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Why (and How) to Take a Plant Tour

• David M. Upton
• Stephen E. Macadam

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

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

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

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Published August 6, 2015 and updated July 22, 2021

How to Give a Successful Plant Tour

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

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

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

Know Your Visitors’ Objectives

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

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

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

Prepare for Effective Plant Tour Communication

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

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

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

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

Show Off Your Professionalism

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

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

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

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

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

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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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

Brought to you by:

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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The Philosophy of Plant Tours

The other day I came across an interesting article about Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy often associated with Toyota’s high productivity. Basically, the idea is to continuously improve, through small or significant changes, and to involve all employees in this process. Therefore, workers on the floor can make suggestions for changes and these are considered seriously. What was interesting to me was that the article didn’t emphasize a complete overhaul of how we do things but rather a constant effort to improve, as Kaizen is a philosophy rather than a strict system. The goal is to improve effectiveness, satisfaction, and prevent spending wasteful energy by making incremental changes and avoiding upheaval and mistakes that can result from major innovation.

It occurred to me that this is the whole point of plant tours. In early October, nearly 400 participants from all over North America gathered in Toronto to tour four facilities in the area: Pallet Management Group, Topax Protektive Packaging, Weston Forest Products, and Woodbridge Pallet. Leading up to the event I did not really understand why a pallet manufacturer would come all the way to Toronto from California to walk through someone else’s shop. Things can’t be that different, can they?  During the tour, I was speaking to a man from New Jersey who has been to many of these plant tours. He told me that he’s never not made money from attending, whether by making new business connections or by trying out different ideas he’s learned over the course of the tours. I guess that answered my question.

Coming back to the Kaizen principles, are you wondering where to start?

1. Figure out where time and energy is being wasted

A great lesson learned on one of the tours was how Weston Forest Products used GPS trackers on their forklifts to determine how much time it was taking to make trips to and

from the shop. They then used this data to better organize their yard, thereby increasing their efficiency. Others have used stop watches to time how long it takes their employees to accomplish certain tasks with the current set up and then reorganized things from there.

2. Consider which small changes could make your shop more productive or efficient

There are many ideas that lead to small changes that can be picked up by observing how others operate their facilities. Whether it’s the kind of nailer they use, how they organize their repair stations, or how they deal with waste and scrap, there are all kinds of details worth considering. Why are they using that equipment? Why are they organized in this way? Is this something you could implement in your own shop? Would it be effective in your operation? Remember that not all changes will be effective and that’s ok. The point is to keep trying. 

3. Take the time to review what’s working and what can be improved

It could be worth taking the time to talk to your employees and ask them what they think works well and what they think could make their jobs easier, their tasks faster, and their productivity higher. What causes frustration or friction? Make note of these. The next time you have the opportunity to attend a plant tour, keep your eyes and ears open for how others address the same issues. You may find answers not only in what you observe on the tours themselves, but in conversations you have on the bus or during networking receptions with others in the industry. Better still, involve your employees in these tours. Invest in your staff and let them see first hand what others are doing and have them formulate their own thoughts on how to improve and report them to you. Many of these small changes will require your staff to buy in, especially if you are reorganizing a work station, changing or adding equipment. This is where involving your employees in the planning pays dividends.  Explain to them what you observed, how it appeared to make the task at hand less onerous or time consuming. Ask for AND CONSIDER their input. One thing is for sure, change will occur much more efficiently if the person making the change has buy in, or can take some ownership for the plan.

On the other hand, sometimes plant tours will help people realize what they are doing in their own shop works quite well. There is value in this, as you won’t waste time fixing what isn’t broken.

The Fall Plant Tours we co-hosted with NWPCA was a great success and we received a lot of positive feedback. Many participants noted how much they learned and how impressed they were with what they saw. We’d like to thank the hosts, who graciously opened their doors to so many people, the sponsors who made this event possible, and everyone who attended! 

