Factory/Plant Tours - Where Would You Go?

kingelvis asks: "I have been thinking of putting together a road trip with a theme - Traveling to factories, manufacturing plants, etc all over the country and taking their (free) tours. I've already thought of a few places; Boeing, Auto factories in Detriot, Ben & Jerry's, Jack Daniel's distillery, and so forth. I'm interested in everything from 747s to bottled water, so please respond with any public tour you can think of. Where are some cool places you'd recommend visiting to see how stuff gets made? "

Comments

I used to work for Ben & Jerry's

[arkham6]

I worked in Springfield Vt's manufacturing plant. It was neat at first, but then it became like any other job. I stood at a conveyer belt and put peace pops into boxes for 8 hours a day. Real thrilling. But the process was kind of interesting. There was a giant vat that the cream and other ingredients were mixed in, then onto a machine that turned them into a somewhat frozen state and ploped them onto a belt. Then sticks were placed in the ice cream, and it went through a long freezer to shock cool them. After spending 10 or so minutes in this freezer, they came out, and were picked up and dipped into molten chocolate. The chocolate dried quickly, and off into the wrapper they went. Then out of that machine and down to me, where i stuck them in boxes.

It was decent work for VT, and not too stressful. Plus they made us eat ice cream every day for quality assurance. Sounds nice, but try eating a peace pop every day for 3 months, you get absolutely sick of them very quickly.

I think there is a plant up in Waterburry VT where you can see ice cream being made, and it is kind of neat to watch for a few minutes.