Alliance Factory Tour with the OWNER! Ryan Brady

hey everyone i'm matt welcome back to another video today i'm super excited we're here in elkhart indiana at alliance rv's world headquarters with co-founder of uh alliance rv mr ryan brady hey matt i appreciate you guys coming out to see us we're uh excited to get you through uh show you a little bit more about alliance rv and how we uh build our product from uh start to finish and give you a little bit more background on us as a company and kind of absolutely thanks so much yeah i'm really excited about today's episode listen if you're not in the market for a fifth wheel this probably isn't the video for you but if you're looking to make a purchase of 50 100 000 on a fifth wheel you're definitely going to want to take the time set your dvr and watch this video because we're going to do the whole factory tour and who's better to do a factory tour than the uh co-founder of the company [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you can see it lined up chassis start right here right they get rolled into this door uh you guys are familiar with the benchmark chassis that we've been rolling with you know industry uh innovative uh chassis system that lci just came out with the benefit we had with having a blank sheet of paper when we developed a company that we were able to incorporate this so uh as you know that flush upper deck system right you're going to our upstairs you don't have that typical step up that extends much further into that living space it's a 10 inch i-beam uh which reduces a little weight but structurally it's even stronger because we put this two inch torsion tube on the length of the coach there so it you know especially when you put those spring hangers on uh which you can see right here uh these axle hangers it's gonna distribute that torque better than if it was to be direct onto the actual i-beam this is neat too we always highlight this so uh traditionally uh manufacturers on these uh hangers here only have the two weld points we saw some customers have issues with that if you catch a bad weld you know with the volume that's coming out of the chassis manufacturers if the welder has a bad day with only two weld points we were seeing issues with that so we worked with uh lipper to reinforce all these welds you'll see this b bracket underneath with an additional well point on each so all uh six of these hangers on the chassis has that additional uh b bracket so obviously there's labor involved it's a it's more money for us to buy the chassis that way but we view that as structurally uh uh superior as you know around our running gear that's an issue that we spent a lot of time on trying to upgrade those components so you got that the two-inch torsion tube you got the beef uh wells on those uh hangers and then um this here is the uh green flipper so strangest uh this has been clipped back but holding tanks get installed uh landing here starts getting sold as well as you guys know we reinforced our uh holding tank so rather than kind of a flimsy strap we have more of a we call it kind of like a cage setup so we know that customers you know you're not necessarily supposed to travel with full holding tanks but we know if they do right i mean it's counter-intuitive to mine rv and then be told you can't build the tanks yeah uh and we heard of instances where customers tanks were falling out of their rigs so uh we wanted to make sure ours were uh structurally stronger so if you can kind of see in there you'll see those brackets that reinforce rather than that flimsy strap you can kind of see it along the side there you know big thick uh steel brackets that hold the tanks off uh into the running gear uh you guys are probably familiar with with uh what we've done here but each component we've strategically chosen to come out of uh you know we view it with a superior running gear system so uh on the tire we are running a t-ready tire um but we found a 4400 pound tire so our competition uh you'll see a 4080 so just a little beefier tire of course we'll run the more ride cre suspension uh which gives you uh not just the up down but gives you side to side flexibility as well this was a big one so we are using a dexter axle it's a 3 500 pound axle but those springs uh we've got a nice upgrade there so and talking to these customers these big pistols right they're full-timers they put a lot of cargo into their rigs we heard of instances where customers uh it wasn't necessarily actually spending actions were signed yet springfield flats uh because of that extra cargo that you find in these big rigs so we've upgraded from the factory we're using a 500 pound axle we've upgraded 4 000 pounds of brake stock from the battery to uh minimize the chance of a spring uh going flat uh the other neat upgrade that we've done is uh direct from the factory we have the more ride heavy duty uh wet bolts and shackles with the bronze coating so if you think about it you got the b g bracket on the hangers you got the more eye suspension more red wet bolts and shackles the dexter heavier duty springs 4 000 pounds g-rated tire um you know we view it as you know you sum all that together a superior running gear system electrical starts to get installed here uh again all these guys on the production line you know highly experienced individuals i think again back to the culture we're attracting you know best-in-class talent uh to our company again it's uh you know every day we have people knocking on the door uh they see what's going on they see how we're treating our our team members uh they see the