More Plant Shutdowns

[Mike Hohnstein]

Most of us are old enough to have lived through the Nixon/Ford/Carter years. I doubt there should be much surprise for any of us as fuel heads for 5 bucks a gallon. There is hope however, the po' folks over seas is hungry due to the cost of food commodities spiking, mebbe the oil company haters will get their minds right yet, and start to use the resources we have in OUR homeland. I'm not talking about freeking ethanol either, WTH.

MH

----- Original Message -----

From: "birdshill123@yahoo.com"

To: "WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com"

Sent: Friday, April 18, 2008 9:11 PM

Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] More Plant Shutdowns

It seems like RV plants are either closing or severely cutting back
production. The scary part is how fast this is happening. Country
Coach has laid off a few hundred workers. Alfa is in a state of limbo
and if the posts on the Alfa forum are any indication they will be
out of business very quickly.( maybe SEE YA was aan appropriate name)
The really bad news is as follows:

DES MOINES, Iowa - Motor home manufacturer Winnebago Industries Inc.
said it will shut down most of its production lines for a week
beginning Monday, the result of a continued slowdown in sales.

Low consumer confidence in the economy and interest rates are the two
primary factors that affect business, company spokeswoman Sheila
Davis said Friday.

Although The Federal Reserve has aggressively cut interest rates in
recent months, the reduction has not largely reached consumers yet,
Davis said.

The curtailment of production at the company's factories in Forest
City, Charles City and Hampton will affect a majority of the ompany's
3,000 workers.

A production line in Charles City will stay on the job during the
week and office workers will remain.

"We take a look at our schedules based on the level we're seeing in
the retail market and the wholesale market to our dealers," Davis
said. "We evaluate that on a daily basis and want to make sure we
keep our inventories in line."

The company typically only shuts down production for a week around
Christmas and a week in late July.

In March, Winnebago reported that second-quarter profits fell nearly
67 percent as consumer confidence helped drag down sales of
recreational vehicles.

Net income fell to $2.5 million, or 9 cents a share, for the three
months ended March 1, down from $7.5 million, or 24 cents a share a
year ago. Sales fell 17.5 percent to $164.2 million from $199 million
for the same period a year ago.

On Friday shares were trading 2.2 percent higher, or 35 cents, at
$15.79. Shares have traded in the past 52 weeks between $14.96 and
$34.44.

The Forest City-based company said in March it had cut employment by
9 percent, or about 300 people during the quarter to bring production
in line with slowing sales.

President Bob Olson told industry analysts that sales were down
across the industry in the double digits for each month since the
beginning of the year.

He told analysts that the usual spring uptick in sales likely will be
muted because of concerns over the economy. Olson said he hoped to
see a turnaround by November.

END OF ARTICLE

Some of the other mfrs. that closed were smaller mfrs. with shakey
management. Winnie is probably an exception. An experienced and
usually well run company. If they cannot sell units who can?? I saw
that Harley has laid off some staff and their sales are down. We
should not take all of this lightly. I wonder how the high end RV
mfrs. are doing: Foretravel, Newell and of course the most important
of all BB???? I also wonder what is happening with other million
dollar toys such as yachts?

Bruce
1988 FC35