Heartland Audit Unit

I have been "off the grid", so to speak, for awhile (elk hunting) so this may be old news, but I noticed in the Heartland Newsletter that they have established a unit to "audit" all of the RV's before they are shipped to the dealer. I take this to mean all of the units are inspected for obvious problems which are then corrected. Quality Control is something many members have been asking for. I applaud Heartland for taking this step in customer satisfaction. This just confirms my commitment to proudly travel in a Heartland product and refer my friends without hesitation.

John,
Here's an earlier thread on the subject. Trace

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/48366-QC-on-Heartland-products?highlight=audit

I'm not privy to all that is happening in this area as I don't work in Elkhart, but I can say that some percentage of units from all lines (brands) go to our Audit process. I also believe that 100% of Landmark 365 units go through Audit.

Even more rigor in our processes on the build and audit side are coming in an effort to build and ship even better coaches.

Well I hope it's true that audit and QC are on the upswing.

I just brought home a 2015 North Trail 32RLTS. I haven't yet taken it for its maiden voyage, so time will tell. We purchased it based on an already sold similar model on the dealer's lot (ExploreUSA in Kyle, TX). So we had to wait for it to get delivered from the factory. I called a day or two before the expected delivery date and my sales guy told me it would be delayed another few days as it was pulled off the line for a QC audit. I hope that's true, and not a bunch of salesman hooey. Although I have to say our sales guy (Michael) was pretty straight up with us across the board.

And when it did come in, we spent a couple of hours (alone) in it on the lot. Went over it with a fine tooth comb. We found a handful of minor things. (Tip: bring in a bunch of blue painter's tape to your PDI and mark everything you find - the dealer tech said he really appreciated it as it helped him make sure he got to everything). But our dealer also does its own QC check. I can't recall how many items are on there (probably 100+), but the tech showed me the list of all of the things on the list that they check. They also had a pretty extensive PDI checklist that they went through on the day we picked it up. So I think having a solid dealer to back you up can give you an extra layer of confidence.

I still won't get to our first trip for a few more weeks at best (it's killing me), so time will tell. We had a 2000 Fleetwood Wilderness GL that was build like a tank. But I also think the North Trails are built to be a bit lighter (our NT is 5 feet longer than the Wilderness and weighs about the same).

I'm sure we found all/most of the cosmetic things, but we'll have to wait and see about the bigger things once we get a few trips with it under our belt. Until then, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Doug

We too had a Fleetwood Wilderness...and you are correct! That was the one unit we've owned that never had a single repair done other than routine maintenance!!

Yup, we beat our Wilderness up pretty good. Used it for the typical weekend camping for several years, and then later brought it to some raw land where we lived in it on weekends for about 3 years while we built our house. It sat out in the Texas heat and never had any major problems. But after we moved into the house it sat for several years as we had too much to do at the new place (15 acres) to do much camping. Now that we have things under control (well, sort of) we thought we'd get us something new. The Wilderness, at 14 years old, is starting to show a bit of its age.

We actually kept the Wilderness too. I figured we wouldn't get much for it on trade in anyways, and it makes a great spare bedroom!

Cheers,
Doug

I just talked with my local dealer, about ordering a new big horn. He told me that they would only stock heartland products, that had been sent thru the addditonal QC. He said it obviously costs heartland money to do this, but otherwise the dealer ended up having to do too many repairs when they recieved it. So that tells me that 100% of the rigs DO NOT go thru this QC process, unless its asked for.

I have owned Tiffin, Winnebago and Heartland. When it comes to QC Winnebago and Tiffin were tied with no QC problems while Heartland was significantly worse. I am glad to see that Heartland acknowledges QC as an area then needed immediate attention and are doing something about it. I toured the Winnebago factory and I was impressed by the manufacturing processes and the positive attitudes of the assembly line folks. I never toured Tiffin or Heartland, but if their workers were as positive minded and engaged in their work as Winnebago I doubt they need that much QC. Happy, trained and engaged workers with a lot esprit de corps means a lot more than QC. Management is the key element more than QC.

sengli said:

I just talked with my local dealer, about ordering a new big horn. He told me that they stopped buying any heartland products, unless they were sent thru the QC. He said it obviously costs heartland money to do this, but otherwise the dealer ended up having to do too many repairs when they recieved it. So that tells me that 100% of the rigs DO NOT go thru this QC process, unless its asked for.

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There's a difference between quality control processes on the line, and a quality control audit. The audit is a way to measure the effectiveness of the line process and provide feedback to the line process. Perhaps the person you spoke with doesn't understand the difference.

It's also important to recognize that if the dealer "stopped buying any Heartland products", they want to sell you something else. They're motivated to tell you something to move you away from Heartland to whatever brands they're now selling.

Not so, he still sells many of the heartland (gateway, big horn) products, he just was saying all of the units he personally stocks on his lot..... are forced thru the the additonal QC audit.

DougInTX said:

Yup, we beat our Wilderness up pretty good. Used it for the typical weekend camping for several years, and then later brought it to some raw land where we lived in it on weekends for about 3 years while we built our house. It sat out in the Texas heat and never had any major problems. But after we moved into the house it sat for several years as we had too much to do at the new place (15 acres) to do much camping. Now that we have things under control (well, sort of) we thought we'd get us something new. The Wilderness, at 14 years old, is starting to show a bit of its age.

We actually kept the Wilderness too. I figured we wouldn't get much for it on trade in anyways, and it makes a great spare bedroom!

Cheers,
Doug

Click to expand...

The Wilderness you own was built by Fleetwood not Heartland. Heartland purchased the name when Fleetwood went out of business. Lets hope the Wilderness they build is as good as the one you owned..Don