RVBusiness, January-February 2017

the customer service and the quality team which is under the direction of Jo Theart From my first day on the job almost two years ago my goal has been to constantly improve our quality standards With the opening of our new Quality Assurance Center we believe our dealers and customers will experience the best motorhome on the market under Jos leadership said REV RV Group President Jim Jacobs We are once again proud to be investing in our community and we are investing in our customers to give them the best product and the best ownership experience possible PDI Process Entails Rigorous Inspections Jerry McCarthy vice president of service for Grand Design RV and PDI Operations Manager Dan Beer While there are some variances the basic PDI process involves a team of technicians combing through a unit looking for any flaws aesthetic and or operational The process may or may not include a rain bay but essentially they take on the role of a consumer and perform systems and component testing as well as fit and finish evaluations REV RV Groups new Quality Assurance Center puts each unit through a rigorous 193 point inspection process which includes a test drive of the coach a rain bay test inspection of interior and exterior fit and finish and a complete function test on all electrical systems plumbing systems and AV equipment Units will not be released for shipment until all processes are passed said REV RV Groups Theart We believe we have the most innovative products in the industry and our quality inspection process mirrors that Quality team members have tablets on hand to aid in the inspection process and the tablets allow them to record notes and provide instant feedback on any quality issues that may arise While some OEMs such as Grand Design PDI every unit coming off the line others primarily due to the simple math of production numbers far exceeding PDI capacity send anywhere from 5 to 50 through their PDI process Likewise some OEMs have their PDI at a separate facility while others incorporate the PDI operation at the end of the assembly line Imperfections are logged for datamining purposes and depending on the OEM and scope of the problem any issues are either fixed then and there or the unit is sent back to production plants for them to repair If we did the repairs here the plants would never learn what mistakes were made explained Forest Rivers Smith Some companies like to correct everything during PDI but then that information is never communicated back to the rest of the line Ideally yes we want the issues on this unit to be corrected But what were looking for is not just issues on this unit to be corrected but for it to be applied to the production line Hermon said Heartlands PDI technicians will fix only the most minor of problems otherwise the offending unit will go back to the plant so our quality control people final finish people and plant managers actually see what got kicked back This gives them that first hand knowledge because theyre touching it seeing it and feeling it he added Its essential that problems are relayed to production in real time because when defects are identified the plants have a short window of time to respond see the issue firsthand assist in the repairs and report back to plant management It is not uncommon for issues to be identified corrected communicated back to the plant and addressed online before the build run of that model is complete McCarthy told RVB All agreed that the data generated from the PDI process is invaluable for long term quality control Developing trends can be identified isolated and corrected they said and reports provide the type of feedback that can drive innovation and improvement It can even be a source of competition among management people seeking to be the best at quality control All defects identified are summarized in daily reports that go direct to plant management where projects are assigned with ownership contained corrected and driven out of the process McCarthy pointed out Finally on a weekly basis Grand Design President Don Clark and our senior staff review summary reports of all defects identified in each plant the previous week At this meeting our plant managers are responsible for reporting to the team the corrective measures they have implemented to drive the defects out of our build process For the most part PDI operations are a separate entity from the production line The objectivity is important McCarthy said so the fox isnt watching the henhouse Key to this added Akins is having corporates visible support for PDI to function as a legitimate Beginning with its newly constructed Imagine production facility Grand Design RV is incorporating its PDI processing at the end of the assembly line 62 RVBusiness J A N U A R Y F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7