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RV Industry To Open Training Institute for Repair Technicians

Workers put final touches on the front sign of the new RV Technical Institute in Elkhart.
Justin Hicks/IPB News
Workers put final touches on the front sign of the new RV Technical Institute in Elkhart.

The RV industry is celebrating a grand opening of its newest facility in Elkhart Monday. The RV Technical Institute will help reduce a shortage of workers who repair recreational vehicles.

U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Jimtown) and representatives from the RV industry association will celebrate the grand opening of the technical institute. It represents a $10 million commitment from the RV Industry Association to reduce a significant shortage of repair technicians.   

Curt Hemmeler is the director of the new center. He says due to the shortage, many RV owners who needed repairs were facing long wait times. 

“Currently it’s a 21-day average [wait] that it takes to get a unit fixed and we know that isn’t where we want it to be,” he says. “Our goal is to reduce that.”

He adds that the first cohort of students will arrive in the next 30 days. In addition, the new technical institute will share its curriculum with local companies and high schools and even has plans to train instructors of Texas prison inmates.

Contact Justin at  jhicks@wvpe.org or follow him on Twitter at @Hicks_JustinM.

Justin Hicks is a workforce reporter for IPB News based at WVPE in Elkhart. He comes to Indiana by way of New York. He has a master's degree from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University and earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from Appalachian State University where he played trumpet. He first learned about Elkhart, Indiana, because of the stamp on his brass instrument indicating where it was produced. Justin was born and raised in Mt. Olive, North Carolina. He currently lives in South Bend with his dog, Charlotte.
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