ELKHART -- A young recreational vehicle manufacturer has joined the chorus of companies announcing job expansions.
Heartland Recreational Vehicles LLC -- like Thor Industries and Jayco have done in recent weeks -- announced Tuesday it will be hiring hundreds of production workers to handle a backlog of orders. In a press release, the manufacturer said it is currently adding 200 workers to the payroll and plans to bring on another 200 by March, making the company's work force total 1,200 employees. Also Heartland, which started production in 2004, has hired 13 workers for its customer service, parts and warranty operations.
Officials from Heartland did not return a phone call seeking further comment.
The press release stated a spike in unit sales has created a "healthy backlog of dealer orders" which has necessitated an expansion of production and of additional personnel.
"We are focused on being a full-line towable manufacturer," Coley Brady, director of fifth wheel sales, stated in the release, "and we are starting to see the same type of gains in the travel trailer market that we saw after we came into the marketplace as a fifth wheel builder."
At Southern RV in Virginia, owner John Patterson said Heartland has been offering purchasing incentives to dealers. These incentives coupled with the low inventory on many RV lots and an increase in the number of people looking to buy, encouraged him and other dealers to order units from Heartland.
"With the backlog and the holidays, if you don't order before December or January, you're not going to get it," Patterson said, noting he has been assured he will have products in time for his January, February and March shows.
Terry Frazer, owner of Terry Frazer's RV in Iowa, said Heartland is not doing anything unusual since many RV makers are enticing dealers with special bargains. Conversely customers are not being lured to sales lots by these incentives but rather they are coming because they are gaining confidence in the economy.
As they visit RV dealers, the customers are buying what they consider to be the best product. Heartland, Frazer said, is "hitting the right market" with both product designs that appeal to customers and price points at which buyers have an easier time securing loans.
"They're just always a step ahead of the competition," he said. Heartland is "always able to come up with innovative ideas."
Moreover, Frazer said, Heartland may be gaining marketshare because of a misstep by Keystone RV. When Keystone laid off workers and slowed production, the Iowa businessman began having to wait six months for deliveries of the Cougar brand fifth wheel. Heartland, on the other hand, was able to ship its competing model, Sundance, in a month which turned Frazer into a "well satisfied" customer.
Based on his experience, Frazer believes Keystone "overreacted" by cutting too much and may have lost business.
Once the orders sparked by the incentives are built, Patterson believes the market will be strong enough to support the RV manufacturers' recent moves to add workers and increase output. The year 2010 will be better than 2009, he said, because consumers are not as scared and not as worried about losing their jobs.
They are "tired of the negative," Patterson said, "and they're ready to enjoy themselves."