The Wells Cargo trailer plant on West McNaughton Ave. in Elkhart, Ind., is slated to close by August, as operations are moved to a new plant in Bristol.
Owned by Universal Trailer, the plant is closing due to the opening of Universal Trailer’s new $25 million, 200,000-square-foot facility in Bristol, which was unveiled in March.
This story by Ben Quiggle originally appeared in The Elkhart Truth.
Universal Trailer is shifting the manufacturing of Wells Cargo trailers to the new facility, along with a number of other brands, including Haulmark, Featherlite, and Exiss.
Jeff Howes, VP of marketing for Universal Trailer, said the company announced the closure during a town hall meeting with employees on April 5.
Howes said all affected employees in Elkhart were offered positions at the new Bristol facility, located at 2020 Blakesley Parkway, and that employees who had to drive to Bristol for work, around 13 miles each way, were being offered additional compensation to cover the increased travel costs.
The number of employees affected by the closure was not known at press time.
The new facility revolutionizes the utility trailer industry by producing trailer kits that are shipped and assembled in other Universal Trailer plants closer to where they are going to be delivered. The Bristol plant will also fully assemble some models, depending on what the demand is for the trailers in this area.
Once production is up to full capacity the plant is expected to manufacture more than 30 fully assembled trailers per day.
The new Bristol facility is expected to employ as many as 200. Howes said the facility currently has around 50 employees.
Howes said that the company has held five job fairs this year and that they will be having another job fair at 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 22 at the new location in Bristol.