AL-KO opens multi-million dollar RV facility

Melbourne’s reputation as the hotbed of RV manufacturing in Australia has been enhanced, with leading RV components manufacturer AL-KO opening a $4.3 million Recreational Vehicle Technology Centre at its Dandenong, Victoria headquarters last week.

With around 90 Victorian companies responsible for more than 80 per cent of Australian RV production, the new R & D and manufacturing facility puts AL-KO's innovative new Electronic Sway Control (ESC) technology into production and creates 18 manufacturing jobs.

It will also enable AL-KO to boost the number of Australian motorhomes fitted with AL-KO’s European lightweight motorhome chassis, with a new assembly line that will fit base vehicles such as the Fiat Ducato with AL-KO chassis in Australia rather than in Europe.

"The problem with the current set-up is if a manufacturer like Jayco orders a motorhome, from their order to the time they get the vehicle is six months. We're hoping with this new facility we can cut that time by at least in half," explained AL-KO’s State manager – Southern Region, Gerard L’Huillier.

AL-KO currently supplies around 200 AL-KO motorhome ‘rolling chassis’ each year (or around 10 per cent of the Australian motorhome market), to RV manufacturers including Jayco, Sunliner, Winnebago and A’Van.

"The motorhome market is a little sluggish at the moment but it's gaining strength, and we're hoping we can be doing in time... over 1000 units a year,” L’Huillier said.

"At the moment we’re mostly doing Fiat Ducato, but we can also do other brands, like Mercedes Sprinter. We also have the capacity to do (the new) Renault Master as there is an Al-Ko chassis for that in Europe,” he said.

The global AL-KO Kober Group, is one of the biggest suppliers of motorhome chassis in Europe, and AL-KO Australia is hoping its new assembly line will help them replicate some of that success here.

"Probably the most important feature of the AL-KO AMC (chassis) is that we lower the centre of gravity of the motorhome and we install independent torsion bar axles for far improved driving performance compared to anything else on the road,” explained AL-KO’s managing director Sven Mannfolk.

The Sensabrake electronic air/hydraulic disc brake system for boat trailers will also be manufactured at the new Technical Centre, which has increased the size of AL-KO’s Dandenong facility built in 2005 to 14,500 square metres of floorspace.

"We are very proud of the Technology Centre and it is a big step for us in Australia, and of course electronics will be a very big part of our future,” Mannfolk said.

"The Technology centre is an investment of some $4 million and we did it at a time when most manufacturing businesses are scaling down."

The Victorian Government contributed $150,000 to the new facility, and the Victorian Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade Richard Dalla-Riva was on hand to ‘cut the ribbon’ at the official opening last week.

"This centre strengthens Victoria as Australia's hub for recreational vehicle manufacturing, as home to more than 90 companies responsible for over 80 per cent of manufacturing in this sector," Dalla-Riva said.

"It is an automotive sector worth around $3 billion in annual revenue and directly employs around 6000 people across 1100 enterprises.”