Birth of a Phaeton

Tiffin Motorhomes is unique in the RV industry in its 'open' attitude towards customers and potential customers.

In practice, this means that when you take a factory tour, you are allowed to take pictures of anything. When your coach is being built, you are allowed to walk into the factory and follow it along the assembly line and take pictures. No other RV manufacturer allows you this much freedom, not even on a guided factory tour.

(click on thumbnails to see larger images or video - Windows WMV format)

Orientation

Here's an aerial view of the Tiffin plant (from Google Maps):

I've marked the following items on it:

• "V" - Tiffin Visitor Centre
• TMH - main Tiffin office building (Bob Tiffin's office is in this building)
• "W" - Welding plant
• The main plant is the building with the arrows on it:
  • red arrows - diesel assembly line
  • blue arrows - gas assembly line (which may also have diesel coaches on it)

  Several numbers indicate stations (more detailed descriptions below):

  • 1 - this is where the chassis enters the production line (after coming from the welding shop)
  • 10 - the chassis exits the building after station 10
  • 11 - this is a small building where the undercoat is sprayed on.
  • 12 - the coach re-enters the main plant
  • 19 - this is the final station on the assembly plant
  • L - after the coach leaves station 19, it goes to this area where it is sprayed heavily with water to check for leaks
  • F - this is the "Fit & Finish" area

Factory tour

If you want a guided tour of the factory, just show up at the Tiffin Visitor Centre (see aerial view above for location), 15 minutes before the tour time (10:00 and 14:00, Monday-Friday). Most (all?) of the tours are given by Red Davis who is in his 80's. He's one of TMH's treasures.

Watch your coach being built!

Here is an introduction from the (undated) tan-coloured "Welcome" pamphlet available in the Tiffin Visitor Centre:

Tiffin Visitor Centre

This is a very informal process. All you need to do is show up at the guard house in the Tiffin Visitor Centre (the one that looks like an old gas station), tell the guard that you're going in to watch your coach be built, and then sign in. He'll give you a pair of glasses and a "Visitor" badge (or similar). Then you are pretty much free to walk around anywhere you like. If you've taken the tour, you'll know where to go. Otherwise, refer to the aerial view (above).

The paint plant is in Belmont, MS a short distance away and you are welcome to visit it as well. Stop at the guard house, sign in and get your safety glasses and visitor pass and then wander around the buildings. You'll see how the coaches are masked and painted - it's quite amazing.

Some things to keep in mind:

1. Production starts at 06:00 every day, so you need to get up early! Bob Tiffin starts earlier than that, and you may seem him walking around with his entourage on an early morning tour.
2. Some people think they'll just go for an hour, go away for an hour, then come back - just dropping in occasionally to see progress. They usually end up staying from 06:00 until 16:00 with their eyes glued to every little thing being done. It is fascinating, so plan to spend the whole day there.
3. A day in the factory starts at 6:00am and ends at 15:00 There is one break in the morning from 9:00-9:20 and lunch is from 11:20-12:00. If you don't want to miss anything, take your breaks at the same time - hurry back or you'll miss something!
4. The plant is shirt-sleeve environment - wear something comfortable, but nothing loose that might get caught in equipment. Good sturdy shoes are recommended for safety and because you'll be standing on your feet all day! I've been there in November and April and it's comfortable weather. I bet it's dang hot in summer. There's no A/C, but all of the end and side doors of the plant are open.
5. You can leave and re-enter the plant at the end of the lines (station 1/19 or 10/11) or on the west side, near station 16.

6. Washrooms in Tiffin plant

   There are washrooms in the visitor centre. Inside the plant, you'll see the washrooms at the end and middle of the building - they are concrete block and have a tornado symbol on them.
7. The factory is not a particularly dangerous environment, but you need to be constantly alert and aware of things moving around and above you. The workers don't object to your presence and are happy to answer questions, but stay out of their way - don't wait to be asked.
8. There is a lot of activity off to the side of the line. That's where all of the components are being built or assembled - things like slides (ready to drop in, complete with all of the furniture, sinks, countertops etc.), cabinets, etc.
9. Your build number will appear on everything that goes into the coach, from chassis to chairs. Wherever you are, look at all of the parts, components, walls, floors etc. to find your stuff, as identified by the number.
10. If you get there before your chassis goes into welding, you'll see it outside way at the back of the Welding building and you can get pictures of it there - it's the last time you'll see it so naked. It's a good opportunity to see it before it's covered up. If you skip the welding stage, at least be at station 1 before it's scheduled to go in, so you can see it outside (panels welded in, and wiring harnesses in place) and get some semi-naked pictures. Then just follow it in.

