I must say, it has been years since I've been on a field trip. When applying for the program, the concept of a field trip was furthest from my mind. But here I am and we're going on field trips. The more collegiate or professional term is "plant trek" but I prefer to call them what they are... field trips. It's a day where the class gets on a bus and goes somewhere together to learn and explore new ideas.
Now this is not the freshman high school trip to the Zoo (yes - our entire freshman class had a field trip to the zoo, no - it was not a good idea to send freshman boys in herds to the zoo, yes - our school was asked never to return). Instead we are going to leading LGO partner companies who are on the cutting edge of manufacturing in their discipline.
Our first trip was to Pratt and Whitney, a jet engine manufacturer. My experience in manufacturing has been mostly consumer electronics, and I must say, this was quite a difference. Imagine how big a jet engine is... now imaging how big the machines that make the jet engine have to be. It was amazing! There were so many parts that had to be put in just the right location with incredibly tight tolerances.
One aspect that hit me with surprise was their concern for keeping track of foreign objects... foreign objects in the sense of things that don't belong in the engine. For example, if I leave my pen somewhere in the factory and then someone comes along and accidentally knocks it into the jet engine. The pen could cause some serious issues when the engine is attached to a plane, and then started up. Imagine a plane crash because of a pen I left in a factory. Highly unlikely, but possible. To avoid foreign objects they keep track of every tool, nut, bold, and screw to ensure the highest quality of a product.
The field trip reminded me of these pictures. These were taken out the window of a Boeing 747 over the north pole on my way to Beijing China from Chicago. You can see the plane engines and the polar ice cap. Pretty amazing to see!
