Factory tours - recommendations / locations / unusual
Aug 20th, 2001, 10:52 AM
#21
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To xxx (WHY DON'T people use their name on this forum?!):
I don't know when you went to the Denver mint, but when I was there last year the wait was 20 minutes to get in, the tour was 30 minutes and we saw the coins being made as well as received a tour on the historical and current information about coin making not collecting. You could leave the mint through the gift shop but there wasn't any pressure to buy anything!
I don't know when you went to the Denver mint, but when I was there last year the wait was 20 minutes to get in, the tour was 30 minutes and we saw the coins being made as well as received a tour on the historical and current information about coin making not collecting. You could leave the mint through the gift shop but there wasn't any pressure to buy anything!
Aug 20th, 2001, 11:09 AM
#22
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A couple of tours that I really enjoyed and was surprised by since I have no interest in the end product were:
1. The Harley Davidson plant in York PA, awesome museum of motorcycles and the tour guides are people that have this as a 6 month job rotation from the manufacturing line. What made it real was the sense of pride this guy had from driving, building and now telling us about a product he truly loved and was proud that it was still built in the U.S.A.
2. The Philip Morris tour in Richmond VA of their ciggerete plant, amazing that the machines can pump out the millions of smokes like they do.
3. I second the suggestion of the Corning plant in Corning N.Y, yes you get to see them making the Steuben glass.
4. And if you are ever lucky enough to be in Waterford Ireland then do not miss the Waterford glass works.
5. And of course you can't go wrong with any brewary tour with free samples at the end.
Enjoy!!
1. The Harley Davidson plant in York PA, awesome museum of motorcycles and the tour guides are people that have this as a 6 month job rotation from the manufacturing line. What made it real was the sense of pride this guy had from driving, building and now telling us about a product he truly loved and was proud that it was still built in the U.S.A.
2. The Philip Morris tour in Richmond VA of their ciggerete plant, amazing that the machines can pump out the millions of smokes like they do.
3. I second the suggestion of the Corning plant in Corning N.Y, yes you get to see them making the Steuben glass.
4. And if you are ever lucky enough to be in Waterford Ireland then do not miss the Waterford glass works.
5. And of course you can't go wrong with any brewary tour with free samples at the end.
Enjoy!!
Aug 21st, 2001, 01:32 PM
#23
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1) Corvette Assemby - Bowling Green KY - I mention this one just becasue its 30 miles from my house...But as another poster said, it's the ONLY place in the world where Corvettes are made. Just across the road is the National Corvette Museum, one of the coolest archetectural places in the world. The Bowling Green area is very nice to visit....Mammoth Cave National Park is a 30 minute drive....Fly into Nashville, TN.
2) Budweiser- St. Louis, MO - By far the best factory tour I've ever been on. The Clydesdale barn is nicer than my house. There is a "15 minute all-you-can-drink" at the end. I don't drink....its good that they have Pepsi for kids and non-drinkers
The only place i have been and not liked that much is Ocean Spray Cranberry World in Plymouth, MA...it's OK but not worth the 3 bucks to get in.....it's not a factory, but a company museaum.....free cranberry stuff at the end...my kidneys are working great!
2) Budweiser- St. Louis, MO - By far the best factory tour I've ever been on. The Clydesdale barn is nicer than my house. There is a "15 minute all-you-can-drink" at the end. I don't drink....its good that they have Pepsi for kids and non-drinkers
The only place i have been and not liked that much is Ocean Spray Cranberry World in Plymouth, MA...it's OK but not worth the 3 bucks to get in.....it's not a factory, but a company museaum.....free cranberry stuff at the end...my kidneys are working great!
Feb 20th, 2005, 07:29 AM
#27
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Celestial Seasonings Tea factory tour in Boulder, Colorado is neat. The no-cost tour includes free sampling of all the teas they make, a "gallery" of artwork featured on the tea boxes, and a guided factory tour that includes going in the room where they keep the all the mint. It will knock your socks off! They also have a huge gift shop, of course.
Feb 20th, 2005, 07:44 AM
#28
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http://travelmatters.com/wim/tours/index.html
The Travel Channel (much maligned here) did a great show some weeks ago about the 'top ten food factory tours,' something along that line. You might check their website for a re-run time. BTW...Hostess Twinkies came in first!
The Travel Channel (much maligned here) did a great show some weeks ago about the 'top ten food factory tours,' something along that line. You might check their website for a re-run time. BTW...Hostess Twinkies came in first!
Feb 20th, 2005, 07:53 AM
#29
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One can look in their own backyard to find a good factory tour. As part of my old job- marketing business services, most of my clients were factories and they all wnated me to tour-
Amoung my favorites:
Anheuser Busch Beer
Dr. Pepper bottling Co.