More information

A more detailed description of the work done at each station on the assembly line can be found in the In your corner section of Roughing it Smoothly:

• Volume 1, Number 4 (Building the Foundation - chassis) - page 23
• Volume 2, Number 1 (From chassis frame to raw interior - station 00 to 7) - page 44
• Volume 2, Number 2 (The architecture of a slideout) - page 34

Overview

Chassis are stored in the "Field of Dreams" (you'll see it on the way to the Allegro Campground on the east side of 4th Street, and also on 3rd Street - the next street to the east) and are brought over to the Mechanical shop for preparation. Then they go over to the the Welding shop (you'll see a few lined up at the NW corner of the building, ready to go in). Once the chassis leaves the Welding shop, it moves to the entrance to the main assembly plant at station 1.

There are two assembly lines - one for diesel coaches, and another for gas coaches. Quite often, you'll see a diesel coach on the gas line too, depending on their production levels. The coaches go one way through the building (stations 1-10), then they go outside to station 11 where undercoating is sprayed on and water systems are filled and checked. Then they go back into the building for stations 12-19, in the opposite direction. When they leave the building at station 19, they are sprayed with water to check for leaks.

The coaches then go back to the Mechanical shop for alignment and a road test, after which they are driven over to the paint plant in Belmont.

Stations 1-12 are the most interesting, because you'll see the structural build (tanks, floor, walls, roof, slides, caps, exterior doors etc.). The remaining stations (12-29) focus more on the bay doors, and inside work. We took a lot of pictures from station 1-12 (outside), but we stayed out of their way for the remaining stations, because there were so many people working inside, going in & out all the time. We stayed outside, and only went inside when they told us they were done or almost done or if it looked like activity inside had ended.

If you go to Belmont, there is one building where the tile floors are made. The tiles are glued to a single piece of plywood which is then shipped over to Red Bay and lowered into place on the chassis sub-floor.

A certain amount of QC (quality control) paperwork follows the coach down the line, with notes on omissions, defects etc. You'll see that paperwork in the coach around Stations 17-19. A QC person reviews the lists, and calls specific people to come and fix items that are still outstanding. For example, he may call a carpenter from the slide area to come to station 17 to fix or replace a defective cabinet door. As you follow your coach down the line, watch for blue tape on areas where defects have been found. Hopefully, those will all be taken care of by the time the coach exits the building, but some may remain on the list until later if immediate resources are not available. For tile defects, the tile guys (from Belmont) come in later to break out and replace damaged tiles.

Some other highlights (for me, anyway):

1. watching the tile floor drop into place
2. watching the walls go on
3. watching the roof go on (but you can't see much - all the action is up top)
4. inserting the slides into the chassis
5. station 10 - alignment of front cap/headlights using a laser

We were present for 4 days only - from station 1 to 19 (April 23-26, 2007). We did not go to the Mechanical building before or after assembly, because we had heard that there's not much to see and you're not really allowed inside (you need protective goggles to watch welding).

Our coach was out of Station 19 and was checked for leaks easily by noon on the 4th day of the assembly line work (6th day since welding started). That afternoon we drove over to the Belmont paint plant. We saw it ready to go in for sanding, but we didn't follow it through the paint plant primarily because we didn't know when it would be completed. The coach may make several trips back & forth between the Fit & Finish area in the main plant (beside Station 19) and Belmont before everyone is happy and has signed off on the coach. Instead we went back home to Ottawa, and waited for our dealer (Sherman RV) to call us when it arrived. It went into welding on April 19, and arrived at the dealer May 8 - a total of 20 calendar days, 14 working days.

How long will it take to build my coach?

It will take approximately 2 weeks. Once you know the date your coach goes into welding, allow 6 days for it to go through the welding shop and the main factory and emerge at station 19 - that process continues without interruption. Allow another week for it go over to Belmont for painting and back to Red Bay for Fit & Finish. However, it might take longer than that - if Fit & Finish finds problems with the paint or tile, they will send it back to Belmont. Since this back & forth process is not clearly defined, it's difficult to know how long it takes and how long it might sit waiting for work at either end. So it's difficult to know exactly when your coach finally leaves the plant to go to your dealer. On top of that, scheduling of transport to your dealer is an unknown factor, as is driving time (obviously this is less significant if your dealer is Sherman or Bankston).

If you have limited time, the best use of your time is to show up to watch it go through Station 1-19, then over to Belmont for a few hours to see how the paint shop works (looking at other coaches - yours may not be there yet).

