We go behind the scenes at Jayco HQ to find out exactly how its caravans are built.

Pics NATHAN JACOBS

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Jayco exclusiveBuilding the Expanda Outback

nine completed caravans roll off the caravan production line at Jayco’s 20ha factory in Dandenong South, Victoria, every single day.

It’s difficult to find the words to explain the monolith that is Jayco’s manufacturing operation. Numbers might help, so let’s think for a moment about just the caravan production line: 145 staff, 35 stations, a caravan completed every 45 minutes. Then consider the fact that Jayco also builds camper trailers, pop-tops motorhomes, fifth wheelers and even park cabins, and you start to appreciate the scale of the operation.

Words LAUrA KEYs

Jayco manufactures about 45 per cent of all new RVs sold in Australia, and it’s aiming to build about 10,000 caravans, campers and motorhomes this year.

But, even knowing figures like that, it’s hard to comprehend the scale of Jayco’s operation, so we were keen to get behind the scenes and find out exactly how things work at Australia’s largest RV manufacturer.

Jayco granted Caravan World exclusive access to the whole production facility to allow us to follow the build of a Jayco Expanda Outback caravan from start to finish, and to show you exactly how it’s done.

Founded: 1975Founder: Gerry Ryan

First RV built: Jaydove camper, 1976

Employees at inception: 8Employees now: 930

RVs built since inception: 160,000 (approx.)

Headquarters: Dandenong South, VicProperty size: 20ha (50 acres)

RVs built/year: 10,000Chassis built/day: 45Caravans built/day: 9

Days taken to build a caravan: 4Caravans on the production line: 35

Minutes between new Jayco caravans rolling off the line: 45

Dealerships: 33Service agents: 100+

Jayco: by the numbers

Clockwise from right: Once the decals go on, there’s no hiding that it’s a Jayco; Endurance chassis are made on-site in the chassis shed; the furni-ture assembly area sits in the middle of the production line.

EXPanDa OUTBaCKFor the purpose of this series, we looked at the Jayco Expanda Outback 21.64-1 – a 21ft full-height caravan with double front and rear fold-out tent beds, double bunks and an offside slide-out with club lounge. It’s the largest Expanda on offer.

The Expanda comes in both pop-top and full caravan designs, with many layout variations for each. It’s somewhat of a hybrid between a caravan and a camper trailer, offering the more compact footprint and fold-out beds of a camper trailer and the comfortable living and storage space of a full-size caravan.

Jayco’s manufacturing operations manager Chris Ryan said the Expanda was designed for families that wanted to graduate from

camper trailer travel to something a bit more comfortable.

“We had a situation where people were using camper trailers and they wanted something with a hard roof that was a little more substantial and that’s how the Expanda was developed,” Mr Ryan said.

Jayco’s popular Outback pack (see page 34) turns the stock-standard Expanda (and other Jaycos) into a stronger, tougher beast, capable of tackling rougher roads than the regular specs would allow. Jayco is quick to point out, however, that the Outback pack won’t turn your van into a full-on, bush-bashing offroader. Jayco says its extra strength and enhanced specs will ‘free you to travel the country’s unsealed roads safely and arrive relaxed. If in doubt, do what the 4WD experts do – use your Jayco as a base station and head into rougher terrain without anything in tow’.

“The Outback pack is basically designed around people who want to go a little bit offroad,” Mr Ryan said. “It’s not designed to be submerged in water, but more for those people who want to go out and free camp.”

BUILDInG an EXPanDaJayco RVs start their life in the chassis shed where Jayco builds its hot-dipped galvanised

Clockwise from top left: Manufactur-ing operations manager Chris Ryan; tent beds set the Expanda apart from other Jaycos; the furniture is fitted early in the process; JTECH suspen-sion is fitted in the chassis shed; Jayco is Australia’s largest RV manufacturer.

“The speed at which these caravans are built is utterly staggering”

The caravan you want is now easier to find 32 caravanworld.com.au tradervs.com.au 33

Jayco exclusiveBuilding the Expanda Outback

off the line every 45 minutes.The speed at which these caravans are built

is utterly staggering – even more so when you learn, as we did from caravan production line manager Matt Wallis, that Jayco has just increased caravan production and employed more staff.

“We take off nine vans per day, which is about every 45 minutes. We put one on and we take one off,” Mr Wallis said. “On the line, we have 35 different stages and it takes roughly four days from start to finish from the moment it comes online to the moment we take it off.

“We’ve just upped production in the last few months. We were building seven and now we’ve gone to nine because our sales are quite good.”

The production line runs around three sides of a huge warehouse. The vans’ wheels sit on a small platform that moves along tracks in the floor. So when a van is taken off the end of the line, the other vans behind it on the line are simply pushed along to the next section.

Staff here take great pride in their work and the whole area is astoundingly clean and tidy, despite the huge amount of work going on. Each section is swept clean every time a van is moved and rubbish and recycling bins are too numerous to count. Recycling is a huge passion of Chris Ryan’s, in particular, and Jayco has implemented a stringent recycling program.

Once the chassis arrives on the line, a lot of pre-plumbing and electrical wiring is done,

‘Endurance’ chassis and fits its new JTECH independent coil spring suspension to all Outback models.

