5d ago

anyone have personal experience with industrial tourism?

I was wondering if industrial tourism is a real thing or just another one of my million weird obsessions. Ddg searched and it's a real thing. It's got a Wikipedia page and everything.

I would love to go to places and see how things are made. Modern Marvels is my favorite show (yes, I'm old) and also how it's made.

Anyone done something like this? How was your experience? How did you set it up?

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Fellow oldie here
When we were in university, professors who had contacts in the manufacturing industry would post a bill on the notice boards stating that some of the factories they know have a slot for visit open. If there was enough interest, the thing would go on like any other group visit. Logistics, dates, etc.
During the visit, the professor and their contacts would walk us through the shop floor explaining the stations along their production line. Sometimes, there'll be a walkthrough of their logistic decision making processes. Usually concluded with a q&a session with some manager in the factory. Back then, we broke students were curious regarding how our education made us suitable for a job there and what soft skills are expected of us.
So, hitting someone up where you are interested in visiting might be a good start.
- Yup. I did something similar at uni. Also the nearest professional body branch might have regular talks/visits to local factories/power stations.
Boeing has an awesome factory tour. So does Ford. Just buy tickets and for the day and time you want to attend.
Edit: here are some other interesting tours:
chateau St Michelle winery
grand Coulee Dam
Amazon fulfillment center
- Boeing lets you tight some screws and write few lines of code
  
  They don't even care if you finish!
  
  That’s what saves their QA numbers from being even worse.
  
  Don’t forget to paint over those cracked weld joints!
- is the Ford Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan still operational?
  
  Not sure. I was on a tour that saw the F150 lines.
Lots of factories offer tours. At least where I live. Hershey, Lays, Pepsi, etc have stuff out here and they all provide tours to the public.
- Herrs and Stroehmann, too.
Breweries and distilleries commonly offer tours. Just check their website.
I've been to at least one distillery and a hydroelectric dam. These days, your best bet is probably to just check the website of wherever it is you wanna go to.
A lot of hydroelectric dams have visitor centers and I know of at least one cheese factory that has a storefront and walkway where people can see parts of the factory. I'd assume it's not common for factories though.
I work at a factory and, for insurance purposes, the bosses don't let anyone on the floor without them watching hours of saftey videos. There also isn't much to see. The machines are guarded up so much that you can't even see most moving parts. It's just magical black box material goes in, product comes out, type of stuff. Some factories also keep their setup and processes a secret.
In Germany, Thuringia is a traditional glass making region. My buddy used to work there and brought us to a factory molding various flasks and little bottles. It had a tourist gangway where you could see the whole process from molten glass pouring out of the oven and down to cooling the flasks. Cool as fuck.
The next town over from me has a car/van manufacturing plant. I went there as a teenager to learn about Kaizen, lean, process mapping and critical path analysis.
As an adult I know of a few families who have booked to go to watch robots make cars, see the assembly line and gawk at the massive diagrams on the walls.
I just showed up and started working there.
Kidding but almost, made video games for almost ten years early 2000 😁
John deere has some nice tours. The best tours cost half a million or more - but they let you take one home. (If you know a farmer who buys new tractors ask - many farmers have seen it and so won't use their tour , so you can get their ticket). Then there is the free tours that anyone can take - but these are limited numbers and tour bus companies reserve all the spots when they open up knowing they can then sell the whole tour (if you don't live near the factory this is the way to go since the factories are generally a boring drive away and the tour drivers know how to spice it up and where to eat). As an employee I've only got the engineers tour - that is when everyone staring at you knows it is your fault they are getting paid to do nothing - I do not recommend these even though they were paying me.
There's lots of that for kids. I remember we went to a donut factory. They gave us donuts and they had a gift shop where you could buy dirt cheap broken donuts. I'm pretty sure they just had a PR number where you could book stuff like that.
I wanna say we did that for other stuff, too.
There are also old factories kept as museums. I went to a salt mine once that was set up like that. That was just a run of the mill tourist attraction, you just paid some cash at the entrance.
I don’t know if they still do them or not, but Phillip Morris used to do tours of their factory outside Petersburg VA.
I did the tour as part of class I was taking. It was interesting to see how cigarettes were made. One thing the tour guide kept stressing was all these perks and things they did to make the work less boing/miserable for the workers.
The company put a lot of effort into sound suppression systems so the staff aren’t pommeled with harsh sound all day.
The company had multiple small lunch and break rooms so people could get a bit of privacy if they wanted.
The rotated staff on the machines so they don’t go insane with the boredom.
As a college kid you are just learning about the world so while I knew people smoked and back then smoking was a lot more in your face.
I really didn’t get how many people smoked until I saw that factory. It was staggering how many cigarettes were in at places and how many that factory churned out daily.
- Just looking at the wall behind the counter in 7-11 boggles my mind. Dozens of cigarette and dip brands (and now vape and nicotine pouches too), with most smokers having a preferred brand and style - they don't buy anything except the one type they like. Which means the demand must be high enough for each of those products to justify keeping them fully stocked all the time. Then consider that every corner gas station and convenience store has the same set up, even if they're all within walking distance from each other.
  That's a lot of tobacco/nicotine users.
- Mom, today I was at the cancer factory!
  
  IKR!
Check out your local recycling center, they often do tours!
The larger town next to mine has monthly tours of their wastewater and water processing plants. Although they're scheduled to be amenable for K-12 student field trips, they also see adults who wish to understand how their tax dollars are being expensed for the public good.
For other municipal services, you might also reach out to the director of that department, since as public servants, they can also schedule special tours of the facilities for members of the public. It can't hurt to ask.
Pennsylvania has lots of opportunities for factory tours. There's bread, pretzels, beer, wine, guitars, candy...
Most of the time the tours are pretty cheesy. "Press the button to watch water spray on hops." Ride in a little cart through a dramatized candy production line. That sort of stuff.
Maybe you could pose as a wealthy investor. Then you get to see the real deal!
You can book yourself on a container ship as a passenger and see industrial ports and stuff across the world
Some factories have public tour days every year. Just look it up on their website.
If you have some kind of an organization behind you, it’s also possible to arrange such tours during other times. You could also make your own industrial tour association, get a bus full of people and start arranging tours with different companies. Just contact the PR department in advance, make some phone calls etc. and you should be able to visit a whole bunch of interesting places.
Edit: I swipe too fast
- This is very important, you don't want the PR to be armed.
  
  LOL. I knew I should have read it 4 times before posting.
I once took a tour of an Alaskan oil field operation solely for the ability to gain access to the Arctic ocean, and jump in. They talked a lot about the oil stuff but I didn't pay that much attention. I was there just for the ability to say I've been in the Arctic Ocean.
That would be awesome
Kinda related: https://www.crowdsupply.com/machinery-enchantress/the-new-essential-guide-to-electronics-in-shenzhen
Actual book: https://bunniefoo.com/bunnie/essential/essential-guide-shenzhen-web.pdf
That's awesome. I can't imagine how cold.
I'd love for that kinda stuff at my job.

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