Fresh off of their announcement regarding the shutdown of their Mansfield, Texas production facility, and the subsequent announcement that Champion Homes will acquire it, Skyline Corp. (NYSE: SKY) announced yesterday that the company has suspended operations at its Elkhart, Indiana plant.
According to the South Bend Tribune, Skyline also announced that they have laid off the majority of the workforce at the facility.
“It’s not that we didn’t have the orders or the business or the customer base. It’s that in a leased facility, it did not allow us to produce a high enough volume to achieve operational efficiency,” said Skyline president and CEO Richard Florea.
“Skyline has taken steps to ensure the 90 or so employees affected by the move are not without work, offering them jobs at other Skyline facilities in Wisconsin or Ohio or connecting them with other job opportunities.”
Florea also said that other measures have been taken to minimize the impact.
“We allowed some other companies in town to come in and take applications from employees. We made it as easy as possible so people don’t have to go out and look for jobs,” said Florea.
The SEC filing from Skyline said that the company was unable to profitably operate the 50,000 square-foot facility, which it began leasing from Forest River last year.
“Despite demand from manufactured housing dealerships and manufactured housing communities, the leased facility used for production prevented daily volumes to reach and maintain profitable efficiencies,” the company said in the filing.
“The corporation anticipates having sufficient orders to maintain production at the Elkhart facility until March 8, 2017. The majority of the workforce is expected to be terminated shortly after production ceases.”
Once a pioneer in the manufactured housing industry, nine consecutive years of significant losses have contributed to Skyline’s struggle to regain profitability. It posted a $1.7 million profit in 2016.
As MHProNews reported in September, 2014, Skyline spun off its recreational vehicle division to Evergreen Recreational Vehicles. For that story, click here.
Even with the tough news, Florea did see a glimmer of hope.
“Skyline could re-establish production in Elkhart if we find the right facility and the labor market improves,” said Florea.
The area is currently suffering from a labor shortage, due to a jobs boom in the manufactured housing and RV industries.
As Daily Business News readers are already aware, Skyline is also one of the industry stocks monitored each business day. For the most recent closing numbers on all MH industry-connected tracked stocks, please click here. ##
(Image credits are as shown above.)
Submitted by RC Williams to the Daily Business News for MHProNews.
