WEBVTT

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>> Hello and welcome to Inside

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INdiana Business. I'm Gerry

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Dick. Northern Indiana produces

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nearly 90% of all RVs built in

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the U.S. and even with serious

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supply chain challenges the

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recreational vehicle industry

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association says the sector is

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posting double digit growth,

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good news for manufacturers and

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suppliers throughout the state.

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And the region

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But with inflation and fears of

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a recession, how long will that

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last and what could the impact

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be in Indiana? With some answers

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and more on the RV industry's

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impact on the Indiana economy,

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I'm pleased to welcome back to

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the show economic development

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corporation of Elkhart County

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President and CEO Chris Stager.

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Who joins us from his office

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there at Elkhart County. Thanks

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for joining us.

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>> Thank you for having me.

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>> I mentioned those numbers,

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surprising with all of the

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challenges in the economy.

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Double digit growth. That's ooh

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been a positive story I assume

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for northern Indiana.

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>> Yeah. It's been wonderful

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over the last three years. You

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know, we have set manufacturing

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records and excited to see how

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the federal policy impacts the

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industry going forward.

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>> A lot of eyes on the federal

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policy. What's going to happen

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out of D.C. and elsewhere. You

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were at an RV power breakfast

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here this week. And everybody is

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looking at fuel prices. They're

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high obviously. That has a

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direct impact on the RV sector

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and it's what you have heard at

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that breakfast is if these

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average prices stay around $4,

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$4.5 the impact should be muted

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in the RV industry.

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>> Yeah. I'm sorry.

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>> No.

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>> I think it will be minimized.

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But it is a $5 threshold and I

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think then it's going to start

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to definitely impair the ability

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to sell these units out to be

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public. For a number of reasons.

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Obviously discretionary money

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for every family now is a

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challenge and, you know,

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discretionary purchase naturally

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when you have to get to work and

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you have to pay high fuel costs

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all play into that.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. Chris, talk about

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the importance of the RV

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industry in northern Indiana. RV

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capital of the world. I know

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there has been attempts and

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successes in diversifying but

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RVs are so important, but folks

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that don't know and the

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thousands of people it employs.

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>> Yeah in our county we have

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35,000 workers daily that come

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into the county in addition to

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the work force to support the

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industry. Critically important.

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We have a very deep supply chain

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that sells into the automotive

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space as well as the RV space

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and all those things play

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together. So we love the

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industry. It's what I guess to

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coin an express brought us to

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the party and we love the

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ability to watch that industry

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mature and grow to the next

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level.

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>> Work force a key issue

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everywhere. And Elkhart county,

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interesting, we were talking

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before we started taping.

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Unemployment has doubled in

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Elkhart county but now up to

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1.8% so the unemployment rate

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has become a challenge, finding

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the people to fill the jobs out

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there.S.

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>> Yeah. We're not unique in

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that. It's a national phenomena

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but more pronounced in economies

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that require a certain set of

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skills and at the production

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level when we get to those

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levels of unemployment it's

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challenging for our industries

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to produce the products they

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need. Because we're technically

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fully employed.

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>> Yeah. One more question

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Chris. Everybody is looking for

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signs of where the economy not

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only is but where it's headed, a

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lot of concerns about recession

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and things like that. You're

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talking about a pipeline of

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construction, a space up there

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industrial that's pretty robust

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sitting up there in Elkhart

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County in northern Indiana.

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>> Yeah. We have currently about

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a million square feet of

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building in planning. And some

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of that is larger, what I call

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larger formats. Some of it's

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300,000 square feet and up and

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some of it's smaller. And some

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of it is to replace older

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inventory that we have had that

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has become impractical because

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of ceiling heights and things

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like that. Generally speaking,

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all of our plants now require

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more power, more infrastructure

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because of the automation. And

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we have to have the ability to

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store more goods as to volume of

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the industry increases. A lot of

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that's just trying to build into

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the volume that the industry has

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been generated.

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>> All right. A lot of eyes on

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Elkhart County to see where the

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economy may be headed. President

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and CEO of the economic