Airstream Factory

[Gene]

It has become commonplace to attack union workers. It is management that is responsible for quality and if they don't send the message that quality workmanship is not primary, no matter whether workers are unionized or not, quality will suffer. Unions bring living wages and helped create a large middle class after WW II. Before the Great Depression, the middle class was much smaller and the lower class much bigger. Now that unions, attacked for a generation and more, are weak, wages are stagnant or falling and the middle class is being squeezed into the lower class. Who will have the money to buy an Airstream? Only the top few percent will be able afford them, but when you only produce two or three thousand a year, maybe that will be enough.

Airstream is nonunion and quality is not very good. If management took the right steps, quality would improve. People who barely get by on their wages are demoralized and less likely to care what they do because they see no way out. Those that can't get by rely on government to provide food stamps, Medicaid and other benefits and we all pay for that. How is that sensible?

Gene

[TG Twinkie]

Unions will not make the quality any better. The most common phrase I have heard from a union member is. "That's not my job"
Many deadbeats are protected by unions.
Look what has happened to Government Workers, Teachers etc.. You can't get rid of the poor performers.
Try and get a teacher fired.
Management can only do so much. People just don't take pride in their workmanship these days.
I started my career as an hourly worker and ended it as a manager for a large corporation. Believe me. Things have changed.
It's become an ALL ABOUT ME situation in the work place. Whether it is the line worker or management.
People have a choice as to work for a specific wage. They can choose not to take the job. But, if they do, they should give 100%.
I believe that those who get promoted from the rank and file make better managers than those who have never worked with their hands. They have a better understanding of what is required.
Wages are stagnant because of the economy and all of the free stuff the government hands out. Why work when you can sit on your butt at home and collect $40K -$80K a year tax free. Unemployment is up to almost 2 years now.
There are plenty of good paying jobs. Just look at North Dakota. But in order to get those jobs. You need skills.
The average 7th grader today can only read at a 2nd grade level. And you have to go to college today to get the equivalent of a high school education comparable to that of the 1960's.
It doesn't matter if you are union or not. If you don't have reasonable intelligence and education. It will be difficult to maintain a middle class life style.
IMHO



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[TinTin]

Well said, Gene!

[Denis4x4]

Originally Posted by gunner

Airstream further announced today that they will be hiring an additional 125 associates.

Are there 125 qualified people in Jackson Center to fill the jobs? When I ran my companies, I had employees, not associates. I suspect my employees were more interested in cashing a decent paycheck for a job well done than a "politically correct" title to help their self esteem!


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[m.hony]

The 480 current employees do not all live in Jackson Center. There is a long line of cars coming in the morning and leaving in the evening from the surrounding towns. The employees may commute as much as 40-50 miles.

[AWCHIEF]

This is coming awful close to discussing things that truly piss some people off. Time to move away from union discussion and back to the subject at hand.

[Gene]

In reference to post 87: Many people have no choice about jobs. They have to accept what they can find even if the wage is low. They can't move to somewhere with better jobs because they can't afford to move. They can't afford college unless they burden themselves with student debt. Good paying jobs are hard to find even if employment is up overall. Many have dropped out of the labor force. I would love to know how to get $40-80,000 tax free from the government. What's the secret to that? If you have unemployment, you have to pay taxes on it. Part of Social Security is taxed. Food stamps don't come close to $40,000 much less $80,000.

I have lived in rural America for 14 years and many people have 2 or 3 jobs and barely get by. Half the people there rely on food stamps and other benefits. Rural Ohio is the same and people will work at Airstream for low wages because there are few decent jobs. One job at low pay is better than 2 or 3 at low wages. Some give 100%, some do not. At last report, Airstream is on a 4 day schedule with 10 hour days. If you work your tail off for 10 hours for low wages, will you always give it your all? It is easy to say you would, but long ago I worked hard for low pay and sometimes I found it difficult to care.

When I took the tours, it appeared everyone was working pretty hard, but the way things were done was not all that efficient. The money to be spent on expanding the factory is too little to do much more than build the buildings and buy some tools. I don't see how they have enough to automate.

If they spent $200,000 per year on quality control engineers and made 3,000 trailers, that would add $67 per trailer, but would save them much more on warranty work. That would only pay for 2 engineers and support for them, so those guys would be pretty busy.

Gene

[westernjeep401]

Perhaps if the production team had a vested interest in what it is they do, besides a check, then you might have something...