Dial -(soap)
Chrysler
Ford
A few local Candy Factories - now gone
But, now that i list some of these I am not sure if the public could actually take a tour. My guess would be yes though!
Amoung my favorites:
Anheuser Busch Beer
Dr. Pepper bottling Co.
Dial -(soap)
Chrysler
Ford
A few local Candy Factories - now gone
But, now that i list some of these I am not sure if the public could actually take a tour. My guess would be yes though!
Feb 20th, 2005, 11:30 AM
#30
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Small tour but highly educational in NW Indiana, near Rensselaer is "The Dairy Experience" showing the workings of a 2000 head dairy farm. Great ice cream and cheese at the end of the tour.
Dresden, Ohio has the factory where Longenberger Baskets are made; great view of craftsmanship in actionand the village next door makes for a nice day trip.
Dresden, Ohio has the factory where Longenberger Baskets are made; great view of craftsmanship in actionand the village next door makes for a nice day trip.
Feb 20th, 2005, 12:23 PM
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I went on a terrific tour of a cheese-making place in Petaluma, CA several years ago. I don't remember the name of the place, but Petaluma isn't that big of a town - LOL. It was one of those spur of the moment things. We saw an ad for it, thought it looked fun, and went. It was great.
Mar 28th, 2007, 05:57 PM
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A couple of the ones I've enjoyed -
John Deere tractor assembly plant in Waterloo, Iowa - it was free - they took us around the plant floor in this motorized cart for about an hour. The employees giving the tour were very proud of their tractors, which definitely added to the experience. We also went over to the engine assembly plant, but they were shutting down for a vacation, so there wasn't much action.
PALCO (Pacific Lumber Company) off US-101 in Northern California (sorry don't remember the name of the town) - The whole town is still owned by the company. Tour through the sawmill is free, self guided on catwalks that run through the rafters of the various building. The signs about what was happening in various areas were informative, and because I was on open air catwalks the whole time, the sounds & smells really made the tour feel "real".
American Kazoo Company - Eden, NY - free - very small factory, but the equipment is still all belt driven, which I thought was kind of cool.
Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington - Interesting, but I thought kind of expensive, and I didn't like being held up in a small area of the plant and driven around on a bus. I would have preferred to really go around on the floor. (I've done temp work at Lockheed Martin outside Atlanta, and at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. In both cases my ID gave me access to the assembly areas, so having already seen aircraft and ship building up close and personal probably biased my feelings about the Boeing tour.)
Some old sugar plant on the northeast side of Oahu - free - the plant had been closed for a long time and everywhere I went I was dodging bird droppings. Sadly much of the informational signage was badly faded or defaced, but what I could read I found really interesting. I was mostly amazed by the physical size of the machinery.
I've also been on a couple of the ones where there is a glass-enclosed corridor along the manufacturing floor (Mona Loa Macademia Nuts in Hawaii and a Cheese plant in Oregon come to mind). I find these interesting (and free), but really prefer to not habe glass between me and what I'm seeing.
John Deere tractor assembly plant in Waterloo, Iowa - it was free - they took us around the plant floor in this motorized cart for about an hour. The employees giving the tour were very proud of their tractors, which definitely added to the experience. We also went over to the engine assembly plant, but they were shutting down for a vacation, so there wasn't much action.
PALCO (Pacific Lumber Company) off US-101 in Northern California (sorry don't remember the name of the town) - The whole town is still owned by the company. Tour through the sawmill is free, self guided on catwalks that run through the rafters of the various building. The signs about what was happening in various areas were informative, and because I was on open air catwalks the whole time, the sounds & smells really made the tour feel "real".
American Kazoo Company - Eden, NY - free - very small factory, but the equipment is still all belt driven, which I thought was kind of cool.
Boeing Plant in Everett, Washington - Interesting, but I thought kind of expensive, and I didn't like being held up in a small area of the plant and driven around on a bus. I would have preferred to really go around on the floor. (I've done temp work at Lockheed Martin outside Atlanta, and at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. In both cases my ID gave me access to the assembly areas, so having already seen aircraft and ship building up close and personal probably biased my feelings about the Boeing tour.)
Some old sugar plant on the northeast side of Oahu - free - the plant had been closed for a long time and everywhere I went I was dodging bird droppings. Sadly much of the informational signage was badly faded or defaced, but what I could read I found really interesting. I was mostly amazed by the physical size of the machinery.
I've also been on a couple of the ones where there is a glass-enclosed corridor along the manufacturing floor (Mona Loa Macademia Nuts in Hawaii and a Cheese plant in Oregon come to mind). I find these interesting (and free), but really prefer to not habe glass between me and what I'm seeing.
