Manufacturers’ Monthly explore how Crusader Caravans is using advanced composites and a streamlined manufacturing line to deliver high-quality caravans.
Founded in 2001, Australian manufacturer of caravans, Crusader Caravans, has been through a journey of ups and downs to reach its current brand presence within the industry. Known for its lightweight composite material vehicle structure, the company prioritises a focus on innovation, quality and durability to deliver a range of products – from luxury tourers to off-road adventurers – that provide comfort, safety, and performance.
While currently manufactured using advanced construction techniques in a modern facility, Crusader Caravans emerged from humble beginnings through pure grit and determination. In 2016, when the company’s current business and executive structure came together, it was producing little caravans a week from an antiquated Victorian facility in Dream Haven, Epping. While proud of the hard work and capability that went into the facility, managing director Michael Paidoussis said a 2022 move to a new purpose-built facility was essential for the company’s growth.
“We were really proud of the Dream Haven facility because we grew from seven vans a week up to 20 vans a week,” said Paidoussis. “However, our new facility in Chadderton Boulevard, Epping is purpose-built for us and is 17,500 square metres, with 15,000 square metres under cover.”
Paidoussis said the facility has the fingerprints of colleague and general manager of operations, Erkut Fevzi, all over it. Fevzi – who has a passion for manufacturing production running through his blood – dreamed the company would one day operate in a facility such as this.
“The amount of work Erkut put into building and purpose-designing this facility for lean manufacturing was a credit to him,” said Paidoussis.
Thriving in an environment built for productivity
Fevzi emphasised the advantages that Crusader’s current facility has over its former. Crusader previously used batch production, with multiple vans on the line and teams working on each simultaneously. This wasn’t where the company needed to be to reach an efficient manufacturing capability.
“Manufacturing like that causes excessive downtime, lots of waste, and you don’t have capability or control in your manufacturing process,” he said.
In response to this, Fevzi used a value stream mapping lean tool to understand suppliers, inputs, processes, outcomes and get the company’s operations where they need to be. This resulted in the design of its current production line as a continuous flow, one-piece production line.
“Think automotive – think Ford, Holden, Toyota – it’s one big assembly line with a designed cycle time, where the line moves at a scheduled sequence all the time,” he said. “We may be the first OEM to introduce a continuous flow assembly line into caravan manufacturing.”
This production line, alongside a more spacious facility, has resulted in 22 workplaces totalling 181 people on the production floor that together produce one caravan every 54 minutes.
“That 54-minute cycle translates to eight caravans a day – we’re producing 40 a week right now, with plans to ramp up to 50 by September,” said Fevzi. “Each workplace is designed to complete all work activities and component assembly in that time.
“We’ve set up supermarket racking with all parts at the workstations, so operators can spend nearly 100 per cent of their time building caravans.”
The 54-minute cycle includes building the furniture, conducting electrical work and assembling the roof and walls. Crusader has developed numerous processes to be able to achieve a rapid production cycle that isn’t easy.
“To be able to do this efficiently, we’ve had to design lots of sub-assembly stations that are offline,” he said. “That gives you the ability to produce parts and assemble them to a certain point where they can stay in WIP (Work in Progress) or your buffer stock.
“A team of material handlers will then get that material and support that production line to move in the allocated time all day.”
Paidoussis agreed, saying to address and keep up with this complexity began in the line’s design phase, which required a detailed theoretical analysis of every assembly at each workstation, followed by determining the right labour components.
“There are basically 500 parts that go into every caravan. It’s a very complex process because it’s very different from cars. There are increasing levels of automation, but it’s still very much done by hand,” he said. “The theoretical analysis ensures that by the time you perform the operations, it cannot exceed 54 minutes.”
Emphasis on quality control and waste minimisation
Alongside a scrutinised production line, Fevzi insists that quality control and safety assurance is also a top consideration. To ensure a high level of Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QAQC) is maintained, Crusader utilises statistical process control tools. This allows the Crusader team to identify issues and which station they originate from.
“Once we understand what those defects or recurring issues are, we can identify which workstation those defects are coming from and why my quality management system hasn’t detected that recurring problem,” he said.
Once this data is provided, the team scrutinises everything that is critical to quality at each of the workstations in question – focusing on certain assessable aspects.
“We assess it in terms of severity, recurrence, and whether there could be a critical safety issue to the customer – like brakes, fires, gas, electrical compliance,” said Fevzi.
