coachman

[johno1]

Well I've just delivered to coachman and heard that they are going on to a 3 day week from next week, hope they don't go the same way as avondale.
I thought the caravan industry was busy this time of year

 

[Raywood]

The choice of new caravan is already limited so we cannot afford to lose another maker. Coachman always feel the best made caravans and have I think the best reputation for dealing with problems but their reluctance to get the weights down must be costing them sales. We did have one some years ago and it was certainly the best built caravan we have had but the new ones are simply too heavy for the car and therefore rule themselves out.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello John O

That's sad news, especially for those employees who have no other means of support. Each employee will have to carefully consider if they can survive reduced working hours and income over being out of work, which has its unique problems with trying to find new employment in this sector.

Sad to say the current situation is very unsure. My reading of the situation is that back in 2009 just after the start of the slump, Joe public was very unsure about taking foreign holidays, and coupled with uncertainties about saving, the numbers of redundancies the caravan market boomed as people decided to invest in caravans.

The industry was unready for the demand, and there were stories of long delivery dates. The industry ramped up production for 2010/2011 but as the demand was being filled, and the continuing uncertainty in the financial sectors, rising unemployment coupled with the austerity measures biting harder, the public started to offload second hand vans which flooded the market and overall sales dropped. This now meant the caravan manufacturers had over capacity and some surplus stock.

We are still in uncertain times, and I believe the underlying demand for new caravans has dropped to the level just before the slump.

Strangely such conditions normally hit the mass producers most, the demand for high end products tend to see less fluctuation, but conditions are tough out there. I would not be surprised to see some further caravan company closures or major scaling down of operations.

Lets hope a 3-day week is enough to see Coachman (a well respected make) survive.

I have to say that from any companies perspective a 3 day week is better option than redundancies. It at least keeps the skills available within the business, so that when demand rises again they can step up to the mark without having to go through recruitment and training drives.

 

[woodsieboy]

Just wondering why they are on 3 day week,it is only a few weeks ago that they claimed excellent sales at start of 2013,I can find no mention on the internet of 3 day week,other than this forum,so hope it is only a short term measure.Perhaps PC could investigate reasons and find out more detail.

 

[johno1]

When I was delivering earlier I was also told that ten workers were also "let go" , I deliver to them perhaps twice a month so will keep my ear to the ground and keep you updated