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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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Mastering the Art of Delivering an Exceptional Plant Tour: Engaging Visitors and Showcasing Operational Excellence

• Oct 17,2023
•  Plant Tour,  Factory tour,  Tour guide system

Introduction: Plant tours serve as a remarkable platform to exhibit the inner workings of an organization, forge valuable relationships with stakeholders, and provide an exclusive glimpse into manufacturing processes. Whether hosting esteemed clients, potential investors, or aspiring students, delivering an exemplary plant tour necessitates meticulous planning, captivating storytelling, and an unwavering commitment to safety. In this article, we will delineate the crucial steps required to ensure that your plant tour is not only informative and memorable but also leaves an indelible positive impression on your esteemed visitors.

1. Strategic Planning: Begin by defining the purpose and objectives of the plant tour. Identify the target audience and tailor the tour to their specific interests and needs. Consider the level of technical acumen possessed by your visitors and meticulously design the tour route to showcase various facets of your operations. Collaborate with different departments to unveil diverse aspects of your organization, ensuring that the tour seamlessly aligns with your overarching business goals.

2. Prioritize Safety: Safety must reign supreme throughout the plant tour. Conduct a comprehensive safety assessment well in advance and proactively address any potential hazards. Furnish visitors with appropriate personal protective equipment, such as helmets, safety glasses, and earplugs. Assign trained guides to accompany the group, meticulously enforcing safety protocols. Clearly communicate safety guidelines to visitors before embarking on the tour, leaving no room for ambiguity.

3. Captivate with Compelling Storytelling: Elevate the tour experience by artfully integrating captivating storytelling techniques. Immerse visitors in the rich history of your organization, emphasizing notable milestones and showcasing the pivotal role of your plant in the broader business landscape. Infuse the narrative with intriguing anecdotes and success stories, underscoring the significance of your operations. This narrative approach will forge an emotional connection between visitors and your organization, fostering a deeper understanding of your industry.

4. Showcase Operational Excellence: During the tour, meticulously exhibit the diverse stages of your manufacturing process. Elucidate the purpose and functionality of each area, showcasing the cutting-edge technologies and machinery employed. Encourage visitors to actively engage by posing questions, and provide comprehensive explanations to enhance their comprehension. Whenever possible, offer interactive experiences or demonstrations, elevating the tour to an immersive and unforgettable encounter.

5. Champion Environmental and Sustainability Initiatives: Integrate information about your organization's unwavering commitment to environmental sustainability. Highlight any commendable green initiatives, waste reduction strategies, or energy-efficient practices that you have successfully implemented. This will underscore your organization's dedication to responsible manufacturing and resonate positively with environmentally conscious visitors, further enhancing your reputation.

6. Foster Dialogue and Networking: Create ample opportunities for visitors to interact with knowledgeable employees or subject matter experts. Foster an environment conducive to open dialogue, encouraging visitors to pose questions and glean insights directly from your accomplished team members. This invaluable interaction will not only enrich the learning experience but also facilitate networking, potentially leading to future collaborations and partnerships.

7. Provide Thoughtful Takeaways: At the conclusion of the tour, furnish visitors with informative materials, such as meticulously crafted brochures or pamphlets, that succinctly summarize the key points covered during the tour. Include pertinent contact information and additional resources for further exploration. These carefully curated takeaways will serve as invaluable references for visitors, effectively reinforcing your organization's messaging and leaving a lasting impression.

8. Utilize Tour Guide Systems to Enhance Visitor Satisfaction: Incorporating a tour guide system can greatly improve the overall satisfaction of the plant tour experience. These systems utilize wireless communication devices, such as headsets or receivers, to allow visitors to hear the tour guide clearly, even in noisy environments. By providing each visitor with a headset, you ensure that they can hear every detail and explanation without straining or missing important information.

Conclusion: Organizing factory tours offers a multitude of benefits to organizations, ranging from building trust and enhancing brand reputation to educating visitors and fostering relationships with stakeholders. By providing transparency, promoting education, and differentiating yourself from competitors, you can establish a strong market presence and boost customer loyalty. Moreover, factory tours can empower employees, generate sales, and solidify your position as an industry leader. Embracing the opportunities offered by factory tours can contribute significantly to the overall success and growth of your organization.

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Behind the Scenes: Why (and How) You Can Take a Plant Tour?

April 10, 2019

How do you normally spend a rainy day?

Watching a movie? Huddling around the fire? Playing board games? How about going for a tour around your local factory?

No? Well, maybe it’s time to reconsider!

Indeed, you might be surprised at the popularity of plant tours. Apparently, even 20 years ago , 275,000 people were visiting the Ben and Jerry’s factory every year in Vermont. And 340,000 people went to the Crayola factory in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Clearly, factory tours hold a certain appeal. Why so? Turns out there are lots of reasons to consider a tour of your local factory.

Keep reading to discover exactly why you might go on a plant tour, and how to make it happen.

6 Reasons a Plant Tour Make Sense

Generally speaking, tours fall into two categories: those for business purposes, and those for leisure. Head to www.plant-tours.com for more information on this topic. But first, check out these reasons factory tours are so popular.

1. For Learning Purposes

Factory tours are an education for everyone who goes on one.

Tourists and interested individuals get an insight into how their favorite products come to be. You see the manufacturing and packaging processes from start to end. You might also learn about the history and development of the company and factory as well.

The learning is perhaps more valuable for business purposes though.

Plant managers may need some guidance on how to make the most of their own premises. A tour of a successful factory can provide crucial insight into best practices, plus how to maximize their own capabilities.

2. To Get Backstage

Being in a factory is like being backstage at a concert.

You’ve seen the face of the brand, but know nothing of their internal workings. Seeing the factory floor with your own eyes will develop your understanding of the company while helping you understand what goes into making your favorite products.

3. For the Freebies

Paying for a factory tour usually means you get a bunch of freebies thrown in!

That means free chocolate at a chocolate factory, free ice cream at an ice cream factory, and so on. Who doesn’t love a freebie, especially when it’s straight from the source!?

You get to see the product being made, and then enjoy it in situ!

4. To Assess the Situation

Plant tours enable you to assess the strength of your competition.

Sure, you can learn from them too. But you get a first-hand look at their processes, structures, layout, and performance. This can provide vital information about what you’re up against: the bar to which to must match.

Likewise, you may be visiting a potential supplier with whom you’ve only spoken to by phone. Being there in person allows you to assess their integrity, and whether they can match up to their claims.

5. To Network

Factory tours are a brilliant way to network with peers, potential suppliers, and competitors.

It’s one thing to talk over the phone. It’s an entirely different experience to meet and speak with someone in person. Doing so provides greater potential to form ongoing relationships and business partnerships.

Meeting a supplier face to face will demonstrate your commitment to them too. They’re more likely to provide a quality product to a trusted partner, who they want to succeed.

6. To Negotiate a Deal

Negotiation is undeniably easier in person.

You get to make eye contact, judge body language and assess the situation first hand.

There’s never a better time to negotiate a deal with a potential supplier than after a factory tour. You’ve just seen their operations and understand their capabilities. You’ve developed the beginnings of a relationship. Now you have a chance to seal a deal.

Compare that to negotiating over the phone, or via email. These are impersonal, cold, and make it far more difficult to make demands. In contrast, the factory tour provides a great foundation from which to drive a hard bargain. That’s good news for your finances .

How to Organize a Plant Tour

Knowing all that, you may be chomping at the bit to get going on a factory tour. Here’s how to get on one.

Thankfully, it usually isn’t difficult at all.

Many of the larger factories offer specific, organized tours around the premises. The entire experience is oriented around showing you the best bits. It’ll cost you, but these tours are the easiest way to get a behind the scenes look at the factory floor. All you need to do is phone up and book.

