Mini Cooper plant

Sorry about the long delay of blogs for about a week - we traveled to Paris for a long weekend and I wasn’t able to write one for Wednesday and Thursday before we left. However, that is a different story and I will discuss it in my next blog.

Wednesday brought loads of excitement since it was the day we were able to tour the ONLY Mini-Cooper manufacturer in the world. This spot is their “bread and butter”. They bring all the parts together here and use a series of conveyor belts with excellent supply chain management to bring a just-in-time process to their company. We arrived at the plant around 1 o’clock, after our morning class. They showed us to the entrance room where we put on our protective jackets, similar to that of Neo’s in the movie The Matrix, as well as headsets so we could hear our tour guide throughout the tour. After we were ready, we took a tour of their “mini” Mini-Cooper museum, as they called it. The museum consisted of various famous Mini-Coopers, such as the Austin Powers Mini Coop, one of the Mini Cooper’s in The Italian Job, their pride and joy one millionth Mini-Cooper, and other special/older Mini Coopers.

Following the museum, we walked around the production line of the manufacturing plant where we learned interesting facts about Mini Coopers. For instance, there's the fact that no two Mini Coopers are exactly identical, and the fact that the production line was so ingenious and time-efficient they can start and finish a Mini Cooper within 6 hours.

Next, we walked through the process of getting the metal sheets and other parts of the car ready before transferring the car to the actual production line. These processes that once consisted of thousands of workers are now preformed by German robotic engineering. The utilization of advanced technologies into a single process has exceedingly benefited their company.

We then wrapped up the tour after visiting the robots, and proceeded back to the houses. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and getting ready for the test on Friday, as well as browsing around downtown for cheap soccer balls at JJB’s. Thursday was not too exciting until dinner time hit. With the morning spent taking a test and the afternoon with our different consulting groups brought the day to a peak of excitement when I tried to figure out the washing machines. (hint: make sure you have exactly 1 pound and a 20 pents when washing your laundry). This, however, was surpassed when Austin, Austin, and I tried to start the grill for burgers on a wet, windy day. We found it a huge hassle to find wood and stuff that would burn that day, but it turned out successful with only two burnt burgers and the rest nicely cooked. All in all, the days leading up to our Paris trip were quite interesting. From our projects to flipping hamburgers, these past several days have been a lot of fun. Next stop Pari!