Hi! New Here! PI Employee.

[Excel Worker]

My name is Joe. I have been at Excel for going on six years. For the first four years I insulated and glued the sides of the trailers and I also Routed the doors and windows, put on scene lights and installed the metal around the slideouts, put the rubber wipers on them and such. Now for the last two years I have been working in the Saw Dept. I route the access doors and cut almost every peice of wood, panel, etc. that goes into the unit. I live in Smith Center. I'm married with two kids (well my son is an adult, my daughter thinks she is). I enjoy what I do very much! I look forward to meeting all of you!

[BookIIRoadtrash]

Joe welcome to the Excel forum and we hope you can answer or help us with construction issues. Here you say QC is important:

Originally Posted by Excel Worker

I know Bryan has really been pushing us to do better in the way of making our fit and finish really tight, we have a great crew here. He has implemented a new Quality Control, that starts from the frame plant and goes to finish. I think alot of issues are going to be clearing up immediately.

Joe, Saw Dept.

Now here you tell us you cut every piece of wood and paneling:

Originally Posted by Excel Worker

My name is Joe. I have been at Excel for going on six years. For the first four years I insulated and glued the sides of the trailers and I also Routed the doors and windows, put on scene lights and installed the metal around the slideouts, put the rubber wipers on them and such. Now for the last two years I have been working in the Saw Dept. I route the access doors and cut almost every peice of wood, panel, etc. that goes into the unit. I live in Smith Center. I'm married with two kids (well my son is an adult, my daughter thinks she is). I enjoy what I do very much! I look forward to meeting all of you!

Ok as you see I have a 33RKO, now I work my my hands also and I believe in craftsmanship. I deliver a quality product for my customers. Now in my rig in the slide out (12 foot) for the ceiling paneling you used one full sheet (8 foot) and another 4 foot piece. That is fine, but in the main part of the rig the seam in the slide out is two foot off of the seam there. So every time when sitting in my slide out and I look up I see the off seam. To me craftsmanship would have been to have all ceiling seams match.


So to me seeing something like that makes me wonder about how the rest of my rig was put together. For the price of what I paid, I expect quality as I give that in my trade.

[ARRET]

Welcome Joe my name is Joe to. We are fulltime now for 9 years. We, my Wife and I, are from around Springfield Mo. We have been in both 100 plus heat and last night it hit 16 here in TX and this is the best unit I have owned as far as insulation. The finishing on the out side of slides does not impress me and caulking is not up to pair. The rest of the unit seems to be put togather well. One thing I don't understand is why you used the black stuff on bottom of the slide sence mine is ripping and ruffing up and we have only had the unit 6 months. Going over the slide rollers is doing it a job. When I went on your plant tour I found it appeared somewhat disorganized.

[BDunlap]

Hi Joe,

Welcome to the Excel Forum. I think it is great to have people from PI as part of this forum. You are probably right now helping put together a new Winslow I have ordered from RV Sales in NM. It is due to be delivered at the end of this month.This is my second 5th wheel. I picked Excel after a lot of research on the best trailers. You and the people at PI are an extremely important part of the reason Excel has such a great reputation. Welcome again!

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes, CA

[GoneWithTheWind]

Welcome Joe,
Great to hear from a PI employee. My 33 RSO has been performing very well, thanks to the great employees of Peterson Industries. Also Smith Center what a great place to grow up and raise a family.

[janieD]

Welcome to the forum Joe, we just had our new Limited 30RSO delivered in November. We only got to stay in it a couple nights before storing it for winter. Can't wait to get in it this spring. I'm sure lots of us will have questions for you. We did a ton of research before deciding on the Excel and though we know it won't be perfect we feel we have chosen a dealer and a manufacturer that will stand behind its product. Happy New Year to all at the PI!

[Luski]

Hi Joe FYI we are living in our Excel in central Mn, did some modifications of course, straw bale skirting with Tyvec, and a couple of electric base board heater's to supplement heat, also hooked to 500 gal. Propane Tank but what' most impressed me so far is our plumbing is still working without a problem, One thing I have had problem's with Norcold Fridge when it got below zero outside but otherwise keep improving the new ones and I would buy another, IMO You guy's should just put Duel Pane windows in all of them.
Thanks for making a great insulated unit Jay

[Excel Worker]

Well we just recently changed our roofing to working off of a 4 foot theme to eleminate waste in the area of construction, but I guess i never thought of the view looking up, I'll bring it up to Bryan. Really never thought about it before. The room and the walls are created seperately. Individually, really, I assume it would be difficult to get that seam perfect. Material wise we try not to waste too much so, we do them in as big a peice as possible. I'll see what Bryan says and get back to you.

