Indiana RV manufactures

Dog Trainer wrote:
You get what you get when you buy an RV I don't care where it is built. I will say that my Newmar does seem to have a better build quality than Rv's I have had in the past. I wonder if that is because Newmar is owned by a Mennonite family.

What difference would that make? It seems more likely that it's just a business decision--Newmar decided to serve the high profit margin upper end of the market rather than make their money from volume sales of budget RVs, like Forest River, Keystone, etc.

et2 wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Amish... yawn.

RV manufacturers tout 'Amish Craftsmanship' In reality, they might be craftsmen in their own shops making stuff for us gentiles to purchase, but, in reality, the Amish that work in RV plants are nothing more than a clock number, supplementing the incomes off the farm. Same work ethic as the gentiles working next to them.

It's a 9-5 job, key word is job.

My wife and I have had dealings in the past with Amish and they are no different than the average Joe. Just wear different clothes and don't shave....

And some of them are outright dishonest. Had a bad experience with one running a puppy mill in Indiana. Turned out he had been thru the court system over it.

Puppy mills are really a big deal. Our county has changed zoning ordinances multiple times just to deal with the Amish puppy mills. I would never buy a dog from the Amish. The Amish are no different from any other population, there are excellent people and there are the less than desirable.

goducks10 wrote:
Sounds like the RV industry and the Amish have one thing in common. Both are living in the past.

My vote for "The post of the day"

..............

You get what you get when you buy an RV I don't care where it is built. I will say that my Newmar does seem to have a better build quality than Rv's I have had in the past. I wonder if that is because Newmar is owned by a Mennonite family.

SidecarFlip wrote:
Amish... yawn.

RV manufacturers tout 'Amish Craftsmanship' In reality, they might be craftsmen in their own shops making stuff for us gentiles to purchase, but, in reality, the Amish that work in RV plants are nothing more than a clock number, supplementing the incomes off the farm. Same work ethic as the gentiles working next to them.

It's a 9-5 job, key word is job.

My wife and I have had dealings in the past with Amish and they are no different than the average Joe. Just wear different clothes and don't shave....

And some of them are outright dishonest. Had a bad experience with one running a puppy mill in Indiana. Turned out he had been thru the court system over it.

Ok, I live in a county in Indiana with a large Amish community a couple hours south of where most trailers are manufactured. I can tell you there are some fantastic Amish craftsmen but they don't build RV's.

The RV industry is like every other industry in the US. They want the cheapest labor that will show up for work and then work them as hard as they can. The young Amish men fit the bill pretty well though they aren't the majority of the labor force. Many plants have covered stalls or small barns to keep the horses during the day.

The majority of the work force was Hispanics until immigration tightened up but they still serve a large roll. If you spend any time in a RV plant and I've been in many of them, you will see some very hard workers. Many have no more than a 7th grade education working their buts off with a screw gun going as fast as they can. When you work them that hard in non air conditioned and poorly heated factories you get the quality that we all complain about.

Sorry to burst some bubbles but once again profit is more important than quality, that's why the Amish craftsmen work for themselves not corporate America.

Amish does not necessarily mean good quality. A friend of mine hired am Amish crew to build his pole barn. 9 of them showed up in one large van with an English driver, and they started from scratch and built that barn in less than 2 days. Bet there isn't a square corner in there. He isn't too happy about it.

Talent chases money in blue collar world too and the best workers in northern Indiana are in the western part of the state making excellent money in the refineries, mills and powerhouses, not in the eastern part building RVs. Or living in Indiana and working in Illinois where wages are better yet and unemployment and workman's comp are better than working in Indiana.

Per the original Topic Indiana RV Manufacturers.


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