Forum Discussion
JRscooby
Jun 22, 2019Explorer II
Gdetrailer wrote:
First of all, in the RV industry, the workers are not paid "by the piece" so you cannot call it "piece work".
First, I did not introduce the concept of piece work into the discussion. I think I know what piece work is. When hiring help, they knew they where paid a percentage of what the truck grossed. And like most business, I was paid for what the truck did. (Does the company get paid for canning the peas, or selling the peas?) And I have spent many a winter day sitting waiting for somebody to order a load.
RV production floor workers are most likely paid an hourly wage.
Point number 1, you can get the "I don't care" attitude even with salaried or hourly, doesn't matter.
My point is if the workers are truly paid PW, the chance of that attitude is reduced, not increased
Sometimes the problem is the worker doing the work (not trained or not caring), sometimes the problem is bad management or high pressure from bad management to push stuff out the door before it is ready. Sometimes it is completely bad Engineering and Management turns a blind eye to it.
Worker not trained or caring is also a problem with management. Look how many times that word shows up.
Most RV manufacturers use moving production lines with specific work cells which do specific assembly at certain times in the assembly process.
And this is a new thing? Unique to the RV industry? The price of a model "T" constantly dropped as the line got more efficient. The T was a simple car, but not sure the average TT is any more complicated. And the better technology available for production, the on average more years in school of the work force (Not saying better educated) it should be no problem to mass produce a good product.
Workers are often hurried to complete their part of the assy process before the entire unit is pushed past their work cell. Often with zero "QC" involvement in this final process of integration.
One of the issues in many industries is line speed. UAW would work with management, want a faster line put on more workers. Line too fast to do the job safely, the line stops.
Point number 2, I guess you have never worked in any assembly plant or have setup a production floor. Depending on complexity of your device, having EACH assembled part in each section "inspected" by QC at each step of the way may or may not make sense..Workers may be fully trained in one work cell or all, partially trained or even no training other than watching someone show them once. I seriously doubt that there is any dedicated electricians, carpenters or any other specialized trades on the production line, it would cost several arms and legs to do so.
True, I worked a assembly line for a very short time. And I imagine our production rate was more like building a camper than a auto line (Converting 4 cyl Jeep and 289 Ford engines into portable air compressors. QC there was basically if the job was not right when it got to you, yell (over shop noise) lead man would look at the problem. You, lead, and the guy that messed up fix that one and mess learned. IMHO, that is near 100% inspection, and the cost is far less than taking the whole apart, or having upset customer
A RV, nope, not worth the extra cost in man power, the worst you have there is a slight delay in your plans.
I think in most industries there would be a much greater cost; The customer that is not happy with the product. But somehow in the RV industry that does not matter.
Not to mention absolutely no one would be willing to pay double of what a current RV costs..
But we are willing to pay, and get something that will not meet expectations? Or lower the expectation?
Point number 4, dealers wouldn't exist since RV manufacturers wouldn't exist since the prices of the RVs would be far more than what folks could afford to buy and due to zero sales putting a lot of workers out of a job from the workers making the materials that the RV manufacturers buy, the production workers building the RVs right through the RV dealers..
The use of the mass production line speeds up the building process, lowering the cost to make which lowers the final cost to the end user.
Mass production is not perfect, but often the mistakes made are much lower than say a "one off" that is hand built by just one skilled laborer..
Take your pick, have RVs of may many styles and floor plans built in a quick time and much lower cost (mass production) or one plan which takes months or even yrs to build at a cost well above your income level (hand built one off)..
I compare the RV industry of today with the American auto industry of the early '70s. But their is not likely to be a influx of foreign built TTs to cut demand, threaten the profits of the manufacturers. The only way to change it would be stop buying the junk.
The cheap wiring like the OP has is often a manufacturers cost cutting decision to find ways to use leftover scraps
That might be true, but from what I see it is just nobody that cared looked at it before the next step.
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