Search               Our Company Over 25 years of Aliners. Still loyal to our customers. Still innovative in our design. Our company offers not just a camper, but a life experience.   >History >Green Efforts >Mission >Fun Facts >Contact us       Columbia Northwest - Now and Then   For over twenty-five years, Columbia Northwest, Inc. continues to produce innovative campers and trailers. The company got its start in the early 1970’s when Ralph Tait, a serial entrepreneur, began making a uniquely designed pop-up camper. He built the original Aliners for friends and word of mouth, until the early 1980's, when Ralph’s three sons helped their father grow the hobby into a business. Columbia Northwest continues to grow simply by listening to its owners and dealers. Our products can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, Korea, Japan, Netherlands, and any other place our active owners may take them.     Mission   Help people experience & enjoy the outdoors more often.       Values   Our priority is always: customer first, dealer second, company third, and the individual last We understand the concept of “Pull of customers—push of processes” We will be honest in all actions to all people All employees are committed to giving 100% at all times We will never ignore innovation Each of our employees is given the opportunity to grow We have a safe working environment producing safe products We respect the environment our customers love We understand that profit is not a bad word       Vision   Every dealer and every customer recognizes our products as quality and our service as professional Create a company atmosphere where people want to work Continue to be an innovator of products that have an emphasis on energy conservation         Contact us 1297 Kecksburg Road Mt Pleasant, PA 15666 724-423-7440 724-423-8485 (fax) info@aliner.com We conduct plant tours at 2PM, Monday thru Thursday except major holidays and the occasional plant shut-down. No appointment is necessary, but call ahead to confirm the plant will be open. We are located at the intersection of Kecksburg Road and Route 982.         Most of our employees are active outdoor enthusiasts, and we take pride in helping our customers take care of our environment. Obviously, our products are earth friendly, especially compared to other recreational vehicles. We also place considerable emphasis on producing our campers in an environmentally friendly process, as possible. In addition to the typical plastic and paper recycling, we do the following…         Recycling   We recycle as much scrap material as possible. For instance, our metal scrap is collected by employee volunteers on nights and weekends and taken to local recycling centers. Our foam scrap is bagged and returned to the manufacturer to recycle into their process. All of our wood scrap is collected and used to heat our facility in the winter (see below). We even use the fiberglass cut outs from the skylights to make white boards for our offices.       Heating and cooling   We operate a large and older facility which would consume a tremendous amount of energy to heat and cool, in traditional any manner. We utilize a water radiator system that cools our plant in the summer and heats it in the winter. During the hot months, we pump cold water from an on-site spring, run it through the radiators and use electric fans to circulate cool air. In the winter, we used the same radiators to heat our building, through a wood heated boiler. The wood to power the boiler comes from the scrap produced in our manufacturing process. The system isn’t perfect. We sweat in the summer, and we layer in the winter.       Trucking   We recently joined forces with a national trucking company in an innovative manner for shipping campers. Typically, campers are shipped on specially built trailers (similar to automobile haulers). This means that half of the trucking miles are with empty loads as the trailers return to us. Those empty miles are both expensive and environmentally unfriendly. Our new method for shipping places our campers in traditional shipping trailers along with other freight. The end result is fewer trucks on the road, creating less pollution. Some would say all this is overkill. We say we are simply doing collectively as a company what we do naturally as individuals.           Fun Facts     There is a large and active Aliner Owners Club. The club holds regional and national rallies across the U.S. and Canada. The club is totally independent from the company. The club got its start when a group of owners descended on the factory one rainy weekend in 2001. The club now consists of over 1000 active owners. When possible, people from the factory attend the rallies to talk to owners, get feedback, and have fun. Check out www.alinerclub.org for more information. Columbia Northwest’s first official factory location was in an abandoned school house. We maintain several company campers for our employees to use. Click on the refresh button to load another set of fun facts. Enjoy!

Columbia Northwest -

Now and Then

For over twenty-five years, Columbia Northwest, Inc. continues to produce innovative campers and trailers. The company got its start in the early 1970’s when Ralph Tait, a serial entrepreneur, began making a uniquely designed pop-up camper. He built the original Aliners for friends and word of mouth, until the early 1980's, when Ralph’s three sons helped their father grow the hobby into a business.

