Winnebago Industries is closing two RV manufacturing facilities and moving their production elsewhere, marking another round of consolidation for the company after it shut down two Iowa plants last year.
The latest changes affect Winnebago operations in Lake Mills, Iowa, and Middlebury, Indiana. According to an August 13 announcement from Winnebago Industries, both facilities will close and eventually be offered for sale.
Winnebago’s B-Van motorhome production will move from Lake Mills to the company’s main manufacturing complex in Forest City, Iowa. Winnebago-branded towable RV production will move from its current Middlebury campus to the nearby Middlebury campus where Grand Design RVs are manufactured.
The moves are expected to take place over the next several months.
Winnebago Says No RV Product Lines Are Being Discontinued
Winnebago describes the changes as an effort to better use its existing manufacturing capacity and align production with market demand.
Despite Winnebago Towables moving onto the Grand Design campus, the company says the two brands will continue to operate as separate businesses. Each will retain its own leadership, product development, sales operations, dealer network and product lineup.
Grand Design will also consolidate some of its own production lines within its existing manufacturing footprint.
For motorhomes, moving B-Van production to Forest City brings more of Winnebago’s motorized RV manufacturing into one location.
Winnebago says it does not expect the transition to interrupt production or change ordering, warranties, customer service or dealer relationships.
The company did not disclose how many employees could be affected by the Lake Mills and Middlebury closures or how many may have an opportunity to move to other facilities.
This Follows Two Iowa Plant Closures Last Year
The latest announcement stands out because Winnebago went through a similar consolidation only about a year ago.
In July 2025, the company announced plans to close manufacturing facilities in Waverly and Charles City, Iowa.
At the time, Radio Iowa reported that 77 employees at the Waverly facility and 44 employees in Charles City would ultimately lose their jobs.
Production from those facilities was shifted to Forest City and Lake Mills as Winnebago worked to streamline its operations and better match production with consumer demand.
That makes the Lake Mills announcement particularly notable.
Last year, Lake Mills was one of the locations receiving production as Winnebago reduced its manufacturing footprint in Iowa. Now the Lake Mills facility itself is set to close, with its B-Van production moving to Forest City.
Taken together, Winnebago has now announced the closure of four manufacturing facilities since July 2025: Waverly, Charles City, Lake Mills and the Winnebago Towables campus in Middlebury.
Winnebago Has Been Cutting Costs and Adjusting Capacity
The closures also come as Winnebago continues to deal with a difficult RV market.
In its most recent quarterly financial report, released June 25, the company reported $698.7 million in revenue for its fiscal third quarter. That was down 9.9% from $775.1 million during the same quarter a year earlier.
The results varied considerably by RV segment.
Winnebago’s towable RV revenue fell 26.1%, from $371.7 million to $274.7 million. Towable operating income declined 46.3%. The company attributed the revenue decline primarily to lower unit volume and a shift toward lower-priced models.
Motorhomes were a different story.
Motorhome RV revenue increased 10.1% to $320.7 million, compared with $291.2 million a year earlier. Winnebago said higher unit volume and price adjustments contributed to that increase. Class B unit sales included in the company’s report were also up 27.3% year over year for the quarter.
So the plant closures should not be read as evidence that every part of Winnebago’s RV business is declining.
Still, management had already signaled that more manufacturing changes were coming.
In June, CEO Michael Happe said Winnebago was advancing what the company called “footprint rationalization and capacity alignment” within its RV businesses. The company also lowered its fiscal 2026 earnings guidance and said it expected demand conditions to remain challenging in the near term.
Winnebago said additional operational and capacity initiatives were expected to begin benefiting the company during fiscal 2027.
The Lake Mills and Middlebury closures appear to be part of that broader effort to operate fewer manufacturing facilities while making greater use of capacity at the plants that remain.
For RV buyers and current owners, Winnebago says the changes should be largely behind the scenes. The RVs aren’t being discontinued, and dealer, warranty, and customer support are expected to continue as usual.
For the communities that have hosted these manufacturing operations, however, another round of Winnebago plant closures is a much bigger change.
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