Factory tour

[jking46]

Last week we were planning to get the ikss out for the first time this year. DW was on spring break,camper was dewinterized,and all was good. Except for the weather. Rain, wind, and chilly.

Plan B. Road trip. We live less than 3 hours from the Elkhart, Goshen, Shipshewana area where most of the campers are made. We have wanted to visit a factory for years but they only offer tours mon thru Thurs.and we normally couldn't make it.

We scheduled a tour through the plant that makes Roos and Rockwood ultra lights. Turned out to be a great experience. They were making Roos that day...all 233s. Got to see them go from bare frame to completion. So if anyone had a build date on Thursday 3/30, we might have seen yours built.

Recommend it to everyone. It looked like semi- organized chaos. Amish dudes and dudettes walking briskly and even jogging from station to station, sourcing parts,and pushing campers on rollers down the line.

Even in the midst of all that, they would stop and politely answer questions from us or our guide. Really impressive.

Probably the most surprising discovery was how many inspections were performed as the campers were being assembled. Any time anything, no matter how minute, was found to be less than perfect, it was flagged with tape. Every unit was inspected by the QC guys and no unit left the plant until all issues were corrected. All water lines were pressure tested and all electrical components were checked.

Later in the day, we toured both a Keystone and a Heartland plant. We were surprised at the differences. Probably the most important difference was the fact that only one in three Keystone and only random Heartland units got the full QC inspection that every FR unit gets. Makes me wonder about their QC and happy I bought a Shamrock.

Apologize for the long post but I thought you all would be interested in the quality control aspects since we hear so many people with quality issues. It looks to me they are trying to make a good product, and I for one got a good one. No serious issues in 3 seasons and ready to start the fourth.

[RACarvalho]

Hi Jim,
Thank you for this.
Did you take pictures?
I'd love to see pictures of the Roos/Shamrock production line.

Tks,

[jking46]

Sorry...no pictures. We were not allowed to take pictures in the FR plant. In retrospect, it has to be because of the Amish. Their religion prohibits photography of them. On the other hand,we were told we could take pictures in the Keystone plant. Their workforce appeared to be primarily Hispanic, so no religion issues there. But their workday was winding down as we toured and many workstations were already cleaned up for the day.

They all work on quotas. FR plans on 35 to 45 units daily. Keystone wants 30 Hideouts daily. The workday lasts until the units planned for that day are done, whether it's 6 hours or 10.

[wardster]

Very cool insight. Thanks!