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Why (and How) to Take a Plant Tour

• David M. Upton
• Stephen E. Macadam

By adopting a systematic approach to plant tours, visitors can uncover and communicate a wealth of strategic and operating information.

In recent years, managers have recognized how manufacturing capabilities contribute to a company’s overall strategic strength. The ability to respond quickly to customers’ orders, to customize products to match customers’ exact requirements, or to ramp up production rapidly can be a powerful and difficult-to-imitate competitive weapon. But many corporate managers identify their plants’ capabilities only by accident—as a result of chance conversations with plant managers or operations specialists. Consequently, many managers do not have the information necessary to cultivate, shape, and exploit their company’s manufacturing capabilities. As plants develop, however, they need guidance to build capabilities that meet current and future needs. Plant tours can be a powerful way of providing factories with that kind of direction.

• David M. Upton is the American Standard Companies Professor of Operations Management at the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School.
• SM Stephen E. Macadam is a principal at McKinsey & Company’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office.

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Published August 6, 2015 and updated July 22, 2021

How to Give a Successful Plant Tour

If you work in manufacturing, plant tours are likely a part of your everyday job. While it might not seem like a process that requires much attention to detail, there are actually dozens, if not hundreds, of different factors to consider during a plant tour. This is especially true when it comes to safety and communication.

Whether you’re trying to teach a plant visitor about workflow process or impress a potential client, giving a quality plant tour is essential in vetting new business and maintaining current business. What is one of the biggest challenges of successful plant tours? Noise.

At Sonetics , we know all about that. So, allow us to break down the ins and outs of plant tours and show you why efficient, clear communication is so important. We’ll also provide you with other tips and advice for giving an all-around successful plant tour.

Know Your Visitors’ Objectives

First and foremost, you should know the objective of your group’s visit to your plant. Knowing this will help you understand where they will be directing most of their attention during the tour, letting you plan ahead for the specific features and details you might want to point out, and can help you anticipate potential questions.

Will your guests be checking to make sure the quality of your plant is up to par? Probably. Are they looking to outsource the manufacturing of their product to your plant? Maybe. Are they investors looking to back one of your current clients? It’s possible. This article will give you a better idea of what visitors might be looking for when they visit your plant and can help you plan the flow and highlights of your tour.

No matter their objectives, you should do your best to make sure you provide your guests with a quality experience. The easiest way to do that is to make effective communication your top priority.

Prepare for Effective Plant Tour Communication

Most plant tour directors know when they should or shouldn’t speak to their groups during the tour of their facility. Likely, there are quieter hallways or corridors where the tour guide talks to the group, explains where they’re headed, and allows for questions before heading into a high-noise environment. Sounds familiar, right? While this practice is considered a standard operating procedure, it’s not all that safe or efficient for your tour group.

Lapses in communication mean lapses in safety. To solve this problem, you need a comprehensive wireless communications system. Sonetics’  variety of products can level up your plant tour by allowing your guests to hear clearly as they move about your facility and learn about your manufacturing site. This will improve your tour group’s experience at your plant and the entire safety of your process.

In addition, your group might have immediate questions or concerns that need to be answered or addressed immediately. Whether it’s an important question about a piece of equipment, or a comment about your processes, being able to talk in real-time is key to running a successful operation. By the end of a tour, your visitors might feel a bit overwhelmed. Being able to take feedback and concerns in-the-moment is a definite advantage.

While operations like the Chocolate World Tour at the Hershey Plant may have the luxury of not needing two-way communication devices, if you’re running a real manufacturing plant, your situation is different. The solution is simple: use two-way headsets to allow for efficient communication.

Show Off Your Professionalism

We know that safety is the main reason to use plant tour headsets, however, there are a few more reasons to value advanced, two-way communication systems like those from Sonetics.

If you’re already using a clear communication system for your team, why not use it for your plant tours, too? This gives your visitors a more realistic experience and shows them what it’s like to communicate on the floor of the plant day-in and day-out. They’ll get a firsthand perspective on the operations of your facility.

If your visitors are checking for quality and safety, or are vetting your company for a particular investment or deal, being transparent about your safe and effective communications will help in the long run. You’re already showing off your state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, why not show off the state-of-the-art tools and technology you’re using to make it happen, too? Next thing you know, your tour might be the next Boeing plant tour.

Another great benefit of using wireless communication devices is the opportunity to make introductions on the plant floor in real-time. Rather than waiting until the end of a plant tour to gather people into an office or room for a formal meeting, you can introduce people organically, when it makes sense. This helps with the overall flow of your tour and will help your clients put a name with a face sooner.

So, are you ready to take the leap into safe, efficient, communication with plant tour headsets? Your manufacturing business will thank you. Check out what we offer and don’t hesitate to contact us with your questions or specific needs.

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Plant Walkway

This elevated walkway takes you into and above the final assembly and quality test areas of the Dearborn Truck Plant.

You’ll see firsthand the clean and complex web of equipment, robotics and skilled assembly that characterizes modern assembly.

