Quality control concerns

[rob_fla]

Send him over to see me for a couple or hours

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by Shane Wood

He was definately not impressed with the swintech slides, said they are junk.
He did say that the redwood was built better than some of the other high end coaches eg DRV. Carriage etc.
I learned more about this trailer in 2 hrs than I have living in it for 5 mths.

Shane, one interesting item I noted about the Schwintek Slides is Jayco seems to be sticking with them, they are not putting the cable system on any of their towable's.
I wonder if Jayco has found something out that the other manufacturers have not, and Jayco still offers a 2 year warranty on all their towable's.

So far our Front Living Redwood Schwinteks have been working good (I think that the fact that our front living slide rooms are small and lightweight is a big factor)

When he was referring the Redwood being build better than some other 5ers in the high end market, did he make any comments about specifics of what is built better?
So far we have been fairly happy with our Redwood but have not seen anything that is what I would call dramatically better construction or design than many other 5th Wheels.

[Shane Wood]

Originally Posted by rob_fla

Shane, one interesting item I noted about the Schwintek Slides is Jayco seems to be sticking with them, they are not putting the cable system on any of their towable's.
I wonder if Jayco has found something out that the other manufacturers have not, and Jayco still offers a 2 year warranty on all their towable's.

So far our Front Living Redwood Schwinteks have been working good (I think that the fact that our front living slide rooms are small and lightweight is a big factor)

When he was referring the Redwood being build better than some other 5ers in the high end market, did he make any comments about specifics of what is built better?
So far we have been fairly happy with our Redwood but have not seen anything that is what I would call dramatically better construction or design than many other 5th Wheels.

Rob
He said the overall quality of construction from frame up was better. Also there are different level of quality and price whether it is holding tanks water pumps etc.he said the Redwoods used more of the higher end parts. Similar to buying Goodyear marathons or Goodyear G's.
. I tried my slide in slide this morning and the large part would only move on on end. The other end would only go in 1 inch and stop. I checked the error codes and it was saying a short between there and the motor. I took Dave's advice ( thanks Dave) and lubed the rail drive and motor. Now works like a charm

[Dave&Ginny]

I believe Redwood broke the typical molds when they created the Redwoods. That is what got me to buy one to begin with after discussing their intentions with some of the originators and seeing their vision. What they started has been copied into other brands and now all the manufactures are competing more. For example the "Full Body" paint which was only reserved for very few 5ers but now getting much more common.

Many items under the skin can't be seen but were definitely a plus for me like the large holding tanks, better power supply, large hot water heater, quiet a/c units and better water pump. The general construction of the walls is about the same as other Thor products but it's my understanding that the fiberglass is thicker and better.

The main thing that Redwood has to exceed in is exceptional customer support if they want to be in front of the line of producing respected RVs. It's no secret I'm looking at upgrading in the near future and customer service is one of the things I'm researching heavily. A case in point........Tiffin has been known to make some very good motor homes that easily sell for well over 300K. For the past 3 or 4 years Tiffin has fallen down on their customer service and now their brand is suffering greatly.

Since RVs all use the same suppliers and for the most part built using the same methods.....customer service is what I believe makes the great RVs.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by Shane Wood

Rob
He said the overall quality of construction from frame up was better. Also there are different level of quality and price whether it is holding tanks water pumps etc.he said the Redwoods used more of the higher end parts. Similar to buying Goodyear marathons or Goodyear G's.
. I tried my slide in slide this morning and the large part would only move on on end. The other end would only go in 1 inch and stop. I checked the error codes and it was saying a short between there and the motor. I took Dave's advice ( thanks Dave) and lubed the rail drive and motor. Now works like a charm

Shane,

Thanks for the feedback, that is good to hear.
When I hear positive comments like that from somebody in the business, I get that "Warm and Fuzzy" feeling all over again.
I need to lube my Schwintek Slides, they are working fine but a little TLC never hurts.

[rob_fla]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

The main thing that Redwood has to exceed in is exceptional customer support if they want to be in front of the line of producing respected RVs.

Since RVs all use the same suppliers and for the most part built using the same methods.....customer service is what I believe makes the great RVs.

So far I would agree with you Dave, Redwood has stepped up and gone above and beyond to take care of us, guess the only problem we have had with warranty service is with Lazy Days, they pulled the A/C unit to repair the water leak (wire under A/C unit gasket at Redwood assembly) but now our Heat Pump does not work so I have to make a return trip to Lazy Days and get it corrected.
With all the rain we are getting in Texas, I am glad they got the water leak fixed, I can live without the Heat Pump working (the A/C mode on that unit works fine).