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Campus arboretum tours, university of arizona pima county cooperative extension.

Did you know that the University of Arizona campus is a famous Arboretum? Considered one of the best campus Arboretums in the country, the 400 acres are home to outstanding trees from around the world or from our own Sonoran Desert.

Every Sunday morning from mid-September to mid-May, Master Gardeners lead free tours around the Campus Arboretum. There is a series of six tours, each one highlighting something different about this unique collection. Check out the descriptions (below) and use this link to register for any of these tours.

Register Here

A great way to spend a Sunday morning!

Old Main Tour

What makes Old Main so important? It’s the first building on the University of Arizona campus and has been a place of education and learning for over 130 years. But it’s also the site of beautiful and water-wise landscaping: it combines the best of desert and adapted trees and plants with water conservation practices suitable for our hot and dry climate. Join us to see how it’s done."

Arboretum History Tour

Learn the history and the heritage of Arizona's oldest University. Follow our guides as they show you beautiful places and tell you fascinating facts about the growth and development of the University, and how it came out of the sands of the Sonoran Desert to become the jewel of Arizona!

Sonoran Native Plants

When the University of Arizona was established, Dr. James Toumey, a botanist for the Agricultural Experiment Station, started a cactus display garden that, eventually became what we now know as the Joseph Wood Krutch (pronounced KROOCH) Garden. This tour features the Sonoran native plants in that garden and celebrates desert ecology and ethnobotanical wisdom .

Trees Around the World Tour

For more than a century the campus landscape has served as testing grounds for arid-adapted trees, supplying the Campus Arboretum with a collection of unusual but delightful specimens. Trees around the World features some of these unique trees and describes their native uses and interesting folklore .

Edible Landscapes Tour

This tour originated as a brilliant idea of an (undoubtedly hungry) undergraduate student, and has been customized for the benefit of all locovores. Join us to learn the identities of trees and plants with edible products which grow well in our campus landscape. The tour features arid-adapted introduced species as well as Sonoran desert native plants .

Medicinal Plants Tour

Plants have been used for centuries to treat and remedy all sorts of ailments; on this tour you will learn about some of the Sonoran Native medicinal plants found here on campus and the current science confirming their therapeutic properties for human health .

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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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Industrial Visits and Production Tours- for Holistic Learning

• What are industrial visits?
• Importance of industrial visits for students

Industrial visits are now a part of the holistic educational process. Educational institutions are now realising the importance of industrial visits for college students.

So much so, the curriculum has now evolved to include industrial visits in the course syllabus.

What Are Industrial Visits and Why Industrial Visits Are Important?

Industrial visits are tours to manufacturing, production or business sites. They can be for a short duration of time lasting for just a few hours in a day, to long tours spreading over a few days.

The objectives of industrial visits are to establish a link between theory taught in a classroom and actual practical concepts .

The importance of industrial visits for college students cannot be undermined. Industrial visits contribute to the holistic learning development of students. Let’s look at some of the reasons why industrial visits are important.

1. Eliminates Misconceptions

Students may have certain pre-conceived notions based on what they see on television or hear through peer group stories. Having industrial tours can help students get the right perspective of the working of an industry.

2. First-Hand Experience

One of the reasons why industrial visits are important is because it gives first-hand experience of the work atmosphere in an industry.

Students can witness live events and activities in a business space through industrial visits.

3. Reduces the Learning Gap

A brick-and-mortar type of learning can offer only limited knowledge to students. Combining industrial visits and production tours with classroom teaching can fill the learning gap.

Students will be able to combine theoretical knowledge with practical experiences and use this additional knowledge to build their skills. This is why industrial visits for college students is important

4. Encourages Active Learning

Another importance of industrial visits for students is that it encourages active learning. Classroom learning requires sitting for long hours throughout the lecture.

However, on industrial visits students take tours of the different departments of the industry. Here, students walk and observe each department. Students become attentive and vigilant during industrial tours.

