Manufacturing News
November 10, 2026
November 10, 2026 · Elkhart County · Story 3 of 5
Ferret Custom Roll Forming Buys Stinson Metal Works to Diversify Out of Elkhart's RV Slowdown
Ferret Custom Roll Forming, a family-owned manufacturer in Elkhart, announced November 9 that it acquired substantially all assets of Stinson Metal Works, a 21-year-old Indianapolis precision machining shop, in a deal brokered by Edison Business Advisors. The acquisition anchors a planned 45,000-square-foot expansion of Ferret's Elkhart campus and about 15 new skilled manufacturing jobs over three years, bringing CNC machining, wire EDM, and prototype work in-house alongside Ferret's roll-forming lines.
The deal lands against a sharply weaker RV market: wholesale shipments fell 14.2 percent in the first half of 2026 to 163,644 units, the weakest first-half output since before 2016. Stinson's customer base in medical devices, aerospace, and motorsports gives Ferret a path into higher-margin work, but the announcement discloses no ITAR, NADCAP, or AS9100 certification transfer plan, and those credentials typically sit with the shop's founder rather than the business itself.
- Impact
- This bolt-on lands against a sharply deteriorating Elkhart RV market: wholesale shipments fell 14.2% in the first half of 2026 to 163,644 units, the weakest first-half output since before 2016, which likely accelerated Ferret's push to diversify into Stinson's higher-margin medical, aerospace, and motorsports work. But the deal also carries an under-disclosed risk: Stinson's aerospace and military customer relationships typically require ITAR, NADCAP, or AS9100 certifications, none of which are disclosed in the announcement, and without them those contracts could dissolve the moment Dwight Stinson exits.
- Watch
- Watch for whether Ferret discloses any certification transfer or retention plan for Stinson's aerospace/military accounts, since that determines whether this deal actually monetizes Stinson's highest-value customer relationships.
- For the huddle
As RV OEM demand keeps softening in Michiana, which of our own higher-margin end markets could we pursue through a small bolt-on acquisition rather than organic capacity growth?
Sources
- Ferret Custom Roll Forming Acquires Stinson Metal Works, Expands Indiana Manufacturing · financialcontent.com
Earlier coverage
- Wright Industries Moves Into New Goshen Campus Ahead of Schedule
- Wright Industries' Goshen Indiana Ambulance Manufacturer Expansion Enters a Locked Market
- Braun Touts $110 Million in Road Grants and Boundless Recreation's Bristol Launch
- Indiana RV Manufacturing Jobs in Bristol Come From a Bet Against a Shrinking Market
- Patrick Industries Reaffirms LCI Merger Against Monomoy's $101-a-Share Bid
From the brief, November 10, 2026
- Caterpillar's Lafayette, Indiana Engine Plant Investment Hits $1.6 Billion
- Simtra's $250 Million Bloomington Expansion Collides With a Halle, Germany Warning Letter
- Ferret Custom Roll Forming Buys Stinson Metal Works to Diversify Out of Elkhart's RV Slowdown
- Autocam Medical Opens Its $70 Million Warsaw Orthopedic Plant
- NextNRG's $22 Million South Bend Energy-Compute Land Deal Carries Its Own Financing Risk
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