momentum and they want to be associated with i think it's the old adage whenever we want to do business with winners yeah and so we have a heck of a heck of a team here that does a great job the electrical starts to get installed um as you know we color code all of our wiring systems uh so on each floor plan that we build uh you can come to us as the manufacturer and we can provide you with a schematic of how that uh wiring system operates uh pex plumbing throughout the coach you have your uh hydraulic landing gear which is getting installed here on these big fifth wheels uh having one determination again we uh you know we we have a great engineer on staff i i always plug them eric bartman best engineer in the industry we wanted our termination to uh exit at just one spot rather than having two separate uh having one just for you know functionality easy yeah yeah so you move this way basically right you push the unit yep so they they come in we have uh about 24 uh stations online so when the unit hits the door to when it comes offline it's about three days three production days and then uh to go through that pdi process it's another day and a half okay so it comes off the production line we hook it up to a company vehicle uh goes through its test driven performance audit and then it goes to the uh the pdi uh what happens when you touch stuff that you're not supposed to this station here the subfloor is getting uh assembled we use uh 5 8-inch marine grade decking minimal seams uh with that um structurally soft uh material there it gets the uh vapor darko vapor barrier it's got the spun fiberglass insulation in that floor as well coming up here leno now gets installed so this is a 365 uh rd uh this has a raised rear deck yeah uh has the pull out storage tray so all this aluminum uh welding uh occurs in house at our uh weld shop uh across the street there uh do a great job with all the weld points making sure everything's structurally sound lino has been uh installed here as well you can kind of start seeing uh yeah it'll start to come together here another installation barrier with the abs corrugated insulation material the interior walls are starting to get assembled here cabinet shop which you can see straight across there so all these walls are being assembled in-house getting prepped for for installation on the line what's up adam good um how we doing guys we got another 365 um a little further down the production line here justin island base is getting installed uh again we we eliminate all carpets so you would not see any carpet in any of our alliance rvs on the steps up in the front closet up in that area as well uh the other thing too we always point out in the kitchen area main living area that lower vent uh is not in the i'm sorry the furnace fan is not in the floor right yeah most fifth wheels you'll see that we call it kind of a crumb catcher we went from a functionality standpoint we wanted to get you still have one in the 365 up top that we do up top in the bedroom uh in the raised areas we put them in the floor but on the main floor selecting a 370 mv uh all the way down yeah so again back to the color code wiring you have tight wiring systems we always point this out to folks as they come through uh you know we kind of yeah that's getting clean tightened up there but just the the tidiness of the wiring system right both the other guys spaghetti massive wiring yeah this is the cabinet shop area so they're installing the countertops onto the cabinet bases here uh you can see the other sub assembly uh taking place there you got laptops they're getting prepped for uh installation so at this point we do the [Music] sidewall installation and so as you guys know we built the sidewall in house uh on the substrate for our sidewall so we've upgraded to an azdel uh yeah uh yeah i was talking about actually we had a plant tour that went through our lamination facility and talking to our lamination major he's you know 20-year industry veteran you know doing strictly lamination and uh he's experienced with both blue one and asl right so as they'll while it's it's more money because it is a composite right you know just from a consistency standpoint anytime you're you're dealing with wood right yeah it's going to vary in consistency whether it's you know glue retention whether it's you know sometimes he said you know it has to get sanded down you know if it gets sand down sand it down too much it gets too thin if you look at the tolerances of how that asdale comes in it's down to the yeah 1 000 of an inch right and so the glue retention the fact that it doesn't expand and contract and warm and and you know cold weather uh and it doesn't absorb water so heaven forbid right you do get a water intrusion it's not gonna swell up right uh so this coach has a generator prep option again you can see the tight wire that is occurring here uh throughout the coach um you know we on the retail sold coaches uh as you guys have seen on our facebook page you know we put signs that we put them on the hedge yeah this one is sold for the carl family yeah it's just a subtle reminder for the the folks of the line that you know this is someone's dream that we're building right yeah he's paying you know this is a you know a lot of money uh for these rigs and like you said sometimes people wait their whole lives yeah you know no no they they deserve it it's just it's a reminder that you know this is you know we have pride in what we built and we want that customer to to take pride in their rv yeah not only that i would like to use that opportunity to plug in