Monaco Coach Corporation’s Plant 17 constructs Safari’s Cheetah, Simba and Trek motorhomes (as well as Holiday Rambler’s Admiral and Neptune, and Monaco’s Cayman and Monarch). A recent tour of the production facility revealed hundreds of different methods used throughout the plant to combine organization with hands-on workmanship to produce topnotch motorhomes. If you haven’t visited this facility for a scheduled tour recently, here’s your chance to get a behind the scenes look at what goes on in Plant 17.
The place where construction of a Plant 17 product begins is actually toward the center of the building, inside a walled-off area designated “Research and Development.” This is where new ideas are put to the test and those that pass muster are sent upstairs for the engineering department to incorporate into one of the hundreds of blueprints they draft each year for every make, model and floorplan of the motorhomes designed and created in Plant 17. When an order for a motorhome is placed, the process winds its way down the hallway to a purchasing department charged with the responsibility of making sure every one of the tens of thousands of parts needed to construct each RV is in stock as the individual unit makes its way down the production line.“
Our shipping and receiving department is state-of-the-art,” boasted a young woman keeping one eye on a nearby forklift and a hand-held radio near to her mouth. “All our docks are designed with hydraulic ramps that can line up with the back of a freight truck, so we can drive the forklift right inside, pick up the freight, back out and go put the item on its assigned shelf.” She waved one arm toward massive rows of floor-to-ceiling shelving as far as the eye could see.
I inquired about a section of inventory stacked inside a secured area. “That’s where we keep the electronics,” she said. “It’s one thing to lose an AC filter, but who wants to tell the boss we’ve misplaced a flat-screen television?”
Pressing a button on the hand radio, she gave instructions to a nearby forklift driver concerning shelf placement of a pallet full of steel cylinders.
The official starting place on the production line is at the Northeast corner where each chassis arrives clearly displaying a production number painted on the front side in large, white digits.
“Every unit is assigned an identification number, which we use to track all phases of the construction process,” said a young man comparing the chassis number to paper he carried on a clipboard. “That number stays with the unit for the lifespan of the coach.”
Once the chassis enters the production facility sporting the coach number, it picks up a “build book” containing all the associated paperwork detailing specifications for that particular unit, such as floorplans, fabric selections and features that may have been pre-selected by a future coach owner. After checking the spec. sheets for that part of the production process, a crew of workers get busy installing a series of chassis related items such as electrical harnesses, generators and trailer hitches.
Forklifts seem to be everywhere carrying inventory to all the individual workstations.“
All the parts are brought to our areas, labeled and put on the shelves,” said a busy young man preparing to move a chassis into the paint booth. “That saves us from having to make trips back and forth to gather inventory.”
Instead of following the “yellow brick road,” the chassis follows a yellow metal track that was designed to glide the motorhome down the production line using hydraulic carts that can be easily maneuvered by one person.“
As the chassis starts turning into a motorhome and gets heavier down the line, it will require more than just one person to move it to the next station,” informed the tour guide. “But in these early stages using a cart saves us from having to take a group of people away from their jobs to manually move the coach onto the next station.”
After leaving the paint booth, the chassis picks up additional hardware that includes storage bays, batteries, LP lines, and aluminum extrusions that will later be used as attachment points. From there, it’s on to more prep work with plumbing lines, holding tanks and pipes.
I had assumed that production line work was tedious, my impression based on visions of Lucille Ball and Ethel Mertz stuffing chocolates into their mouths to keep up with the conveyor belt. However, monotony is nowhere in sight here in Plant 17 as everyone busily moves about performing multiple tasks at each station.
“The coach on-line is only half the show,” advised the tour guide, stopping to point up toward the ceiling. Cranes, eleven of them in just one location, are moving about helping to position large and heavy portions of the coach onto the chassis.
“And then there’s a lot of activity off-line,” he added, pointing to the work areas situated on both sides of the production line, and also up above on catwalks and mezzanines, every location filled with people busy at work constructing upholstery, wood framing, cabinets, wiring harnesses, and slide rooms complete with furniture.
Back on the main production line the unit moves out of plumbing and into the floor department.
“We have one of the best crews in the plant,” boasts a lead worker. “Everyone in this department has worked together for a long time, and that has given us a wealth of knowledge and experience.”
A statement that was immediately backed up by the sight of one strong young man folding and securing the thick carpet in place with no more effort than it takes most of us to bend a piece of paper.
After the floors are in place and covered with protective plastic, it’s on to the next phase to pick up the cabinets, bathrooms, sidewalls, rear wall, wiring and switches. “We use plastic grommets to protect the wire,” points out a young woman running the wire through precut metal holes. “This prevents the wire from fraying against a metal surface when the coach is driving down the road.”
Nobody is standing around, including a group of people off-line turning a flat surface into the ceiling complete with holes cut to size for speakers, exhaust vents, skylights and AC units. Once they finish, the ceiling moves to the other side for installation of the vinyl covering.
Next, the walls go on and insulation is packed in before the outer skin is installed. Here too is when the front cap leaves an off-line station complete with a windshield, lights and the wiper system intact and is placed onto the coach. On down the line the unit receives its bay doors, furniture, doors and drawers, cockpit seats and other various small parts.
The plant is a beehive of activity. While one crew performs the interior fit and finish, the slide rooms are installed. Then it is on to the paint shop, into final finish, through White Glove, and finally, back for one final inspection before the coach, a lifetime identification number, and the combined efforts of hundreds of workers who take pride in their work, drive the finished unit out the door.
Located at corporate headquarters in Coburg, Oregon, Plant 17 tours are available most weekdays, but may be limited to specific hours, so call ahead for the schedule before you show up. The walk is lengthy, so be sure to wear comfortable shoes and clothes.
Take a tour — you’ll never look at your own Safari coach the same again. |
