Wright Industries' Goshen Indiana Ambulance Manufacturer Expansion Enters a Locked Market

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Wright Industries, founded in 2025 by former Forest River Bus co-CEO David Wright, will spend $18 million acquiring the former Wabash National Services plant at 2672 E. Kercher Road in Goshen: 380,000 square feet on 72 acres, more than four times the 72,000-square-foot facility the ambulance maker has outgrown. The state expects over 250 new jobs there by the end of 2028. Wright enters a market where REV Group and the J.B. Poindexter-owned Demers, Braun, and Crestline Medix group control roughly three-quarters to nearly all of North American ambulance production, and the deal only exists because Wabash's commercial trailer business contracted, with Q3 2025 revenue down nearly 18%. A Strauss Borrelli PLLC investigation into whether Wabash gave its 144 laid-off Goshen workers (59 assemblers, 15 welders) proper 60-day notice under the WARN Act could still raise successor-liability questions for Wright before the move-in finishes this month.

Impact

This isn't just a jobs announcement, it's a new entrant buying its way into a market where REV Group and the Demers Braun Crestline Medix consortium (now owned by Houston-based J.B. Poindexter & Co.) control roughly three-quarters to nearly all of North American ambulance production. Wright's acquisition only exists because Wabash National's commercial trailer business contracted (Q3 2025 revenue down nearly 18%), freeing a large-footprint site at a favorable price, the same dynamic that delivered Boundless Recreation's RV launch in Elkhart County a week earlier. There's also an under-reported wrinkle: a WARN Act investigation by Strauss Borrelli PLLC into whether Wabash gave its 144 laid-off Goshen workers proper 60-day notice could create successor-liability questions for Wright's legal team before the deal fully closes.

Watch

Watch whether the Strauss Borrelli WARN Act investigation into Wabash's 144 Goshen layoffs surfaces title or successor-liability complications as Wright begins moving into the Kercher Road site this month.

For the huddle

If Wright Industries, Boundless Recreation, and other Elkhart County manufacturers are all chasing the same pool of assemblers and welders freed up by Wabash's closure, is our own wage and retention plan ready to compete before Wright's 2028 hiring ramp hits full stride?

Start the comparison now, before Wright's hiring ramp fully kicks in: pull current wage data for assemblers and welders in Elkhart County and compare it against what a well-capitalized new entrant can offer with a 2028 hiring target already locked in.

Sources

Ambulance manufacturer expands operations in Goshen · wsbt.com

Earlier coverage

From the brief, November 6, 2026

Wright Industries' Goshen Indiana Ambulance Manufacturer Expansion Enters a Locked Market
ITAMCO's 900-Acre Plymouth Innovation District Clears Zoning, Hits a Financing Wall
October's 6,000-Job Manufacturing Layoff Wave Reaches Gas City, Indiana
Defense and Aerospace Site Selection Turns to Power Capacity, With a Question for Indiana's Grid
$2M Federal Grant Launches Hammond Entrepreneurship Academy, With a Quantum-Manufacturing Catch

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