It might be a little different if you want a plant tour for business purposes. Obviously, this is less about intrigue and tourism, and more about benefiting your own business operations.

The same rule applies though. This is about networking and communication. Reach out to the company and ask if there’s any scope for a tour of their factory. Let them know you’re interested in how they run things and would love an opportunity to visit.

They may have their own tours available. They may also be willing to take you on a one-off personal tour. Either way, there’s no harm in asking.

Sooner or later you’ll find someone happy enough to show off their plant facilities.

Time to Get Touring

There you have it: why going on a plant tour is such a good idea, and how to make it happen.

Plant tours are surprisingly popular. Some of the biggest companies around the world offer the chance to visit their premises, and hundreds of thousands of people happily oblige. They even pay for the privilege!

It doesn’t matter whether you go for business or leisure purposes, there are clear incentives for visiting the factory floor. As we’ve seen, the benefits and opportunities are significant and numerous.

Hopefully, the information here has persuaded you of their value, and shown how to make them happen!

Did you enjoy this piece? Are you looking for more fun activities to do? Be sure to check out these travel articles .

Plastics Pipeline Blog

Are you maximizing the benefits of plant tours.

“Almost everyone who leads, works for, or interacts with a manufacturing company can benefit from seeing a factory firsthand,” wrote David M. Upton and Stephen E. Macadam in their article, “ Why (and How) to Take a Plant Tour ” for the Harvard Business Review. “Plant visits allow managers to review a supplier’s qualifications, to share best practices with a partner, or to benchmark performance and practices. Shop-floor operators can assess another plant’s operations and apply what they’ve learned to their own factories.”

It seems like many people agree with Upton and Macadam. An internet search for manufacturing plant tours pulls up announcements of plant tours on websites ranging from the host manufacturing companies to local chambers of commerce to national industry associations.

In the plastics industry, Manufacturers Association for Plastic Processors (MAPP), which according to its website is “the largest grassroots organization in the United States plastics industry,” offers plant tours several times each year to its members. And, according to the following video, its members find the plant tours very valuable.

Featured in the video was Robert Clothier, Human Resources Manager for Team 1 Plastics, a plastic injection molding company for the mobility industry, and a member of MAPP. In a recent interview, Clothier shared his plant tour experiences. He said that Team 1 Plastics has participated in several MAPP plant tours, including hosting one in 2015, and has always found them very valuable.

Upton and Macadam cautioned, “Even people who know that plant tours are valuable can find it difficult to put them to effective use.” They then offered several suggestions of ways to enhance learning, including “make sure the right people are on the tour,” and “to keep an open mind. Much of the learning that occurs on a plant tour is unexpected.”

They also advised that you should “visit plants in different industries and to resist the immediate temptation to visit only plants ‘like ours.’” Clothier said he, along with Craig Carrel, President of Team 1 Plastics, did just that when they toured Cardinal Manufacturing . Cardinal Manufacturing is, according to its website, “a company within a school, where students learn about manufacturing and gain firsthand experience” – something that Team 1 Plastics is trying to develop with a local area high school.

Clothier said that he and Carrel work together to decide which plant tours they believe would be valuable to Team 1 and which Team Members they think would benefit from the tours. The descriptions of the plant tours on the MAPP website help with them with their decision making because the descriptions often highlight the focus of the particular tour.

For example, the description of the MAPP Young Professionals Plant Tour to Thogus Products in June 2018 included the heading, “Creating a Culture of Continuous Improvement.” The focus of the event, according to the description, was “on understanding and benchmarking best practices in continuous improvement and employee engagement.”

As a member of MAPP’s Young Professional Advisory Board, Clothier said that he plans to attend all of their plant tours no matter what the theme is. “It’s not as if the tour is completely focused on just that area. Part of the benefit of the plant tours is how they structure them. They always have some time for networking in small groups.”

Clothier then shared that Team 1 has taken its plant tours experiences to a new level of value by participating in plant tour exchanges with two different companies, Plastics Components, Inc.  (PCI) and Viking Plastics . The plant tour exchanges consisted of a handful of Team Members from Team 1 Plastics visiting and touring each of the two injection molding companies’ facilities. In turn, a handful of employees from each of the two companies came to Albion, Michigan, and took a tour of Team 1 Plastics’ facility.

The plant tour exchanges were suggested by Laurie Harbour, President and CEO of Harbour Results , a consultant for Team 1 Plastics. Clothier said that Harbour provided a list of companies she believed would be a “good cross fit between the two companies based on particular areas at which each company excelled.”

Team 1 Plastics reviewed the list and, ultimately, Clothier coordinated the visits with the two companies. “Both Viking and PCI saw the benefit of having a customizable plant tour,” and the tour dates were set up. Team 1 visited PCI in December 2017, and Viking Plastics in March 2018. Viking’s visit to Team 1 also occurred in March 2018. PCI toured Team 1 in August 2018.

Clothier said that the plant tour exchanges were much more customized and tailored than a MAPP plant tour. They built the tour agendas based on who (job titles/functions) from the other companies was visiting.

The agendas also included breakout sessions for networking and discussion. He added that information sharing flowed much more freely than at a MAPP plant tour. “When you’re in a setting of 12 people versus 80, you can be a little bit more candid and laid back. I met one-on-one with Wendi Jay, the HR manager at PCI. We had some good conversation about things that work well for us and what each of our challenges are.”

He then gave an example of a challenge that Team 1 was experiencing with an HR tool that both companies utilize, Culture Index, an employment profile survey. Clothier said, “It was helpful just to understand how they use Culture Index versus how we were using it.” This information sharing led Clothier to change how he uses the tool so that it adapts to Team 1’s culture more effectively.

Probably the greatest benefit to any plant tour is the new ideas that you collect and bring back to your company. Clothier said that when he is on a plant tour, he often snaps pictures of things that capture his attention and spark an idea. “I once took a picture of a training board that was different than mine because I liked some things about theirs and thought that I could add them to mine.”

The Team Members who toured Viking Plastics reported that they were very impressed that the tour was employee led and felt that it was a positive influence on both the company’s employees as well as their visitors. This observation sparked an idea of how Team 1 could implement employee-led plant tours in its facility, and Clothier said that this idea is currently in process of being implemented at Team 1.

Based on the success of these two initial plant tour exchanges, Team 1 Plastics is hoping and anticipating for more in its future. In fact, Clothier said that Carrel and he have discussed having them at least once or twice a year.

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Why (and How) to Take a Plant Tour

By: David M. Upton, Stephen E. MacAdam

Almost everyone who leads, works for, or interacts with a manufacturing company can benefit from seeing a factory firsthand, David Upton and Stephen Macadam advise. For example, plant visits allow…

• Length: 10 page(s)
• Publication Date: May 1, 1997
• Discipline: Operations Management
• Product #: 97310-PDF-ENG

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Almost everyone who leads, works for, or interacts with a manufacturing company can benefit from seeing a factory firsthand, David Upton and Stephen Macadam advise. For example, plant visits allow senior executives to understand a site's performance potential, to assess a competitor, or to rally the frontline workforce. Shop floor operators can assess another plant's operations and apply what they've learned in their own factories. But even people who know that plant tours are valuable can find putting them to effective use difficult. First, unclear objectives often turn touring into tourism. Second, many people lack an organizing framework with which to structure observations and accelerate learning. Upton and Macadam show visitors how to set clear objectives and apply an organizing framework in order to make sense of what they see and hear on a plant tour. In this way, visitors will develop a deep understanding of the plant's manufacturing capabilities--and how best to exploit them.