about alliance's um what's the facebook group called alliance alliance rb group uh is our page again that was the page we developed early on right that was instrumental in our product development you know we we use that forum for yeah we'll bounce floor plan ideas awesome seriously no that's what i wanted to say it's that they'll come because i'm on it too i don't comment but i i like looking at it and they'll come with like four or five different floor plan ideas and they'll ask the customers what do they like their input which i think is really impressive because so many times you know i've been in the industry not as long as some people but i've been in for six seven years and so many times it's kind of like hey do people who design some of these even go camping themselves and so to actually talk to the community and not just the hypothetical community not just you know dealerships people who are actually going to spend 50 60 100 000 what their input is that's huge yeah it uh you know one of our core values is relentless improvement so that's where we get to do that i mean if we hear something uh you know obviously we can't be everything to everyone right but if we hear something continuously we know there's something to it right and that we need to act and they've been instrumental whether it's you know all the you know whether it's though or running your components or eliminating the carpet or the any light switches to shut off valves at plumbing locations i mean that wasn't necessarily our idea that was from our community yeah and uh again to your point rather than us you know sitting you know behind a computer design a product let's take it out for the people that actually can't to the people tell people this is the culmination of that this is america's rv uh so yeah sign walls are have been installed here uh you got the fancy hoys that lift them up to make sure you get consistent uh uh sidewalk then uh you can see this is the train that gets wheeled over you know we're right not even across the street just directly next to us which is our landing how do you transfer it do you roll it yeah so one of our uh forklifts will hook up and pull it on what a stressful job that is oh no no okay it's supported up top as well so we'll go up on this methane we'll probably give you a better aerial view okay [Music] yeah and not only that you guys have probably seen my 370 fb video you did a great job on that thanks thanks i didn't know about much about the product when i did it wil will was educating me on the ac units on the way up here but um literally 24 24 hours after i published that this guy comments on the video no you or or was it your brother it was one of them yeah um but you know i mean in that that says a lot being the owner of the company because you know you care you take the time to watch our cell phone numbers we put out email addresses you know we get emails and we're personally responding we get plant tubers customers come in all the time of course you know we'd invite anybody who has an interest to check us out you know we we're an open first too that's the first for all the tours we've done yeah oh what do you mean like anybody can come in oh yeah come on come on in we'll take you through the tour and uh yeah let's see warren buffett give us a tour huh no i'm just kidding a little bit different than uh so again all the color-coded wiring is the wire uh it gets installed here i think we left off the sideball and just gotten installed you're now seeing the roof getting salt all those trusses are being built over there uh installed there in the production line uh you know the other neat thing too is we have uh uh 10 shot backs a lot of production lines so approximately every other uh line roll you know we're sweeping these things out in between line rolls uh shake down you know just trying to eliminate some of that sawdust you know it is a moving home right after it goes out on its first ride and transported you know 1500 miles yeah just to try to eliminate some of that so moving down the line here um you can kind of see how it's starting to take take form right and so each group so we have approximately 110 team members on the production line uh i think we're at 11 groups whether it's floor plumbing uh shelling electrical metal those guys are dedicated to their job function so they they typically operate in you know teams of six to eight votes uh and that's what they specialize right that's what they do uh daily i think for us you know we we build six floor plans right so we're not trying to be everything to everyone uh but we want to build six really good floor plans to make sure that quality is really tight so when they're building yeah those same floor plans right they get expertise in it yeah you know if we try to build 30 floor plans here you know it could be a month in between when they build up and they got to re remember you know okay how do i do this so as far as the paradigm goes is that going to be all your floor plans is sick we might evolve it over time to you know maybe eight nine but we always want to keep that line up tight just for that reason you know the consistency of the build uh you know we want to make it easy for our team members put them in a position to make sense so they're just coming off right here uh the lockers over there you can see the uh roofing uh insulation being installed there you can see the deck in there so you got a nice truck yeah uh you're fully walkable up there 3 8 marine grade decking and it's a pvc roof right it is yeah so we've uh made the uh decision as a company that pvc carries