Manufacturers in Indiana: the second most factory-dependent state, region by region

This report is for procurement teams and engineers looking for Indiana suppliers, people comparing manufacturing employers or plant sites, and B2B sellers building an Indiana territory. It shows how central manufacturing is to the state, breaks the market into its regions, names the public manufacturers from their filings, and works through a prospecting plan for the RV belt.

How much of Indiana works in manufacturing

Census County Business Patterns (CBP) counts private-sector employees in every industry, so it shows how much each state depends on its plants. Ranking the 2023 state file ourselves:

Indiana manufacturing at a glance

All of manufacturing (NAICS 31 to 33), Census CBP 2023:

Indiana ranks seventh for manufacturing employees. Its plants average 66.1 employees, half again the national average of 43.4.

Five manufacturing regions

The four northern counties in the first rows hold 1,526 plants, 19% of the state's. Two other counties matter more by jobs than by plant count: Tippecanoe (Lafayette) has 18,152 manufacturing employees and Bartholomew (Columbus) 14,384.

What Indiana makes

Average pay is payroll divided by employees, our calculation. The detailed codes show the regional specialties:

• Vehicles and RVs. 281 motor vehicle parts plants (61,185 employees), 234 vehicle body and trailer plants (51,930) and 14 vehicle assembly plants (21,395).
• Steel. 19 iron and steel mills employ 16,944 people, an average of 892 per mill, at $120,380 a head. Lake and Porter counties have 7 of them, with 12,597 employees.
• Medicine and devices. 35 pharmaceutical plants employ 13,799 and pay $122,449 on average; 215 medical equipment and supplies plants employ 18,313.

The RV belt in the data

Elkhart County holds 149 of Indiana's 234 vehicle body and trailer plants, with 36,916 employees, and 94 of the state's 125 travel trailer and camper plants. LaGrange County adds 21 body and trailer plants, 18 of them travel trailer makers. The statewide employee total for travel trailer and camper manufacturing is not reported: the Census Bureau published it but flagged it as high-noise, meaning the noise it adds to protect confidentiality changed the figure by 5% or more. Motor home manufacturing, which isn't flagged, has 20 plants and 6,252 employees.

Around the assemblers sit the component makers: Elkhart and LaGrange together have 166 fabricated metal plants, 135 wood products plants, 123 furniture plants and 81 plastics plants. Three of the state's SEC-listed manufacturers (Thor Industries, LCI Industries and Patrick Industries) are headquartered in Elkhart.

Public manufacturers headquartered in Indiana

Searching SEC EDGAR for listed companies with manufacturing SIC codes and Indiana addresses turns up 21. The ten largest, each checked against the cover page and income statement of its latest 10-K:

EDGAR also lists 22nd Century Group with an Indiana address, but its latest 10-K gives Mocksville, North Carolina, so we've left it out. Revenue is company-wide, not Indiana-only.

Where to find Indiana manufacturers by name

• Made in Indiana, Purdue Manufacturing Extension Partnership's directory of Indiana manufacturers, searchable by category (automotive, food and beverage, paper and others). Purdue MEP is Indiana's NIST MEP center, based in Carmel with staff around the state.
• Indiana Manufacturers Association, founded in 1901 and the only Indiana trade association focused exclusively on manufacturing. Its online directory lists associate members, the suppliers and service firms, not the manufacturers.
• Indiana Secretary of State business services, which links to the state's business entity search, for legal names, status and registered agents.
• OSHA's establishment search for a plant's federal inspection history, by name, state and ZIP code.

Prospecting Indiana manufacturers

The 250-or-more row adds 239, 122 and 49 plants in the Census size classes. RV plants follow the RV build rate, so expansions, new model lines and hiring for production are the triggers to watch; steel and pharmaceutical sites plan capital projects and shutdowns a year or more ahead.

Worked example: an adhesives and fastener distributor in the RV belt

Illustrative example. The distributor, the share of component plants it assumes supply RV makers and its reply rate are invented; plant counts are Census data.

Northern Bond Supply (northernbond.example) sells structural adhesives, sealants and fasteners and stocks them for same-day delivery in Elkhart and LaGrange counties.

• Vehicle body and trailer plants in the two counties: 149 + 21 = 170.
• Component plants there in fabricated metal, wood, furniture and plastics: 166 + 135 + 123 + 81 = 505. Northern Bond assumes half supply RV makers: about 252.
• That's about 422 accounts. With a purchasing contact and a production manager at each, 844 people; a 5% reply rate gives about 42 conversations.

The research that wins here is knowing which plant just added a model line or a shift. Bebop can search for "Elkhart County RV and trailer component manufacturers with 20 to 249 employees hiring production supervisors" and write a playbook for each.

Subject: Same-day sealant and fastener stock for [Company]

Hi [first name],

I saw [Company] is [adding a second shift / launching parts for a new model year]. That's usually when adhesive and fastener orders start running short between deliveries.

We keep [Company]'s regular SKUs on the shelf in Elkhart and deliver the same day. Would it help to compare your last month's emergency orders against a stocking plan?

[Your name], Northern Bond Supply

Next step: for a wider view of how plants buy and who signs, read the manufacturing industry guide.