May 1, 1997

Discipline:

Operations Management

Harvard Business Review

97310-PDF-ENG

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Home » Manufacturing World » Useful Tips for Organizing a Plant Tour

Useful Tips for Organizing a Plant Tour

Visiting a facility during an official tour, be it a factory, an office building, or any other type of company, is extremely important for a wide variety of reasons . As an investor, someone might want to look into potential businesses that can earn them an excellent return profit. And as a potential worker, they might want to get to know a future employer a bit more intimately. Obviously, people can look at feedback, user reviews, quarterly earnings reports, and other details. But in all honesty, seeing the company’s gears turning in person really is the best way to judge whether someone would want to be involved with this company or not, no matter the capacity.

That’s why tour organizing is exceptionally vital. A business owner like yourself will have to put their best foot forward in order to impress the visitors. And it all comes down to proper organization. There are many ways you can host a tour, but finding a list of the ones that work is surprisingly difficult.

Luckily, we’re here to help. In this article, we’re going to provide you with some of the most useful tips for organizing a company tour. These tips are guaranteed to get you new investors and workers, impress your higher-ups, and boost your credibility as a business owner.

Safety First

Let’s say that you own a manufacturing facility that makes a lot of noise daily. Hosting a company tour would be difficult there, but not impossible. So, in order to protect your visitors from excessive noise and allow them to hear you comment on your day-to-day activities, you will need to provide them with high noise communication headsets . On the other hand, if your facility has a lot of overhead risk (like a construction site), your visitors will need hard hats. Some areas might even require a safety suit.

If your visitors feel safe during the tour, you can rest easy knowing that they’ll consider your factory just as safe. However, don’t go overboard with the precautions. For example, a typical office business doesn’t really need noise-canceling headsets or safety glasses for eye protection.

Plan Your Attack

Nothing, it seems, can be more complicated than planning a perfect company tour . Sure, it makes sense to do the basics first, like announce the tour online or print invitations in advance. However, once your prospective clients are there, what should you show them, and how should you do it?

Proper Introductions

It seems like a simple step, but a lot of business owners fail to have the best openers, so to speak. They fail to provide basic, proper introductions to their companies, which can instantly disinterest or outright bore the listener. And that can be incredibly damaging for your business’s future.

Let the Venture Speak for Itself

When the visitors are taking your tour, they will pay attention to three details in particular, whether consciously or otherwise:

• The appearance of your enterprise
• The products on display
• Your employees and staff

Provide for the Visitors

Some businesses offer food and beverages. Others hand out shopping vouchers and/or gift cards. Yet others rely on standard-issue stationery gift packages. And one or two might even opt for an unusual gift, like a short weekend trip somewhere or an company branded toy. No matter what it is, a free gift is always welcome.

Naturally, as a business owner, you don’t have to provide a single thing during the tour. It’s not mandatory, nor is it a guarantee that you will land more investors or employees that way. However, it’s definitely better to be remembered as a generous business owner rather than as a frugal one.

Display Company Issues

Yes, it sounds contradictory, but you will want to be upfront with your visitors. Stating the key flaws in your business the right way will show that you are willing to improve and that you’re not afraid to admit your shortcomings. But even beyond that, it’s a great selling point for the business if you manage to display said issues in the right way. Frame each failure and misfire as an opportunity to learn.

In São Paulo, Brazil, you can immediately recognize the Mahle Metal Leve Tech Center because of how easily it blends with the surrounding environment. It looks like a little hill with all of the natural elements implemented seamlessly with the factory’s architecture. Aerzen’s Coastville, PA facility is also environmentally friendly, with its rooftop garden and a rainwater recycling system. Or how about a pipe rolling factory in Chelyabinsk, Russia, that looks like a pleasant, wood-floored office space with tree saplings and vivid colors? And let’s not forget that Penfield factory in Syracuse with a house on top of it.

You can already recognize the pattern here. If you want your tour to succeed, offer something unique and one-of-a-kind to your tour guests. It doesn’t even have to be something huge, like in the examples above. You can try something as simple as having a gaming room with all the latest consoles, or a small indoor mini-golf course.

The Bottom Line

Company tours can be tricky, even to seasoned businesspeople. So, if and when you decide on organizing one, approach it carefully. However, don’t take small missteps and missed opportunities to heart. Instead, use them as a learning experience and improve your next company tour, as well as all others that will inevitably follow.

Author: Rick Farrell, President, Plant-Tours.com

Farrell is North America’s foremost expert in improving manufacturing group communication, education, training and group hospitality processes. He has over 40 years of group hospitality experience, most recently serving as President of Plant-Tours.com for the last 18 years. He has provided consulting services with the majority of Fortune 500 industrial corporations improving group communication dynamics of all types in manufacturing environments.

Also Read Other Interesting Manufacturing Engineering Articles  Here

Why and How to Conduct a Factory Tour

By Hale Foote, Scandic Springs

Reposted with permission of Springs  magazine, a publication of the Spring Manufacturers Institute (www.smihq.org).

Should you consider opening the doors of your manufacturing facility to visitors? And if the answer is “yes,” how can you best conduct a tour of the plant?

Why Let the World In?

Having visitors come to your manufacturing facility offers a unique opportunity to present the business in a favorable way. When properly planned and executed, it is among our company’s most potent sales tools.

Most sales in a technical field like ours involve plenty of education. An engineer needs to learn whether your capabilities are suited to the project; a buyer wants to make sure your business processes are up to the task. Spending time together in the factory lets them learn all they need to satisfy their requirements, and the factory setting provides a much richer environment, compared to a meeting over lunch or most email or telephone interactions.

Even when the visitors don’t have a specific part they are trying to source, we look at factory tours as effective marketing. Many times I have had a visitor exclaim something like: “I knew you were a spring company, but I now see that you also do tooling and stamping. My project has a new stamping, too.” Seeing our wide range of processes very often leads to more work from an existing customer.

We host several different types of visitors who are not customers at all, or at least not yet. These long- range prospects include engineering students and their professors from Stanford and Berkeley; Scandic is now established as part of their engineering curriculum, helping with senior design projects and giving free samples of materials. I have been invited to lecture and to participate in roundtable programs there, which I think of as leveraging the marketing impact of the plant tour.

We have even invited Boy Scout troops and high school manufacturing clubs (start them young!) to tour our facility. Some of these kids are future engineers and customers, and I feel the exposure also gets the word out about manufacturing as a career choice. One of our most unusual tours was a Family Day for employees’ families, with all the machines running. I overheard one say “it’s the first time in 25 years that my family has seen what I do for a living,” and his pride was obvious.

I am often asked about confidentiality concerns regarding customer identities and their information. Like many manufacturers today, we have nondisclosure agreements with most of our customers. My advice is simply to keep prints and specs covered; if there is a particularly sensitive part or process running, shut it down beforehand and don’t dwell in that area of the plant. Before we start, I ask visitors to respect the privacy of the information, and remind them that their data will be treated the same.

How to Structure an Effective Tour

Manufacturing plants can be complex and overwhelming to a first-time visitor. I have learned the hard way that a little preparation can make all the difference in a tour. First, what time of day is best? Consider your production shift schedule; most visitors will want to see machines in action and observe how your operation works, which is difficult outside of production hours. But be very aware of both safety and cleanliness: safety because that is paramount for everyone, and housekeeping because a dirty restroom can spoil an otherwise positive impression. Keeping the plant in a visitor-ready state contributes to safety, too. And consider whether distributing safety glasses is prudent.

Spend some time to rehearse your presentation until you get comfortable. Think about the message you want to send: Are you trying to demonstrate overall competency, or do you need to show expertise in forming a kind of part that this particular visitor needs?

Who should conduct the tour? It depends on the type of visitor, and what you are trying to convey. An account manager often handles a general introductory tour. A visitor with a specific design challenge will benefit from an engineering-focused tour given by a sales engineer or engineering manager. These kinds of visitors might concentrate their time in the area of the plant which would produce the part under consideration.