5. Improves Technical Know-How

One of the learning outcomes of industrial visits is that it improves technical know-how. Students can now observe the live working mechanisms of machinery and equipment.

Textbooks only provide a written procedure of the working of machines, but industrial visits can offer live demonstrations. These live demonstrations improve the technical knowledge of students.

6. Insight Into the Future

7. Encourages Students to Study

Believe it or not but one of the reasons why industrial visits are important is because it encourages students to study. This happens in two ways

• Some students are so mesmerised by the working of an industry that they too want to work in a similar place after college. This desire encourages them to study hard to get into an industry of their choice.
• Similarly, students are encouraged to study hard after an industrial visit because of the interest that the industrial visit has kindled in them. On an industrial visit, students learn a lot of practical concepts. These practical concepts can kindle the interest of students in certain subjects.

8. Answers Directly from The Horse’s Mouth

The importance of industrial visits for students can be seen in the fact that students can directly clear any concept doubts that they may have, directly from the management or the person in charge.

In a classroom, the teacher will clear doubts of students . However, this information is limited to textbook information.

On industrial visits, students can clear doubts from the people directly working on the concerned matter.

9. Easy Identification of The Area of Interest

An industry has many departments. Each department works in coordination with each other to fulfil the objectives of the business. Every business or industry has more or less the following departments

• Administration

Site visits demonstrate the working of all these departments. Students can get an idea about which department they would like to pursue a career in. They get a rough picture of their prospective job .

10. Witness Change in Policies

Different companies follow different company policies to achieve their goals . Through industrial visits, students can witness different policies of the companies and why they choose to follow these policies.

Industrial visits for college students is important because it shows students how to adopt the best company practices to achieve the company objectives.

11. Develops Critical Thinking Amongst Students

Another reason why industrial visits are important for students is that it develops critical thinking power amongst the students.

Many times industrial visits come with certain case studies. These case studies make students think critically to solve issues.

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12. Corporate Training Opportunities

Industrial visits are an opportunity for students to strike a conversation with the management and administration of companies.

When students are on good terms with the management, it gives them a better chance of receiving corporate training and jobs after college.

13. Change Is Good

Studying in a classroom atmosphere for long hours can be dull. Industrial visits are a welcome change from the daily routine . It is a good way for students to get a good break from the classroom atmosphere.

14. Working Conditions

When students go on business tours or industrial visits, they get exposure to the current working conditions.

Whether it is a  labour centric industry or a white-collar type of company, students are exposed to the current working trends.

They can notice minute details like dress code , mannerisms of employees among other corporate trends.

15. Certification

Industrial visits are slowly becoming an integral part of the education system. Educators are now realising the importance of industrial visits for students.

Many schools and colleges have already adopted this system in their curriculum and are showing positive results.

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Synonyms of plant

• as in factory
• as in to seed
• as in to establish
• as in to breed
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Thesaurus Definition of plant

 (Entry 1 of 2)

Synonyms & Similar Words

• manufactory

Thesaurus Definition of plant  (Entry 2 of 2)

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• manufacture
• systematize
• reinstitute
• close (down)
• round (off or out)

Articles Related to plant

Is That Plant 'Perennial' or 'Annual'?

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Thesaurus Entries Near plant

Cite this entry.

“Plant.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/plant. Accessed 7 Jun. 2024.

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Content Creation

Dos and don’ts for creating a memorable plant tour video, plant tours are a staple of many company websites. do you know how to make your next video stand out from the crowd.

A popular piece of collateral in most marketers’ arsenal is the plant tour video. These videos can be a powerful way to showcase your company’s key capabilities while highlighting the human side of your brand. And the good news is they can be relatively easy to produce.

 Tips for Success

Whether you’re a video veteran or creating your first one, follow these top dos and don’ts for plant tour video success.

