Hi, Thank You for responding to our Airstream concerns. Also Thank You for putting this in print for those of us who have dial-up service.
A few things on quality control, as in "QC traveler, Line Audits, End of Line Inspect and Clean, and Management Audit: I have been employed by new car dealers since 1968 [now retired] and one of my jobs was new car prep, or get ready. I had a huge check list to go by and we added any concerns that come up that weren't on the list. But I also worked with people [who should have been fired] that would pencil in the check list and do no more than Hub caps, Antenna, and License frames. These lists mean nothing if the job is not correctly done.
Corrosion issues: I would expect to hear that, "we are working on this, but at this time I have no real answer for you." This was a common answer from the automakers in which three things would happen. (1.) TSBs, we have found a fix and this is what you [the mechanic] will do to cure this concern. (2.) without any notice or announcement, newer models [sometimes years later] will no longer have this problem. (3.) absolutely nothing.
Contruction Debis: In the attached picture is a few items that I found inside of my kitchen cabinets, under my oven, and on top of my furnace. This sort of thing should never have happened and could have only been caught if employees are watched by an inspector during assembly. My selling dealer would have never found these items during their inspection. I found them when my trailer was about four years old. I'm sure who ever put or left these items inside of my trailer knew these items might never be found.
I have found items of sabotage in new cars and our factory rep. was able to trace back to who was the actual person who did this by VIN, production date, and item assembled. These employees were in trouble or fired.
Note: I don't want or expect you to do anything for me, but it might help Airstream if some of these comments and pictures are shown or posted where your employees can see what a few of their co-workers have done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Airstream Marketing  Dear AIRForums Members, Airstream Quality Control Process.
Several of you asked about our quality control process. I’m happy to outline it below: - QC traveler: this is a checklist that travels with each trailer and motorhome as it goes through the production process. It has a page of things for each Group Leader (production line department head) to check before the unit leaves his station. At the end of the production line, this is our record that the unit was inspected carefully in each line station.
- Line Audits: these are daily inspections are performed by QC personnel in random stations to make sure certain key quality items (electrical connections, sealant application, etc..) are being performed correctly.
- End-of-line inspect and clean: this is pretty much as it sounds. Every unit is inspected by QC personnel for both functional (LP, electrical, water, etc..) performance and for cosmetic flaws. Any deviations found are repaired and the unit is re-inspected.
- Management Audit: this is a twice weekly inspection of a single unit by the senior management of the company. It serves to help maintain a common understanding of standards.
Those of you with a QC background may note that there is a fair amount of inspection in our process. While we do work issues back to their root cause and attempt to eliminate the problem at the source (vs. find and fix), such is the nature of an entirely hand-built product that a certain amount of inspection is unavoidable. Corrosion
This question takes a fair amount of research; as such we will try to answer related que stions in future communications. - Construction Debris
We clean the units carefully before they leave JC, but some metal shavings and sawdust inevitably work their way out onto the floor over the first several hundred miles. Much of this starts out between the inner and outer skin, and vibrations causes it to drop and shimmy out from under cabinets. When our units were mostly carpet, it simply stayed out of sight. Now we’re about 95% vinyl flooring.
Bob Wheeler
President
Airstream, Inc. |