Travelling Trio

USA – Kentucky – Ohio – Michigan Week 7

• By Denise
• April 14, 2016
• No Comments

Travelling overland from the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina through the Daniel Boone National Park was quite a contrast as we appeared to travel from one land to another. The smaller cabin like homes among trees and streams were replaced with the wide open plains of Kentucky, large houses with long fences separating the land into paddocks and animals grazing although there haven’t been that many animals! I guess they are all hiding in their winter housing!.

We made our way to Lexington for just one night and everywhere we looked we were welcomed by signs saying “Welcome to the Horse Capital of the World”. The reason we ventured this way was to visit the first USA Toyota Factory in Georgetown. What a treat this was. The tour is free and they have very strict rules before you enter so no phones, I-watches, cameras or video and you have to provide photo identification.

The start of the tour began with a video from the President Wil James and then we were transported by tram through the vast factory. The size of 169 football fields – it is a large factory. All employees are known as ‘team members’ and the company promotes “Kaizan” which means if you have an idea which would improve, help or assist the production in some way (and it is implemented) you are substantially rewarded for your idea. In this factory we were told of two ideas which have been introduced and one of these was to put the doors on the car during the initial build stage but then remove them for most of the remainder of the process which allows the team members easy access to the car, reduces the space taken in the factory and reduces possibilities of damage through marking or hitting the doors. What a simple, but great idea!

The steel for the cars is delivered “just in time” which means a truck is delivering flat steel to the factory every 30 minutes and the steel is then cut, cleaned and stamped into shape. It then progresses through the factory on a mixture of conveyor belts or small carts driven by team members. There are also many small electronic carts making their way through the factory without a driver. These carts are driven by a magnetic strip on the ground determining their destination with every part required for each car being delivered “just in time” for the operator to install the part as they have just 54seconds to complete their operation. Such a streamlined process and it takes just 20 hours to build a car from the beginning with this factory producing over 2000 cars a day. Wow, for someone who is not really into the car manufacturing (I just like to drive them) I was impressed.

As you can imagine with the company adopting the “Kaizan” approach the company is also a very popular place to work as the benefits are wonderful. A team member earns $US27 per hour plus benefits and these are vast. Up to four weeks annual leave plus a compulsory one week in December and one week in the middle of the year giving each team member six weeks annual leave. Awesome!

Having fun at Toyota!

Surprisingly, I am now excited to be visiting the home of the Ford Factory in Detroit!

Next stop – Cincinnati on our way to Columbus, Ohio.

We used Cincinnati for a rest stop and didn’t really take in the sights – instead we opted for a chill out day and an evening out to Taco Bell to see what it had to offer. Taco Bell was awesome – we loved the tacos and the burritos on offer and have decided this might well be our takeaway of choice if having to buy something fast.

Our driving throughout the States has been interesting because we are right in the middle of the nominations for republican and democratic representatives for the role of President of the United States of America. There are so many rallies happening in all states with dirty politics seeming to take over. It must also be time for State Representative elections too as we came across one guy’s name “Larry Householder” – appropriate and one you might remember don’t you think? We knew the elections would be well underway when we visited the States and I was excited about this as I was keen to attend a rally to observe how and what goes on. However, we haven’t managed to be in the same place at the same time as a rally so we have to just watch on the television. Wow – some think spending $NZ28 million on a democratic flag change process In New Zealand is a lot of money – well – it is nothing compared to the millions and millions and millions being spent here in the States and I’m not so certain these are truly democratic. I think a lot of this is just coming down to who has the biggest financial pot behind them.

Our stay in Columbus was a decision made by Carter and his main reason for this was to visit a couple of the local haunts of a “You Tuber” he follows on the Internet.  So off to “Outback” restaurant to experience a real steak and this is where Carter fell in love with Caesar salads.  The steaks were great too but not as good as the beef produced on our old property back in NZ.  Carter follows Roman Atwood on You Tube and he is very popular with millions of followers.  He plays lots of pranks and everyday uploads a new vlog about his family and general life stories.  Dave and I have enjoyed following his videos too so it was awesome to be able to find his home in Ohio and see him at his place.  Yes, you could call us paparazzi but we were discreet!!

Another awesome experience for Carter in Columbus was a visit to the local Sky Zone Trampoline Centre.  Here he managed to play with a number of other children on various forms of trampoline.  This photo is of Dodgeball on the trampolines.

I have never seen Carter so drenched in sweat!  It is great for fitness!!!

Oldest building in Berlin, Ohio

While on our way to our next stop we passed through Amish Country and had lunch in a little cafe in the heart of Berlin, a small town in the heart of Ohio.  The signage around the area was very different and evident that you need to be mindful of horses and their buggies passing.  We were lucky enough to witness a number of buggies driving on the roads and the cafe where we had lunch was traditional Amish.   On another occasion it would be wonderful to spend more time in this part of the USA as we certainly enjoyed our taste of the Amish community.

Next we stopped in a little town called Toledo – for no other reason but the it sounded cool. Actually it is located just before Detroit and we had been warned not to stay in Detroit for any period of time as it is currently quite a dangerous city. Our visit to the Ford Factory was out of this world. There was an entrance fee for the tour but it was worth every dollar. Henry Ford had tried twice to get his car factory underway but his companies went bankrupt both times. It was this third company the “Ford Motor Company” which survived and became a force in the motor industry. The Dearborn factory is where the F150 Trucks are made and we were able to see exactly how the factory works and how the workers make these trucks. A lot of the factory is automated (just like the Toyota factory) but they did not appear to have computer driven carts delivering parts. The current Ford president is Henry Ford’s great grandson William (Bill) Clay Ford Jr. And it seems he is passionate about retaining the family tradition of making the Ford Motor Factory an innovative and forward thinking, environmentally friendly business. In fact just one difference is that the F150 truck’s parts are made of aluminium and not steel. Any left over aluminium (after stamping) is recycled to the factory for further use – therefore little or no wastage.

One of the few photos we were allowed to take… Oh and it’s Carter’s dream vehicle!!!!

At its peak the factory employed over 100,000 people in the early 1900s – absolutely phenomenal. We finished the tour with a multi sensory, into the future film which had actual robots in the room putting together a F150 vehicle with lasers painting it different colours all while pictures of the factory and its workers splashed around the ceiling and walls. This presentation was “out of this world” and just proved how far advanced car production is. Amazing! Dave’s view on this tour – one of the best exhibitions he has ever seen.

Canada – here we come!