Quote:
Originally Posted by aa9zz
Evergreen49,
Too bad, this would be a great time for Thor to reach out to customers. They could show customers they actually do care.
With no help from them we should copyright it. If they don't help, they should have to pay us to use it.
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You will NEVER get that. It would set a precedent. A very expensive one at that.
I'm here with a Thor now. I started this path with a Fleetwood/Coleman PopUp, and they had constant complaints on their message boards. I then moved into a Fleetwood Pace Arrow, same problems on their message boards. Then, moved over to a Winnebago Vista. Those folks are REALLY aggravated on their message boards, because they have all drank from the "serialized parts, exceptional quality, higher cost for higher quality" Koolaid, (I know, I had a sip).
I'm not being a defeatist when I mention that these other manufacturers have issues. I'm actually in the business of Quality Assurance.,(executive in aerospace manufacturing). I'm a non-retired working stiff. I understand the cost of quality, I live it.
While a $90,000, (purchased price), motorhome may feel like it should have been delivered in perfect condition, there is more to the story. In reality, the F53 chassis cost about $17,000, (wholesale), and the assembly factory put in about $15,000, (wholesale), in materials and appliances, and about $4,000 in labor. That's really it! The rest is markup, margin, and the dealer's markup and margin. Only about 4% to 5% of what you are paying at retail actually goes directly into the manufacturing and assembly, (hourly workers paid just a fraction over minimum wage), of the RV that you just purchased.
The factory that assembled your motorhome on an assembly line, (or with mobile crews that came to the unit being built) accomplished it all within the financial constraints of the 4% to 5% of what you spent. Compare that to the labor rates charged at a local RV or automobile repair center, and you start to see where "you get what you pay for" comes into play.
In the aerospace industry we have "the luxury" of very extensive and detailed quality checks with raw materials, receiving inspection, in-process inspection, and final inspection. Also, due to modern manufacturing methodology, each individual person that touches any part is responsible for the quality of that part. If they see any defects that may have occurred before they touch the part, they are still responsible and fully accountable. And, if they can identify any process improvements, they are expected to implement them in a prescribed manner. All that accountability has costs in training, equipment, documentation, certification, management, and continuous improvement. Most of those things are just way too expensive to consider implementing in RV manufacturing with only 4% to 5% of what the customer pays going directly towards the manufacturing of the product. In aerospace, as much as 10% to 25% of the hundreds of millions spent by customers to purchase an aircraft or spacecraft actually goes towards the manufacturing. Until at least that much of the customer's money can go directly towards the manufacturing of an RV, the quality will remain where it's currently at. The current RV manufacturing and dealership industry, (in the U.S.A.) is far too convoluted and entrenched in it's business practices to change any time soon. European and Australian RV manufacturers do operate much closer to how aerospace works in this country, and you will immediately notice it when you see a European or Australian RV.
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