Momentum 399TH
Going to the Momentum factory today to take a look at the 399TH and to see how its put together and to see how organized and clean their facility is. Will post my thoughts here in a couple days.
Forum Discussion
ramgunner wrote:
Many years ago I wrote a series of articles on manufactured homes. I went through various facilities where they were made - the process is quite similar in many respects to RV construction.
I too saw things strewn on the floor, people running, jumping, crawling, whatever it took to get the job done as fast as possible, in both high-end and mid-range facilities. It didn't matter what the perceived quality of the home was, they all did it the same way with mostly the same materials.
I observed first hand folks going in and doing their job on the assembly line and damaging work that had been done 5 minutes before. They were in a hurry and "things happen". They were paid by the piece and wanted to get as many done as possible.
The product that left the assembly line was generally in rough shape, and that's being diplomatic. Some looked like disasters. It wasn't until the pieces were delivered to the site and assembled, and the "finish team" went through it that it looked like what it was supposed to (a process that could take several days). The finish team often had to replace things like cabinet doors, re-do drywall, tape, and texture, and things like that. I accompanied a couple of them, and their trucks had cabinet doors of all types the manufacturer used, replacement windows, replacement doors, drywall mud, every color of paint the manufacturer used, etc. They could almost re-build a home if they had to, and could get anything they needed from the factory within a day.
From what has been explained to me, the inspection facility that GD is building will be like the "finish team" that manufactured home companies used. They will go through everything and make sure it's right, replace any parts that are damaged, etc.
Given how the industry does things on the assembly line, it's about the only realistic way to improve what gets shipped out to the customer.
Interesting experience. I just find it hard to believe that by rushing the assembly line as much as you say they do, that it's actually cheaper, in the long run, to hire an additional finish team and all that?
Think about it, if your QC was on point during assembly, you wouldn't need an entirely different team to finish everything. Nor would you need a truck full of cabinet doors and such (more inventory and overhead) to keep on hand.
