Just Suppose

Jarlaxle wrote:
Close the factory and outsource everything to China. Assemble the trailers there except for axles and things on the roof, ship them to Mexico. Finish them there, then bring them to dealers.

Quality would probably be leaps and bounds better.

I don't know if your comment is sarcasm or not, but it is definitely true. If it's not sarcasm, please accept my apology.

Whatever happened to "do it right the first time", "pride is job #1", "be all that you can be"? It doesn't have to always be tied to money. Those that tie their ability to money rarely succeed and if they do it is short term.

Hire people who genuinely want to work and would take pride in what they do. Haven't you seen that in minimum wage jobs? Those that go the extra mile. They're out there, just a matter of putting a team together and not hiring whoever off the street. Trust me, there are more than enough people willing to do a good job.

People may laugh now, but my prediction is (if this forum and I last that long) China or India will become the number one country in the world. And why not, who says you have to be an American to be good at anything. After all, we are all human beings living on the same planet.

4X4Dodger wrote:

TheAmRheins wrote:
Many of the RV factories I have visited pay by piecework. When x number of units are done, you can go home. I would pay by the hour, slow the pace, allow the builders time to get it built right the first time.

Frankly I dont think any of us here on this forum are qualified to really answer this question because we dont have enough information about Margins, Costs, Labor Issues and the competitive atmosphere of the RV Market. Nor do we know what the REAL statistics are on quality. All we really have in this forum and in our own lives is Anecdotal information. The big picture may be quite different to what we assume.

The reply by 4X4 is the best opinion I have ever seen expressed on this forum. My hat is off to you Dodger.
Greg

I believe it has been stated already, but my big beef is in design- these are still being built one off, by and large, like houses. I would design them so every piece was fabricated before assembly- no more holes punched with a hammer to snake wires- the walls would be computer routed, all wiring via harness, all wires labeled. Home run plumbing and LP lines. Chases for utilities. Basically, designed for assembly line construction.

Just suppose people were prepared to actually PAY for quality. There are very few quality units in the towable market. They come at a price. There seems to be a better choice in quality class As & they really come at a price.

I don't have a problem with speed of assembly. People who do things repeatedly get to be very quick & very good at it. It is the short cuts in methods & quality of materials that get to me.

time2roll wrote:
...Buy back some of the lemons and make my employees go on an RV trip.

If the company is taking everyone camping, then the designers and engineers need to pack an overnight bag too. It's real easy to sit behind a computer screen with the CAD program running and quite another to actually see how the design and floorplan actually work in the real world.

TucsonJim wrote:
Just suppose you were hired by a major towable RV manufacturer as the vice president of quality. The company said they are tired of customer complaints. They want to change the perception of their company and become the quality leader. What would you do different that is not being done today?

Buy back some of the lemons and make my employees go on an RV trip.

TucsonJim wrote:
Just suppose you were hired by a major towable RV manufacturer as the vice president of quality. The company said they are tired of customer complaints. They want to change the perception of their company and become the quality leader. What would you do different that is not being done today?

There are many good answers. Here are a few I'd do in addition:

I would see if I had the authority to make a European style model, make it, and from the customer feedback, move the features to the existing model lines.

For example, on all towables, I would not just go completely with Seitz windows, but make sure to have parts on hand. These windows not just open all the way, but offer two pane insulation and excellent sound deadening when close.

TucsonJim wrote:
Just suppose you were hired by a major towable RV manufacturer as the vice president of quality. The company said they are tired of customer complaints. They want to change the perception of their company and become the quality leader. What would you do different that is not being done today?

In order to decide what to do differently, I would have to know what is being done today. So, I would spend the first 'x' amount of time observing, taking notes, asking questions, probing etc...

Then I would assemble a core team and identify the root cause(s) of the poor quality. Rank them 1 through N, based on which cause/issue would have the biggest impact/ability to improve the quality.

Then, target resources against those issues, and implement independent review processes to ensure the solutions are achieving the intended goal.

Did something get edited out of this thred? You ask what would you do different that is not being done today, but you did not tell us what IS being done.. so how could you say what is not being done if you don't know what is being done?

Mike

As one who has had an entire RV replaced because it was so defective, I can say that there is one h*ll of a lot of things that could be done differently to improve the situation.

When it comes to towable RVs, it's a disgrace. There is no single or prevailing root cause - it's an accumulation of various issues. It's also the prevailing culture in the industry (RVIA, manufacturers, dealers, component manufacturers, etc. ) that can't see beyond there own noses. Where is the gov't to improve existing standards like say on ST tires or to bring in new standards like say on frames? There's a lack of innovation and it's hard to tell competitor's RVs apart (excepting maybe MHs) and even from year to year. I'd need several pages here to list problems and suggested improvements...

One big problem I see is that you could build the very best RV ever built but how do you get the message out to consumers? Newbies typically get sales pitches from a dealer at a lot or from a dealer an RV show or possibly from an RV magazine (and the most popular mag. is just an infomercial for manufacturers). Personally, I would be happy to pay another 1, 5 or 10 percent more initially for a TT if it meant substantially better quality because we have spent much more on repairs and other related expenses.

When we bought our first TT we were so excited. We've now become hardened and cynical. Wanna own a TT? Better be a good handyman, have some tools and have a contigency fund for unexpected repairs and expenses.

It would be interesting to put together a team of RV owners from a forum like this and present their ideas for improvements to an RV manufacturer that wants to listen.

fpresto wrote:
Before you can do anything you have to check your target market. If it is millionaires then you are good to go. If it is "average" consumers then your first step is to get your résumé out because you will be soon job hunting. As long as the American consumer makes buying choices on cost not quality you will soon bankrupt the company. Walmart proves this every day. Even on this forum there are probably more questions about how much off of MSRP can I get than which unit has the better quality.

Hats off to this answer.

RVers in particular seem to be a cheap bunch.