a 20 year warranty again it's similar to the asda it's a little more oh it's a 20 year i thought it was a 15 uh it's a we view it as a superior construction material so a couple benefits we see in it um it's if you were to you know take it under tree limb right which is calm and you get a scratch it much easier to repair you know a little plumber's glue versus an entire roof job uh it doesn't create quite as much black like the traditional rubber roofs and the tpo roofs um and then which we'll get into the hvac is so important to us it's actually more reflective uh you know that the traditional rubber roofs and tpo so uh actually we'll get into it so we're short that front ac is going to get installed here we're waiting on the truck delivery but we do we install three ac standing from the factory we have 41 000 btus of ac and then from an efficiency purpose we direct dump the rear two ac right and so uh yeah that was an intentional decision we worked closely with the folks over at coleman who manufactured the acs and we wanted to come out with a superior cooling unit and uh so and working closely with them with what they told us was hey if you're open to it of course obviously three ac standard would be great but directly dump as many ac since you can if you think about it you run duct work in the ceiling uh hey you're losing insulation value because you're putting dogs in in lieu of response uh fiberglass insulation uh so you lose insulation value but then it stands the reason by the time the ac reaches that vent which could be you know ten feet away from that the cooling yeah it's going to be less cool right um yeah the other thing that we did is they gave us the guidance you know use use a wide ac shroud on the exterior oh yeah if you think about it what does black do black seed yeah makes the compressor work a little bit harder reduces the efficiency so we know we sell you know a lot of these rigs in uh you know warm weather states and and even our uh you know midwestern or you know canadian customers they're just over right they take it down south uh in the winter season so we wanted to have a you know an rv that performed very very well from an hkc standpoint we've also uh upgraded as you guys know to a 42 000 bt so so is the ac unit still whisper quiet they are uh so uh i think whispers how the other guys brand theirs are coleman they they call them their q series or tranquil series they are as quiet we did a decimal test because that's what used to be the knock with the direct on pcs is that they're allowed right right so we were we were skeptical at first and uh you can actually download the app and do a decimal test we had we went to the to the uh facility and did us you know we we wanted to hear it to believe it right and we did the test and actually were even more quiet than the traditional whisper quiet i believe that from what i've heard so in my face [Applause] tyler what's up buddy yeah yeah uh so tyler and juan they are uh they do their new sets uh the insulation they're installing the decking they're installing and then the uh the pvc roof uh they're installing as well great guys hard work and they you know we treat them right right it's not just how much you can't how you treat them and these guys are like you know they're like family so along the we have a team of four quality inspectors so we have the pvi uh facility across the wall right and then it comes offline along the production line we have uh uh we call them qcs three qc's and a headquarter inspector so you can kind of see that orange tape in there there she is right there so she's one of our quality inspectors so she's going up and down the line just trying to identify any loose end so yeah that could be a crooked style there uh yeah without getting closer i don't know what she's taping but it's a constant reminder constantly checking the quality and then relaying that feedback back to the the group leaders on the line so they'll do a report at the end of the day just kind of highlighting hey guys here's what we want to get a little bit tighter with whether it's you know hey we missed a couple putty spots or uh you know gapping in uh from the cabinetry you know whatever the case may be she's identifying that and constantly go back to that core value relentlessly improving on the product here's a steel weld shop so uh you know the dollies that you see uh the units moving down the steel racking uh some other smaller steel components that go into the rv we weld here and shop um that's cliff on the left connie on the right they do a heck of a job for those are 20-year experience welded hey class [Music] uh let's pop in through here [Music] me um you got graphics installation here windows has been installed you have the fly topper there at the top looks like we're waiting on an awning to get installed um big rap handle we made this change maybe about 90 days ago we just heard the feedback you know from customers getting into the code one of the extensions to help get in and out you know again everything with an eyeshorts functionality how do we make this um so this is uh we got a couple shortages that were uh that's amanda she's one of our tvs nicole there uh she's actually the head qc so she's constantly monitoring the work product relaying the feedback back back to the uh the boats on the line just making sure uh we're tight so uh this is one of our feelers here we use that mylar i'm sorry the uh ms polymer uh so this is a automotive grade sealing system so typically you'll find silicone on the exterior of these rigs and so we chose this system with silicone