Jay Howard tells Michelle Rivera how this company managed to thrive by reinventing its entire product line.

According to Country Coach president Jay Howard, the entire class A market for recreational vehicles has been down by about 15% the last two years. But during that time, Howard and his team have managed to double the luxury RV manufacturer’s marketshare by undergoing a company-wide facelift.

“We redesigned all of our products from top to bottom over the last two years. Our entire product line, which consists of eight basic models, has been reinvented. Everything is new in our 34-year-old company,” Howard said of the Junction City, Ore.-based company.

Customers took well to the initiative, which led to Country Coach doubling in size. To put some scale to the growth, the company went from roughly 800 employees to 1,850 in the last two years. “The most remarkable thing for us is that three-and-a-half years ago, the company was losing substantial amounts of money,” Howard said. “And since our reinvention, the company has made money every quarter.”

Jay Howard - President

Curb appeal
According to Howard, the company’s aim was to produce a compelling product design, the number one requirement in the industry. “If you don’t have a compelling product that has curb appeal, features, craftsmanship, and technology melded together, you’ll struggle—because someone else will do it.” The company also incorporated European styling into its products, demonstrating to consumer groups and dealers that it was more than simply a state-of-the-art manufacturing company.

Howard then focused on how Country Coach could get its product to the market as fast as possible, investing in the most current design and 3D modeling equipment. Most of Country Coach’s product designs begin aesthetically, which then turn into scale 3D product samples. Previously, the company’s designers did the aesthetic modeling out of clay.

“Once you take that technology and get your 3D cast model made, all of your engineering drawings can be done straight from that model. With this, we’ve eliminated the time-consuming portions,” Howard said. “The sheer amount of labor in our design and engineering now would have been impossible 10 years ago.”

Quality assurance
When a company experiences rapid growth, it’s easy for quality to get overlooked. Not at Country Coach, whose inspection forces quadrupled as it doubled in size. “Dealing with 40- to 45-foot vehicles that weigh in at 30,000 to 50,000 pounds, every effort has been made to make the manufacturing process as smooth as possible,” Howard said.

“We’ve gone to a critical-path sampling system and now document all procedures that go on in the warehouse. An automobile has 4,000 to 5,000 components—our vehicles average about 20,000 components. You can visualize the challenges we face in the quality arena. Education and more application of resources are critical to staying ahead of the curve.”

Documentation process
As Country Coach continues to grow, one of its goals is to train its employees in the basic art of producing a motor coach by documenting all of its processes.

For instance, the manufacturing company applies and lays tile in all of its coaches. The people who lead and become managers of that department are generally the best tile layers the company has, explained Howard, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the best tile layer in your company has the necessary management skills.

The documentation process consisted of using an extensive amount of digital photography, following the adage that a picture is worth 1,000 words, explained Howard. “It was a monumental task. Regardless of whether you’re doing it the right way or the or wrong way, until you can capture how you are doing it, it’s hard to improve. You have to capture what you’re doing before you can scientifically analyze how to do it better.”

This initiative enabled the company to double its laminate production in two years without buying even one additional piece of equipment. “We increased our employees by 8% to double the output,” said Howard.

The president also invested tremendously in manufacturing and engineering, which is now nine times the size it was when the company was founded. “This business has been built over the years on what we call tribal knowledge, meaning someone’s dad knew how to do it, so he taught his son, and so on,” said Howard. “We reassessed all our creative and talented people, gave them a new set of tools, and educated them—and that has greatly paid off.”