Starcraft RV to Reopen Topeka Plant
In a sign that the RV industry is beginning to rebound, Starcraft RV, a division of Jayco, Inc., announced that it will reopen its Topeka, Indiana manufacturing facilities in May.
The Starcraft RV plant has been closed since January, 2009 as part of the Jayco corporate efforts to trim costs and reduce production capacity. As you’d expect, this was done as a result of the stumbling economy.
According to Starcraft RV, production of Starcraft Autumn Ridge travel trailers will initially move from its Middlebury, Indiana complex, creating 50 jobs at the Topeka facility later this year. Over time, company officials anticipate that production of most, if not all, Starcraft RV product lines will be relocated back to the Topeka plants.
“When we consolidated operations into the Middlebury campus last year, we stated that our goal was to reinstate the Topeka operations as soon as market conditions would allow us to do so,” says Starcraft RV General Manager Jim Jacobs. “Now that our business has begun to recover from the recent recession cycle, we believe the timing is right to accelerate these activities.”
