Winnebago Industries has selected Charles City as the site for its new 200-thousand-plus square foot plant. The motor home manufacturer will invest nearly twelve-and-a-half million dollars for the new facility, the largest expansion for the company to date. The company wants to increase its manufacturing capacity by 30-percent to keep up with the growing demand for recreational vehicles. Winnebago President and C-E-O Bruce Hertzke says there were several advantages in choosing Charles City, including the available workforce in Floyd County, an incentive package put together through state and local economic development officials, and the location near their other Charles City satellite facilities. Hertzke says the company received several dozen proposals from various cities across the Midwest who wanted to land the new plant.Hertzke says the new facility will work well with their other Charles City facilities. It’ll be 204-thousand square feet. Hertzke says the plant will employ about 300 people when it opens in early 2003, with the possibility of the workforce growing to 500-to-700 people after that.Besides the company’s main plant in Forest City, Winnebago also has satellite plants in Hampton and Lorimor.
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