Winnebago getting new president

[booster]

http://wcfcourier.com/business/local...50cc8d680.html

Should be interesting to see which way he takes them.

[bobojay]

Again? About the 3rd one this year isn't it?

I think they are getting on the road to a bigger presence away from Forest City. One reason being they've burned though all the local semi skilled manpower

[wincrasher]

All I gather from this is they didn't have much of a transition plan from Potts. They had an interm CEO while they looked for this new guy. The interm CEO is moving to Chairman and sticking around.

So I don't see this as any big turmoil or issue at WGO. Just a matter of events when old guys retire. What shareholders might want to concern themselves with is what does the rest of the board and the senior management look like? Bunch of old geezers, or is the median age give some breathing room before the next management shake-up/

[BobB]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

Just a matter of events when old guys retire. What shareholders might want to concern themselves with is what does the rest of the board and the senior management look like? Bunch of old geezers, or is the median age give some breathing room before the next management shake-up/

Depends on what you call "old".

Before new CEO, the old Board's average age (with Erickson) was about 62. youngest on board is 53, but 2 were older than Erickson, who is 67. So there will be more changes on Board, assuming a couple take retirement soon.

Management team average age, excluding Erickson, is about 49; range is from 42 to 60.

What would be interesting is who makes up product development.

[booster]

New guy is also not an RV person. He comes from Toro after close to 20 years there IIRC. Should bring an different perspective.

[bobojay]

I agree wincrasher. Made the comment because the workforce can get a little "confused" when there's no clear direction from a constant leadership....

[bobojay]

Originally Posted by booster

New guy is also not an RV person. He comes from Toro after close to years there IIRC. Should bring an different perspective.

New outside the industry leadership was sure good for Ford about 6-8 years ago

[wincrasher]

New guy was overheard... "these motorhomes are nice and all, but they can't cut grass fer ****!"

[BobB]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

New guy was overheard... "these motorhomes are nice and all, but they can't cut grass fer ****!"

LOL!!

Maybe it is just an option at first, along with the choice of a snow blower ( the all new "Winterized" Travato!)

[Davydd]

It looks like they may be getting serious about expansion of the business with that hint of moving corporate to the Twin Cities.

[wincrasher]

They have been growing lately. Personnally I think the industry is at a peak, but that's just a guess. People are retiring en-masse, so maybe this thing has more legs.

Often, a company will move HQ to satisfy the Executive. It's happened to 3 companies I've worked with, for no other good reason.

[mumkin]

Why would they want to move the HQ away from the factory? I would consider that a major business blunder.

[booster]

I don't know that they actually said they were moving the headquarters, at least as I remember the newspaper article, just that they were opening an office here to be closer to the upper midwest and Canada. It is only a few hundred miles north, but at least a major airport in the twin cities.

[Davydd]

"Concurrent with this appointment, Winnebago announced a future expansion of its corporate presence in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area."

Minneapolis St. Paul Airport is 2-1/2 hours and 132 miles away from Forest City, IA. Not a few hundred miles. They just bought another RV company in Oregon. You can bet their office staff will not want to be making that drive or short hop flight to a major airport all the time to coordinate. Maybe they have other expansion plans we don't know about. I'm sure they can hire professional talent a lot easier in the Twin Cities than Forest City. I think it makes good business sense if their intent is to grow. WGO is a publicly traded company. Stockholders are probably happy.

I'm guessing the new CEO had a condition that he would not move out of the Twin Cities. So, they'll concede and come to him. He may also be bringing some of his people in as well. But that is just the start if I know how corporations go.

[wincrasher]

If you run your company like a mom & pop, then it's probably good to have your entire staff at the factory.

But if you want to manage it professionally, with centralized purchasing, engineering, IT and all that, then a central headquarters is necessary. Where it is doesn't matter greatly as long as it's not in the sticks. Especially so when you have many diverse manufacturing facilities and subcontractors, some far flung.

[SiennaGuy]

Originally Posted by bobojay

Again? About the 3rd one this year isn't it?

I think they are getting on the road to a bigger presence away from Forest City. One reason being they've burned though all the local semi skilled manpower

Some companies treat their employees as disposable. The products made by these companies are usually low quality mainly because the workers care about their jobs only as much as their employers care about employees. Unhappy employees don't contribute their ideas, don't put their best effort into their work and don't stay long. I don't know how Winnebago treats their employees but I can only guess, looking at the quality of some of their interiors.

The most successful companies that I've worked for treated their employees well and did all sorts of things to retain them. They provided job training, relevant education and the best one even offered fitness programs and delicious low-fat food in the cafeteria. In the short run, these things cost money but in the long run, they saved the company a small fortune in turnover and health care costs. Attracting the best talent and keeping them was easy. Happy, healthy employees made great products. Great products sold well, and that meant big profits.

Too many CEOs just don't get it and then wonder why profits are stagnant.

[bobojay]

I've talked to several of their employees. All loved working for the company. The cyclical nature of the business is what hurts the younger employees. Layoffs, callbacks, layoffs. Gets old. Not much can be done about that though, especially in a small manpower availability area.
Part of the problem also I think is the lack of time they are given to do their jobs correctly. That's on management...

[Mike]

Originally Posted by booster

New guy is also not an RV person. He comes from Toro after close to 20 years there IIRC. Should bring an different perspective.

Much smaller engines? And a snow blower option on the front bumper for winter campsite clearing?

[BobB]

Originally Posted by Mike

And a snow blower option on the front bumper for winter campsite clearing?

They call that - in the RV world - "winterizing".

[Mike]

Yesirrreeeeee, Bob, that would be it.

Toro? Seriously?
Dang!!!