| Kummer agreed, but added, "He loves RVing and
camping -- and loves to play with them. He's still going to tinker, and we tied him to an
agreement so he's our tinkerer too." So who
is this man who has been quietly leading the company working in the shadow of one of the
most important pioneers of the industry. We found him to be a warm, outgoing man with a
friendly manner and keen sense of humor. He laughs easily and is candid in expressing his
thoughts about the industry and the company.
Fleetwood is among the strongest companies in America,
and holds a dominant position within the RV and manufactured housing industries. About one
in four travel trailers bought in the United States comes from the Fleetwood family of
products, and in the motorized area Fleetwood is even stronger one out of three
motorhomes sold is a Fleetwood brand product. So we can readily see the results of
Kummer's work and leadership, but what about the man and how did he get to where he is
today.
Let's start with his love of the outdoors which gives him
a natural affinity with the owners of Fleetwood RVs.
"First of all you must understand that I came from a
family in Utah," Kummer told RV News. "My father was a hunter and
fisherman. Every spring when fishing season started, we were camping in a tent and he was
fishing all summer long. It started somewhere around the first of May and ended in
September. It was an exception for us not to be camping. I grew up really appreciating
camping, fishing and the outdoors."
Kummer graduated with honors from the University of Utah
in 1961, majoring in accounting and minoring in economics. Afterwards, he moved to
California and became a licensed Certified Public Account (CPA) and went to work for Ernst
& Ernst. A friend and classmate who had come west with Kummer and also worked for
Ernst & Ernst had done the audit on Fleetwood.
Kummer recalled, "Fleetwood at that time had a
process where they would steal people from the public accounting firms. Arthur Anderson
got tired of it and told them to stop the recruiting, so he called over to Ernst &
Ernst and talked to me. They wanted to know if I knew of anybody that was interested in
joining Fleetwood. I said, 'How about me?"
And the rest, as they say, is history. Well, not quite.
Kummer had some decisions to make. He continued, "I heard a professor in 1960-61 say,
'As a CPA, if you ever get to the point where you make $10,000 a year, you've arrived. So
in 1965 I had just got a raise to $950 a month. In those days, I had pretty much arrived.
"Back then Fleetwood's policy was to start everyone
off at a trainee salary -- $125 per week. It was a good policy -- it divided the wheat
from the chaff.
"If you wanted to come to work for Fleetwood the
first thing they asked was would you relocate. They were going to grow so you had to be
willing to move.
"And the second thing was you came in as a trainee
and the salary was very low."
He laughed and added, "I got $135 because I was a
CPA and they thought that I could learn their accounting system."
In 1967 Kummer was promoted to purchasing manager in
Anaheim, CA.
"I did not start out to ever become president or
chief executive officer of this company. I started off wanting to become a plant general
manager.
"A plant general manager at Fleetwood had a great
job and a good opportunity. He was like an entrepreneur. The company would give you the
money and you would go out with your plan and you had the responsibility it was your
business. I always wanted to do something like that."
Kummer's dream came true when Fleetwood asked him to go
to Oregon and open an RV plant in Pendleton.
His success at Pendleton gained notice and two years
later, Fleetwood promoted Kummer to Division General Manager Recreational Vehicles. And
in just a few years he continued to climb up the ladder Assistant Vice President -
Operations in 1971, Senior Vice President Operations in 1972, Executive Vice President
- Operations in 1977, and President and Chief Operating Officer in 1982. Then in 1983 he
was elected to the board of directors.
Under Kummer's leadership, Fleetwood has enjoyed it's
greatest successes. He started on the RV side of the business and has always had a love
for the RV products and the lifestyle it helps promote. He said, "I would take RVing
trips and check out the units, but I don't do that as much anymore. One of the exciting
things for me was going on motorhome trips with John Crean. Many times a lot of our
discussions about strategy took place on these camping trips."
When you talk to Kummer about Fleetwood's success, he
doesn't point to Wall Street, although the company has enjoyed success there. He's more
apt to bring up Fleetwood's commitment to customer satisfaction, a commitment he helped
develop.
Kummer said, "When I was divisional general manager,
I received a letter from a customer. He said, 'Bought one of your trailers. I was in New
York and the holding tank fell down.'
"Think of the mess. He picked it all up, put it in
his trailer and headed to our factory. Our plant general manager said, 'Take that back to
the dealer that's the dealer's responsibility.'
"I've used that example many times. Think of all the
customers who got that treatment and didn't want anymore to do with our industry.
"When I came into the industry, it was popular to
say that we 'built to industry standards.' Today, at Fleetwood we try to build to customer
standards.
"One of the things I really enjoy is that annually
we measure customer satisfaction. We recognize every plant that meets our target at 90
percent. We will go out and have a breakfast or lunch together; we will have jackets and
mementoes for those that win. The highlight for me is being able to shake their hands and
tell them thank you for a good job. And we have a national champion in each of the groups.
And the national champ will get a wristwatch that says they are the national champions.
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