

Monaco Coach cutting 1,400 local jobs

COBURG, Org. — Monaco Coach Corp. announced Thursday that it will close its recreation vehicle plants in Wakarusa, Nappanee and Elkhart by mid-September.

The closings eliminate 1,400 salaried and hourly jobs. The jobs represent a third of Monaco’s work force nationwide.

The production from those facilities will be moved to the company’s headquarters in Coburg, Oregon.

The company will keep its plants in Warsaw, Milford and Goshen.

According to the company, “ Production of the majority of motorized units currently manufactured in these locations will be relocated to Monaco’s Coburg, Oregon operation. Production of two of the models will be relocated to the Warsaw, Indiana manufacturing location. The towable production line will also be integrated into Monaco’s Warsaw location.”

Specifically, diesel-powered motorhome production will move to the Coburg plant and gasoline-powered motorhome production will move to the Warsaw plant.

The company has tried to adjust to the falloff in recreation vehicle sales during the first half of the year, but those adjustments weren’t enough, according to the leadership.

Kay Toolson, chairman and chief executive officer said, “We have implemented several successful initiatives over the past 18 months in an effort to size our business to match declining market demand. However, market conditions have continued to deteriorate, and we do not see significant improvements occurring in the near future. Therefore, the company finds it necessary to take further action by implementing a significant capacity reduction. We deeply regret the impact that shutting down these operations will have on our employees and their families as well as the communities in which they live and work.”

Monaco officials said in a written statement that motorhome sales are in their fourth year of decline. The difference in motorhomes produced industrywide declined 29 percent from 2004 to 2007. Motorhome shipments have fallen 40 percent this year from the same period last year.