fordsooperdooty
Southern California
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At several RV Factories that we toured the assembly lines, and we saw the workers stop what they were doing, and clean up and leave. No bells, no whistles...no one told them "you're done for the day!" They were simply done with that days production.
According to RV Sources in Elkhart County Indiana, the annual salaries for RV Assmbly workers range from $36,000.00 to $60,000.00.
I believe this "piece meal" method is used and originated so that the Amish and Mennonite workers could finish their work while it was still daylight, and they could work their farms before night fall.
My posts shouldn't be taken for factual data. They are purely fictional, for entertainment purposes and should not be constituted as actually related to scientific, technical, engineering, legal, spiritual or practical advice. Amen. 
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mayo30
Lanigan
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Wouldn't it be nice if all the guys that signed off on it had the repairs deducted from their pay,but some of it is poor engineering and poor material so no it won't work.
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edited 02/03/12 01:16am by an administrator/moderator *
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JayWalker2009
USA
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ArcticDodge wrote:In todays manufactuing environment, paying by the piece is a model of a dinosaur. Today's manufacturing relies heavily on teams that are heavily cross trained to complete dozens of different tasks and flexing from one task / area to another as needed. The day of single process personnel like the gluer - the stapler - the pipe cutter - the drawer inserter is long gone or at least it should be gone. In my shops I give all my worker the same title "manufacturing technicians" regardless of what they do or don't do. I train as many as I can in as many areas as possible. I even have a training matrix on the shop floor that shows who can do what and to their level of expertise.
You'll still have areas of expertise within like electricians, cabinet makers, and upholstery.
On edit: Is it possible that some of the piecemeal employees are more contract type labor? They show up build a few cabinets and invoice the RV co for the cabinets made? I dunno just thinking.
Many manufacturing environments do still do it the "piecemeal" way, if you want to call it that. Toyota for instance uses a "flow" method where the workers are good at one thing and the product goes down the assembly line. It's the "Lean" method (goes by several different names, i.e. Lean Sigma, Lean Enterprise, etc) but is a method of eliminating waste and makes a much more efficient model.
"Flow production involves a continuous movement of items through the production process. This means that when one task is finished the next task must start immediately. Therefore, the time taken on each task must be the same."
Workers work on their one task and then it goes to the next, and all down the line.
This works extremely efficiently in production environments, as obviously it wouldn't work well with highly skilled workers. Since RV production is this type of environment, I am not surprised they would be using it. Whether they pay "per piece" I am not sure, but I would imagine many use the flow method of production.
Toyota introduced this and was so efficient many other companies followed suit, and still continue to adopt the practice today.
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ArcticDodge
Sammamish, WA
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I can talk Lean, VSM, Six Sigma, Kaizen, TPS, pareto, BQMS, Poka Yoke, Takt times, spagehtti charts, 5s, etc. all day long.
All of which are great tools for creating the most optimal manufacturing process. Trick is finding the depth to implement given current constraints on any said system. Some 5s folks actually put a "Stapler" lable on a stapler and outline its location on the desk. That's not high on the value added scale.
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LAdams
Northern Illinois
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When we were at a Jayco Factory tour - 2-3 years ago, we saw Jayco people building 5er's and the tour guide commented: "as soon as they build 11, they can go home for the day"... Oh, and BTW - there were many Amish men on that assembly line slapping those units together - bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, went the staple gun... Amish craftsmanship - yeah right!! 
I doubt that the RV Industry will EVER see meaningful quality control unless a Japanese or other off shore company comes into the US and decides to give them a run for their money in terms of competition - just like they did with automobiles!!!
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dbbls
Missouri
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Your question about "quality control" made me chuckle. What makes you think RV manufactures have quality control? From the experience I have had I would say they do not.
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down home
south
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Weeeel! It's no secret that paying for piecework or whatever produces poor attention to detail, such as fit finish and functionality.
It is definately not something I would do and sign then my name and reputation to!
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JayWalker2009
USA
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ArcticDodge wrote:I can talk Lean, VSM, Six Sigma, Kaizen, TPS, pareto, BQMS, Poka Yoke, Takt times, spagehtti charts, 5s, etc. all day long.
All of which are great tools for creating the most optimal manufacturing process. Trick is finding the depth to implement given current constraints on any said system. Some 5s folks actually put a "Stapler" lable on a stapler and outline its location on the desk. That's not high on the value added scale.
Most of the ones who do it well, found that good "in between". Lean definitely has a lot of merit in the world of production. Some of it might be overkill, but a lot of the techniques are the best way to streamline the work. And you can't argue the results of the companies that do it very well.
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sunkatcher
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When I toured the Tiffin plant last Fall Bob Tiffin was Adamant that each coach on the line must spend not less than 90 minutes at each station along the building process. I stopped and timed out 2 and they both took the 90 minutes. Most of the work at that station had been completed in less time but the guy’s and gals would wander around checking things they had installed waiting for the next unit.
I think this works as good as any manufacturing can.
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pompomgirl
Edmonds, WA
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Sounds like a good argument for buying a unit with 10K miles on it, like we did. By then most of the issues should have been found and fixed.
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