RVBusiness, July/August 2020
J U L Y A U G U S T 2 0 2 0 RVBusiness 47 exert heading into 2020 and during the pandemic shutdown amounted to a real game changer as it relates to balancing inventory levels and demand Signage was used to educate RV workers on COVID safety precautions Photo Thor And so as we come out of this with the tailwinds that are there today and that we expect to continue to build said Nemeth we think that again the leisure lifestyle markets are really well positioned for the foreseeable future Mirroring those positive sentiments was ASA Electronics COO Tom Irions whose Elkhart based firm specializes in audio video and safety systems for RV marine and other markets In fact Irions said business is such that manufacturers in some cases are skipping their traditional 4th of July production breaks Normally when they dont have the orders they will take the time to shut down for a couple of weeks said Irions But it sounds like theyve got the orders and demand seems to be out there and people are trying to scramble back to full production as soon as they can Thats what it looks like to us over here added Irions whos seeing consumer email communications and video conferencing doubling for ASAs 130 Elkhart based employees some of whom are continuing to work from home Now April was a complete washout as far as orders for RV OEMs like nothing Id ever seen in my 43 years but it was very predictable with all the plants shutting down Also harboring an upbeat view of the months ahead is Airxcel President and CEO Jeff Rutherford although hes hesitant to get into specific predictions because quite frankly theres not enough hard evidence on the table Im just saying that not enough days have gone by for us to have a clear window Rutherford told RVB From a holistic standpoint if youre asking for an opinion right now were extremely optimistic with regard to what the balance of the year holds based on the recent activity weve seen with the OEMs and the way that the RV lifestyle is being perceived by the public right now And that Rutherford conceded is a big shift from the answer he might have offered
You must have JavaScript enabled to view digital editions.
