The purpose of these plant tours is to help clarify the concepts of Cost and Managerial Accounting by helping you understand the processes that companies use to create their products. Several of these tours can be used for further discussion by completing the Plant Tours Discussion Questions, while others are for information and fun only. Hope you find them useful in expanding your knowledge base.
Prepared by Carole Bowman of Sheridan College, Brampton, Ontario.
Tours are listed in the following table by company in alphabetical order. If a weblink has changed, please notify us and move on to another Plant Tour. Some of the tours require Shockwave. You can download it here.
Managerial
Accounting Topic |
Site and Description |
Relevant Topics |
Rating |
| 1 Job order costing; layouts. |
ABBA Rubber International, Inc
A manufacturer of rubber rollers for industrial use. This is an excellent tour of an industrial product manufacturing plant. Images are clear with great descriptions. From the home page, first click on "what we do" to get a perspective on what ABBA makes. Then go back to the home page and click on "virtual tour." If you have the time to kill, check out their "ridiculously exhaustive list" of everyday rubber products.
Discussion Question in Chapter 1
|
General manufacturing, machining, functional layouts, quality management. |
**** |
| 2 Cost identification; quality. |
Air-x-changers
A manufacturer of air cooled heat exchangers used in air cooling systems. This is a good tour for exposure to manufacture of large products. There are actually two tours here. One is a tour of the production processes, the other is a tour of the quality control oriented functions. From the home page, check out "About air-x-changers" first. Then, go back to the home page and go through the process tour by clicking on "High-Tech Tour". After that tour, go back to "home" and click on "ISO 9001 Tour".
Discussion Question in Chapter 1
|
ISO9000, functional layout, industrial products, metal fabrication. |
**** |
| 3 Quality, ISO, compare with dofasco steel. |
Algoma Steel
The tour highlights the company's new Direct Strip Production Complex (DSPC). The technology is state of the art and the tour is descriptive, though a bit technical. Start the tour by clicking on "Tour our DSPC Facility" from the homepage.
Discussion Question in Chapter 8
|
continuous process industry, product-oriented layout, quality control and testing |
**** |
| 4 Not used, too technical. |
Arlon Adhesives and Film Division
A manufacturer of vinyl films and adhesives for use in printed vinyl signs, etc. This tour is sort of technical in nature, but informative and follows a process similar to that used in paper conversion. The weather testing is particularly interesting. Click on "Calon® II Vinyl Films" and then click on "Company History and Plant Tour. Check out the company history, then come back and go to the plant tour.
|
Continuous processing, paper processing, quality testing. |
***1/2 |
| 5 Cost identification; quality; (small images). |
Aretesyn Technologies
A manufacturer of computer components such as CPU boards, controllers, etc. The tour is of a the manufacturing process for circuit boards. The tour is informative with good descriptions and good, but small, images. From the home page select "profile" then "tour our factory". After the factory tour go back to the "profile" page and select "ISO 9000".
Discussion Question in Chapter 1
|
Quality Management, ISO 9000, advanced technology |
***1/2 |
| 6 Segmented reporting; decentralization. |
Audio Research
A manufacturer of high-end audio equipment including amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, and CD players. This tour does not provide a great deal about "how" things are done, but has good images and general descriptions of the responsibilities for each department. From the home page click on "On-line tour" and then "continue" at the bottom of each screen.
Discussion Question in Chapter 1
|
Consumer electronics, functional layout. |
*** |
| 6 Segmented reporting; decentralization. |
Audio Research
A manufacturer of high-end audio equipment including amplifiers, pre-amplifiers, and CD players. This tour does not provide a great deal about "how" things are done, but has good images and general descriptions of the responsibilities for each department. From the home page click on "On-line tour" and then "continue" at the bottom of each screen.
Discussion Question in Chapter 12
|
Consumer electronics, functional layout. |
*** |
| 7 Process costing; allocation of overheads. |
BIC USA
A manufacturer of ink pens, sailboards, and surfboards. This is a short tour of the pen manufacturing process, but the manufacturing process is pretty simple, so it can be covered well in a concise tour. It provides an excellent overview of the process with good images and descriptions. From the home page click on "cool stuff" then on "How's it made?" Click on the next footstep to proceed through the tour.
Discussion Question in Chapter 4
|
High volume, repetitive manufacturing, product layout, advanced manufacturing technology |
**** |
| 8 Capital budgeting; quality. |
Buck Knives
A manufacturer of knives and related products. This tour provides a great overview of the knife manufacturing process with many references to quality control, quality testing, and advanced manufacturing technology. This is one of the best on-line tours. It is an interesting tour of recognizable product. From the home page click on "fixed blades" or "folding lock blades" and select a couple to get an idea of what the products look like. Go back to the home page and select "About Buck Knives", then "Plant Tour". Click on "Start Current Plant Tour" to begin, then "Forward" at the bottom of each screen.