Note that a quality audit is a very different kind of visit, primarily involving your QA staff and concentrating on documentation and process controls. Quality audits are usually driven by the visitor’s checklist.

Plan the direction of flow, and try walking it to see where you can stop to talk safely. In our plant, where jobs are constantly being setup and torn down, I find it useful to review the production area right before visitors arrive to know what is interesting today and what areas to avoid.

Starting and ending in the conference room is useful but not essential. But be sure to pass through your well-organized shipping area. I can tell visitors that we ship about one million parts every month, but it is more effective for them to see the bar-coded boxes lined up to ship to locations around the world.

Because Scandic has five production departments (coiling, tooling, fourslide, punch press, secondary ops) we point out synergies between departments, such as: “These parts are blanked on this waterjet, and you can see them being formed on the brake press over there.” This kind of narrative will help you from forgetting to mention an important area. But recognize that for a new visitor, some processes are sexier than others; I have to tear people away from watching the CNC wireforming machines!

If you have a large group, break into smaller teams. Generally four to six is the maximum workable size per team, at least in our plant. Even with small groups, remember that the tour guide should enunciate toward the visitors, not to the machine! You don’t need to stare at the loud punch press while you describe it: direct your voice towards the listeners, and be conscious of noise levels. One technique is to introduce a process while standing away from a noisy work center, then allow visitors to approach closer (if safe). It’s even more interesting to visitors if you can pass around a warm part fresh off the machine. Engineers especially love to hold a progression strip and figure out for themselves how the part is being stamped. If your parts are small, send visitors home with samples; it helps to prolong their experience.

Finally, remember that people are the company’s greatest ambassadors. Identify department supervisors and/or line workers who are good spokespeople, and let visitors speak with them directly. The best salesperson is never as convincing as the technician who has mastered a process. Some operators enjoy demonstrating their skill, and having them describe their area to visitors lets them shine. It also demonstrates the depth of knowledge throughout the company, and your visitors will remember that more than the “sales talk.”

In a time when most communication is electronic, an in-plant visit delivers a powerful message about what we have to offer. Tours by prospects, current customers, and even members of the community are a great way to market the business. Plant tours can showcase capabilities that even an existing customer might not know about, but planning and preparation are essential to make the visit worthwhile.

About the Author: Hale Foote is the President of Scandic Springs, Inc. Scandic is the largest spring and stamping company in Northern California, making custom metal parts for companies in the medical, automotive and aerospace fields worldwide. He has used Scandic to work with students and teachers at local schools and universities to promote careers in manufacturing. He is also on the board of directors of Manex and other nonprofits. Before joining Scandic, he practiced law in Washington, DC.  

Make Your Plant Tour a Success!

Update : Due to popular demand i have added a  Lean Shop Floor Visit Checklist .

Surely you’ve visited a manufacturing plant before. As for me, even though I’ve been in hundreds of plants, I always find the experience overwhelming. There is a mass of machines, workers, parts, and tools. Additionally, a guide tries to give you an overview of the plant, usually ripe with technical terms, abbreviations, and local plant lingo that you can barely hear over the noise of the work. In short, the deluge of information easily overwhelms you, and after the tour you only remember that the machines were green (in older plants) or grey (in more modern plants). As for what you could have learned about the plant, it may have been a waste of time.

This offers suggestions to help you get the most out of your plant tour. The key of the tour is FOCUS ! Don’t try to take in everything. Rather, focus on different areas of interest. Decide what you’re most interested in before you visit, and then focus on that topic. Another of my posts talks about how visitors are manipulated during a plant tour in order to keep them in the dark.

One area many visitors are interested in is efficiency —how well does the plant run? This is very important if you’re a high-ranking manager visiting one of your plants, if you want to evaluate a purchase of the plant, or if you’re interested in a joint venture. In these cases you want to know how well the plant is run.

One element to focus on are the workers. How many of them are working productively, and how many are not? This is actually rather easy to do. Just check how many workers you can see, and how many of them are working productively in the moment you look at them. And, by working productively, I mean actually working on a product and creating added value for the customer. Here are a few things that don’t count:

• Walking around

Only true “hand-on-the-metal” work counts as productive. The number of productive workers compared to all workers is a very good measure to quickly get the gist of a plant’s productivity. And these numbers may surprise you. Among the best I have seen is within Toyota plants, where between seven to nine out of ten workers are actually working. This is best of bench(mark).

In an average Western plant, these numbers don’t come anywhere close to Toyota’s performance . In my experience, only around five out of ten workers are actually productive, while the rest may still be busy but not productive. I’ve even seen plants where only three out of ten workers added value to the customer. Imagine the waste if more than half of your workers do not create value for the customer!

In any case, the percentage of workers adding value is a quick and dirty but reliable check of a plant’s productivity. It certainly beats any official numbers you get from plant management staff who mainly want to look good. Hence, official numbers are usually highly unreliable if not outright fudged.

You can repeat the same exercise for machines. How many machines are actually working when you look at them? An average Western plant may have around three to five out of ten machines actually working. Again, being under repair or set up for the next job does not count as work.

While at first glance these numbers are even lower than for worker productivity, this is actually the way it’s supposed to be. Machines are usually highly specialized, whereas human workers are much more flexible. Or, as NASA put it:

Hence, it is better if your machines wait and your workers are busy than the other way around. Overall, counting workers tells you more about the plant than counting machines, but counting machines may be useful for highly automated lines (for example, robotic car body welding lines).

Yet another area of interest for many visitors is inventory . In a Western view, lean manufacturing is often associated with low inventories. While this is an oversimplification, high inventory is an indication of a poorly run plant. It’s a bit more difficult to understand the inventory situation from a plant tour, but it is possible. First of all, check for some obvious signs of dead inventory :

• Look for dates on material sheets or inventory stickers. While the vast majority is naturally pretty recent, try to find the oldest ones. I frequently find lots of boxes in excess of five years of age.
• Look for dust. The thicker the layer of dust, the older the part. Naturally, you have to adjust this for the environment (for example, two days in a foundry will create a thicker layer of dust than twenty years in a semiconductor fabrication).
• Are there any blocked stocks or stocks that are not to be used for quality or other reasons? A key telltale sign is red stickers warning against the use of the material, often giving the reason. Very interesting information!

Of course, the question of what’s good and what isn’t depends on the details of the business. A plant for spare parts or low-volume, high-variety production may  necessarily have much older stock than a high-volume mass-production plant. The value of the product is also of interest. Where lack of hard data exists, size or weight give a rough estimate of value. Hence, a two-year-old pallet with tons of material may be worse than a two-year-old box of screws.

It’s sometimes also possible to estimate the reach of inventory . Look at how often the inventory is moved (for example, how often someone takes out a box or a pallet). Relate this to the total inventory on hand. So, if three pallets were taken out in ten minutes’ time, but the storage holds around one thousand pallets, then there are enough parts for 333 times ten minutes or around seven shifts’ worth of work.

Again, doing this exercise at the incoming goods area at a Toyota plant gives around two hours’ worth of material, whereas in the Western world it may be closer to two weeks’ worth of material. Again, different businesses need different inventory levels.

However, be aware that your observations apply only to the material you see. It doesn’t apply to the material on the road or the material stored elsewhere. Many Western plants pride themselves on their low-inventory reach but conveniently forget to mention the outsourced but still-paid-for warehouse across the street with another two weeks of inventory. And, for the record, carrying your stuff across the street within two days does not count as Just in Time delivery.

