Friday will see the end of an era at Airstream, as a 44-year veteran of our family will be leaving us. Dave Schumann is retiring, and will leave behind more than four decades of a legacy that touches many different parts of the Airstream story, and our company.
Dave grew up on a 100-acre farm just a few minutes away from what’s now Airstream’s Jackson Center factory and headquarters. Everyone in the family worked on the farm, and in his work there Dave developed handyman skills that would serve him well in his later career. In 1969 Dave was drafted into the Army, then after serving two years returned home. He took a job in a factory just down the street from Airstream, but that lasted only a year – cutbacks came, and Dave was laid off.
He left the factory for the last time, and walked into the Airstream offices. He was hired on the spot.
Over the next 44 years, Dave Schumann worked his way through many different jobs and parts of the product line. He installed insulation. He installed furnaces and water heaters. He worked as a riveter. During the oil embargo of the 70’s, he spent time on a small team supporting other Airstream products like vans and trucks. During the worst of the embargo he lost his job, but a few short years later Airstream had the opportunity to bring him back and jumped at it, and he spent about a decade in the finishing line working with furniture and cabinetry.
With so much experience in all different parts of the production process, Dave became an expert on the Airstream product line – and that made him a perfect choice for quality control. Eventually he moved into the job of General Manager of the Customer Relations Group. There he was in charge of overseeing the service shop, parts, customer support, and the online and on-site Airstream stores. It’s a challenging and stressful job that, in the past, had high turnover. Dave wasn’t certain he wanted it, he was happy where he was in quality control. But when the president of Airstream asked him to take it on, he did.
Before Dave, the job had been held by four people in five years. He’s been doing it for the past 16 years.
When asked about his time at Airstream, Dave had this to say: “Airstream is much bigger than any one person. Still, I hope I made a difference — that I cared not only for our company, but about our customers and dealers. I hope somebody talks about me down the road. I hope I made a small difference somewhere along the line.”
His legacy is secure, not only because of the time and love that he put into Airstream, but because of the advances and innovations that he helped to bring about. Dave played a major role in things like expanding Airstream’s internet presence, both by taking warranty claims from a manual process to digital, and by responding to customer letters with email, rather than typewritten or even handwritten letters. He helped institute better management of dealer interaction, as well as training for dealer technicians so they had a better knowledge of the Airstream product.
For all that, and so much more, we thank Dave Schumann. Your 44 years of service to the Airstream family won’t be forgotten. You’ve made a big difference.