The Japanese have a word for it...

[AWCHIEF]

And that word is?

[westernjeep401]

Kaizen

[AWCHIEF]

Originally Posted by lgwaldrop

Kaizen

Thank you

[TG Twinkie]

In reference to post 92. Social Security is only taxed above a certain threshold. It is somewhere around $38K.
There have been numerous reports on the benefits (freebees) available. Cell Phones, Food Stamps, Welfare, Medicaid, WIC programs and the list goes on.The numbers in New York State for these kind of benefits can add up to $80K.
As for traveling to find a job. History tells us it is possible if you have the will. The Great Depression for example.
You can travel across this great country of ours for less than 3 months cell phone costs.
It's that lack of drive that not only effects the ability to get ahead. It effects the wanting to give 100%. Which is one of the reasons you find trash and bits of construction material in your new coach. Just plain lack of attention to detail.
Paying for productivity can be a double edge sword. If you pay for the number of units out the door. Quality may suffer. Paying incentives based on how many warranty issues are being dealt with and production suffers.
I also live in a rural area. Wages are not as high as that of large cities. But neither are the costs of living.
I know the argument will be gas and food prices are close to the same. But in most cases housing is half or less than in the cities. Commutes are shorter, etc..





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[J. Morgan]

There are so many things about the way an Airstream is put together that will not allow a lot of precise pre fab like the way other trailers are assembled.

The "box" trailers are assembled in components. For example, a wall assembly interior, exterior, windows, door can be prefabbed to near completion and then set into place.

This is never going to happen with a traditional Airstream.

Anyone who has ever remodeled an Airstream will know what I am about to talk about.

Due to the curvature of the shell assembly, I do not think it is a practical possibility to build a trailer of this design where the curve of the interior wall is exactly consistent from one trailer to the next or for that matter even from one rib to the next.

Minor fractional dimension and fitment variations and assembly variations are multiplied as the trailer shell extends from one side across the roof to the other side.

The result is that prefabrication of intersecting walls, cabinets, and bulkheads must either be custom fit to the interior wall or there will be a gap. This just is.

Flat side trailers are not going to have to deal with this.

There is a reason these trailers cost more than SOB's they use more expensive materials, and they are built on a labor intensive design.

This cost in extra labor per unit not only results in extra labor cost, but they spend more time going down the line. This means extra facilities costs, and extra utilities cost.

This also means that a lot of things that people see as quality issues must be addressed at the time of the interior build as the trailer goes down the line, not in a "wall assembly" that can be inspected before it is set on the chassis/floor assembly.

Dealing with this reality means that the cost of repairs of the resulting "quality issues" must be added into the cost of manufacture.

These trailers are going to be MUCH MORE difficult to address with regard to " quality control" than a box trailer not because of shoddy QC, but because the design of the trailer makes it much harder to apply an in process program.

The thing is,, the design that makes fit and finish, and QC difficult is what most Airstreamers find unique and appealing about their trailers.....

There is no free lunch. The trailers cost more and and at times have QC issues because they are unique in the trailer world.

I guarantee you, Airstream is not building these units cheap, they are spending real money on these trailers. I would be very surprised if the margins on these trailers is not the thinnest (percentage wise) of all Thor lines.

[J. Morgan]

Wow,,,, it is not often I make a post that long...

I feel that a post that long often remains unread.. because I know I sometimes skip over or just skim long posts..

Oh well, sometimes I break my own rules...

[J. Morgan]

Some folks will know what I am talking about here, others wont.

Do you know how freaking long it takes to get a close fit against the curved wall of an Airstream like where the edge of the cabinet intersects the wall?

A long (expletive deleted) time in my shop. an eternity in a factory environment.

[r carl]

Originally Posted by lgwaldrop

Perhaps if the production team had a vested interest in what it is they do, besides a check, then you might have something...

The Japanese have a word for it...

Didn't airstream used to say, we make improvements not changes?

[westernjeep401]

Indeed.

[Msmoto]

Maybe with expanded facilities they will have more inspection stations. I believe the attitude at JC is to actually improve quality control, especially in the details. And this isn't just my suspicion, but based upon actual interactions with JC.


Ms Tommie Lauer
Greensboro, NC
2015 Serenity 30 RB / 2008 Dodge Cummins 4 X 4
WBCCI #4165 AIR #31871