Originally Posted by Woodhicker

Joe welcome to the Excel forum and we hope you can answer or help us with construction issues. Here you say QC is important:




Now here you tell us you cut every piece of wood and paneling:





Ok as you see I have a 33RKO, now I work my my hands also and I believe in craftsmanship. I deliver a quality product for my customers. Now in my rig in the slide out (12 foot) for the ceiling paneling you used one full sheet (8 foot) and another 4 foot piece. That is fine, but in the main part of the rig the seam in the slide out is two foot off of the seam there. So every time when sitting in my slide out and I look up I see the off seam. To me craftsmanship would have been to have all ceiling seams match.


So to me seeing something like that makes me wonder about how the rest of my rig was put together. For the price of what I paid, I expect quality as I give that in my trade.

[Excel Worker]

It probably was a little disorganized. I have to tell you though. As one of the ones that was laid off for a bit. We have a great crew now!! Really good!! Bryan has implemented a new quality control program it goes from the frame plant to finish and they are checking EVERYTHING!! I mean it and have seen it! This is a really different Peterson Industries, from the one I started with and the atmosphere has gotten alot better. It's enjoyable to be at work now. You don't have to worry about as much absenteism or "flakey" employees, I'm really impressed with my co-workers! When I say "Fit and Finish" I mean it! Our cutting specs got a lot more fine. We have always used under-belly for the bottom of the slideouts, at least since I have been there, I can tell you that under that "black stuff" if you take a look is a water treated board. I cut them personally.
It will be green, thats how they come in new.

Originally Posted by ARRET

Welcome Joe my name is Joe to. We are fulltime now for 9 years. We, my Wife and I, are from around Springfield Mo. We have been in both 100 plus heat and last night it hit 16 here in TX and this is the best unit I have owned as far as insulation. The finishing on the out side of slides does not impress me and caulking is not up to pair. The rest of the unit seems to be put togather well. One thing I don't understand is why you used the black stuff on bottom of the slide sence mine is ripping and ruffing up and we have only had the unit 6 months. Going over the slide rollers is doing it a job. When I went on your plant tour I found it appeared somewhat disorganized.

[Excel Worker]

Thanks Bill! Yeah I'm probabably the guy cutting your wall panels and every other panel for that matter. I'll do ya proud!!

Originally Posted by BDunlap

Hi Joe,

Welcome to the Excel Forum. I think it is great to have people from PI as part of this forum. You are probably right now helping put together a new Winslow I have ordered from RV Sales in NM. It is due to be delivered at the end of this month.This is my second 5th wheel. I picked Excel after a lot of research on the best trailers. You and the people at PI are an extremely important part of the reason Excel has such a great reputation. Welcome again!

Bill Dunlap
Mammoth Lakes, CA

[Excel Worker]

Actually I lived the first 30 years of my life in Santa Rosa, CA and never much went anywhere, then got married and have been to 13 states after moving here to Kansas. Thank you very much for the complement!!! Have you been on tour of the plant anywhere from 2004-2009? You have most likely seen me!!

Originally Posted by Milkman*

Welcome Joe,
Great to hear from a PI employee. My 33 RSO has been performing very well, thanks to the great employees of Peterson Industries. Also Smith Center what a great place to grow up and raise a family.

[Excel Worker]

I know for sure we stand behind our product. Even on a production level we have helped out with customer units, the service guys are "Jacks of all trades" but when they need a better opinion or extra help they pull us, the guys from wherever on the line,the needed area is, to go in and do our specialty. I know for me, I work too hard ,to waste my money. I also know YOU work too hard to waste yours (Yep, even on a bad day), When I buy something I expect it to perform, I know you do too, when the units come down line we don't talk about (almost always) unit 10109, we talk about the Jansen's Unit or the Robert's Unit, That's our terminology, We know who we are building them for. If it's for a dealer we know which one also. I'm telling you now. This is a different company than was here six years ago when I started. If you haven't taken a look at us , we are rapidly changing, new paint scheme's are really cool, my buddy, (and he is my buddy, and neighbor, Ken) He's really doing some radically new paint on these coaches and it is really cool!! I like the new look , I'll have to start posting some pic's out of here as we change things!! I'll really do that, I don't have a top o the line cam but it's pretty good!

