In the northeast corner of Oklahoma lies the small community of Miami. Next door, in Commerce, Oklahoma, visitors can see the boyhood home of Mickey Mantle, or double back through town and enjoy a little nostalgia along Rt. 66. Indeed, Miami has a lot of history, and with a population of 13,000, it is a bit rustic and quiet – hardly the place, one would guess, where some of the most luxurious motor homes in the country are manufactured. But that is the case, because Miami is also the home of motor home manufacturer Newell Coach.
Newell customers live the high life on the road in coaches that have all the amenities one could ask for, and do. Plush carpet, gold-plated fixtures, space-age sound systems, and two-baths are just a few of the creature comforts that owners call home. Newell Coaches come powered by a giant 625-hp, twin-turbo Caterpillar engine and feature rearwheel steering to accommodate tight corners in camp sites, or more likely, in motor sports’ infields.
Approximately 30 percent of our customers are NASCAR personalities,” notes John Luttrell, a 34-year company veteran. Luttrell began his career on the “skin line,” and, for the past 11 years, has been supervisor of maintenance. “The skin line is where we put the aircrafttype body panels on the coaches,” he explains, adding that every Newell Coach is custom built, and no two have ever left the factory alike. The company manufacturers approximately 40 coaches a year, all with a price tag starting at $1 million or more. These luxurious machines are 45 feet long, weigh in at 53,000 pounds, and take four months to build.
Founded in 1967 by L.K. Newell, Newell Coach is located on 12.2 acres of land on Miami’s outskirts. The factory is hard to miss since used coaches – all bright and shiny – line the property just waiting for a prospective buyer. Inside, employees work to get new orders out the door. If you place an order today, don’t expect to drive your coach away until sometime in 2007. The waiting list is that long.
Tall Order
Maintaining a facility the size of Newell Coach is a tall order, one that Luttrell fills with nine employees. One of them, Jim Hollon, is an accomplished welder, and others are part electrician, part plumber, and part jack-of-all trades. “I would pit Jim against virtually any welder in the country,” says Luttrell. “He is also one of those guys who can fix or build just about anything. That is an important trait to have around here because we are always renovating, upgrading, building new racks, or running compressed air lines to a new assembly area. Like other factories, this one runs on compressed air.”
The grounds can be challenging, too, he adds. “If you look around here, you will see that grassy medians circle the property. Owner Karl Blade, who purchased the company in 1980, wanted these medians to be neatly mowed. It was his idea to use a Walker Mower on the grounds. We purchased our first one in 1990, a Briggs & Stratton-powered chain drive unit, and have purchased five since then.”
Adding Equipment
Luttrell continues, “Our first mower came equipped with a GHS deck, but we had so many clippings that we immediately purchased another one with a side discharge deck.
This summer, we bought a new Walker Mower, an 18-hp unit, again with a side discharge deck.” The grounds at Newell Coach are mowed from the end of April through September. At the beginning of the season, Luttrell hires a new yard employee whose primary job is to operate the Walker.
“Our yard person mows virtually all week long,” Luttrell relates. “I show that individual around the yard and then tell him to start mowing at Point A and to finish at Point B. When he gets to Point B, he starts mowing again; the entire process, including trimming, takes a week.”
James Mertens was this year’s Walker Mower operator, and he has no regrets about his job. “The best part about operating the mower is the steering,” he notes. “It just steers and maneuvers so easily, and the out front deck cuts down on the trimming.” He added that on average, he ran the mower 25 hours out of a typical 40-hour week.
An Upscale Image
“The Walker Mowers have truly performed well for us over the years,” adds Luttrell. “When you think about the product that we are making here, it only makes sense to convey that upscale image from the time a customer pulls into our parking lot. In the summer, this place is maintained like a golf course; the one giveaway, of course, is the line of coaches outside and hum of activity inside the factory walls."
Newell Coach employs 200 people, and like Walker Manufacturing, runs only one shift all year long. Most Newell employees work four ten-hour days, from Monday through Thursday, with some overtime on Friday, if necessary. Their jobs are so specialized that it would be nearly impossible to run a second shift, to have another individual pick up where his or her predecessor left off.
The uniqueness is part of the Newell Coach attraction, along with quality design and features such as rear-wheel steering. “Most large motor homes have to ‘ratchet’ around sharp corners,” Luttrell explains. “The rear steering allows this coach to go around sharp bends without backing up and going forward a couple of times.” The steering kicks out when a coach reaches a speed of 25 mph.
He points out some especially neat features on the inside, too, such as Star Trek-like doors that open and close by compressed air, and coach sides that move out to allow more space in the living room and bedroom. “We may be the only coach manufacturer that doesn’t ask occupants to step up or down when taking advantage of the additional space," Lutrell relates. “A floor panel, which drops down when a side panel moves inward, comes up when the panel moves out – leaving a level surface.”
The veteran employee walks through the plant pointing out all the fine details that go into the manufacture of a $1 million-plus coach. The cabinets, the upholstery, the floor and ceiling are all designed and built to a customer’s specifications. More than a few customers actually visit the plant during the assembly process to see how their “baby” is coming along.
As Luttrell points out, there is nothing ordinary about the coaches or the factory that builds them. Why then, he asks, would he maintain the yard with anything but a mower that is far from ordinary?
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