While in Galveston, we had an issue with our water heater. To make a long story short, we determined that the model of water heater in our coach was no longer safe and we needed to swap it out with a more conventional RV water heater. A call to the repair folks at Red Bay resulted in a direct return call from Bob Tiffin, President of Tiffin Motorhomes. Now everybody I know that owns a Tiffin motorhome has a "Bob Tiffin" story. Either they have met the gentleman at a rally or RV show, or they have had an issue that Bob has gotten involved in to resolve. Bob's commitment to customer service and satisfaction is why I own a Tiffin product and, should I ever buy another coach, would buy another Tiffin. Anyway, throughout the conversations with Bob, we determined that Tiffin would swap out the water heater if I could take the coach to Red Bay to have the work done. So Bob helped coordinate an appointment for me and we left sunny and warm Texas for cold, damp Alabama.
While we were there, and having nothing to do but wait on repairs, we decided to go on the factory tour. The Tiffin factory tour is unique in that you walk along the production line right next to the workers on the floor! You wear a headset to hear the tour guide but walk among the staff while they assemble the coaches.
Tiffin gets many of their chassis from Freightliner but, in some models, they make their own (known as the Powerglide). Above is the beginning of a new Tiffin Powerglide chassis.
From there, the chassis is moved into the assembly shop where the components of the suspension and powerplant are attached. This is probably the cleanest this engine will ever be!! At the end of this line, the steering wheel has been attached but there is no drivers seat.
The coach moves from here, under its own power to the next building where it will begin to look like the coaches we see on the road.
Notice the little "seat on a stick" for the driver. We saw a coach like this tooling down the main street of Red Bay once. Not sure what he was doing or where he was going but it was sure a surprise to see.
An unbelievable amount of wires and hoses are added to connect all of the various components that are necessary to produce a quality, comfortable coach. All of the wires are assembled on-site using a variety of templates. Each wire is stamped with an identifying code every six inches along its length. This code tells service technicians what the wire does and where it goes should they ever need to troubleshoot during the coaches' lifetime.
All of the woodwork in a Tiffin product is made by carpenters on site from scratch. Most of them use hardwood with very little particle board used. As you walk through the wood fabrication areas, you can see all manner of doors, cabinets, vanities, kitchens, and trim pieces being made and assembled for installation.
Here, a washer/dryer unit is installed next to a shower and sink. You are looking from outside of the coach where the sidewall should be. (The sidewalls come later on.)
Here a coach has moved on down the line and is having its sidewalls installed. The big cutouts will be where slide out rooms will be put in later down the line.
The roof is made from from a single laminated composite. A computer controlled cutter cuts out holes and channels for roof mounted products and wire/HVAC runs. Extra support is added during the lamination process to strengthen the roof and make it possible to support the weight of a person after installation. The completed roof panel is then lifted with this device and installed on the sidewalls. After installation, all of the rooftop appliances (A/C units, satellite dish, digital TV antenna, etc.) are put on and hooked up.
Above you can see the fiberglass rooftop has been put in position but not yet glued down. The wire bundles stick out of the end where the rooftop appliances have been pre-wired and await final assembly.
Here the slideouts have been installed. The slides have already been pre-assembled with all of the furniture and cabinetry. They just slide in and are attached.
A kitchen slide waiting to be installed.
Here is a living room slide. The attachment for the TV is on the left over what will be an electric fireplace. The computer table and workstation is on the right side of the tall window.
Most everything on a Tiffin motorhome is made at businesses in and around Red Bay. The exception is that some of the windshields are made in Turkey and shipped in and installed.
After this point, the coach is a primer gray color but has the shape of the finished product. At the end of this three week process, it proceeds to the paint shop where it is painted and striped. All of the coaches are full body paint, no decals. There is a state of the art paint shop that Tiffin has built near Red Bay. The coaches stay there for another three weeks where they are leak tested and painted. Then they return to the factory for a three week final inspection and quality control review. At the end of nine weeks, it is a finished coach ready for delivery to a happy owner.
At the end of the tour, your tour guide says you now know where everything is, so you are free to go back and talk to anyone you want to or go back to whatever area you want to spend more time in!! No escorts required! If you want, they even point out where Bob's office is. You are free to go over there and, if Bob is in, he will be glad to see you and address any comments or concerns that you may have. We walked in and were immediately ushered in to his office. We talked for 30 minutes or so and then took the picture that leads off this blog. I can't say enough good things about the Tiffin company and Bob's commitment to customer satisfaction.
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