Order & Cleanliness

Finally, you can look at order and cleanliness . If you have ever heard of 5S , that’s what applies here. While not a numerical measurement, try to pay attention to the following:

• Does it look orderly?
• Are the machines, parts, and tools clean?
• Are positions of parts, tools, and movable machines marked?
• What kind of signs and markers can you see?
• Are there standard operating procedures on the machines? All of them?

Looking for these kinds of things gives you an impression of the order in the plant. However, since it is not a numerical measure, you would have to compare it with your experience from previous plant visits. Again, for a best of bench(mark) comparison, take a tour of a Toyota group plant.

Miscellaneous

If you’re interested in product quality , there are also a few things you can pay attention to:

• With regard to inventory, are there any blocked stocks or stocks that are not to be used for quality or other reasons? Again, look for the red stickers! Similarly, look for the reject bins. How full are they? How often are parts discarded?
• How are the products treated? Are delicate parts banged around on a forklift?
• Cleanliness on the product itself: Does it look clean? Are there, for example, metal chips on a part that may later damage an internal valve? Are there oil stains where there shouldn’t be stains?
• Do the machines look clean and operate smoothly? Toyota legend Taiichi Ohno tells a story of visiting a potential precision tool supplier only to find that the supplier was located under a train overpass, with everything vibrating whenever a train passed over. Or, in a modern sense, is there a two-hundred-ton press next to the precision milling machine?

You can also look at documentation . Try to find the quality metrics. Most plants have them, usually at the most important stations. How good are they? Of course, keep in mind that you’re looking at a measurement made by someone else and that the definition of what constitutes a problem versus what is “ normal ” may surprise you. If you’re not sure, assume the worst.

Manufacturing Standards

You can also check the manufacturing standards :

• As above, are there standard operating procedures on the machines? All of them?
• What is the date on the standard? Anything beyond six months is questionable, anything beyond one year is next to worthless.
• Do operators follow these standards?
• Look into a standard. Do you understand it? Does it seem easy to follow, clear, concise, and complete?

To judge the teamwork, have a closer look at the team meeting corner :

• Is there a team meeting corner?
• What documentation is there?
• Are there KPIs measured? What KPIs? Are these done by hand or printed out (a sure sign that workers are not involved and don’t care about the measurement)?
• Are there problem-solving sheets?

Final Words

Overall, there a lot of things you can pay attention to. Just make sure you don’t overdo it. Like the young tiger hunting for ducks, if you try to catch them all, you’ll get none. Clearly decide on your focus area and then stick with it . Alternatively, if you’re part of a bigger group, spread the responsibility. Have one person look at workers, another one at machines, and so on.

And finally, read my next post on how visitors on a plant tour are manipulated , and what you can do to see through the ruse.

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Plant Tour Guide

Showcase your plant, build relationships, and help students and educators.

Explore Careers: A Guide to Successful Plant Tours Conducting manufacturing plant visits for students, educators, parents, media, and elected officials is a good way to build relationships for your company, expose community members to high quality, good paying manufacturing careers, and educate people on the value of manufacturing. More than anything else, plant tours educate the community on the importance of manufacturing’s role in the economy and allow a first-hand look at how manufacturing has changed from most people’s 1950s impression. These visits can provide excellent press opportunities for your company. Better yet, your neighbors will have a better appreciation for your role in your community. This guide will help you plan, prepare for, and conduct a successful plant tour, as well as ensure your experience is as effective as possible. You will find a simple yet thorough checklist to follow to make sure your plant tour runs as smoothly as possible. Plant tours paint the perfect picture of manufacturing at work.

Download a printable version of this Plant Tour Guide

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction

Checklist for Plant Tours

• Setting up the Plant Tour
• Planning for the Media
• Organizing the Plant Tour
• Preparing Displays & Literature
• Preparing for Arrival
• Conducting the Tour
• Following Up After the Tour
• Sample Invitation: VIPs
• Sample Media Advisory: Plant Tour

SETTING UP THE PLANT TOUR

• Decide Who to Invite . Consider starting with local school leaders, career and technical education faculty, and guidance counselors. Add local media, chamber of commerce executive, and elected officials.
• Send the Invitation . Send a letter explaining who you are and what you would like to showcase. Include directions to the plant, as well as a requested amount of time. Once a date is set, be prepared for last-minute schedule changes.
• Track and Confirm RSVPs, and Follow Up as Necessary . Call the invitees to make sure the invitation has been received. Make follow-up phone calls. Be flexible and persistent.
• Be Clear About the Length of the Event . Make sure everyone knows the timetable for the tour and other events you have planned.
• Distribute Memo of Visit to Employees . Share the news with employees of the visitor’s planned visit and encourage them to attend.

The ideal time to schedule a tour is during October, since it is Manufacturing Month. If you hold a tour at another time, some dates to keep in mind include:

•  Martin Luther King, Jr., Day (mid-January)
•  Presidents’ Day (mid-February)
•  Easter/Passover (March or April)
•  Memorial Day (late May)
•  Independence Day (July 4)
•  Summer (June through the week after Labor Day)
•  Rosh Hashanah (late September or early October)
•  Yom Kippur (10 days after Rosh Hashanah)
•  Columbus Day (early October)
•  Veterans Day (early November)
•  Thanksgiving (late November)
•  Christmas (late December)
•  New Year’s Day (January 1)

PLANNING FOR THE MEDIA

• Make attendees aware that media might be present . Once the date and time are set, contact your local media outlets, including large daily newspapers, as well as local weeklies. Offer to send your own report and photos to the paper.
• Draft a media advisory, if desired . Once the date is set, draft a media advisory containing the date, time, specific location, parking accommodations, and lighting requirements, if any. Note whether the tour itself is open for press coverage. Give the location. Email the advisory along with a press kit and company information to everyone on your press list.
• Prepare area for news media . Arrange for an area outside of your facility for presentations, ribbon-cutting (if appropriate), and informal discussions with the news media. This area should be in front of your company’s signage or logo.
• Prepare a message from the CEO . Prepare an “op-ed” or letter to the editor from your CEO to your local newspapers on an issue related to manufacturing and manufacturing careers.  Better yet, arrange a meeting with the newspapers’ editorial boards to discuss jobs in your facility. Reach out to local radio stations for an interview.

ORGANIZING THE PLANT TOUR

• Put together internal planning group, if necessary . The planning group should be responsible for organizing the logistics of the plant tour.
• Decide who will meet with the visitors . Your intent is to develop a good rapport with educators and others who may influence the future employees of your company and your industry.
• Craft VIP introductions . Decide who will provide remarks and the topics you want to cover in welcoming school leaders and others.
• Establish look and feel of welcome area . Determine how you want the entrance to your plant to appear when your guest arrives. Think about the type of signage you want to use and whether any displays will be set up here or somewhere else.
• Reserve a room for school leaders to talk with your staff . Determine the best room, set up a podium and microphone if necessary, and arrange seating. Determine if refreshments will be served.
• Create name badges for guests and staff . Name badges are a must for your plant tour. Create name badges for your guest and any staff that accompanies him or her, as well as employees of your plant.
• Determine required safety equipment . If your plant tour requires it, determine what safety equipment will be needed. These include construction helmets, safety glasses, gloves, etc.
• Brief tour guide(s) . Inform your tour guide(s) of what the plant tour will entail (what machinery, if any, will be shown on the tour, who the guest will meet with and where, the length of the tour, etc.)
• Craft tour script . Write an outline of what you hope to cover during the plant tour.
• Hire/designate photographer . Have a photographer on hand to take pictures of your tour event. These photos are excellent opportunities to publicize the event.
• Prepare an information package . Prepare materials for your guests that emphasize the benefits good manufacturing jobs bring to workers, suppliers and your area’s economy. Put together a one-pager that highlights your company’s characteristics and accomplishments.
• Research talking points, your company story, company employment needs, etc . Educate visitors on the great things manufacturing does. Share your personal stories; don’t just talk economic data or statistics.
• Prepare a map of the tour route . Consult with employees to determine a route for the tour, noting which areas contain top secret information or any safety hazards. These areas should be off-limits.
• Determine product display, if applicable . Proudly display your product for your visitor to see. A special exhibit, promotional materials, and company literature will enhance the visit.
• Gather company literature and background materials . This information helps tell the story of your business to your guest. Include the story on your company history, philanthropic efforts, employee team news, etc.
• Display materials showing your commitment to education . Displaying materials, literature, posters, etc. that show your commitment to training, your K-12 district, and technical college will serve as a reminder of your commitment to the future of manufacturing.
• Provide list of attendees’ names and companies . This is great to have for networking opportunities and putting names with faces.

