EarthCruiser is closing!?!?!

[Pacific Northwest yetti]

Thanks Lance,

We apprechate that. I spent a year in Bend with Adventure Medics, its a tough market to say the least.

 

[Victorian]

I feel your pain and totally understand what you are saying. Across the board costs are up, suppliers are struggling and employees can’t afford to live in places like bend , Vancouver Bc etc. Even paying them $40/hour isn’t enough anymore….
All the best and hopefully we all can find an away to meet up at a campfire and a cold drink somewhere.

 

[Spencer for Hire]

G`day All
Thank you everyone for the very positive comments in regard to our little company EarthCruiser, it has been really terrific thank you.

To clear some things up -
The company has not closed, only the manufacturing has come to a end in beautiful Bend .

How we delivered that message was dreadful how it was managed was worse. I take full responsibility for hiring the wrong consultants to help me make these massive changes to what we do.

Put simply the town we live in now is not the town we moved to ten years ago.
To earn enough to have a decent living wage and then have that translated to a traded sector business just does not work any more. Many of our local suppliers have either closed or reduced their operations considerably as we must.

Unless one has been through this process I am at a loss as how to explain it - other than it really does suck.

What is at auction will be tools (LOTS OF TOOLS) plant and equipment we no longer need, not any current model EarthCruiser manufactured parts.

There will be a number of useful bits for the FUSO fan ( Michelle said I can`t keep any more) they will not make you a EarthCruiser but ideal for your project. Lots of R and D ( we hosted and funded engineering capstone projects for students of OSU nearly every year for the last ten years) fun stuff for off road and overland gear. There is some really really good gear there.

As an example we have no further need of the proto type slide in camper, we have the data we need for them to become a production item again.

A number of former EarthCruiser crew has taken over, with our encouragement, service of customer vehicles. They are great people and know what they are doing, some have had their enterprises for a number of years. We are very proud of them for their success and worked with them many times and the past and will again in the future.

We have a couple of trucks left to finish for customers, we expect them to be complete in the coming months.

Our primary aim now is move / license / sell EarthCruiser developed products and IP to get more of what we created in the hands of more people to enjoy.

I really miss working with the EarthCruiser Crew, they are some of the best people I have ever met.

All the very best.

Lance

So does this mean you will be manufacturing elsewhere?

 

[Howard70]

G`day All
Thank you everyone for the very positive comments in regard to our little company EarthCruiser, it has been really terrific thank you.

To clear some things up -
The company has not closed, only the manufacturing has come to a end in beautiful Bend .

How we delivered that message was dreadful how it was managed was worse. I take full responsibility for hiring the wrong consultants to help me make these massive changes to what we do.

Put simply the town we live in now is not the town we moved to ten years ago.
To earn enough to have a decent living wage and then have that translated to a traded sector business just does not work any more. Many of our local suppliers have either closed or reduced their operations considerably as we must.

Unless one has been through this process I am at a loss as how to explain it - other than it really does suck.

What is at auction will be tools (LOTS OF TOOLS) plant and equipment we no longer need, not any current model EarthCruiser manufactured parts.

There will be a number of useful bits for the FUSO fan ( Michelle said I can`t keep any more) they will not make you a EarthCruiser but ideal for your project. Lots of R and D ( we hosted and funded engineering capstone projects for students of OSU nearly every year for the last ten years) fun stuff for off road and overland gear. There is some really really good gear there.

As an example we have no further need of the proto type slide in camper, we have the data we need for them to become a production item again.

A number of former EarthCruiser crew has taken over, with our encouragement, service of customer vehicles. They are great people and know what they are doing, some have had their enterprises for a number of years. We are very proud of them for their success and worked with them many times and the past and will again in the future.

We have a couple of trucks left to finish for customers, we expect them to be complete in the coming months.

Our primary aim now is move / license / sell EarthCruiser developed products and IP to get more of what we created in the hands of more people to enjoy.

I really miss working with the EarthCruiser Crew, they are some of the best people I have ever met.

All the very best.

Lance

Great to hear from you Lance. I'm glad to see there is a path forward for you and Michelle. The trucks you designed and built which Heidi and I purchased brought our wanderlust to a new level. We're looking forward to seeing you guys.

Howard

 

[Steve_382]

You could always move the company to Elkhart IN. It's a low income area and with the slowing RV market there are likely many qualified RV techs looking for jobs.

 

[68camaro]

You could always move the company to Elkhart IN. It's a low income area and with the slowing RV market there are likely many qualified RV techs looking for jobs.

Seriously, with all the well known and documented state of RV build problems there, do you think they can even put a team together in Elkhart with true craftsman that actually care about build quality?

For example, EC takes pride in wiring, not sure anyone in Elkhart can or would be motivated to go to that level without ALL sorts of hidden shortcuts causing all sorts of problems.

 

[Herbie]

do you think they can even put a team together in Elkhart with true craftsman that actually care about build quality?

I kinda had the same thought. I'm sure there is someone there that fits that bill, but as with any other high-skill industry, being local to a particular market does not guarantee a given skillset.

 

[gdaut]

I would expect there are plenty of tradespeople in Indiana who could do quality work; if you incentivized them to take the time to do a good job. The problem with running your adventure vehicle manufacturing business in Indiana is that you are in Indiana.

 

[lanceatm]

So does this mean you will be manufacturing elsewhere?

Yes that is the plan.
We have always said never waist a crises. We are talks with a number of companies big and small on some interesting options.

Our method was always to do our own prototyping - engineering - drafting - testing and then have those parts made by out side vendors.
Our engineers created the production and work flow instructions QC documentation for the crew to follow and then we "assembled" our own manufactured parts to build the finished products.
This model or way of doing things makes it easier to transplant to more manufacturing friendly environments than if it was all done in house.
We become very good communicating all aspects of the production requirements - composites - metal - electrical - soft trim etc.

All options are on the table if this is of interest to anyone.

 

[Deleted Member 183]

First off let me compliment you on your post honestly explaining the situation with your company! That was "Big Dog" strait up!

I also wish you the VERY BEST of luck at success!

From my 43 years of designing and making "things" for a sophisticated clientele I've learned:

Designing & making things is not the "hard part".
Making money at designing & making things IS THE HARD PART!

If you care to move down to the Central Coast of Kookisfornia, I have a 1 acre industrially zoned yard to rent you ( 230 VAC, fully plumbed for office trailer, & VERY secure). However I'm sure you would suffer the same issues you did in your last location (and probably worse).

 

[Steve_382]

I would expect there are plenty of tradespeople in Indiana who could do quality work; if you incentivized them to take the time to do a good job. The problem with running your adventure vehicle manufacturing business in Indiana is that you are in Indiana.

There are also a lot of fiberglass boats made in northern Indiana and that skill set might come in handy for someone like EC. You could design a habitat and get one of them to build the molds and habitats while EC does the systems, etc. Somehow you need to get beyond the one off custom parts to keep the prices down.

 

[mog]

I might have overpaid ?

 

[Deleted Member 183]

15% percent premium, OUCH! And knowing how auction houses work, I bet you were also bidding against a shill or 2.

 

[ripperj]

What am I missing? No way that sold for over a million!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Deleted Member 183]

I am pretty sure old Mog is "pulling our leg's" AGAIN!