John S. wrote:
tatest wrote:
Your experience fits well with my observations during a 2006 factory visit. Newmar was using a 'craftsman' approach to plumbing, wiring, fitting furnishings, with the craftsman signing off on his own work. You are somewhat at the mercy of the individual doing the work on that coach, that day.
The craftsman approach works well when the craftsmen are good and well supervised. The alternative is mass production with engineered designs stamped out using engineered production processes. Newmar is working a middle ground, as are probably most RV manufacturers, trying to use mass production methods for basics, craftsman methods to customize, while trying to hold costs to match mass production. It is a compromise that made me very uncomfortable, so that I would rather go to one extreme or the other, e.g. Winnebago or Newell, as fits the budget, rather than half of one,, half of the other.
It is quite possible that a diiferent plumber, working on a different coach on the same line, the same day, would have come up with a better solution. To me, that's a problem with the whole process.
This is very well said.
X2. I wonder if they were cutting costs by eliminating a quality control inspector?
