Friday, October 12, 2007
QUALITY CONTROL AND WARRANTY PROCEDURES HAVE TO IMPROVE
RV Business
Friday, October 12, 2007
The RVIA board, meeting on Sept. 23 prior to the annual membership meeting in Las Vegas, approved a feasibility study to look into creating a communications system for warranty claims and other matters similar to the automotive industry’s non-profit STAR that establishes information technology standards so that manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and consumers can communicate more effectively with each other.
If implemented, however, the RV industry is likely to adopt a version of STAR that was already modified for the motorcycle industry, which more closely matches the RV industry’s business model.
With regard to the industry’s ongoing debate about whether or not approaches through quality can be improved across the board, the board directed the chairmen of five quality task forces to publish their recommendations and make them generally available to industry members. “The board is saying, ‘Let’s wrap that up and get on with life,’” Coon said.
The board also formally approved the previously announced departure, effective Oct. 1, of conversion van manufacturers from the association. CV manufacturers, in a downward spiral in terms of shipments in recent years, voted to instead become members of the National Travel Equipment Association (NTEA). “We didn’t force them out,” Coon told the members. “We wanted them to do what they wanted to do.”
The 2008 RVIA Annual Meeting will revert to a three-day affair, including more social functions, March 1-4 at the Fairmont Orchid Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.
In other actions, the RVIA board:
• Re-elected Carl Pfalzgraf, Atwood Mobile Products, as chairman for 2008. Other officers named to the Executive Committee were Jim Sheldon, Monaco Coach Corp., as first vice chairman; Gregg Fore, Dicor Corp., as second vice chairman; Doug Gaeddert, Forest River Inc., as treasurer, and Don Walter, Starcraft RV, as secretary. Bruce Hertzke, Winnebago Industries Inc., also will serve as chairman ex officio along with RVIA President Richard Coon. The officers’ one-year terms began on October 1.
• Approved a $14.3 million association budget for fiscal year 2008 without increasing membership costs.
• Selected the Renaissance Charleston Hotel in Charleston S.C., to host the 2008 September board meeting and the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif., to host the association’s 2009 annual meeting.
Friday, October 12, 2007
The RVIA board, meeting on Sept. 23 prior to the annual membership meeting in Las Vegas, approved a feasibility study to look into creating a communications system for warranty claims and other matters similar to the automotive industry’s non-profit STAR that establishes information technology standards so that manufacturers, suppliers, dealers and consumers can communicate more effectively with each other.
If implemented, however, the RV industry is likely to adopt a version of STAR that was already modified for the motorcycle industry, which more closely matches the RV industry’s business model.
With regard to the industry’s ongoing debate about whether or not approaches through quality can be improved across the board, the board directed the chairmen of five quality task forces to publish their recommendations and make them generally available to industry members. “The board is saying, ‘Let’s wrap that up and get on with life,’” Coon said.
The board also formally approved the previously announced departure, effective Oct. 1, of conversion van manufacturers from the association. CV manufacturers, in a downward spiral in terms of shipments in recent years, voted to instead become members of the National Travel Equipment Association (NTEA). “We didn’t force them out,” Coon told the members. “We wanted them to do what they wanted to do.”
The 2008 RVIA Annual Meeting will revert to a three-day affair, including more social functions, March 1-4 at the Fairmont Orchid Resort on the Big Island of Hawaii.
In other actions, the RVIA board:
• Re-elected Carl Pfalzgraf, Atwood Mobile Products, as chairman for 2008. Other officers named to the Executive Committee were Jim Sheldon, Monaco Coach Corp., as first vice chairman; Gregg Fore, Dicor Corp., as second vice chairman; Doug Gaeddert, Forest River Inc., as treasurer, and Don Walter, Starcraft RV, as secretary. Bruce Hertzke, Winnebago Industries Inc., also will serve as chairman ex officio along with RVIA President Richard Coon. The officers’ one-year terms began on October 1.
• Approved a $14.3 million association budget for fiscal year 2008 without increasing membership costs.
• Selected the Renaissance Charleston Hotel in Charleston S.C., to host the 2008 September board meeting and the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel in Dana Point, Calif., to host the association’s 2009 annual meeting.
