Maybe not everyone knows that practically every week we have at least one group of guests visiting our plants. In most cases they are clients or consultants, but we also welcome many students, new colleagues from other sites or from ME branches, or even new suppliers. The reasons for the visit may be different but we are always pleased to show (with some pride) our production and the continuous improvements we make to the lines and their organization and to explain them. 

Factory Tours can be fine-tuned according to the available time and often the content they cover changes according to the role of the guide. To ensure uniformity of content but also, and more importantly, to support the different guides in the not always easy task of sharing such varied concepts, we have designed a new Digital Factory Tour. 

The Pilot Project was developed in M12, which among all our plants welcomes the largest number of visitors. Here we identified 12 total stages, grouped into 3 type of routes:brief, general and extended, to be selected according to the time guests can dedicate to the visit. Each stage is identified by a totem on which we have printed 2 QRCODEs that link to pre-recorded audio tracks explaining the individual stage, available in Italian and English. Yes, if you are wondering, the whole thing is very reminiscent of a guided museum tour and, in addition to adding even more prestige to our tours, it makes our lives easier because it is operated directly from each individual participant’s smartphone. 

Will our guides then no longer be needed? Of course they will be needed! To lead the groups and make sure everyone respects safety rules and, most important, to answer any questions and curiosities our guests may have. So the new digital Factory Tour will be a new support tool and will not replace the invaluable work of our colleagues who take care of the production tours. If the pilot project gathers the endorsements we all hope for, we will work to extend it to other plants as well!