PREPARING FOR ARRIVAL

• Designate a note taker . Assign a team member to take notes on any discussions, if possible.
• Determine what machinery will be in operation . This is important, especially if you plan to highlight or show a particular piece of machinery during the tour.
• Provide directions to the plant . Ensure your guests know what entrance to use; reserve parking spaces for them.
• Welcome guests on arrival . Greet officials at designated area. In the event of rain, provide an umbrella if possible. Hand out name badges. Prepare guests for the possibility of going through security before entering the plant.

CONDUCTING THE TOUR

•  Provide safety equipment to tour guests, if applicable . Provide your guest with any items necessary for a tour, such as a construction helmet, safety glasses, gloves, etc.
• Show guests how your production line works . Show your guest how your machinery works, how different items are put together, what new technologies are being used, and your workers’ overall productivity.
• Let your visitor be an active participant . If feasible without shutting down production lines, offer your visitor the chance to address your entire workforce. Have the guests do something “physical,” such as shake hands, participate in a ribbon-cutting, run a machine, examine your product, or look at a computer screen. These are prime photo opportunities.
• Success stories . Discuss how the plant has improved and contributed to the community. Inform visitors about your company’s history, including total investment in facilities and equipment.
• Products manufactured . Describe how the products are used and where they are sold. Include the value of products you export.
• Jobs . Discuss the number of people employed in your plant and others around the state or country; labor unions represented in your plant; and worker health, safety, and training programs.
• Payroll and benefits . Discuss wages and the types and value of employee benefits, including profit-sharing, recreational programs, voter registration activities, health or sports facilities, credit unions, child care, educational support and discount purchases of company products. (Remind your visitor that each wage dollar multiplies in the wage earner’s community in the form of rent, food purchases, clothing purchases, medical expenses, etc. before it goes to out-of-town suppliers.)
• Community impact . How much does your company pay in federal, state, and local taxes? What are your local expenditures to purchase supplies, materials, and services? Do you host town hall meetings? Does your company participate in community charities? What are you doing to support local education? Tell the guests about your active role as a good corporate citizen.
• Send thank you note to guest(s) . Write a thank you note reiterating any key issues discussed during the tour.
• Thank your own staff . Recognize employees who contributed their time and expertise to make the tour a success.
• Send photos to attendees . Many times photos you send to guests will show up in other periodicals.
• Tell WMC about the tour . To help WMC assist other companies, tell us how the tour went. Send us photos and press clippings. E-mail your information to Jim Morgan at [email protected] .
• Provide press coverage . Provide the school district, technical college, and local chamber of commerce with your company newsletter and other publicity the visit generated.
• Use social media to recap the tour . Publish photos, details, etc. on company social media platforms. Coordinate with WMC to post on any WMC platforms.
• Continue to communicate with the guests post-event . Keep them up-to-date on new activities at the company, and leave the door open for future visits.

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5 reasons to ask a supplier for a plant tour

How much do you really know about your supplier's processes and practices the best way to find out is to go inside, watch: 5 things to look for when visiting a supplier, 1. confirm their safety process.

Safety is important all along the value chain, down to the end consumer, explains Christina Tarola, Account Manager, BASF. "If we're keeping our people safe, you can bet that we want to make sure that your people are safe when they're handling the products and using them. The people that encounter the product every step of the way need to know that they are touching something that's safe and that we deem it safe."

And a plant tour is the quickest way to assess whether or not a supplier complies 100 percent with its principles of the Responsible Care program.

"You get the sense of the adherence to responsible care, how well the plant is in terms of cleanliness, how well it is organized," explains Roger Haigh, Sales Manager, BASF Printing, Packaging and Adhesives. "You would see a clean, spacious plant where everything is hung up, everything is labeled." Any sign of an unkempt or cluttered plant is a red flag.

Look for how materials flow from railcar or truck, how they move through the plant and how they are stored along the way—all good indicators of safety, Haigh advises.

All hoses in these areas should be properly labeled and stored neatly to prevent tripping hazards. Ask about the safety measures to control or address leaks that might occur from the hoses or transfer pipes.

2. Efficiency

Moreover, how materials flow from railcar or truck—and how they move through the plant and are stored along the way—and not only good indicators of safety, but efficiency, Haigh adds.

Essentially, you'll get a solid grasp of "how good they are at doing what they're going to do." A plant that is run efficiently—and this probably goes without saying—translates to on-time deliveries, consistent product quality, and minimized time and financial waste.

Tip : Look for state-of-the-art control systems and tightly controlled processes that help ensure consistent product quality.

3. Build a stronger relationship to get a fast response to the next 'big ask'

Meeting face-to-face at a supplier's plant creates an opportunity to build a relationship that will result in quick and relevant action when a situation occurs that requires immediate attention.

"You get to know their plant people, you get to know more people in the organization. That gives you an opportunity to build a relationship," explains Haigh. "Bad things happen, and when they do, you can go to them and ask, 'Hey, could you schedule a bulk truck a day or two earlier, because I'm out of material?'"

"Hopefully they feel comfortable," says Tom Turnbull, BASF Production Manager. "If they have an issue or a concern, they can pick up the phone and give us a call. We're willing to talk to them and do what we can to satisfy their concerns. I think that's always easier to do after you've met and established a relationship."

It's a two-way street, however. Sharing the subtleties and nuances of business with a supplier truly makes hard questions easier to ask. If they understand your operations better, you don't have to waste time defining the problem when a solution is needed immediately.

It's a good idea to be prepared for a supplier's questions and be willing to share more than you might expect about your own operation. The more suppliers know about customers, the more they can shape solutions to the customers' benefit. Which brings us to...

4. Information exchange

"We can learn from each other," says Holly Johnson, Production Team Leader, Wyandotte Dispersions and Resins.

Talking openly with each other about what each party buys and sells can open up opportunities to suggest changes that will improve both business processes. Quite simply, the more detailed and informative the answers to those questions, the more you're going to get out of it in the long run.

"I like visiting other manufacturing facilities," says Turnbull. "If you're a manufacturing person, any time you visit somebody else's plant you can always get ideas that you can take back to your facility."

5. People, pride, and cultural alignment

The people you meet on a tour are a litmus test for those you don't meet. "Something I've observed fairly consistently is that the way a leader acts, the way that they conduct themselves—whether it be in business or personal life—tends to trickle down to their people," shares Gabriel McDonald, Continuous Improvement Specialist, Wyandotte Dispersions and Resins.

"If you're going on a plant tour and you have a very difficult time finding people or you can see that they're actively avoiding you, that would be a red flag to me—not necessarily in terms of what do they have to hide, but why would they feel like they can't speak with me? Is this reflection of their leadership? Is this the culture that's been created?"

Culture and how plant personnel behave can also signify product quality. "If I see operators yelling or not seeming very happy, it would seem to me that maybe they don't take pride in their work—is that going to impact quality downstream?" asks Johnson.

