Submitted 21 hours ago by GrayBackgroundMusic@lemmy.zip to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Boeing has an awesome factory tour. So does Ford. Just buy tickets and for the day and time you want to attend.
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.
Breweries and distilleries commonly offer tours
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 disarmament in advance, make some phone calls etc. and you should be able to visit a whole bunch of interesting places.
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.
You can book yourself on a container ship as a passenger and see industrial ports and stuff across the world
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.
I just showed up and started working there.
Kidding but almost, made video games for almost ten years early 2000 😁
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.
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.
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.
Check out your local recycling center, they often do tours!
Kinda related: crowdsupply.com/…/the-new-essential-guide-to-elec…
Actual book: bunniefoo.com/…/essential-guide-shenzhen-web.pdf
That would be awesome
exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com 57 minutes ago
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.