May 17—GOSHEN — Genesis Products Inc. celebrated the grand opening of Plant 10 in Goshen Tuesday.

The CEO of the single-source manufacturing company, Jon Wenger, led the customers and staff on a tour of the new facility that showcased the company's expanded thermoforming capabilities and equipment.

Despite the name, this is Genesis's 14th plant, and it has been open since April. Genesis decided to open Plant 10 after needing to expand on two of its other plants. The new plant focuses on countertops, both solid surface and thermofoil. The additional space allows Genesis to accommodate for the increase in demand seen for solid surfaces.

The new plant is 72,000 square feet, allowing Genesis to triple its production line. The company now has 12 operators working the line, but there is room to grow. They make about 200 countertops a day.

The company is focused on creating new designs and keeping up with the trends.

Kam Betzer, the product manager, said the company strives to always be the first.

"We always have the customer's best intent in mind," Betzer said.

In Plant 10, Genesis is working on using fewer materials and reducing the costs for its customers. Betzer said Genesis can make any design on their countertops, and they use materials that mimic granite. This is because granite can be expensive and heavy.

The new countertops are anti-microbial, so bacteria doesn't stay on it for very long, something that is important to Genesis, especially after COVID-19. Betzer said any chemical can be used on them without staining.

"We pride ourselves on the quality of what we build," Betzer said. "Everything that we have is very cohesive and goes together, so each pipeline focuses on the control points for our products."

The focus of Genesis is happiness. Wenger said the company's tagline is "Product driven. People powered."

That's the reason Erin Curtis, the vice president of marketing, started at Genesis a year ago. Curtis was motivated by the CEO's purpose and the idea of building something amazing.

"Genesis can't make people happy, but it can create an environment where people can be happy and thrive if they take personal initiative to do so," she said.

Curtis is happy and said the team is excited to bring customers a partnership where they can get all of their products in one place. Genesis has in-house engineers, so it can provide more custom options to its customers in a flexible way.

Steve Miller, the sourcing manager at Thor Motor Coach, has been buying from Genesis since 2011. He uses Genesis because they offer an assortment of capabilities, and he said that creates competition, which leads to better pricing.

Miller said he enjoys these showcasing events. He did not know Genesis sold solid-surface countertops, but he is now considering buying them as well.

"We are bringing new suppliers to the RV market that haven't been available in the past and bringing with that new design and new looks that we are excited for our customers to check out," Wenger said.

The company started over 20 years ago with a single laminating machine, and now, with over 1,200 employees in Elkhart County, the company is a leader for laminated panels and component manufacturing in the United States.