Columbia Northwest continues to grow simply by listening to its owners and dealers. Our products can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, and any other place our active owners may take them.

Mission

* Help people experience & enjoy the outdoors more often.

Values

* Our priority is always: customer first, dealer second, company third, and the individual last
* We understand the concept of “Pull of customers—push of processes”
* We will be honest in all actions to all people
* All employees are committed to giving 100% at all times
* We will never ignore innovation
* Each of our employees is given the opportunity to grow
* We have a safe working environment producing safe products
* We respect the environment our customers love
* We understand that profit is not a bad word

Vision

* Every dealer and every customer recognizes our products as quality and our service as professional
* Create a company atmosphere where people want to work
* Continue to be an innovator of products that have an emphasis on energy conservation

Columbia Northwest -

Now and Then

For over twenty-five years, Columbia Northwest, Inc. continues to produce innovative campers and trailers. The company got its start in the early 1970’s when Ralph Tait, a serial entrepreneur, began making a uniquely designed pop-up camper. He built the original Aliners for friends and word of mouth, until the early 1980's, when Ralph’s three sons helped their father grow the hobby into a business.

Columbia Northwest continues to grow simply by listening to its owners and dealers. Our products can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, and any other place our active owners may take them.

Mission

* Help people experience & enjoy the outdoors more often.

Values

* Our priority is always: customer first, dealer second, company third, and the individual last
* We understand the concept of “Pull of customers—push of processes”
* We will be honest in all actions to all people
* All employees are committed to giving 100% at all times
* We will never ignore innovation
* Each of our employees is given the opportunity to grow
* We have a safe working environment producing safe products
* We respect the environment our customers love
* We understand that profit is not a bad word

Vision

* Every dealer and every customer recognizes our products as quality and our service as professional
* Create a company atmosphere where people want to work
* Continue to be an innovator of products that have an emphasis on energy conservation

Columbia Northwest -

Now and Then

For over twenty-five years, Columbia Northwest, Inc. continues to produce innovative campers and trailers. The company got its start in the early 1970’s when Ralph Tait, a serial entrepreneur, began making a uniquely designed pop-up camper. He built the original Aliners for friends and word of mouth, until the early 1980's, when Ralph’s three sons helped their father grow the hobby into a business.

Columbia Northwest continues to grow simply by listening to its owners and dealers. Our products can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, and any other place our active owners may take them.

Mission

* Help people experience & enjoy the outdoors more often.

Values

* Our priority is always: customer first, dealer second, company third, and the individual last
* We understand the concept of “Pull of customers—push of processes”
* We will be honest in all actions to all people
* All employees are committed to giving 100% at all times
* We will never ignore innovation
* Each of our employees is given the opportunity to grow
* We have a safe working environment producing safe products
* We respect the environment our customers love
* We understand that profit is not a bad word

Vision

* Every dealer and every customer recognizes our products as quality and our service as professional
* Create a company atmosphere where people want to work
* Continue to be an innovator of products that have an emphasis on energy conservation

Columbia Northwest -

Now and Then

For over twenty-five years, Columbia Northwest, Inc. continues to produce innovative campers and trailers. The company got its start in the early 1970’s when Ralph Tait, a serial entrepreneur, began making a uniquely designed pop-up camper. He built the original Aliners for friends and word of mouth, until the early 1980's, when Ralph’s three sons helped their father grow the hobby into a business.

Columbia Northwest continues to grow simply by listening to its owners and dealers. Our products can be found in the United States, Canada, Australia, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, and any other place our active owners may take them.

Mission

* Help people experience & enjoy the outdoors more often.

Values

* Our priority is always: customer first, dealer second, company third, and the individual last
* We understand the concept of “Pull of customers—push of processes”
* We will be honest in all actions to all people
* All employees are committed to giving 100% at all times
* We will never ignore innovation
* Each of our employees is given the opportunity to grow
* We have a safe working environment producing safe products
* We respect the environment our customers love
* We understand that profit is not a bad word

Vision

* Every dealer and every customer recognizes our products as quality and our service as professional
* Create a company atmosphere where people want to work
* Continue to be an innovator of products that have an emphasis on energy conservation