Factory Tour

[Kashman]

Well the DW and I just did the factory tour about 3 weeks ago, and I have mixed emotions. After traveling from the East coast we spent about 45 minutes with a factory rep walking through a closed factory (they made us wait until all workers had left for the day, citing insurance liabilities), the warehouse was only partially lit, making seeing everything very difficult. On top of that I felt as if we were being rushed and had the feeling that the we were an afterthought and not something that they do as a regular thing (tours that is). Now we had already ordered our unit and are still looking forward to picking it up, just thought that as customers we would be treated some what better than the way we were.

Anyone else have a similar experience?
​

 

[Pulltab]

Unfortunately we did, but I have been promised a better one next time. Our rep hadn't a clue about how they are built and we also were rushed thru in about 15 minutes, also after hours. I think a lot has to do with who you get as your guide.

I think an excellent idea for Heartland or any manufacturer for that point would be to invite any customer who is interested to be the quality control guy for the day. Who else could critique better than the customer.

I was interested mostly in seeing how they were physically built and the location of many items (plumbing and wires and such). I got a general idea but would have liked more time. Now I have pretty much seen the majority of systems on my coach but a great tour would still be nice.

 

[ChopperBill]

I am not sure I would like to do an RV factory tour. It seems a lot like going through a meat packing plant before you go eat a steak dinner. Probably wouldn't buy another RV and would become a vegetarian!

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

When we had the factory tour during the rally, we had an escort for a while but after the escorted tour, we pretty much roamed freely while waiting for lunch. Having been in the manufacturing sector for 30 years or so, whenever there was a tour scheduled, everyone had to prepare the plant for a few days before the tour. You know, spiff it up a bit. The tour guides always tried to keep the group away from areas they didn't like outsiders to see. I always thought if we kept it clean we wouldn't have to go through that routine. As for an after hours Heartland tour, my guess is the tour guide was probably tired of being there all day and wanted to get home for a brewski.

 

[Pulltab]

Bill, actually I bet you would enjoy it. It's interesting to see how there are put together, although it makes you think "why do these cost so much if this is all the longer it takes to put them together?" Of course a lot of the work is done prior to the assembly. You could really appreciate it if you had been to a competitors tour.

 

[Scott]

I apologize that some of you had less than stellar plant tours while visiting Heartland. Sometimes, we get caught with our sales guys out of town, and the plant has already left for the day - which leaves us with sales trainees to give the tour. Out the 365 days a year, I think we are prepared with very knowledgeable representatives who can give a factory tour more than 90% of the time. Unfortunately, it seems you caught us on one of those days where we weren't. By the way, we don't make people "wait" until production has cleared out. I don't know which our newbies told you that, but it is not correct. I'm sure there are many people on this forum who have taken tours at Heartland while production is going on and they can attest to that fact.
While we do offer tours daily at 3:00 p.m. It is still always best to call ahead and schedule a specific sales representative for the specific product line that you are interested in.
FYI
ST

 

[Pulltab]

Scott, thanks for chiming in. I agree that some of our friends had fantastic tours and actually that is why we ended up buying a Heartland product was due to a RV.net tour you gave last April. Our friend Mark who set it up with you was so impressed that we had to check out the units ourself. Obviously we ended up buying one 4 days later.

Our other friends Ken and Kathy Adams took the same tour we did which was elemetary in comparision to the latest tour you had given them. It is understandble that production needs to continue and at times there is only so much you can do. Jim promised me a good tour when we are back up there next April so we are anticipating that.

 

[ChopperBill]

Bill, actually I bet you would enjoy it. It's interesting to see how there are put together, although it makes you think "why do these cost so much if this is all the longer it takes to put them together?" Of course a lot of the work is done prior to the assembly. You could really appreciate it if you had been to a competitors tour.

PT, actually we did go though the Snowriver truck camper factory tour. Just taking a jab at the US industry. The company owner gave us a private tour while it was in operation. When they took a lunch break Renee and I went back through and took a ton of pictures. That is where I mistakenly thought ALL RV manufactures cleaned up the saw dust and ran the plumbing and wiring in neat, tight bundles. Those Canadian workers LOVED their job and it showed. Have seen nothing like it in any US production plant before or after that visit.
Small company, I know, but the owner has been known to travel hundreds of miles to fix his customers problems. He once drove over a thousand miles to fix an electrical problem only to find out the battery was boiled dry!