[Dave&Ginny]

Rob, I'm glad they got that water leak fixed. Remember to only set the temperature a little above the actual temp to get the heat pump to work. otherwise the furnace kicks on. My heat pump seems temperamental too for some reason.

[rob_fla]

Yep, Dave we have used the Heat Pump quite a bit this winter, we set the thermostat one degree above to get it to turn on, it runs but just blows cold air, the compressor never comes on. (The Furnace is not coming on)

[Dave&Ginny]

I'm sorry to hear that, I guess you'll have to have someone smarter than me fix it.

[rob_fla]

LOL, smarter than me too

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Dave&Ginny

Rick

I agree. The redwood is flawless but we've teatered on a motor home before. It seems to be the endless discussion on what fits our needs the most. But in going to a MH its a lot more money. It just scares the hell out of me to spend that much money and the possibility of getting caught with a bad unit. We keep leaning toward the Entegra line and as a whole they seem to have good support.

Dave a friend of mine just got a Entegra a $600,000 unit a month later he still hasn't got all the things fixed. What a POS nothing works not even the blinds he is really upset and now the dealer a very well know one is trying to walk away be very careful, they are not all bad but THATS a big expence

[Dave&Ginny]

Dan, I appreciate your advice and that's my biggest concern. Needless to say, I'm not shy and I've been researching these for a while now, talking to a lot of people. I even went to the service center where people were parked (full hook ups) at the factory waiting for service. For the most part people say the factory service center is very appeasing. I'm only 4.5 hours from the factory service center.

My commercial building is almost done being refinanced then I'm going to get real serious about the Diesel pusher. On top of my list right now is the Entegra Aspire with the tag axle.

[smarks1632]

Greetings all...newbie here and to RV's in general. Just saw our first Redwoods and came away impressed with the RV. Now that I'm out of either, I thought I'd start finding out if the brand is a good one...the only others we have seriously considered are Cedar Creek and KZ. How is Redwood's quality? Customer service? Are they worth the extra bucs?

[0nTheRoad]

There have been many posts over the past several months discussing the Quality Control of Redwood manufacturing so during one of my recent conversations with Jim Lazzarino, the General Manager of Redwood, we discussed this topic. He in return prepared the following to discuss what Redwood is doing to address this growing area of concern...

Chuck
Here are the systems we have put in place to continue to improve Redwood's quality. Please remember that some of these were already in place but after the owners rally we had in August, we added some more checks. Also remember, a unit recently purchased on a dealers lot may have been built before these changes. Lastly, we will never claim to have arrived in this area because we feel quality is something we need to always be striving to get better at.

1. All units, before going to the next station at the plant have to be signed off by a team leader.

2. If a unit goes to the station with a challenge from the previous station, the leader from that station is called to inspect and repair the deviation.

3. Once a week the Plant Manager meets with all his team leads to discuss recurring challenges and talk about ways to improve as a team.

4. When units are at the end of the line they ALL get a full system check by two employees that are not part of the production team.

5. When units are done, before they are sent to paint, they are inspected one more time by a neutral party, these systems include Redwood, Sequoia, and Cypress.

6. Two days a week the G.M. walks the line, unscheduled, to look for quality challenges.

7. Every Wednesday at 7am the Plant Manager, GM, and quality inspector pick a random unit and do an audit from top to bottom looking for imperfections. The Quality inspector sends a list to the team. The GM, Plant Manager & Quality manager track concerns and make sure they are not recurring . On this day GM & Plant Mgr. also meet with the production team to discuss areas of concern and how to make us better.

8. When units come back from paint, which takes ten business days, they go to final finish were they go through a white glove inspection and are prepared for shipping.

8. Two units a week are picked randomly from our corporate office and checked out in our new corporate service center. These units are then rain bay tested.

9. Starting in May all units built will be rain bay tested.

10. When units show up to a dealer there is a Dealer Acceptance Form they fill out that allow us to see where we might need improvement. The Plant Manager & General Manager read these looking for areas to improve.

11. Once a month the GM is sent the top 5 Warranty issues so we can look for more area to improve quality.

12. The GM of Redwood stays in communication with the current owners. This is very important because it also allows us to hear what current concerns are.

13. The Owners Rally, once a year, also gives us a great chance to get ideas from Redwood owners on how to improve our product and stay the number 1 selling.

Jim Lazzarino
General Manager

I believe Redwood is tuned in to quality issues and is doing a very good job of addressing the issue. As Jim told me, things got really busy and things slipped...no more, we are taking quality very seriously now.

Unfortunately this is of little comfort to any owners out there who have had issues with their coaches but it is reassuring to hear that they are working on making the brand better.

The saving grace for owners who have had issues is that Redwood has an excellent warranty department and they really try to take care of production issues.