It's worth looking and listening for openness and a willingness to invest extra time. Those qualities can reveal a positive company culture that inspires confidence. And it will help assure that the supplier will deliver accurately and consistently—especially when challenges arise.

"When we really think about a company, a business is nothing but people," sums up McDonald. "It's just a group of people who have a common goal. All the capital in the world isn't going to produce anything without people."

1. Give plenty of notice. Being sensitive to supplier schedules is important, for example knowing dates for annual shutdowns before asking for a visit.

2. Draft a preferred timetable and agenda. Ensure expectations of both parties are aligned. Detailed objectives shared in advance make for more effective tours.

3. Share information. Check that the host supplier is up to date with latest developments in your business, especially if it's been more than three months since the last meeting with a sales person.

4. The NDA is your friend. Many large suppliers will ask for a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) before a visit. The NDA can easily be treated as mutual, enabling the customer to provide information that will improve the supplier's learnings from the visit and the quality of service provided afterwards.

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Touring Your Manufacturer’s Facility: What are the Benefits?

A few weeks ago, I was in Washington, D.C., for the Cherry Blossom Festival, and my friend and I thought we’d stop and get cold drinks from a nearby food truck. 

I didn’t think much of it when I ordered mango tea, but as the man began pouring me a cup of plain coffee creamer, I realized we’d made a terrible mistake. 

Thinking back to the incident, I can now spot the dozens of warning signs I’d ignored. For starters, every other truck had a long line, while this ice cream truck was empty. However, in the simmering heat, I trusted them simply because they’d written “TEA” on the side in big, bold letters. 

Ordering from a flexible material converter without seeing the facility is like buying food from a mysterious food truck: you’ll get something, but it might not be exactly what’s written on the menu. 

Facility tours can be a priceless opportunity to see the machines up close and listen to your converter explain how they use different processes. At Strouse, tours are critical to fostering customer relationships by demonstrating our existing capabilities.

Knowing the benefits of touring your manufacturer’s facility will allow you to determine when facility tours are necessary and how to get the most out of future tours.

5 Benefits of Touring Your Manufacturer’s Facility

Touring your manufacturer’s facility is more than just establishing trust in their capabilities, it’s also a way to further your connections and generate future project ideas.

These benefits of touring a manufacturing facility will demonstrate whether it’s worth the cost to your company:

BENEFIT #1: VERIFY MACHINES AND EQUIPMENT

“Yeah, we can make that for you,” says some guy you met online.

 For all you know, this contact operates a single die cut machine out of his garage. Yet, when you invest in another company for your critical projects, you’ll want to have the utmost faith in their ability to deliver on time.

There’s a considerable difference between owning a single rotary die cut press versus multiple, and depending on where you are in the process, your project requires different capability levels. Not to mention, many businesses plan to scale up their production early.

Will you know whether the equipment they’re showing you is up-to-date rather than over a decade old? If you want to inspect a converter’s equipment, send one of your technical experts to check.

The company members you send on the tour will likely depend on where you are in the cycle. For example, if you’re designing for current projects, it could be helpful to bring your technical team. Meanwhile, if you already have a product planned, you might want to include your logistics or purchasing team. 

Verifying the machines and equipment of a converter is the first step to checking their capability claims and building trust in the legitimacy of their business.

BENEFIT #2: OBSERVE THE STATE OF THEIR FACTORY

Nobody wants their parts built in filthy conditions, yet many people order from manufacturers without ever seeing the inside of their factory. 

For certain products, cleanliness is a much higher priority than for others. For instance, medical tape, bandages, and other products should be produced and stored in a sterile environment. 

When walking through the factory, consider overall cleanliness, organization, material storage, safety measures, and waste disposal. Observe the condition of their factory, including their inventory, to determine whether your contact can safely store your materials and products.

Supply chain issues are commonplace in the manufacturing industry, and your converter might be unable to compete if it can’t order and store enough material to minimize the impact of supply chain disruptions.

Lastly, ask if your converter has immediate expansion plans. It could be a good sign if they’re building, renovating their facilities, or actively adding members to their team. If your converter is steadily progressing as a company and becoming a leader in their respective field, this has positive implications for the work they’ll be doing for you.

BENEFIT #3: MEET WITH YOUR CONTACTS

Meeting your contacts establishes trust between your companies and lets you witness how they operate and meet in the middle of your processes. 

Are they taking your project seriously? How have they handled the information you’ve presented them with so far? Do they ask questions about your current work and personalize the tour?

You can gauge a great deal about a company's culture based on the employees’ willingness to offer clear, insightful answers to your questions. In addition, it’s worth considering who you come into contact with on tour. 

Are you directly communicating with somebody who can answer your more technical questions, or do they leave you hanging? 

Touring a facility also lets you observe a company’s work environment and how the workflow is set up. While this might seem like a minor detail, it provides insight into their operations and inspires questions related to inter-team coordination.

Understanding how a potential partner operates may alter the way you coordinate, so it’s worth noting how the different teams are spread out. 

Is the factory located in a separate building? You may need to confirm whether this business is the one responsible for building your part or if they’re outsourcing engineering and labor. 

BENEFIT #4: INSPECT THEIR PRODUCT LEGITIMACY 

Receiving samples in the mail is all well and good, but it’s different from seeing a converter build parts in real-time. 

Watching rolls of material become products as part of a 1-pass production process will confirm that the machines are operational and that a converter knows how to set them up (which is arguably one of the most difficult aspects of flexible material converting) and build parts daily. 

BENEFIT #5: REFLECT ON YOUR OWN PROJECT 

Touring a manufacturing facility causes customers to reflect on their own project needs.

Firstly, you can rest assured that any product information you reveal will be strictly confidential if your converter suggests a mutual NDA . 

Strouse insists upon a mutual NDA before anyone enters our facilities to preserve the confidentiality of our processes and protect the details of any product, process, or material information you wish to discuss. 

At the end of the day, the question is: what are YOU hoping to get out of this? If you’re willing to travel to see our facility, we want to make sure you get to speak with whomever you’re hoping and see what you’d like. 

Secondly, if you’re hoping to make the most of your tour, it’s useful to warn your converter and let them know more about your project or the capabilities you want to see.

You might be worried that mentioning a specific ability will narrow a converter’s focus too much. From our perspective , it simply gives us a more precise idea of what to show you and how to frame our conversations to make them more useful to you.

Even if your tour guide focuses on specific capabilities, sometimes just seeing the other machines and hearing about your options can spark ideas for your product or manufacturing process.

Should I Tour My Manufacturer’s Facility?

No matter the outcome, you’ll always have a better idea of whether you should work with a particular manufacturer after touring their facility. 

In fact, even if you’ve been to a facility before, it can be beneficial to return  again every few years to discuss your current projects, witness the changes they’ve undergone, and guarantee your converter still follows good manufacturing practices.

The main downside to touring a manufacturer’s facility is figuring out when a tour is necessary and potentially wasting time and travel costs to visit a nonviable option.

If the cost of travel is too much, or you don’t have enough time, there are other ways to qualify the legitimacy of a converter. For instance, you could look online at reviews to see what other people are saying or utilize Google street view to observe the appearance of their address and scope out its size.  

There are three main outcomes of taking a factory tour:

• The manufacturer has your desired equipment and capabilities 
• They DON’T have your desired equipment and capabilities 
• There are some capabilities, but you want to find a better fit

If you can afford the travel costs, and you’re at the point of asking the question, “Should I tour this facility?” the answer is probably yes, you should request a tour.

Every manufacturer has limitations, and touring their facility is a straightforward way to visit, ask questions, and better understand where they focus primarily and how they’re expanding in the current market. 

Are you interested in witnessing Strouse’s manufacturing capabilities up-close and personal? Contact us to schedule a tour.