This standard inspection process sheet is now automated and digitised on iPads, enabling operators and QAQC coordinators to carry out inspections at every single workstation.
“Any rework or defects that are detected – we have full traceability on them,” said Fevzi. “We know what the issues were, which products they came from, and what corrective actions we need to take to fix them.
“By the time it gets to station number 22, we want the rework list to be addressed and actioned.”
Alongside QAQC, the company also looks to minimise waste as a part of its focus on lean manufacturing. This involves understanding how different wastes from transport, inventory and downtime could be reduced.
“If a van hasn’t been built to a certain standard, I know that process will have some form of waste. We then start understanding what the bottlenecks are – whether it’s people, not enough labour at a workstation or the supply chain,” said Fevzi. “We look at all of that waste every single day in order to ultimately minimise it.”
Another waste minimisation strategy surrounds locking in the exact specification of what a caravan looks like to ensure the sustainability of materials. Fevzi said this is due to several factors that prevent the loss of stability and control that comes the moment you start changing a product or process.
“As soon as a new model is designed, it goes through extensive R&D and validation processes. Once we’re satisfied with the results, we lock that product specification in and that doesn’t change for another 12 months,” he said. “We want control over our product, design, and materials so we don’t deviate from the market specification given to our customers.
“And most importantly, we want to achieve a really sustainable and efficient production line.”
Scrutinising production to result in innovation
The emphasis put on this production line ultimately ensures the quality, safety and sustainability of the manufacturing process. Far from a traditionally built caravan, Crusader Caravans are national pioneers of complete composite construction. This reality started just before COVID, as the company launched a revamped Compact Recreational Vehicle (CRV) range.
“The key differentiator is the fact that they were fully composite, which wasn’t necessarily the norm in Australia but had been in Europe for many years,” said Paidoussis. “Before that, we had been working with composite materials, but not the entire van. For example, the roof was composite, the floor was composite – but the walls weren’t.”
Paidoussis said the composite structure poses many advantages in size, strength, weight and thermal efficiency. This results in a product that is more fuel efficient and is more suited to maintaining a comfortable temperature.
“Think about where composites are used – take aerospace, for example. If it’s good enough for airplanes, it’s good enough for caravans,” said Paidoussis. “We’ve made a number of innovations to make our product even stronger and more durable than most composite manufacturers out there.
“Composites are the future of caravanning.”
Fevzi added that another benefit of the composite structure is its resistance to rotting. If a leak or water ingress penetrates a wall or roof of a traditional timber or stick-and-tin van, over time the material will rot and result in faults.
“With composite construction, you’ve got an extruded polystyrene core and an external and internal fibreglass skin. Even if there is water ingress, the van won’t rot,” he said.
Crusader Caravans offers a range of five caravan models with this structure, from compact CRVs ideal for first-time towers to the value-focused Lifechanger range designed for practicality. For those seeking comfort and style, the Musketeer and Excalibur lines provide luxury features, while the rugged Cross Country range caters to off-road adventurers.
Laying the groundwork for what’s next
Crusaders’ Caravans are set for an exciting few months ahead, beginning with the company win at the ‘Excellence in Caravan and RV Manufacturing’ award at the Caravan industry Victoria awards. The award was monumental for the company.
“It’s the reward for all the hard work, the pain, the problems, the issues,” he said. “This journey hasn’t been easy, especially moving from an old brownfield site where we were producing 20 vans a week. We’ve doubled productivity from 20 to 40 vans a week, and we did that within 12 months.
“There were lots of lessons learned, lots of issues, lots of weekend work, lots of overtime. My team went through a really challenging time where they were stressed and overworked. But they stayed on the path – they believed in the vision.”
Another development in the company’s pipeline is its appearance on a renowned televised program. This will see Crusader’s Designer Series showcased on Better Homes and Gardens, a recognition of the caravan’s quality and appearance.
“The Designer Series has been put together by interior designers,” said Paidoussis. You get the ruggedness needed for taking the caravan off-road, but that doesn’t mean you have to rough it internally. You still get a beautiful interior akin to a luxury apartment.
“It’s reached the point now where we’re being asked – and will accept – to be in Better Homes and Gardens. They’re going to feature our interiors because they believe they’re so beautiful.”
Driven by purpose precision, Crusader Caravans is reshaping the way Australia builds and experiences caravans. From one-piece composite structures to an optimised production line, innovation remains the road forward for the company.
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