The Dearborn Truck Plant is a real working factory. As a result, there are many factors that can cause inconsistent active assembly hours. This includes vehicle demand, supply shortages, factory floor renovations and construction, and staffing considerations. The Dearborn Truck Plant does not build vehicles during daily breaks, shift changes, holidays and weekends.

Please note that The Henry Ford cannot control Ford Motor Company’s production schedule and cannot guarantee that guests will see the assembly line in full operation during their visit. The Henry Ford is also not able to refund tickets in the event that vehicles are not being actively assembled.

Car Production Process

• Power Unit Craftsmanship
• Toyota Production System

Return to the Toyota Motor Corporation website

• 01 STAMPING --> STAMPING
• 02 WELDING --> WELDING
• 03 PAINTING --> PAINTING
• 04 ASSEMBLY --> ASSEMBLY
• 05 INSPECTION SHIPPING --> INSPECTION SHIPPING

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Cars are made up of some 30,000 parts - all filled with care and craftsmanship in every step of production. People are the heart of Toyota's manufacturing.

Cars are made up of some 30,000 parts - all filled with care and craftsmanship in every step of production People are the heart of Toyota's manufacturing.

C a r   P r o d u c t i o n

INSPECTION / SHIPPING

M a n u f a c t u r i n g P r o c e s s O v e r v i e w   V i d e o

M a n u f a c t u r i n g p r o c e s s   o v e r v i e w   v i d e o.

Manufacturing Process Overview Video

P o w e r   U n i t   C r a f t s m a n s h i p

P o w e r   u n i t c r a f t s m a n s h i p.

Introducing the care and craftsmanship that go into every unit made.

T o y o t a P r o d u c t i o n   S y s t e m

The Toyota Production System helps produce vehicles in a timely manner.

5 Key Benefits to Taking a Factory Tour

A factory tour? Thanks but no. You’re busy and have got better things to do than a factory tour – right?

Well, while you are busy and it’s easy to dismiss these events as a jolly, for us as interior architects & designers working on large-scale new build and refurbishment projects, continual professional development [CPD] is key to remaining on top of ever-changing design and technology developments in the industry.

Factory tours are one of the most valuable activities we undertake – and we’re always encouraging our clients to do the same.

If you’re a client developing a new hotel or new office project, it really does pay to visit your potential suppliers personally and find out more about their products and the way they work – and whether they are right for your project.

So what’s in it for you?

Well, to help you decide if you’ll accept your next supplier invite, we’ve compiled our list of the top 5 benefits of taking a factory tour with you and your busy diary in mind… take a look, discover what makes these visits so valuable and see for yourself the benefits they can bring to your project:

1. Relationships

Taking a factory tour is a wonderful way to build relationships with your suppliers and show them your serious about your project. Connecting personally and building great supplier relationships face to face leads to better service, better pricing and better outcomes for your project.

Earning your suppliers trust and involving them in your project from the earliest stages, ensures they become a strategic partner, vested in the project’s success.

2. Communication

Effective supplier relationships are all about excellent communication. Visiting your suppliers and seeing how they work is a crucial step in developing and agreeing on a communication style that leads to success for your project.

Moving from a purely transactional mindset and improving the way you connect and coordinate with your suppliers will lead to advantages in the speed and efficiencies of procuring products, reducing lead times and improving perfect orders.

3. Knowledge

Knowledge is power and Factory tours provide a powerful way to learn first hand how products come together.

Talking face to face with the experts, seeing the materials and activities that go into the manufacturing process and witnessing the final quality checks not only provides you with intimate knowledge of that particular product – the innovative manufacturing processes you witness may also inspire your thinking about your own working methods

4. Assesement

Evaluating a supplier and the products they produce from a distance is possible, but nothing will tell you the whole story like a factory tour.

You may already be familiar with the product range, but the benefit of a site visit to the factory and head office enables you to see – from the inside – the way the business works, how they manage their processes & production runs, what their quality management looks like and how sustainable and responsible their manufacturing is.

5. Negotiation

Strong negotiation can be the difference between a successful on budget project and a failed one. Where better to negotiate with a potential supplier than personally just after a factory tour?

As Ed Brodow, negotiation expert says “ Negotiators are detectives ” they ask the right questions and amass the right information to ensure they get the best deal. Knowing who you are dealing with and understanding their business personally will lead to smarter deals that benefit your project

A factory tour really is a great way to build balanced and sustainable supplier relationships that will truly benefit your projects. However, a visit is only as good as the planning and purpose you put into it, so before you go, organise your objectives and ask yourself a few key questions:

• Are you there to learn, to witness or to negotiate?
• Or is it all three?
• Are you looking to build relationships?
• Are you checking out capability or simply judging quality?
• What does a successful outcome look like for you?

Being clear on your objectives before your visit will ensure that you get the most out of the day and that your visit is productive and successful.

Find out more about our recent Hansgrohe Factory Tour and if you’re interested in taking some factory tours yourself, the RIBA CPD website is a great place to start.

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Munich Plant Tour

The BMW Group plant in Munich combines the highest quality of engineering with innovative strength and passion. BMW branded vehicles and engines were produced in the heart of Berlin as early as 1922. Today, the plant employs around 8,000 people who produce around eleven million premium automobiles from the assembly line.

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