Tiffin Production Steps

The information in the table below is a composite of the following:

1. the timetable (date, time) for my 2007 Phaeton 36QSH (entered welding 2007-04-19, arrived Belmont 2007-04-26). Your dealer should provide this to you. Note that the time shown for each station applies to my coach - yours will be different, depending on where your coach is in the production sequence. If not, ask for it. If you still can't get it, call Tiffin and ask to speak to Stephanie and she'll send it to you.
2. a list of general activities at each station provided by my dealer (probably came from Tiffin). It was dated 2006-11-30.
3. additional comments and photos from me. Note: most of the pictures of the chassis before Station 1 and of the coaches at Belmont are not my coach - the captions are marked "(SOC)" - Some Other Coach.
4. comments from several people who have better memory or better note-keeping skills than me!

Day	Time	Station	Activity
Mechanical shop
			The chassis is pulled out of the Field of Dreams and goes into the mechanical shop (shop supervisor: Herbert). They install a plastic seat, steering wheel, some air lines and wiring. They check all fluids, grease all fittings and install covers to protect the aluminum wheels (if you've ordered them). Then it's driven over to the welding shop and parked outside. Field of Dreams (SOC) Chassis on the move (SOC) Chassis ready for welding (SOC)
Welding shop
1	08:30	1	Tiffin welding shop (SOC)
	09:55	2	??? (details unknown)
	11:10	3	??? (details unknown)
	13:05	4	??? (details unknown)
2	06:00	Paint	??? (details unknown)
	08:30	Wire	??? (details unknown)
Main plant
3		outside station 1	Chassis outside plant, welding done and harnesses in place, ready to go into Station 1
	07:15	1	fresh water tank on bottom and grey and black tanks above, metal boxes for smaller compartments, floor for large compartments in centre, felt lining in all compartments, slide-out trays, LP gas lines, plumbing below deck, seal compartments and chassis Station 1: installing storage bay Station 1: fresh water and black tanks installed
	08:30	2	sub-floor, step covers (wood), sort wiring harness and pull through floor Station 2: lowering the sub-floor into place Station 2: Spaghetti! Station 2: entrance stairs Video (Windows WMV): Station 2: floor (3 MB, 30 s)
	09:55	3	tile floor, install engine cover in bedroom, carpeting, electric seat wiring, run all speaker wire inside, install slide rollers Station 3: applying glue for the tile floor Station 3: tile floor
	11:10	4	cabinetry bases, plumb sinks and toilet, electrical cables in cabinets, front frame installed (for alignment of sides/top), dash and passenger seat controls, washer/dryer (optional) Station 4: rear interior walls and cabinets Station 4: More spaghetti!
	13:05	5	cabinetry (continued), flooring screwed on, cedar panel in closet (Allegro Bus), aluminum rear wall panel, bedroom wiring in closet, exterio side walls attached Station 5: Passenger side wall Video (Windows WMV): Station 5: wall (3 MB, 30 s)
4	06:00	6	electrical wiring in front console, entertainment console coax wiring, front overhead cabinet installed, partition walls Station 6: installing front cabinets Station 6: installing mid-coach TV/bathroom wall
	07:15	7	electrical (continued), pre-built roof installed, roof fiberglass skin installed, weather stripping on basement, crown molding in bedroom Station 7: Building A/C ducts inside roof Station 7: The final roof Station 7: Ready to lift roof in place Station 7: The roof is almost in place Video (Windows WMV): Station 7: picking up the fibreglas roof skin (1.5 MB, 30 s) Station 7: lowering fibreglas roof skin onto the roof (3 MB, 30 s)
	08:15	8	electrical switchboxes in bedroom breaker panel, trim, satellite antenna, wiring and roof rails, air conditioners Station 8: wiring the bedroom breaker panel Station 8: wiring roof lights
	09:55	9	refrigerator and slides (the day before your coach reaches Station 9, look for your slides on the side) Station 9: Installing the Norcold refrigerator Station 9: Assembling the LR slide beside assembly line Station 9: Installing the rear passenger side slide Video (Windows WMV): Station 9: front PS slide (1.7 MB, 30 s) Station 9: rear DS slide (3 MB, 30 s) Station 9: front DS slide (3 MB, 30 s) Station 9 to Station 10 (0.9 MB, 7 s)
	11:10	10	windows, front cap, rear cap, air horns, CB/FM antennas, TV antenna, cell antenna (optional), finish roof caulking Station 10: using a laser to align the front cap Station 10: Installing the rear cap Video (Windows WMV): Station 10: front cap (2 MB, 30 s)
