We called about a Winnebago Tour and were told they were all
full, so we made alternate plans. After Charlie & Nancy got the minor adjustment on their slide
completed, we decided to head to the Visitor Center and see if we could get our
names on the list for a tour. Success! We got on the 1 pm tour. Winnebago Industries is the largest
motorhome manufacturing facility in the world, and it is
headquartered in Forest City. They call it the most productive 200 acres in
North Iowa. The Winnebago County Freedom Rock and the SPAM museum will have to
wait! The Winnebago Tour is the #1 Trip Advisor Activity in Forest City!
Winnebago Industries was born in 1958, when a group of local
businesses, worried about Iowa’s depressed farm economy, persuaded Modernistic
Industries of California to build a travel-trailer factory in Forest City.
Local businessmen soon bought the factory and, in 1960, named it Winnebago
Industries, after the county in which it was located. Since 1966, when the
company started making motor homes, the name Winnebago has become synonymous
with “motor home.”
You will not doubt Winnebago’s self-proclaimed position as
an industry leader after touring the world’s largest RV production plant. The
company prides itself on its interlocking joint construction and on the fact
that it produces the majority of parts in-house, including fabric covers for
its seats and sofas. The 200-acre factory includes the main assembly areas,
metal stamping division, plastics facility, sawmill and cabinet shop, and
sewing and design departments.
First we looked at a small display on company history in the
Visitor Center, including this vintage motorhome. It was one of the first
Winnebago motorhomes to come off the assembly line. Then we watched “Winnebago
Industries—A Closer Look” a video that takes you through a detailed view of the
world’s largest motor-home factory. Then we grabbed our “orange” vests and boarded
the bus for the factory tour. We took a selfie with our vests and safety
glasses on. It will be the last picture I can take as there are no photos
allowed while on the tour. It should be interesting to see how Winnebago makes
Class A, B and C motorhomes.
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| Winnebago - Stock Photo |
In the chassis prep building, parts of the all-steel frame
are stamped out. Sparks fly as workers weld floor joints and storage
compartments to the chassis. The completed RV (including windshield) will be
set into this steel frame. The front end drops from a mezzanine onto the
chassis and is aligned by laser beams.
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| Winnebago Stock Photo |
The motor-home production lines are in a building employees
affectionately call “Big Bertha.” From your vantage point on the catwalk,
you’ll see the developing motor homes creep down three 1,032-foot-long assembly
lines at 21 inches per minute. First, workers install a heat-resistant
laminated floor. Next, they install the bathroom fixtures, then screw the
Thermo-Panel sidewalls (made of block foam embedded with an aluminum frame and
steel supports, interior paneling, and an exterior fiberglass skin) onto steel
outriggers extending from the floor of the motor home. Farther down the line,
cabinets are installed.
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| Winnebago Stock Photo |
It is interesting to stand on the viewing platforms,
high above the factory floor, and watch their skilled employees bring a raw
frame in and turn it into a home on wheels.
Finally, the entire unit receives a one-piece,
fiberglass-covered, laminated roof. The motor home is then driven to the
company’s Stitchcraft building to receive its furniture and window coverings.
The completed motor home is rigorously inspected in the test chambers, where it
experiences severe “rainstorms.” Select units also travel through a test track
of road hazards.
Winnebago builds motorhomes in one of the most
technologically advanced RV manufacturing facilities in existence today. We all
were very impressed!
On our way back to the campground, I had to get these two pictures, I wish I could have gotten both sides of the street at the same time ... These two things are across the street from each other.
I am not making any assumptions or comments! Just putting it out there!
We spent the rest of the day enjoying our “unexpected”
visitors, Bob & Lois Tucker. They called Nancy by mistake yesterday and realized
how close they were to us. So, they arranged their trip, so they could spend
one night with us!
Three Fingers Campground has been an awesome place to stay. It is out in the country, but close to town. Long pull thru sites, with concrete pad for parking and concrete patio.
The name of the park comes from the lake on the property, it has three fingers. These fingers are annual campsites for many Iowans.
And beautiful sunsets!
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