2002 AGM - Fleetwood Report
David Webb began by saying how pleased he was to be able to attend the AGM for the first time and commented on the great welcome he had received. He brought greetings from the factory, from Richard Emrich, the Managing Director, who was away this weekend, and also from Richard Allen who was at a show in Peebles, Scotland. He explained how difficult it was for one of them to be free to attend the AGM but that moving the date this year had enabled him to be with us.
David then went on to recap on events of the last year starting with the retirement of Mick Shaw in September. This was a great loss, after 35 years with the company, particularly as Mick had started the Heritage range but was unable to pursue it through to the end. David reported that Richard Emrich has now taken this on and this year saw the achievement of the Caravan of the Year award from the industry for the Heritage CB. This is the first time that Fleetwood had won this award although the company thought they had deserved it once or twice before but ‘it never quite happened’. He went on to say that, although it caused a few comments from the ‘Big Boys’ about the award going to a small manufacturer, Fleetwood believe they deserved this award and the industry couldn’t find a reason not to give it to them. David stated that Fleetwood had sold over 130 of these caravans and was giving them a platform to move forward. David explained that, because of the success that Fleetwood had experienced, production had increased by 130 units over the last year which, in turn, had created recruitment problems in an area which has almost full employment. He told us that it had been quite a struggle to get the right people but they eventually managed to get 25 additional staff onto the payroll. He went on to say that Fleetwood will be continuing with their policy of change in design, and modernisation and he hoped that next year we will see some quite dramatic changes, mainly to the exteriors as a lot of work had gone into the interiors this year.
David informed us that Fleetwood had increased the number of shows attended this year and these have all been very successful, so much so that they have a complete order book which is tremendous for a small company. He went on to say that Fleetwood are taking a larger slice of the cake in the industry with seven or eight additional dealer outlets around the country bringing in better quality workshops than some of the dealers used in the past. He hoped that the scheme introduced whereby any dealer (rather than the one where the caravan was purchased from) could deal with repairs or warranty queries was working well.
David also informed the club about two additional ranges – Vanlander and Moonlight Sonata, which are produced and badged for two particular large dealers and announced that Fleetwood have added ‘another string to their bow’ by producing their first folding campers. The intention, he explained, was to help the company increase finances to develop the caravan side further than they have over the last few years. Development, he told us, has been quite a struggle due to the costs involved, for example the setting up of new front and back moulds can cost almost £100,000.
David expressed the hope that the club’s closer ties with the factory continued and proved worthwhile. He felt it was important for members to give their feedback through the committee as far as actual designs and layouts were concerned although colours were probably more down to individual taste. He assured the club that the factory does listen although it is not always possible for them to do what is asked of them. He joked ‘some things we find are impossible, when you want a six foot bed at the front and a six foot bed at the back with another 15 foot of kitchen in the middle, it doesn’t quite work on a 10 foot van.’ However he continued by emphasising again that he factory does listen but can’t take everything on board and carry it out as we might like.
Finally David thanked us for buying Fleetwoods and supporting the company. He gave special thanks to Colin for his year and wished David good luck in his coming year as Chairman. He confessed to volunteering to represent the factory at our 13th AGM as 13 is his lucky number and assured us that he hadn’t drawn the short straw. Apologising for not being a ‘wordsmith’ such as Richard he thanked the club for inviting him.
