DECATUR – An unexpectedly strong market and a smoother-than-expected transition have Fleetwood RV Inc. saying it likely will add 300 workers to its Decatur operations in the next three months.

The company also plans to invest $7.4 million in its facilities, company and state officials announced Wednesday.

It marked the second straight day that rumblings of an improving economy meant good news for area factory workers.

Fleetwood RV was formed in July when American Industrial Partners Capital Fund IV bought the motor home assets and the Fleetwood brand from bankrupt Fleetwood Enterprises Inc.

The new owners expected staffing to reach about 600 workers by the end of the year, said Paul Bamatter, a partner in AIP. Instead, Fleetwood RV will make weekly additions to a workforce that on Monday numbered 630, Chief Executive Officer Chuck Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson stipulated that his company is increasing production and that hiccups in the supply chain could slow plans to add jobs. As it hires workers, Fleetwood plans to restart a production line making luxury motor homes in mid-September.

Bamatter, Wilkinson, Gov. Mitch Daniels and other officials attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday at Fleetwood RV’s Class A motor home plant on U.S. 224 east of Decatur. They were celebrating the fact that a new company will keep the lines running at the Decatur plants.

“It really feels good to be working again, doesn’t it?” Wilkinson asked a crowd of a few hundred workers who had assembled for the ceremony in the plant’s paint room.

Daniels said AIP’s decision to buy the motor home assets – and to have Fleetwood RV’s headquarters in Decatur – had much to do with the city and its residents.

“There is no shortage in Decatur of the elements of success, including the workforce,” Daniels said.

Another reason AIP chose the Decatur facilities was an incentive package worth up to $9.1 million from the Indiana Economic Development Corp., Bamatter said.

Wilkinson said that for competitive reasons he doesn’t want to go into detail about the improvements being made to the Fleetwood RV facilities.

But, as an example, he cited paint ovens that were part of equipment worth $8 million AIP bought from a Fleetwood Enterprises plant in California. The company is considering installing the ovens in the Fleetwood RV Class C motor home plant on Winchester Road so units made there don’t have to be taken across town to be painted, Wilkinson said.

Fleetwood employed more than 1,300 in Decatur before the economy started to spiral downward in December 2007. The 600 who remained on the payroll in 2009 worked sporadically until AIP bought the motor home assets.

Then in July, they all had to reapply for their jobs. They all took a 10 percent pay cut and lost accrued vacation, said John Draheim, president and chief operating officer of Fleetwood RV.

Workers were disappointed to lose the pay and vacation but are starting to feel more secure about their jobs, said a Fleetwood worker who declined to give his name because the company didn’t give him permission to speak to the media.

Adams County unemployment was 14.8 percent in June, but the good news at Fleetwood RV might lead the way for the rest of the area, Decatur Mayor John Schultz said.

“This is a giant leap for us on the way back to recovery,” Schultz said.

On the streets of downtown Decatur, people are hopeful about the economy, but they’re still waiting for concrete signs of improvement.

“I think people are getting more encouraged, but I’m not sure why,” said John Eisenmann, 46, who owns a home improvement business.

Ryan Schnitz, 27, owns a motorcycle performance shop. He said that as a business that caters to hobbyists, he’s dependent on customers’ disposable income.

“We still have some time before we see some improvement,” Schnitz said.

Wednesday’s news from Fleetwood RV might be part of a trend.

On Tuesday, thousands of workers at General Motors Co. plants in Allen County and Defiance, Ohio, learned they would likely be getting overtime through the second half of the year because of better-than-expected auto sales.

mschladen@jg.net