 Do think about use case . While you can get a lot of mileage out of these videos, it’s best if you start with a core focus in mind. Will the video reside on your website to inform prospects of your capabilities? Will you use it for on-boarding new clients or employees? Should you be creating multiple videos to focus on different parts of your business? Your primary audience will affect the features of your business that you’ll want to highlight.

Don’t create an elaborate script . The best videos are relatively short, generally no more than 1 to 3 minutes.  Focus on relaying simple messaging, with no more than three to five chunks of information, whether it be areas of service, employee testimonials, calls to action or so forth. The less complicated your message, the easier it will be for your audience to remember. (Tip: 150 words is generally about 1 minute of video.)

‍ Do use captioning­––sparingly. Many individuals set their device or platform preferences to avoid sound. Light captioning will therefore ensure you reach the widest audience. However, don’t overuse typography. Assess whether word-for-word captioning versus select captioning will serve your message better. Often the latter is the more preferable option since people can’t watch with full attention and read at the same time.

Planning to be on Camera? Follow These Best Practices

Pay extra attention to attire . avoid busy prints as they can pick up strangely on camera. also, choose attire in a neutral weight versus short sleeves or sweaters, so your content doesn’t look dated by season. empty your pockets and remove anything that could be unnecessarily distracting, such as a work id badge., practice talking points rather than memorizing a script . you’ll appear much more natural and engaging to viewers., don’t be overly enthusiastic . aim for a sincere, conversational tone..

‍ Do have a detailed shoot plan . Plan ahead as much as possible, so you don’t overlook important shots in the moment. What close-ups might you want? Which core people will you feature? Will you shoot the outside of your property or entrance? What sorts of angles or zooms might you want?

  Don’t forget to prepare the physical location . Position your shoot so that natural or adjustable light will hit the subject matter expert from the front (often a desk lamp will do). Avoid strong light from behind if at all possible. Also, remove extraneous clutter from anything that may end up in the frame, such as a background with an untidy workstation.

  Don’t underestimate the need for good sound quality. Avoid unnecessary background noise, such as phone use or fans. Also, don’t use empty locations prone to echo if possible, such as a very large (e.g., empty auditorium) or confined (e.g., closet) space, as they won’t absorb reverb well. When shooting from a plant floor or similar setting with a lot of background noise, you’ll need to wear a mic. (If shooting with PMMI Media Group [see sidebar],you will be provided with what you need.)

Plant Tour Videos with PMMI Media Group

Pmmi mediagroup’s new video content marketing campaigns are the ideal solution for creating engaging, high-definition (4k) videos inexpensively and easily right from any smart phone, tablet or computer. we coach you every step of the way. you’ll receive:  , ·     a 30-minute phone consult with our content marketing expert, ·     hd-quality filming using our app with your smart phone, tablet or computer, ·     tripod and mic sent to you as needed, ·     up to 1 hour of shoot time and 30 min. of screen capture time in standard package, ·     teleprompter assistance with remote coaching to ensure success, ·     professional video editing from pmmi media group, ·     opportunity to review and make edits, ·     ability to include your logo and any text treatments, ·     a finished video up to 3 minutes and 15-second social-media edit, ·    three options for distribution to our audience, see a sample plant tour video produced by pmmi media group., for details on video creation, distribution options and pricing, contact wendy sawtell, vp, sales, at [email protected]..

Sarah Loeffler

Pmmi media group, brand websites, quick links, news & media.

Example sentences factory tour

There are tasting sessions and a chocolate-making workshop, but it's not a factory tour - more the story of the city and names that made it.

The factory tour takes visitors inside the factory and covers history, harvesting, and production.

The app has tips on must-do factory tours, restaurants that serve the best millet, and where to rest your head after curfew.

Free factory tours of the plant are offered to the public.

Manufacturing companies offer factory tours as public relations.

Definition of 'factory' factory

Definition of 'tour' tour

COBUILD Collocations factory tour

Browse alphabetically factory tour

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