	transit	10 to 11	Station 10: Exiting the plant after Station 10 Video (Windows WMV): Station 10 to Station 11 (2 MB, 21 s)
	13:05	11 (small building outside main plant)	undercoating, fill Hydro-hot (if applicable), fill propane tanks, check for water and LP leaks Station 11: Spraying the undercoating Video (Windows WMV): Exit Station 11 (1.7 MB, 16 s) Enter Station 12 (3 MB, 30 s)
	transit	11 to 12	Station 12: Re-entering the Tiffin plant at Station 12
5	06:00	12	lower external compartment doors, hardwood on slide-outs, entry door Station 12: Installing storage bay doors
	07:15	13	hardwood (continued), finish dash Station 13: A messy kitchen!
	08:30	14	cabinet doors, drawers, lambrequins (decorative wallpaper border), driver and passenger seats, televisions, surround sound Station 14: Adding cabinet doors Station 14: Aftermath of a wild party in this living room!
	09:55	15	door awning, stair treads, mattress, clean inside Station 15: Cleaning staff hard at work
	11:10	16	cabinet/woodwork dings repaired, work on QC checklists Video (Windows WMV): Station 15 to Station 16 (1.7 MB, 16 s)
	13:05	17	QC (continued), cleaning (continued) Station 17: If you take Susan's picture vacuuming inside the bays, warn her before the flash goes off!
6	06:00	18	QC completed Station 18: A sample Q/C sheet
	07:15	19	touchup wood inside, weigh coach (4 wheels) as it enters station 19. Note: The Phaeton 42, Allegro Bus 42, and Zephyr are not weighed in the plant because they have tag axles. They are taken to Sunshine Mills for weighing. Station 19: 2007 Phaeton 36QSH exiting Tiffin plant Station 19: If you're lucky, Bob Tiffin will walk by as your coach is born! Video (Windows WMV): Station 19: weighing (Chris Berry at the wheel) (1.3 MB, 12 s) Exit Station 19: a coach is born! (2.6 MB, 25 s)
		leak check	Just outside station 19, the coach is parked near the small building and a worker goes up top with a water hose and thoroughly soaks the coach to check for water leaks. In particular, they are looking for water coming out the A/C vents, indicating insufficient caulking on top. Station 19: After exiting at Station 19, the coach is sprayed with water to check for leaks Video (Windows WMV): Station 19 to leak check station (1.8 MB, 17 s)
Mechanical shop
			The coach is driven over to the mechanical shop again, and the front end and headlights are aligned. Then it is taken for a road test and driven over to the paint plant in Belmont, MS.
Paint plant (Belmont, MS)
		Sanding	The coach is painted with a blue dye to help locate the low and high spots, and then it goes through 4 stages of sanding to ensure a perfectly smooth surface. Belmont paint plant: blue dye on exterior prior to entering building for sanding.
		Masking & painting	The coach is masked to protect window trim, and other non-painted parts, and receives a base coat of paint. After that it is again masked for the striping and design. The coach is spray painted by several workers, all by hand, in a huge modern paint booth. Belmont paint plant: windows and trim masked before painting (SOC) Belmont paint plant: base coat has been applied (SOC) Belmont paint plant: inside the paint booth (SOC)
		Final finish	When the striping is done the coach is then given a layer or two of clearcoat, which makes it shine and provides UV protection. The paint is then baked in that same booth for a relatively short period of time. Finally, the coach is unmasked, inspected, touched up and polished. Belmont paint plant: polishing (SOC) Belmont paint plant: more polishing (SOC)
		Final trim	The finished painted coach is driven next door to have awnings and decals installed and various seams siliconed. Then it is given a vigorous shower in the rain booth to check for leaks.
		Tile shop	Belmont paint plant: tile floors being assembled (SOC) Belmont paint plant: tile backsplash panels being assembled (SOC)
"Fit & Finish" (Red Bay)
			The finished coach is driven back to the plant at Red Bay, to the 'Fit & Finish' area (beside Station 19) in the factory, where it is cleaned, inspected and readied for delivery to the dealer. Generally it returns to Belmont where it is picked up and driven to the dealer.

The finished product

After all of that, here's the gem that came out of the factory. Our 2007 Phaeton 36QSH. Ain't she a beauty?

John A. Grant ("jag&bev") with input from Dave ("66 VOL") and Tom ("Tom A.") (2007-09-08)

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