 

[Pulltab]

Oh, ....

 

[nhunter]

Where abouts in Canada is the Snow River made. And I want to quash these rumors that Canadians love their jobs. Hog wash. All we want to do is drink beer, wear toques and ride skidoos

 

[ChopperBill]

Made in Penticton BC. They also frequent a lot of peeler bars!

 

[nhunter]

I see Citation and Corsiar are made in nearby Oliver. Must be Canadas' answer to Elkhart just on a really small scale.

 

[Muddy]

In Sept. we asked our dealer to set up a factory tour. We traveled to Elkhart arriving after work hours, and glad to do so because we had freedom to look, enter units and inspect the process without having to get in the way of someone building a unit for a customer. We were well treated, not rushed and had our questions answered. The result, we ordered a 3670.

 

[kkamshop]

We had a great tour when we visited the Heartland factory - led by none other than Scott! I was amazed that our large group was allowed to walk right in the midst of the production line and it was very interesting to watch (but very noisy )

We are looking at buying a Landmark as a result...

 

[sailorand]

nhunter
I was just through the Corsair and Citation plant in October. The workers were not hurried. I guess they did not have to have the screw driven home in 1.247 seconds. Seemed to be a lot of pride in thier personel work. Nice units and made for the cold far northern climate if you wanted.
They are more expensive then usual.
Still like the 3055 layout
Rand

 

[ct0218]

Gail and I went through the factory in September 2006 during the workday. We met Scott there, and was escorted by Jim Fenner. We were there well over an hour, and waded through the units like the workers did. I was surprised where Jim took us since we had been through several factory tours previously, and they certainly kept us harnessed in on those. I would recommend it for someone considering a Heartland product. Our only disappointment was that they run Landmarks very seldom, on an as-ordered basis, and the next one scheduled was a couple of weeks after we were there.

 

[nhunter]

Rand, I had a 94 Corsair before the Bighorn. 10 years old and couldn't tell.

 

[Kashman]

I apologize that some of you had less than stellar plant tours while visiting Heartland. Sometimes, we get caught with our sales guys out of town, and the plant has already left for the day - which leaves us with sales trainees to give the tour. Out the 365 days a year, I think we are prepared with very knowledgeable representatives who can give a factory tour more than 90% of the time. Unfortunately, it seems you caught us on one of those days where we weren't. By the way, we don't make people "wait" until production has cleared out. I don't know which our newbies told you that, but it is not correct. I'm sure there are many people on this forum who have taken tours at Heartland while production is going on and they can attest to that fact.
While we do offer tours daily at 3:00 p.m. It is still always best to call ahead and schedule a specific sales representative for the specific product line that you are interested in.
FYI
ST

Scott I appreciate you responding to my post. First let me say that I am not trying to be complainer, as I stated in my origianl post we had already ordered our unit, in fact we are to pick it up in 2 weeks. We did as you suggestested and scheduled our visit with factory personel several weeks in advance. As for a speciifc sales rep, that was determined by the model of our unit (3670RL) again by factory personnel. The rep's name escapes me at the moment, was very knowledgeable. I can assure you he wasn't a "newbie". We were told that our tour would be at 3:00 when we scheduled it (apparently quiting time), and in fact arrived a little early and were made sit outside the gate by security, were we watched the parking lot empty out. Since this was scheduled weeks in advance I don't see how we could have caught anyone unprepared.
It just seems that if we are going to spend a large amount of money buying your product and going to the added expense of coming from the east coast to reasearch it, you would think factory reps would go out there way to turn on all of the lights in the factory at least so we could really see things, don't you think? I'm pretty easy going just don't like to be BS'd. Still looking forward to picking up our unit.

 

[markandrenita]

We toured the factory October 4th, and had a really nice tour guide and tour. Of course I can't remember his name! It was neat to see how they are built, even though the factory was shut down. We were impressed. We love our 3400rl!