In closing, as stated by Jim, he and I speak frequently and I try to capture issues that I see popping up frequently.

[Jim & Mary]

Chuck

Thanks for your very informative post concerning QC. Mary and I have been very happy with our Redwood for almost 2 years now. Of course we have had a few issues, but nothing that Redwood hasn't honored and repaired to our satisfaction. Glad to hear about the continued push for catching problems before units are shipped.

Thanks for your diligence in trying to continually improve the Redwood product and brand. I for one am most appreciative.

Jim

[Rick and Mindy]

I know Jim is very concerned and I have talked to him several times with positive results. I wish we could see more involvement on this forum from the Redwood folks concerning issues, for example: We continually hear about the batteries dying when the battery cutoff switch is turned off.This has been going on for a long time. Why do we continue to hear this from new owners? I thought when the Service Center fixed my cutoff last year that they were going to wire all the new ones accordingly but that doesn't seem to be the case. I do like the looks of all the checks and balances. It looks like they may be off to a good start.

[johnboytoo]

Too bad Jim wasn't available to talk to me when I started the litigation and am eating about $27,000 to get rid of this thing.

probably kicked me out of rv'ing since that eats up ANY down payment I would have had !

[Dave&Ginny]

Chuck,

Thanks for post that. With these changes in their systems hopefully some of the reoccurring issues will be eliminated. Redwood makes a good unit and it sounds like the folks at the factory are listening.

[Thumper7]

As my BIL always says "You've got the talking part done". Let's hope the results part starts showing up on the new units.

[hoosierguy]

Originally Posted by 0nTheRoad

There have been many posts over the past several months discussing the Quality Control of Redwood manufacturing so during one of my recent conversations with Jim Lazzarino, the General Manager of Redwood, we discussed this topic. He in return prepared the following to discuss what Redwood is doing to address this growing area of concern...

Chuck
Here are the systems we have put in place to continue to improve Redwood's quality. Please remember that some of these were already in place but after the owners rally we had in August, we added some more checks. Also remember, a unit recently purchased on a dealers lot may have been built before these changes. Lastly, we will never claim to have arrived in this area because we feel quality is something we need to always be striving to get better at.

1. All units, before going to the next station at the plant have to be signed off by a team leader.

2. If a unit goes to the station with a challenge from the previous station, the leader from that station is called to inspect and repair the deviation.

3. Once a week the Plant Manager meets with all his team leads to discuss recurring challenges and talk about ways to improve as a team.

4. When units are at the end of the line they ALL get a full system check by two employees that are not part of the production team.

5. When units are done, before they are sent to paint, they are inspected one more time by a neutral party, these systems include Redwood, Sequoia, and Cypress.

6. Two days a week the G.M. walks the line, unscheduled, to look for quality challenges.

7. Every Wednesday at 7am the Plant Manager, GM, and quality inspector pick a random unit and do an audit from top to bottom looking for imperfections. The Quality inspector sends a list to the team. The GM, Plant Manager & Quality manager track concerns and make sure they are not recurring . On this day GM & Plant Mgr. also meet with the production team to discuss areas of concern and how to make us better.

8. When units come back from paint, which takes ten business days, they go to final finish were they go through a white glove inspection and are prepared for shipping.

8. Two units a week are picked randomly from our corporate office and checked out in our new corporate service center. These units are then rain bay tested.

9. Starting in May all units built will be rain bay tested.

10. When units show up to a dealer there is a Dealer Acceptance Form they fill out that allow us to see where we might need improvement. The Plant Manager & General Manager read these looking for areas to improve.

11. Once a month the GM is sent the top 5 Warranty issues so we can look for more area to improve quality.

12. The GM of Redwood stays in communication with the current owners. This is very important because it also allows us to hear what current concerns are.

13. The Owners Rally, once a year, also gives us a great chance to get ideas from Redwood owners on how to improve our product and stay the number 1 selling.

Jim Lazzarino
General Manager

I believe Redwood is tuned in to quality issues and is doing a very good job of addressing the issue. As Jim told me, things got really busy and things slipped...no more, we are taking quality very seriously now.

Unfortunately this is of little comfort to any owners out there who have had issues with their coaches but it is reassuring to hear that they are working on making the brand better.

The saving grace for owners who have had issues is that Redwood has an excellent warranty department and they really try to take care of production issues.

In closing, as stated by Jim, he and I speak frequently and I try to capture issues that I see popping up frequently.

Chuck,

Thanks for the update. It is good to hear that Redwood is listening and is also trying to implement improvements in their quality procedures. But, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Keep up the good work in being liaison between the ROG and Redwood.