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tinner12002's avatar
tinner12002
Explorer
Mar 03, 2015

XLR Factory tour

Went through the XLR factory last week...was a real eye opener! Spitting those things out at 7-10 a day! Not much care given there in my opinion, seen 3-4 guys almost literally running around the frame installing tanks, wiring, insul and all the things in the frame. I can't help but think that those workers are more worried about getting more units out the door to make more money than to the quality of the installation of the products in the hauler. I'm sure most cookie cutter builders are quite the same. Granted the finished product looked good but I did ques a few of the materials used as well as the installation procedure involved on some of the things. It also sounded like after talking to them they are trying to lessin the amount of alum in the side walls to lighten things up. I kinda like the idea myself of having some kind of skeleton for strength. Overall condition inside the factory was pretty messy, they said they clean up at the end of the shift but in my opinion the conditions you see when walking in or through a place like that tells a lot about a company and their expectations of their workers. I think my next tour in going to be through Lipperts frame factory...that ought to be an eye opener!!
  • Has anyone else done a factory tour here in Indiana or any other states for that matter?
  • interesting you noticed they are trying to reduce the material in the sidewalls to save on weight. I'm sure they have some engineering software program, FEA (finite element analysis) etc. that will show them the results of removing material. Hopefully they do some real world testing too.

    I designed the riser on a compound bow for a professional archer with the same goal...make it lighter but keep the strength. It can be done but there can be consequences too. From what you described, their engineers are probably just as busy. kudos for noticing the poor housekeeping. It says a lot about the culture.
  • tinner12002 wrote:
    Went through the XLR factory last week...was a real eye opener! ...... I can't help but think that those workers are more worried about getting more units out the door to make more money than to the quality of the installation of the products in the hauler. I'm sure most cookie cutter builders are quite the same.


    That's been my experience too. Quantity is more important than quality on the assembly line. If issues come up, I guess they get fixed after the unit comes off the assembly line.
  • It's kinda funny have been trying to get someone from lippert to return a call and or email but with no results...I guess they are afraid to have someone tour their factory!!
  • Wish you luck, I did a google search and a search here for current and archived threads, nothing came up. Google did pull up a topic from group heartland tour, but nothing about any private tours of the factory.
  • tinner12002 wrote:
    Has anyone else done a factory tour here in Indiana or any other states for that matter?
    I have done a factory tour of New Horizon and Excel. Workers were not rushed. I was impressed by their frames and welds. I would like to go through the DRV plant and the Northwood Artic Fox plant.