Once the chassis is complete, it’s towed by a tractor over to the caravan production line.

aLL In a LInEThe production line has to be seen to be believed. Housed in a massive warehouse, the line comprises 35 individual stations which the caravans move along. Caravans are lined up at each station and are moved along the line every 45 minutes. Therefore, a finished caravan rolls

JTECH suspension 120W solar panel and regulator

150x50mm RHS chassis 125x50mm RHS A-frame

Al-Ko offroad electric brake magnets

Al-Ko outback drop jacks Checkerplate on sides 15in alloy wheels with 235/75R15 tyres Pull-out entry step External 12V plug

External gas bayonet Jayco mud flaps

Outback pack

Clockwise from far left: The production line is a sight to behold; once the soft furnishings go in, the caravan is nearly complete; the floors are one of the first things to go on the chassis; the Expandas’ slide-outs are installed by a special-ist team.

Clockwise from top left: There are two official Quality Gates on the caravan line; several more quality audits take place throughout the build; the factory is full of inspirational messages; an independent auditor carries out inspections at the Quality Gates.

tradervs.com.au 35The caravan you want is now easier to find tradervs.com.au 35The caravan you want is now easier to find

‘Quality leads: It is the difference between being average and being number one’, proclaims a sign above Jayco’s caravan production line.

Jayco is certainly number one in Australia, in terms of RVs built and market share and, while mass manufacturers of any product are often lambasted for prioritising quantity over quality, it is crystal clear this is not the case at Jayco.

At every turn throughout the massive facility, it’s clear just how seriously Jayco takes quality control. It’s impossible to miss the huge ‘Quality Gate’ checkpoints along the production line, and the overhead signs in every workshop declaring mantras such as ‘You are responsible for the quality of your own work’; ‘You don’t have to check the quality, you have to produce it’; and ‘We pride ourselves on the quality of our workmanship’ in a bid to encourage excellence in its workers.

Jayco’s manufacturing operations manager, Chris Ryan, said the staff was an intrinsic part of the quality control process.

“We believe that quality comes from everyone who works for us, so if we’re going to improve our quality, we’ve got to make sure every operator’s aware of that,” he said.

There are quality checks at every stage of the production process, from the chassis shed to the sewing room and beyond. But nowhere is it more entrenched than on the production line itself.

“We’ve realised that quality starts at the start of the build, so as parts flow through production areas and pre-assembly areas, they’re quality

Quality control

checked, so we’re handing over a quality product from pre-assembly to production line,” Mr Ryan said. “Once it hits the production line, our focus is on fixing any issues when we find them.”

There are six Quality Audits along the caravan line, including two official Quality Gates where all work done up to that point is inspected by an independent quality auditor who is not associated with the production process. Any faults the auditor finds must be rectified before the van can leave that Quality Gate and continue its journey along the line.

“That person reports directly through to the quality team and is not related to the manufacturing team,” Mr Ryan said. “They have a bay where they’re presented a completed unit, they go through that completed unit and write up any faults. From there, the faults in the unit are rectified and any issues are pushed back to the production team to close the loop and fix the issue where it’s occurring.”

There are other quality audit stations along the line that are manned by production supervisors or production team leaders.

“They write a ‘quality gate’ for their team, and that way we can get any issues fed back to the operator as quickly as possible, so we don’t replicate those faults in the vans that follow,” Mr Ryan said.

At the line’s 35th and last station, vans are given a final going-over with a fine-tooth comb. Any outstanding issues, no matter how tiny, are documented in writing and marked on the van with blue tape, making them easy to spot for the person fixing

them. During one final inspection we witnessed, a taillight was reported for being crooked – it was mere millimetres out of place and almost invisible to the naked eye, but it’s these small things on which Jayco stakes its reputation.

The stringent quality checks are a strong indication of Jayco’s

34 caravanworld.com.au

commitment to excellence and every possible precaution is taken to ensure its RVs leave the factory floor in the best possible condition.

The high quality finish Jayco manages to achieve, especially given the sheer number of RVs produced at this facility every day, is to be commended.

Jayco exclusiveBuilding the Expanda Outback

which is overseen by a qualified electrician, and then the floor is added, before the vinyl floor covering is laid. The caravan production line has six plumbers and 15 electricians, who oversee all the plumbing and electrical work.

Then the caravan is built from the ‘inside out’. All the cabinetry and furniture is loaded up on the caravan’s floor and put in place.

Then Tough Frame walls are put up and all the furniture is screwed down. The roof frame, which is built from scratch and fitted in less than 45 minutes, goes on next, before the Expanda’s offside slide-out is installed by a specialist ‘slide-out’ team. By now, the

van starts to become recognisable as a Jayco Expanda, especially once the Jayco decals are added.

The roof is next, with insulation, more wiring and the fibreglass skin added. Holes for the roof hatches and air-conditioner are then cut out manually.

Next comes the entry door and awning before the Expanda’s front and rear fold-out beds and tents are installed. By this point, the van’s construction is basically complete and the rest of the changes are largely cosmetic as the interior starts to take shape. There is a lot of detailing, cleaning, wiping, sweeping and even more decals to add.

Towards the end of the line, the van gets a final check by a qualified plumber who checks out all the gas and water fittings, as well as a full electrical check.

The soft furnishings are the last piece of the puzzle before the van undergoes its final quality check. The van will not leave the production line until final sign off is given.

Once complete, gleaming and shining, the brand new van is towed off the production line and out the door, ready for shipping to one of Jayco’s 33 dealerships around Australia (29) and New Zealand (4).

Above: The van gets a final check by a qualified plumber and an electrician before it gets the final sign-off.

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Jayco exclusiveBuilding the Expanda Outback