Fleetwood has been on a crusade for many years to focus on customer needs; however, it wasn't until the company implemented the quality improvement process five years ago that the results changed dramatically. Kummer said, "We thought we were good, but the quality improvement process tells you where you are not doing good, and it's amazing how it just keeps pushing you forward.

"When the products leave the plants we need to make sure that they are ready to be used. And it shouldn't just be Fleetwood. As an industry, all the products ought to all come out of the factory that way. The dealer shouldn't have to inspect it. All he should have to do is put in the propane and the fuel and the customer ought to be able to go use it.

"When that new owner steps in and turns on his air conditioner ­ it works; when he turns on his refrigerator -- it works. Then everyone who buys one will enjoy it and will stay with the lifestyle -- and they will tell their friends. You cannot leverage the value of just one person telling others how much he enjoys the lifestyle.

"Both of the industries we serve are referal industries. You buy a manufactured home because economically that's where you fit. Your circle of associates are people of same circumstances so you're telling them that it is a great experience, and they will buy a home.

"In RVs it is even more important. You go camping and when you go back to work and tell people what a great weekend you had, they will want to try it too. On the other hand, if you had a bad experience with your unit and you go into the campground, everybody in the campground knows you got a problem.

"And times have changed. It used to be that you would tell your circle of friends, now you get on the Internet and you tell millions.

"We watch the Internet. If something comes on the Internet about a problem with a Fleetwood product we want to fix it. We want to change that person from a dissatisfied customer to a happy customer."

Kummer pointed to a statuette and said, "This is our 'Circle of Excellence' statue. Each year we present this award to dealers who have achieved a high customer satisfaction rating.

"This is such a great statue. Primarily it deals with the father, mother and child. It deals with the people who buy our homes and also the people who use our recreation vehicles. We deal with families. We create family value both in manufactured housing and RVs."

To further illustrate how Fleetwood's commitment to customer satisfaction has changed over the years, he said, "About five years ago in a mobile home park down in North Carolina, the service technician had been out to this lady's home and made some repairs then he had returned. We got a call from the lady. She said, 'The repairman came out and he did a good job and everything's fine, but I can't find my cat. Is it possible he got into the truck?'

"I told her that I would check with the repairman. So we called the service man and sure enough, the cat was in the truck. And so we returned the cat. To return the cat it was 75 miles one way, 150 miles round trip.

"In the old days, we would have never 'found' the cat." Kummer laughed and added, "We would have put him out somewhere. Today, we would return the cat.

"That's the success of Fleetwood.

"Also, I think the key to Fleetwood's success is better identifying the ultimate consumer and trying to keep product innovative and create product that the consumer wants.

"Remember the year in Louisville that General Motors had the products that look liked the products today? But when you went on the inside they were unlivable. So General Motors missed the opportunity because they didn't have the livability.

"Then I remember when John Crean came out here after starting to build the Bounder. I remember thinking how ugly it was. Then he said do you want to go for a ride in it? Everybody had a great view. The road noise and the water line freeze ups were gone, and the basement could carry more cargo ­ it had all of those things. How that changed the industry.

"If you recall, before that we put a basement in a trailer ­ and they flopped. After this you say, why didn't we realize that you don't travel in a trailer -- you put all your stuff in the trailer. And when you get to the campsite you take it out.

"That's when we said we have to better understand how the customer uses the product. Then our next big step came when we started doing focus groups. We brought the customers in, and they told us what was right and what was wrong.

"On the housing side, we built our one-millionth home last year. At one of the focus groups, a customer asked, 'Where do you wash your car?'

"We had never put an outside faucet on these homes so you could wash your car. You hit yourself in the head and say, 'Whoa, how did we miss that.' But without talking to the customer and getting that feedback we didn't know.

"We have become very focused on customer satisfaction. Eight years ago we decided to contact our customers after they have owned the product and ask them would they recommend it to their friends and relatives. Then we would also ask them about their dealer or retailer. We thought we were good, but it opened our eyes. In the housing side only 76 percent said they would recommend the product. We were better in RVs. Now, however, we are over 90 percent customer satisfaction. We worked hard at it.

"Fleetwood is successful, first, because of the great people it has and its commitment to creating value to the consumers that use our products, second because of the associates that work in the company, and third, because of its commitment of creating value for the shareholder."

A large part of Kummer's responsibility is creating shareholder value. And although Fleetwood stock (NYSE - FLE) has performed exceptionally well over the years, trying to anticipate the stock market's reaction remains a mystery. For example, in late 1996, Fleetwood announced to Wall Street that there was a softening demand for both RVs and manufactured housing products. Fleetwood saw its stock price drop dramatically. By mid November Fleetwood's stock had climbed to a year-to-date high of 37.25 but by mid December the stock had dropped more than 10 points or over 30 percent.

Kummer said, "In our financial reporting to Wall Street we are very straight forward. Paul Bingham is the chief financial officer and has that responsibility. Paul tells it as we see it. We didn't think the stock would go down near that. All we were saying was that our backlog had dropped from the year before -- we weren't saying that it was totally bad.

"On the other side, when we beat the expectation of earnings in October 1997, the stock took off. Then we got good results in RVs and there were some positive results and the stock went even higher."

The day we visited Fleetwood for this story, Fleetwood had rebounded spectacularly and had just set a 52-week high of 45 3/16. Over the years anyone who has invested in Fleetwood stock and stayed on board has done extremely well ­ especially those who bought stock at the time Fleetwood became a publically-owned corporation. Kummer saw the potential of a Fleetwood investment shortly after joining the company.

He recalled, "When I joined the company in 1965, the stock had just become public -- I think it was selling between $7 and $9. I called my father and asked him if I could borrow a $1,000.

"He said, 'What do you want it for?'

"I'd like to buy some stock in the company that I'm with.

"He said, "I don't believe in that.'

"So he never loaned me the money and I never bought the stock ­ later of course I bought some. Those who bought Fleetwood stock when it first came out have done extremely well."

It shouldn't be overlooked that a large portion of Fleetwood's success is tied to the success of the industries it serves. And Fleetwood's commitment to the industry welfare is legendary. Fleetwood has always been willing to devote time and talent to helping the industry. Not long after Kummer joined Fleetwood, he became active in associations. He served on the board of directors of the west coast Trailer Coach Association.

Kummer said, "The RV and housing groups used to be all together. Dealers carried mobile homes and trailers. The associations had everybody in them. I remember that my first association job was as the chairman of RV group of TCA.

"The first thing I tried to do was to get the RV group in a national group. I remember talking to Gene Stout (Coach-men) and the people from Bendix, all the old timers. That was one of the big things that Elden picked up when he was promoted to general manager of the RV Group and took my job."  continued