you got to strip that entire seal right refill with the silicone with the ms polymer you can apply silicone to it aftermarket so if you had a void rather than tripping the entire steel you can touch it up because as you know silicone does not adhere to silicone yeah but with the silicone it does adhere to the uh big pass-through storage which you guys uh have grown accustomed to uh you know with that nice drop frame this is a we're in a 310 rl so this has been a great uh floor plan for us it's under 35 feet you know for the weight um so we're starting to get into the uh final finished apartments here so again all that you know the final cleanup of the product they're getting swept out looks like they're just about ready to do a line roll you can see the team members they're lining up we're gonna roll this one to the final station uh where it'll go through its final cleanup there we go all that uh red tape will get worked off it'll then be shipped out uh we'll get hooked up to the company vehicle and uh go on a test driven uh autumn is that what that one's getting ready to do yeah yeah sometimes we back them up and we'll kind of run them at you know over and over consecutively so it's not instantaneous it comes off it gets hooked up uh sometimes it's passing the pad we always point out our entry staff you can see it you know it's got the zero assist so you can easily flick it up all right get into it you guys need help here we go now bridge stop look at this and that's what i like to see that's girl power right there [Music] yep [Music] [Applause] so you can see some of the cleaning materials you got the alcohol you have the coach clean material just making sure that thing is clean and tight before it goes off the line uh graphics reminder just on the install kind of a workspace in here counting final finish so it looks like this just got plugged in so we're going to hop in and kind of see what we're seeing here so you can see this is you know pretty close to being finished uh again you'll get cleaned up any it looks like we're missing uh some material here that waiting on some handling um but here we are it's pretty amazing two and a half days that unit that chassis comes in rolls down that production line and crazy we get to a finished product it's crazy how many how many units have you made so far year to date we're approximately um company company we did a company celebration uh we got chick-fil-a in and we celebrate our 500th unit as a as a team which is pretty neat and uh hopefully this fall will be celebrating uh 1000. yeah we're actually having a rally uh going on at the elkhart campground that kicks off this afternoon we'll be there we have 40 of our uh owner i think we have 60 rigs 40 of which are alliance owners and we invited uh brand x folks too just to you know check this out and have some fun we're gonna break a little bread have some fun we got band coming in tomorrow night uh just have a good time we'll have some good seminars we have some of our suppliers coming through that'll uh do some tutorial seminar type stuff and then we're going to bring everybody through for a factory tour and uh we also have some text on hand uh any cleanup type work we're going to be taking care of our our alliance owners uh so uh hey jeremiah coley come on up come on in what's going on how are you doing good how are you yeah these guys surprised us this morning how are we doing what's going on yeah what's going on what's up what's up man nice to meet you guys how's everything going good we're just making little youtube videos right nice thanks for coming to see us so coley uh brother co-founder jeremiah he's our gm who is over the paradigm and the toy hauler and so uh as you can see we randomly ran into him we're on this production line uh very often interacting with her foes making sure stuff is getting done correctly came out of the product meeting so jeremiah and i were just up there with our team so it's good to kind of every week we have a product you just kind of go through everything on the product and making sure it's we're keeping up with changes and improvements as we kind of go along so we're good nice cool all right we'll go over to qc and kind of see a finish finish unit or pdi i should say oh yeah [Applause] oh wow should we go in exclusive plan for us i think we fell uh this was the first run of them so we built uh trend this week what's up guys like matching twins today i know right we got our alliance gear on uh so here we are uh as you can see it's nice and clean it's gotten cleaned up and these folks jess and her uh great team they go through this product and they make sure it's uh you know we call it uh show ready we want it to land to the dealer the dealer can open it up customers can walk right in and feel good about uh what they are seeing it looks like you guys are doing photos in here so every unit that we uh build gets photographed oh every single one yes or like every floor plan every one every single lock so that when customers call in uh and we can have a reference point as well so we're wow we're waiting for a tri-fold to be installed again um but i like this because it's not necessarily a mid bunk exactly it's like a mid-air mp to stand for uh so np multi-purpose down at the tampa show we got asked uh for floor plans with an office probably 20 times i mean i'm not kidding we heard it often so um we wanted to design a floor plan uh not just a mid-back so you have the bunk above but we wanted to be able to function truly as an office if a customer wanted to so you have uh you know a nice countertop it's a solid