We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Harrison McCarey. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Harrison below.

Harrison, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

Hands-down the most innovative endeavor I’ve undertaken has been co-founding and operating New Way Van Life but bringing this team together is a stand-out moment of innovation that I would like to highlight. We have orchestrated a team of innovators who have set out to build a product line, culture, and entire company in a New Way. Each person on the New Way Van Life team brings a unique set of skills and experience to our collective ‘toolbox’. Individually we are all passionate owners and business partners who have a sense of responsibility to drive greatness in our areas of expertise. This structure has cultivated an incredible environment that fosters continuous improvement of our processes and products.

Taylor for example, a former automotive diagnostician and worked closely with Teslas, has brought a thorough understanding of mechanics and electronics to the table. A critical element that allows us to be confident in the Sprinters and ahead of the pack in our conversion electricity. Brandon has developed our entire design, engineering, and CAD/CAM portfolio. His fine attention to detail sets a high-quality standard across the board in everything we do. Ed has owned and operated our sister company, A New Way Auto Service, in Pacific Beach for 25 plus years where they do everything from classic car restorations to RV/motorhome repairs. He brings industry experience to the table and steers our path with his wisdom. Our team extends beyond the core business partners, and we have invested stakeholder support across the board. Website development, legal, and media/content, to name a few.

Innovation is one of our main drivers that keeps our team motivated to continuously develop, from designing and engineering our entire pre-engineered conversion systems product catalog to developing our upcoming online visual van builder, it’s not just a job to us; we feel privileged to wake up and work towards a mission we all believe in.

There’s certainly a captivating sense of magic in the air here. All of that credited to the passion, and vested interest of the individuals that are New Way Van Life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hey fellow creators, I’m Harrison McCarey, co-founder and operator of New Way Van Life. The path I find myself on today has been nothing short of non-traditional and a roller coaster ride of challenge and triumph. After realizing that my degrees led me to a desk job that didn’t quite hit the mark. I spent a summer out in San Diego with my uncle exploring a concept for flat-pack-and-ship camper van conversion furniture. Following that summer, I completed my last semester at Iowa State University, loaded up my truck, and camped my way back out to San Diego to dive head-first into what would become New Way Van Life. At its infancy, we were a group of three guys in a shop no more than 1,200 sqft – just my uncle, my current partner Ed, and myself.

I think much of what drives us all to step outside of ‘The Box’ and chase a dream, passion, or mission are motivators for me. I give a lot of credit to my parents, McCarey University, and my upbringing. Much of what my family and the New Way Van Life team have accomplished has required grit, resourcefulness, and patience. All of these were qualities instilled in me at a young age.

At New Way Van Life, we specialize in Sprinter Van interior conversion systems, with our flagship product being the SuperStructure Panel Kit. It is an innovative Sprinter Van interior conversion system that provides a modular camper van canvas. It is the complete solution to jumpstart your flexible van conversion. It comes with paneling, plug-and-play electrical (wiring and power system), state-of-the-art lighting, and a whole lot more. Our unique selling proposition lies in our modular conversion system, vast kit customizations, and the use of an 80/20 aluminum extrusion that powers flexible layouts and floorplans.

We collaborate closely with our clients, guiding them toward practical and innovative solutions tailored to their needs. Our pride stems from delivering exceptional quality products and providing top-notch customer experience. At New Way Van Life, we believe in doing what’s right, pushing the boundaries of innovation, spreading positivity, and embracing a lean, scrappy, and gritty mindset. We invite you to explore our website and follow us on social media to follow the journey of the art and craft that goes into everything we do.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Can you talk to us about manufacturing? How’d you figure it all out? We’d love to hear the story.

We manufacture most of what is included in our van conversion systems – from wiring harnesses to all the finished cabinetry and upholstery that go in our van builds. And we are very proud of that! How we got to this point… we like to call it enlightened trial and error!

At the very beginning, we had no idea about how were going to do it, we just knew we were. And to this day we are still identifying new “hows”. We started with simple hand tools and standard wood/metal working equipment. As time progressed we identified tools and equipment that would either speed up or improve the result of processes. That’s the easy part though. Some of the largest challenges associated with automated equipment are the costs and the knowledge needed to purchase and operate. With a shoestring budget and a lean team, these are pretty large challenges that have required some serious creativity and staying power to solve.

Past the equipment, there is an entire onslaught of new problems that have been fun to tackle with the New Way Van Life team: 3D modeling, version control, product/process improvements, quality control, assembly and installation manuals, post-processing parts… The list goes on and on.

I think one of the largest takeaways from manufacturing our products is the power of having full control of the product. We are able to maintain an exceptional quality standard AND do some very cool, custom things for our customers because we have the tools, equipment, and in-house knowledge to do so. Having all these pieces to the puzzle that allow us to manufacture our products is one large contributing factory that drives innovation at New Way Van Life.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.newwayvan.life/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newwayvanlife/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewWayVanLife/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/new-way-van-life/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@NewWayVanLife

Image Credits
Beau Basinger Paul Dehart