Forest River, Inc. will resume production at its Indiana facilities next week, the week of May 4, the company confirmed Thursday.
Because of a stay-at-home order lingering across the state of Michigan, the leading RV manufacturer’s plants will not resume operation there until May 18.
General Manager Don Gunden said the company plans to bring as many of its employees safely back to work as possible.
“By and large, it’s full operation,” Gunden said. “Some places will come back with shorter work weeks, but they’ll come back with full staff. We certainly want to bring back everybody that we can.”
Suppliers and OEMs across the industry have made plans to return to somewhat normal operations this coming week. Gunden said that as many of these RV production leaders come back online, the chain of supply and manufacturing will naturally fall into place.
He said companies that had a stable supply inventory going into the pandemic shutdown should be able to return to normal operations relatively quickly.
Gunden said the majority of Forest Rivers’ suppliers will open back up Monday as well.
“It was not a planned shutdown. Everything was in motion when we stopped, so we don’t have the same issues relative to raw materials as opposed to a planned shutdown,” Gunden said.
Forest River also donated 20,000 face masks to the Elkhart County Health Department this week. The company announced that it is committed to supporting its local community in its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click here to read about the company’s donation.