surface material it's not just a press board you have the good bank of drawers here um you know for office materials filing cabinet what not uh and then the big window you know some of these floor plans and doing our research we went into them they felt kind of just cramped right because we'll stand up straight in here yeah i can stand up in here so it's about six five the height in here yeah you got the stone you'll have a sofa on this rear wall you got a place for tv if you did want to uh make it more of a uh a den type area or again a great spot for a true deck and then where's this ac ducted from this one ducks in from the uh the one in the uh okay so the two dump in the back yep the front one ducks in the game and then you'll notice you have ducked above and duck below and a lot of these mid phones you will not get a duck in this uh here in this town this is cool too so you can kind of see that the culmination see how that electrical has gotten very cleaned up very tight yep if you flip up uh you know brain x's uh under storage there you kind of see that wiring uh not quite this is one of my my favorite parts the webpay station yeah went base station we put the tray underneath uh for um for drainage uh and then we just incorporated this so you know for that aftermarket modification being able to get in there access what's behind the wall again we're transparent we're not trying to hide anything we provide that wall that customers the accessibility so customers can you know go through yeah nice and clean throughout the shutoff valve right there big size furnace which we uh talked about the one termination uh a little thing right there we do the uh off door light so when you are accessing your uh uh docking station you got so then it will come down here we got one more station hey alyssa good morning how are you i'm good how are you great um the pop stickers that you guys are familiar with uh get installed and uh out it goes barring any shortages now there's a couple if there are a shortage we then take it to the yard where it'll get caught up so we're waiting for a sofa and it looks like a bathroom laptop and ships out so that's it right yeah appreciate you guys coming through that's the whole that's the whole kitten caboodle from start to finish yep still your favorite fifth wheel will yeah yeah it's all fair well yeah so so what's next what's new uh we're going to the rally to see the valor yeah what else do you want to let people know i was launching this fall i mean uh we're we're committed to doing things the right way you know we're we're not in uh any huge rush to be a big manufacturer we just want to continue to build good product and then you know we want to stand behind it with best-in-class customer service uh you know that's really where we where we want to separate ourselves is you know the trans uh transparency the accessibility the fact that customers can call us we respond to emails our service folks curse girls and bill martin and the team that they have is uh you know we're on you know again i mentioned it early on you know our customers you know it's not lost on us how much you know they're investing into us as a company into these products and we owe it to them to make sure they're having uh the best possible ownership experience and that's really where we want to continue to execute on cool well you heard it there oh we thanks so much for everybody for watching down uh in the description below we'll have links to alliance their website we'll also have a link to their facebook page that if you're in the market for a fifth wheel you really want to join so you can talk with this guy and their uh production team bill martens very active on it and you know give cod comments and leave feedback and everything if you guys have any questions about lines feel free to call me three zero one nine zero six zero nine six two or mets rv reviews gmail.com or again you can check out the website matsurpreviews.com i do want to thank you for having us here so early early to us anyway at the factory and uh it's really it's really really impressive yeah appreciate you guys coming out cool thanks so much thanks guys not just uh you know how much you pay people how you treat them right part of how you treat them is uh you treat them with respect but you also put them in an environment where they can succeed so yep yeah this is state-of-the-art you got call ceilings if you see the natural light with the windows that we've incorporated the little things that's over here you know we have lockers for our team members we require team members not to use cell phones so they keep their cell phones at their locker of course they're allowed to check it at break and uh family members have uh you know their their team leads uh phone number there is an emergency but from a you know an efficiency standpoint uh quality and most importantly safety uh you know we think it's a it's an initiative that makes a lot of sense so even if you look at our break room we've done some cool stuff down there you know nice breakthrough in the bathroom uh you know super nice super clean deep and clean and i think if people have pride in this place you know we hand out t-shirts if you ask anybody that company mission you know do the right thing they can answer it to a team so we got a awesome group of guys and females and males down here they do a hybrid

Channel: Matt's RV Reviews

Views: 26,161

Rating: 4.9227233 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: MRlSklVWVdM

Length: 39min 24sec (2364 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 02 2020