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Tab 11
Ledger, The (Lakeland, FL)
December 1, 2008
Fleetwood Closing Auburndale Plant
Author: Kyle Kennedy
Fleetwood to Close A'dale Plant Laid off will be 73 workers locally and more than 600
nationwide.
AUBURNDALE Fleetwood Enterprises is closing its Auburndale manufactured home plant and
will lay off 73 local employees as part of a broad consolidation, the company has announced.
Riverside, Calif.-based Fleetwood, which makes recreational vehicles and manufactured homes,
plans to close the Auburndale facility - its only Florida plant - and four others nationwide within
the next two months, spokesman Lyle Larkin said.
More than 600 employees total will lose their jobs because of the closures as the company
attempts to restructure its manufacturing operations amid grim economic projections.
"People are not buying manufactured homes or any homes, for that matter. For people who are
interested in purchasing, they're having a difficult time getting loans, so the volume doesn't merit
the capacity we had," Larkin told The Ledger.
In addition to Auburndale, Fleetwood will shutter manufactured housing plants in Woodland,
Calif., Willacoochee, Ga., Benton, Ky., and Pembroke, N.C.
Last week the company said it would immediately close its modular home plant in Douglas, Ga.,
and made "impending closure" announcements at travel trailer plants in Crawfordsville, Ind., and
Mexicali, Mexico. "With 13 remaining housing plants and three travel trailer plants, we can
continue to service all our existing dealers and the markets in which we currently operate," Elden
L. Smith, Fleetwood's president and chief executive, said in a prepared statement.
"As difficult as it is to make decisions like these that impact the lives of our valued associates,
we must position Fleetwood to operate profitably under the present and foreseeable business
circumstances," Smith said.
Last week Fleetwood announced a net loss of $56.7 million in its second quarter. The
Auburndale facility at 700 Main St. has been operating since 1979, Larkin said.
The closure will mean the loss of a large employer at a time when jobs are scarce, said Andy
Stewart, Auburndale's assistant city manager. "Any time a business of that size shuts down it has
an effect on the economics of Auburndale and the county," Stewart said. "We try to assist
businesses that close down in any way we can, but at this time there's not a lot of hiring going
on," he said.
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