Snow emergencies affect manufacturing companies

ELKHART, Ind. -- It has been a bleak start to 2014 for businesses whose workers have had trouble just getting to work. When the weather gets bad and there are travel restrictions, employees have to make a tough choice. That hurts the bottom line of many local manufacturing companies.



Kyle Hannon, the President of the Elkhart Chamber of Commerce, says big manufacturing companies have customers all over the world that may not understand the problems they face when we have snow emergencies, so these companies have had to put in extra overtime hours to make sure they get their product out the door.



"There are some of the manufacturers in town that who are making products to supply other industries, they have orders that they have to meet," said Hannon.



Hannon has been busy with businesses across Elkhart who are reaching out for help. 



With snow emergencies slowing them down, Hannon says workers are left with the difficult choice of safety versus making a living.



"If you can travel on the roads and travel safely, let them come to work. If there are some areas that are not as passable, be understanding of those individuals who cannot show up to work," said Hannon.



One Elkhart company finding this nasty weather getting in the way of production is Thor Industries, an RV production company.



"The heavy snow and the hazardous road conditions have definitely slowed down production. So the month of January it has been difficult for us to have such a production and produce the amount of units we actually needed," said Bob Martin, President/CEO of Thor Industries.