Originally Posted by janieD

Welcome to the forum Joe, we just had our new Limited 30RSO delivered in November. We only got to stay in it a couple nights before storing it for winter. Can't wait to get in it this spring. I'm sure lots of us will have questions for you. We did a ton of research before deciding on the Excel and though we know it won't be perfect we feel we have chosen a dealer and a manufacturer that will stand behind its product. Happy New Year to all at the PI!

[BookIIRoadtrash]

Originally Posted by Excel Worker

Well we just recently changed our roofing to working off of a 4 foot theme to eleminate waste in the area of construction, but I guess i never thought of the view looking up, I'll bring it up to Bryan. Really never thought about it before. The room and the walls are created seperately. Individually, really, I assume it would be difficult to get that seam perfect. Material wise we try not to waste too much so, we do them in as big a peice as possible. I'll see what Bryan says and get back to you.

I understand your point of view trying to eliminate waste, but wait a minute, who is the consumer? So what if by having matching seams cost me another $100, I would never know why. I don't understand why an engineer doesn't have that in his blue print of each unit. I know the prints I read are self explanatory where the man wants this and that.

Also I understand why you wouldn't think about the seam placement you are not living in a fifth wheel. I call things like that the fourth dimension of what you are building and people in my trade do not Acquire this skill for at least ten years of doing it.

Now in my rig in the closet the cloths rod was not centered, one side was 1.75 inches forward , causing not being able to close one side. Now this was a easy fix of around one half hour. But my question is if something is worth doing why not do it right the first time. So you see this cost the factory money having a tech fix it. But it also cost me money too. My time and fuel to either take it to a dealer or the Smith Center service center. So now who did it cost more to fix something? Me-the consumer.

Back to craftsmanship, I look at the electrical outlets and I see the covers are not squared to the world and the grooves on the two screws that hold the cover are mismatched. To me craftsmanship is having the grooves either vertical or horizontal and to have every one in a trailer the same way. So when I see little things like this it tells me a lot about the person who did that job.

You should also do yourself a favor and search the Excel forum for water leaks, there's lots of members here with lots of experiences on this subject.

[Excel Worker]

Originally Posted by Woodhicker

I understand you point of view trying to eliminate waste, but wait a minute who is the consumer? So what if by having matching seams cost me another $100, I would never know why. I don't understand why an engineer doesn't have that in his blue print of each unit. I know the prints I read are self explanatory where the man wants this and that.


Also I understand why you wouldn't think about the seam placement you are not living in a fifth wheel. I call things like that the fourth dimension of what you are building and people in my trade do not Acquire this skill for at least ten years of doing it.


Now in my rig in the closet the cloths rod was not centered, one side was 1.75 inches forward , causing not being able to close one side. Now this was a easy fix of around one half hour. But my question is if something is worth doing why not do it right the first time. So you see this cost the factory money having a tech fix it. But it also cost me money too. My time and fuel to either take it to a dealer or the Smith Center service center. So now who did it cost more to fix something? Me the consumer.




Back to craftsmanship, I look at the electrical out lets and I see the covers are not squared to the world and the grooves on the two screws that hold the cover are mismatched. To me craftsmanship is having the grooves either vertical or horizontal and to have every one in a trailer the same way. So when I see little things like this it tells me a lot about the person who did that job.


You should do yourself a favor and search the Excel forum for water leaks, there's lots of members here with lots of experiences on this subject.

I'm sorry, first off and foremost. I could go into a discussion about how the back walls of the slideouts, the slide sides, sides, the decks, roofs, almost every component is built individually, that is, in a seperate department from eachother, but we are all P.I. and we sink or swim as a team. We're improving eveyday now. I can pass this on to BOTH Bryans doing the quality control. File this under constructive critisism. I will talk to Quality Control, and Bryan Tillet about this though. On the screw subject though. Just to clarify. When you mean not alligned, you mean " x+ " instead of "++" or "XX" right?