Lee K. House

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• Browse Archive

Published November 4, 2015 and updated October 19, 2021

12 Tips to Improve Your Plant Tours

Whether you’re expecting state legislatures, corporate officials, or potential investors, you and your team should always be prepared to give quality, effective plant tours. There are a few things you can do to ensure a positive experience, and of course, the highest level of safety when touring guests around your plant.

1.  Maintain good housekeeping before the visit.

While it might not seem as though appearance matters, it does when you host visitors. Especially when your visitors might be used to working in a corporate office environment. Make sure you cover the basics: dispose of waste, keep your floors and windows clean, and make sure the general layout of your plant is neat and orderly.

2.  Be a generous host.

Does your plant produce a food or beverage that your guests can sample? If so, offer them one upon arrival or at an appropriate time during the tour. Anything you can do to make the tour experience more authentic, the better received the visit will be. Distribute product samples, look at prototypes, and offer some sort of souvenir that embodies what you manufacture.

3.  Double (and triple) check compliance regulations.

Before you allow anyone into your facility, check to make sure all of your operating equipment and machinery comply with federal regulations. Then, check them again. You’ll want to verify safety and environmental compliance and make sure your plant is in accordance with all of them.

4. Emphasize safety.

Speaking of safety, it’s extremely important to provide your guests with the proper safety equipment upon arrival. Lend them safety glasses, headsets , gloves, and anything else that might be necessary for a safe experience in your plant. In this situation, the phrase “better safe than sorry” truly applies.

5.  Use the right spokesperson.

Finding the right person to give your plant tour is key to providing your visitors with a quality experience. You want to choose someone who will engage the audience, make the tour interesting, and also be able to answer any questions the visitors might have. Devote some quality time to making sure you find the right person and ensuring they are prepared.

6.  Ensure effective communication.

Allowing your tour guide to be heard, and ensuring that he or she can effectively communicate with the guests throughout the visit is perhaps the most important element of a plant tour. Utilize two-way or listen-through headsets to protect your visitors hearing but also allow for conversations to take place.

7.  Show off what you do.

Throughout the tour, don’t be afraid to highlight what you and your team do exceptionally well. Take the time to explain innovations your plant has worked on and how you do things differently than your competitors. This is a time when it’s okay to tastefully brag about why your plant does things better and how you’re at the leading edge of your field.

8.  Make your commentary engaging.

Good tour guides will explain machinery and processes to the visitors. Great tour guides will use examples and anecdotes to bring their machinery and processes to life. Think about ways you can incorporate relevant stories into your tour so that your audience stays engaged and interested. Show your visitors that your plant is more than just machinery and assembly lines, and prove that it fosters a hard-working team and innovative technology .

9.  Introduce key team members throughout the tour.

In addition to using anecdotes and stories to illustrate your tour, engage the team as much as possible throughout. Identify and introduce key players in the plant to your guests and explain their role. Doing this will add a personal, human touch the plant tour experience and overall, will make it more memorable.

10.  Document the tour, if appropriate.

If you’re giving a plant tour to a significant community member, a government official, or any other public figure, arrange for someone to take photos and/or capture video footage of the tour. This will be great press for your plant and might attract other key influencers to your company.

11.  Ask for questions.

Using two-way headsets will allow your visitors to ask questions throughout the tour. If you don’t have access to a wireless communication system, make sure you end the tour in a quiet area so that your visitors can also ask questions before they leave. Use a Quiet Room or a space outside the plant itself to thank your guests for coming and address any final questions or concerns.

12.  Follow up after the tour.

Send your visitors a thank-you card for taking a tour of your plant. If any of the participants were key government or corporate influencers, you’ll want to maintain those relationships and stay in touch in way that’s appropriate and professional.

Which of these tips are you already implementing into your plant tour strategy? What other tips do you have for improving plant tours? Let us know in the comments!

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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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• Workforce Development

Four tips to help organize a fantastic factory tour

With good planning, people should be able to organize a memorable factory tour for all visitors..

If someone is looking for a way to draw in new customers or investors, a factory tour might be just what someone needs. It’s an excellent opportunity to show off facilities and equipment and introduce the staff. On top of that, a good company tour will emphasize professionalism and help build a stronger bond with clients.

All that is only possible if the factory tour is successful. And factories typically aren’t particularly suitable for tours — they tend to be loud and full of activity. In such conditions, it can be difficult to deliver a good presentation and ensure that everyone in the audience hears it.

Still, there are ways to organize fantastic factory tours that clients and investors will remember for years. Not sure how to do that? Consider these four tips for making a memorable tour.

1. Try to understand factory tour visitors’ goals

In order to organize a successful tour, start by understanding the visitors. If a company knows what they want to see and hear, they’ll have an easier time satisfying the visitors, and they’ll leave feeling their time was well spent. Ultimately, that’s exactly what is wanted.

Of course, someone can’t be sure what each and every member of the visiting group wants to hear. But someone can understand the whole group’s goals. Both investors and clients will probably want to see that the factory is up to par and the product quality is top-notch. But some of their other objectives might not be the same.

For instance, investors are more likely to be interested in a company’s efficiency and financial performance. After all, they are here to decide whether they should invest their money or not. On the other hand, if the visitors are potential clients, they’ll want to know more about the production process, cleanliness and inventory.

Take that into consideration when planning a tour. And of course, if someone doesn’t manage to answer all of the visitors’ questions, give them an opportunity to ask.

2. Use a wireless factory tour guide system

Factories aren’t exactly quiet — machines and people working with them tend to make a lot of noise. Thus, they don’t make a great setting for giving presentations or tours . After all, what’s the point of showing visitors around if they can’t even hear?

And, of course, someone can’t stop all activity as they’re showing visitors around. That wouldn’t only be a waste of money and time but also counterproductive to the tour. The audience wants to see how the company operates on a regular day, not an empty factory that’s not working.

So, how does someone resolve the noise issue then? Well, someone could use a wireless tour guide system during the presentation. These systems contain earpieces and microphones, allowing everyone to communicate even in less than ideal conditions. So, no matter how noisy it is, the presenter doesn’t have to raise their voice. Just speak as one would normally, and everyone will still hear.

Wireless systems usually come in two forms — one- and two-way systems. If a company chooses a two-way one, their visitors will also be able to talk to the company. Depending on the kind of tour, that may be a good idea. Someone might want to hear the audience’s feedback or allow them to ask questions even as they are being shown around.

3. Warn employees in advance

While the goal is to show visitors a regular day at the company, measures should still be taken to ensure everything goes smoothly. One such measure is telling employees an important tour is coming up and instructing them on what to do. For instance, tell them to be quieter or make more room for the group at a specific time.

Warning employees about the tour also gives them enough time to plan their activities with that in mind. Thus, they can postpone anything that may get in the way of the factory tour, as well as any projects a tour might interrupt. So, let them know at least two weeks before the big day — that way, they won’t feel blindsided.

If someone wants any of their employees to talk to visitors and share their experiences, make sure to let them know on time. They ought to prepare themselves for the part they will play in the presentation. For example, they might need time to gather and organize some information the visitors could ask them to provide. And even the most eloquent people can sometimes get tongue-tied if they are suddenly put on the spot. That is why it is best to notify employees well in advance.

4. Prepare information booklets

If someone wants their visitors to remember their factory tour longer, prepare information booklets for them. Hand them out at the start of the tour or give them as gifts at the very end. That way, the company will come off even more professional and prepared, and this good impression will linger for a while.

People can choose all kinds of information to put in a booklet, of course. But in most cases, someone should include some basic information about the company, financial stats and details about the products and services. Adding a few pictures might be a good idea, too — it’ll make a booklet that much more engaging.

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