Plant tours of various organizations can be very effective learning experiences.
The advantages of actual, onsite plant tours include:
new
knowledge of real world systems,
reinforcement of classroom concepts and principles,
knowledge
via experiences, and
shared
experiences for subsequent class sessions.
The disadvantages of actual, onsite plant tours include:
use of
limited classroom time,
exposure
to different university and personal liabilities,
travel
time, and
difficulties for disabled students.
VTOURS have been created as attempts to have the advantages, but none of the disadvantages of actual, onsite plant tours. Take several tours and you be the judge of how well these VTOURS succeed in this goal!
To start a VTOUR, simply click on one of the company icons in the left frame - the first stop in your Virtual Tour will appear in a new window.
The first image on the left, (C&R Manufacturing) takes you on a tour of a Kansas City based high-tech machine job shop using state-of-the-art technology and human resource management.
The second image (the plant in a "rustic" setting) takes you to a listing and description of several other plant tours that I have identified. I have taken each tour and have commented on each. By clicking on this site you can take one of many virtual tours.
The third image takes you to Professor Ross L. Finks' Plant Tour web site at Bradley University.
The fourth image takes you to the Operations Management Center and Tours providing "support for students, faculty, and professionals in search of resources related to all aspects of Operations Management." This site is managed by Byron J. Finch, Professor of Management, Miami University for McGraw-Hill, and
the fifth image takes you to Professor Joe Martinich's Virtual Tour page that supports his POM book published by John Wiley.
The C&R Manufacturing tour is suggested as a good first tour.
(Note by clicking on any of these images, your web browser may open up another window that you must move to by clicking on its icon at the bottom of your screen).
VTOURS with slow MODEM transfers
If pictures are slow in loading, scroll through the text material and by the time you have completed reading a section, the pictures should be ready for review.
We hope you will enjoy these tours!
We appreciate feedback about VTOURS - both positive and negative to the email address below.
Thank You
Steve De Lurgio, Sr.
Prof. of Operations Management
sad@forecast.umkc.edu
This endeavor is supported in part by:
a grant from
Richard and Laura Cray of Kansas City,
my Brother, Louis J. DeLurgio of IBM,
Brian Wosel for his assistance in the C&R Manufacturing VTOUR,
my Son, Patrick of Kansas Univ. Engineering-Physics department,
Mr. Ron Wosel, President of C&R Manufacturing of Shawnee Kansas,
Marc Gogol of Bremen, Germany, UMKC Graduate Research Assistant,