New Age seeks caravan perfection

As we have already seen with its all-new Wayfinder wind-up camper trailer and re-styled Oz Classic caravan, Walkinshaw is wasting no time in re-shaping one of Australia’s ‘Big Three’ caravan brands along automotive lines following its acquisition of the New Age brand in late 2018.

By the next model cycle, we can expect  the new smooth aluminium-clad styling first introduced on the Oz Classic to roll out across most high-end models in the New Age range,  from the Manta Ray model up, giving the Melbourne-based manufacturer a clear identity in the marketplace compared with its more conventionally-styled rivals from Jayco and Avan.

But behind the new styling there are also major production changes being rolled out to ensure more consistent high quality, lower production costs and an automotive-style production flow system to ensure more repeatable quality. All should be in place by early next year.

A major change is to make each department, from product purchasing to production successively accountable to its ‘customer’, which in most cases is the next department that each caravan or camper is passed on to.

For example, Oliver Lukeis - Chief Operating Officer for New Age Caravans, told caravancampingsales that product quality will be checked at the point of receiving items from outside suppliers, with below-standard items rejected before being introduced to the production process.

”Our aim is to build fault-free caravans, so that they are completed with no rectification work required,” Lukeis said.

Another change will be to introduce a ‘flow’ system, where production crews work on a batch of three or four caravans at a time, rather than have them progress on a moving line.

“The aim is repeatability,” he said.

Finally, New Age will move towards an automotive-style ‘Just in Time’  production system, where parts and components are delivered to each workstation to meet an incoming model, rather than being stockpiled.

“We want to build better caravans, smarter,” Lukeis told us.

To achieve all this, New Age is re-organising its production facilities, with the existing main factory fronting Shirley Way in Melbourne’s outer-north Epping being re-organised along the flow-line principal, while the smaller adjacent factory in Shirley Way that originally housed the company’s ‘skunk works’ developing future models, will be dedicated to Wayfinder camper trailer production.

New projects will instead be developed at New Age’s newest and third factory at Taryn Drive, Epping, which also houses the company's head office, CNC furniture production and warehouse.

Also read: Walkinshaw takes control of New Age