Sande Benson completes a wood frame for a T100S sidewall	Manuel Vazquez and Adan Reyes tighten a metal strap that goes around the front wall to cabover transition	Antonia Sandoval applies sealant to outside compartments on a T100S
Edgar Paz-Lara builds a overcab floor for a T100S	Adan Reyes installs closed foam insulation in the roof of a S650	Jose Salas installs a cabinet door on a S650
Manuel Parada makes the cushion covers for both Six-Pac and Four Wheel Campers	Jamie Mora working on the trim on a S650	Yancarlo Zaragoza applies the rear door decal on an almost completed T100S
Sara Vasquez applies stain in the Six-Pac cabinetry area	Joel Vasquez builds a cabinet for a side-dinette T100S prototype	Yancarlo Zaragoza installs a roof antenna on a T100S

Riverside, California - By the time Tom and Celeste Hanagan purchased Six-Pac in 2002, the forty-year-old company was in trouble.  The original owners had let build quality and dealer relationships slip.  Immediately, the Hanagans set out on a turn around mission.  During our visit, we talked with Tom and Celeste to find out exactly what they did to bring Six-Pac back.


Feedback to Move Forward

After acquiring Six-Pac, Celeste sought feedback from the manufacturing team to learn what they needed to do their jobs better.  After listening to their suggestions, she discovered that they needed new tools.  As Celeste tells it, the manufacturing team was as surprised as they were happy when she brought them new drills, routers, and other tools.

Tom stated that they wanted the manufacturing team to know that they would listen and provide what was needed to do the job right.  Celeste said that the team deeply appreciated the support and reciprocated by giving the Hanagans more and more suggestions on how to improve the quality of the campers.  Tom and Celeste both said that the friendly open door policy between management and manufacturing continues to be a big success story for Six-Pac today.

After taking care of the assembly team, Tom and Celeste turned their attention to the camper line.  The basic concept of a Six-Pac camper was strong, but there was a lot of room for improvement.  They started by upgrading the quality of the components.  Then Tom and Celeste focused on the raw materials.  The framing and crowned roof quality was improved with kiln dried quality Douglas Fir.  The paneling was improved by moving to high quality Mahogany.  And all of the particleboard was stripped from the campers as they switched to luan plywood.

All of this time the Hanagan’s were also running Four Wheel Campers, a.k.a. FWC.  Many of the changes made at Six-Pac were a direct result of tapping into the knowledge and manufacturing techniques used at FWC.  Celeste said that the flow of communication and knowledge is now two-way with ideas regularly flowing between the two companies on their mutual missions to build strong, lightweight, and economical campers.  


Six-Pac House in Order

As they were making all of these changes, Tom and Celeste decided to pull Six-Pac from the dealership network and sell direct from the factory.  The Hanagans fully intended to return to a dealer network, but first they wanted to put the Six-Pac house, company and campers, in order.

With the company now selling direct, Tom and Celeste took a hard look at the rest of the business and got to work.  Tom said that after five years and a lot of changes, the quality of the campers and the company is finally ready to re-establish a dealership network.  While we were at Six-Pac Tom sent out a letter announcing the changes and inviting dealerships to once again carry Six-Pac.  Within a week, he already had two new dealerships on board.


Factory Tour

After talking with Tom and Celeste about the new Six-Pac, Manuel Trujillo took us for a tour of the manufacturing plant.  When we walked into the factory, the first thing we saw was a Six-Pac Mobile Dark Room, also called the MDR.  The MDR is a commercial camper designed for the industrial radiography industry.  Based on a traditional Six-Pac camper, it is designed to assist teams who are conducting non-destructive testing of oil pipelines and refineries.

Just behind the MDR Joel Vasquez was working on a side-dinette prototype of the T100S.  Manuel is responsible for the design but explained that he’s able to communicate what he wants to the Six-Pac crew and step back.  During our two days at Six-Pac, we watched the prototype progress from just a basement to having its sidewalls and cabinetry installed.


Strap for Structure Strength

Walking past the prototype we came to a camper with a curled black metal strap protruding from the lower sidewalls.  When we asked Manuel what the metal strap was for, he explained that Six-Pac uses a metal strap around the perimeter of a camper width to increase structural strength where the body of the camper meets the cabover.  In all of our factory tours we had not seen anything like this so we asked him to show us how it worked.

Graciously, Manuel Vazquez and Adan Reyes stopped what they were doing and brought the two strap ends together on the roof from either side of the camper.  In the middle of the roof, they pulled the ends tight with a banding tool using a considerable amount of pressure.  Once the strap was tight, they fastened the strap together and trimmed away the excess metal.

Manuel explained that the strap was something the company started in the 1970’s and was found to dramatically strengthen the front wall transition between the body of the camper and the cabover.  When Tom and Celeste evaluated the campers, they were impressed with the structural benefits of the strap.  Manuel added that in thirty years he’s never seen a problem with the strap.  Chalk that up to a unique build method for Six-Pac.


Tour Wrap-Up

Along the rear bay door of the manufacturing plant is where final finishing takes place.  There we saw Antonia Sandoval applying sealant to the outside compartments of a T100S.  We also met Yancarlo Zaragoza as he installed a roof antenna and applied the Six-Pac rear door logo.  Tom later said that they have even improved the logo with a new design and tagline,  "Follow Your Path"  Good advice.  He credited Anna Lefler, an old family friend and marketing consultant, for providing the creative vision.

Back towards the front of the manufacturing plant we stopped to talk with Sande Benson.  Sande is related to the original owners of Six-Pac.  After working at Six-Pac for thirty years, you get the feeling that he could build a sidewall or roof frame blindfolded.  And he’s the kind of guy who might try to do it if enough people dared him to.  No lack of personality here.


Six-Pacs, Four Wheels, and What’s That?!

In between Six-Pac’s office building and manufacturing plant is their outdoor showroom.  All five Six-Pac models are on display plus a shell model.  Opposite the Six-Pac campers is the complete line of Four Wheel Campers.  We saw a similar set up at Four Wheel Campers in Woodland, California where they had the full Six-Pac line on display.  For anyone interested in a simple and lightweight camper, either location would be a good stop.

Back to the Six-Pac showroom, there was one camper that didn’t belong.  It’s a prototype of the Sport-Pac line of Six-Pac campers featuring double swing out doors.  Tom said that the camper was the first fully self-contained toybox camper.  Tom went on to say that the camper weighs in at 2,000 pounds dry, has a 20 gallons of fresh, 16 gallons of grey, and a cassette toilet.  There are lots of photos of the prototype on the Six-Pac web site.  The photos are definitely worth checking out.


Six-Pac’d and Ready to Go

Six-Pac has a very warm and inviting spirit, one that we will definitely miss as we head home to Pennsylvania.  There’s also a palpable sense of excitement at Six-Pac.  This is a company who has kept a relatively low profile for a number of years and is now ready to make things happen.  As a magazine, we are looking forward to watching Six-Pac’s progress in 2008.  If what we saw is any indication, there will a few more stories after this one on the new Six-Pac.  

For more information about Six-Pac Campers, visit their web site at www.six-pac.com .