The Plant Tour

The plant tour has always been an excellent method of sharing the story of a company’s quality, but now more than ever it’s becoming an excellent differentiator between plants that offer commodity products.

For the simplicity of this article, let’s separate customers into two distinct types: unsophisticated and sophisticated. The unsophisticated come to see products and equipment—not the work. The sophisticated customer knows that you can supply the product they need. They are coming to visit to see how the work is done. They are interested primarily in how you are undertaking the work and the processes that produce conforming product, and what happens when non­conformance is found and processed.

Unsophisticated Tours

Many facilities don’t handle tours efficiently or well, despite the numerous times they undertake them. For example, just one or two people may handle the tour, such as a sales manager or an owner. Most times the tour leader sails right past the team members, sometimes skirting some parts of the facility they are not thoroughly familiar with. Another poor tour practice is falling prey to habit. The tour route is similar no matter who or how many are taking it, and conversation is used to bridge areas in the facility that don’t look nice. Almost no interaction with team members is a typical trait. Team members in the facility don’t know that a tour is scheduled. If the facility scrambles to clean up for tours, this is a telltale sign of unsophisticated methods and all but guarantees poor to average results from the tour. This method is exhausting for the person leading the tour and at times can lead to a lack of enthusiasm from both the tour guide and the participants.

Sophisticated Tours

A well-constructed tour is all about showing primarily how the work is done, and secondly showing the processes that produce the products. Several team members participate to enhance the experience of the visitors. They explain processes within the areas that support quality, speed, and cost reductions. The tour leader’s role is to facilitate the visitors from tour area to tour area. At each tour stop there are clear processes to explain the differentiator to the competition, and each time the message is clear: See how the competition does it, and then see how we do it.

An Ideal Scenario

To ensure your company or plant tour goes as smoothly as possible, be sure to take some of the following measures:

• The tour coordinator has communicated to all necessary people the reason for the visit and visitor details.
• A parking area is designated for the visitors.
• A welcome is ready for visitors who arrive in a timely manner.
• The meet-and-greets should not be overwhelming to the visitor(s).
• The tour route is adhered to.

As the tour enters a department, there should be a “customer landing area” where you can explain the characteristics of the department. Here, the tour coordinator hands off the visitors to team members within the department.

Finally, the greatest differentiator of a great tour—process explanation. Anyone can purchase a machine; it’s the systems that support the process that make all the difference.

Les Pickering is co-founder of Quadrant 5 Consulting, based in San Francisco. He can be reached at 415-988-0000 or leslie.pickering@quadrant5.com. Follow Les and Quadrant 5 on Twitter @Q5cLP.