Billy Turf: Eye Opener

       This past week, I took a group of Technicians from the Philadelphia area to visit the Jacobsen Factory in Charlotte, NC. It is never easy to set up a travel event, and over the past few years, it has gotten harder and harder. So when we pulled out of Merion GC at 5:30AM, with a shuttle that was greatly appreciated, with all travelers accounted for, it was a great start!
       Once we got to Charlotte, we had a nice lunch and some discussions with some Jacobsen personnel and then a tour of the distribution center. It is always impressive to see the volume of products that are being shipped out. From there we headed to Ganassi Racing. Ganassi is a corporate partner with Jacobsen and it enabled us to get a behind the scenes tour of their facility. Now, I am not a big NASCAR guy, but to say this was a learning experience, is an understatement. The amount of people, and money that go into their program, was incredible. From vehicle production, to testing, to how the engines are provided to each team, was something I never knew.
      The next morning, we were up early for the factory tour. If you have not had the chance to tour one of the manufacturing plants, it is an eye opener. It is amazing how much planning is involved in having the parts available for the build, the amount of hand work that is done by people on the assembly lines and what processes you need to make sure things are right.
With a few guys who had had the chance to see some other equipment manufacturers, it was chance to compare. Some had not seen any manufacturing facilities before and were truly amazed. We are very lucky to have the factory that accessible to us.
       A big thank you to Mark Pena and the team a Jacobsen for a great trip!