Indiana manufacturers are being squeezed from two directions at once this week: the Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates for the first time since July 2023, raising the cost of every equipment loan you're carrying, while PJM capacity auction prices have cleared at levels that signal significantly higher electricity costs ahead — driven by forces the Fed cannot touch.

Two announcements. They don't land in the same press release. They land on the same bottom line.

What Just Opened in Bristol — and Why Your Floor Spec Is Under Pressure

Supersede opened its Bristol, Indiana production facility on September 15th. One hundred thousand square feet in Elkhart County, purpose-built to supply the RV cluster that surrounds it.

The product is Marine Board — a recycled-polypropylene composite panel engineered as a direct plywood replacement. Supersede claims twice the compression strength of marine plywood, fastener retention roughly 1.7 times wood, and a formaldehyde-free, waterproof, recyclable panel with a manufacturer buyback loop already operating.

Coachmen RV — a Forest River division headquartered ten miles away in Middlebury — is already running it. As of July 1st, Marine Board is in the floor structure of the Catalina travel trailer line. Coachmen's general manager Mike Gaeddert described Coachmen as the first conventional travel trailer manufacturer to use composite decking in its floor structure.

The competitive angle worth understanding: the Patrick Industries and LCI Industries merger — confirmed June 30th at a reported $7.7 billion enterprise value — is about to give a single mega-supplier enormous leverage over component sourcing for every OEM in Elkhart County. Supersede appears to be moving to lock in direct OEM specs before Patrick-Lippert has the scale to bundle a competing flooring solution or price-pressure Coachmen away from a single-source composite supplier. Patrick and Lippert don't sell a Marine Board equivalent today, but a $7.7 billion combined entity has options a standalone supplier doesn't.

Supersede CEO Sean Petterson puts the rise in marine-grade plywood at roughly 50%, citing trade policy and geopolitical supply constraints. That figure applies to specialty marine grade, not commodity sheathing, and we haven't seen an independent index confirming that exact number. But directional pressure on marine plywood is real. If you're still spec'ing plywood into your product, the time to price out a composite alternative is before the Patrick-Lippert merger reshapes what your current suppliers charge you.

The Bristol plant is designed for ten production lines. A five-million-dollar catalytic loan from Closed Loop Partners covers the first two. Supersede will need additional financing rounds to reach full scale — and the RV market they're entering saw wholesale unit shipments fall 16% year-over-year in Q2. The case for their product is strong. Whether they can capitalize fast enough is the open question.

Federal Reserve Rate Hike: Who Actually Pays When the Inflation Driver Is Rate-Insensitive

The Federal Open Market Committee is widely expected to lift the federal funds rate by 25 basis points — from the current range of 3.50% to 3.75% — making it the first increase since July 2023. Money markets have priced in an overwhelming probability of that move, and analysts are already framing this as the beginning of an extended tightening cycle.

Here's the part that's getting almost no coverage in manufacturing circles: two of the three primary drivers of current inflation are explicitly rate-insensitive. Iran-linked energy prices don't respond to what the Fed does. AI data center capital expenditure doesn't respond to what the Fed does. Barclays economists estimate the AI capex buildout alone could add up to four-tenths of a percentage point to headline inflation this year — through grid strain, semiconductor bottlenecks, and specialized labor competition.

The Fed's tool works by making rate-sensitive borrowers pay more. That is you. The manufacturer financing a press, a line upgrade, a new roof. Not the hyperscaler building 30 buildings on 1,200 acres in New Carlisle, Indiana — which is exactly what Amazon is doing.

PJM's most recent capacity auction cleared at $329.17 per megawatt-day, up from $28.92. That increase was driven by a combination of thermal generator retirements, tightened reliability requirements, and load growth from data centers. Hyperscaler demand isn't the only cause, but it's the one that's structurally accelerating — and New Carlisle is Indiana's local face of it.

Indiana's H.B. 1007 and S.B. 422 require large electricity users to pay for increased generation costs. The IURC's implementation guidance on who qualifies as a "large user" has received almost no public scrutiny — but that determination will directly set whether you or the data center next door absorbs the next round of grid upgrade charges. That rulemaking is getting finalized without most manufacturers in the room.

Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: How does the Fed rate hike affect my facility's capital plans right now?

A: Any equipment financing, line upgrade, or facility loan you're carrying or planning becomes more expensive immediately. If you have rate-sensitive debt, model what a 25-basis-point increase costs you annually — and factor in that analysts are calling this the start of a tightening cycle, not a one-time move.

Q: What does the PJM capacity auction price jump mean for my electric bill?

A: PJM capacity auction prices clearing at $329.17 per megawatt-day — up from $28.92 — signal that the cost of keeping the grid reliable is being priced much higher going forward. Those costs flow through to your utility's rates over time. Indiana's H.B. 1007 and S.B. 422 will determine how much of that increase lands on manufacturers versus other customer classes.

Q: Should I be looking at composite flooring alternatives to plywood now?

A: If your product spec includes marine-grade plywood or OSB, yes — get a current price comparison against Marine Board or equivalent composites before the Patrick-Lippert merger reshapes supplier leverage in Elkhart County. The 16% drop in RV wholesale shipments means OEM suppliers are under pressure, and spec lock-in decisions made now will be harder to revisit in six months.

Q: How do I find out if my facility qualifies as a "large user" under H.B. 1007 and S.B. 422?

A: Pull your annual electricity consumption and demand data, then compare against the IURC's draft guidance on the large-user threshold. If you don't have someone tracking the IURC rulemaking on this, engage now — before the cost allocation rules get finalized. The window to provide input is narrow and most manufacturers are not in it.

For more on how Indiana's utility cost allocation rules affect manufacturers, read Utility Cost Allocation for Data Centers: How Indiana Manufacturers Avoid Paying for Grid Buildout They Didn't Cause.

For context on how the AES Indiana rate case fits into this picture, the September 15 brief covers the HEA 1002 rate framework directly: HEA 1002 Rate Framework Hits Indiana Manufacturers | TEG Daily September 15, 2026.