Discussion Question in Chapter 14
|
large product variety, functional layout, advanced technology, statistical process control, quality testing |
**** |
| 9 Service type manufacturing. |
Canadian Springs
A supplier of bottled water and dispensers to homes, offices, etc. A clear, concise tour of the facilities, emphasizing quality and cleanliness. At the home page click on "YES", then page down through the bubbles and click on "white glove tour". Page down past the chemist in the shower hat and click on "click here to start your tour".
Discussion Question in Chapter 2
|
Service-oriented manufacturing, quality emphasis. |
**** |
| 10 Information needs in a complex environment. |
Caseworks Healthcare Furniture
A manufacturer of institutional furniture. This tour is short on descriptions, but has very good graphics. It opens with an image of the entire facility, and you click on the department you wish to see. Its a little cumbersome having to go back to that image for each step in the tour, but it is pretty fast loading. From the home page, choose "Hospitality", "Healthcare" or "Business Desks", then click "factory tour". Start with #1 (engineering) and proceed chronologically.
Discussion Question in Chapter 1
|
Functional layout, wood products, advanced manufacturing technology |
*** |
| 11 Allocation of overheads. |
Coffman
A manufacturer of hardwood stair parts, such as handrails, posts, and balusters. An excellent tour, with great images and descriptions of process steps. From the home page, first check out the "product menu" to get a feel for what they make. Then go back to the home page, select "About Coffman" and click on "The Coffman Plant Tour" at the bottom of the page.
Discussion Question in Chapter 3
|
Make-to-stock and Make-to-stock assemble-to-order manufacturing, functional layout. |
**** |
| 12 Value chain. |
Corbin
Manufacturers of high-performance motorcycle saddles. From the home page click on "factory tour". At the bottom of the next screen, click on "full tour". This is a short, but very good tour, from design to manufacture. It provides excellent photos and descriptions for each processing step.
Discussion Question in Chapter 8
|
Craftsmanship, quality, design |
***1/2 |
| 13 Inventory; functional layout. |
Corona Clipper
A manufacturer of tree pruning tools for the professional and do-it-yourself market. This is an outstanding tour, with great images, good description of processes and a very understandable product. From the home page, first check out the product catalog to help visualize the products, then go back to the home page and click on "virtual plant tour". Be sure to check out the images that move, especially the laser!
|
Make-to-stock manufacturing, functional layout. |
**** |
| 14 Product/period costs; (little description). |
Coppley Apparel
Makers of men's suits. From the home page, click on "A virtual tour". The map shows three sites. Start with "raw materials & cutting", then proceed to "offices and manufacturing", then finish with "distribution centre." This tour provides great photos of each processing step, but very little in the way of description
|
fabrication & assembly |
**1/2 |
| 15 Relevant cost, process oriented. |
Dofasco Steel
Dofasco provides a detailed tour of "How Steel is Made". This tour is slow loading, but is very detailed in describing the process.
Discussion Question in Chapter 13
|
continuous process industry, product-oriented layout, quality control and testing |
**** |
| 16 Quality; (short tour). |
Dole Food Company
A producer of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh-cut vegetables, and packaged foods. Under fruit and vegetable encyclopedia, find salad and click on go. This is a tour of their salad-making factory. It is short, but educational tour. Emphasis is given to quality control. Good images and descriptions of the major steps in the process. Maybe not as fun as a cookie, candy, or beer tour, but a lot better for you.
|
Food processing, high volume, quality control, manufacturing technology |
**** |
| 17 Not used, line flow manufacturing. |
Endot
A manufacturer of polyethylene water pipe and smoothwall innerduct. This is a short (about 12 images) easy tour that provides a nice explanation of a line flow. The small images are thumbnails, so clicking on them gives you a nice large version. The processing steps are very visible and understandable. At the home page go to the bottom and click on "company tour". Click on "next" to continue through the tour.
Discussion Question in Chapter 1
|
Line flow (almost continuous processing, but really probably batch). |
**** |
| 18 Not used, long and promotional. |
Ferrara Fire Apparatus
A manufacturer of fire trucks and emergency vehicles. This is a video/audio tour that uses VIVO/active software which downloads automatically with MS Internet Explorer 3.0 or greater,but must be downloaded and installed with Netscape (the link is right there). With Internet Explorer you're viewing the video within seconds. The tour lasts approximately 10 minutes and provides a nice example of an engineer-to-order, make-to-order, large-scale manufacturing operation. Some of the video is promotional in that it stresses advantages that Ferrara products have over competitor's but there is significant footage of processes and the manufacturing facility to make it educationally worthwhile.
|
Large-scale manufacturing, make-to-order, engineer-to-order, quality management |
***1/2 |
| 19 Not used, pictures not good. |
Gemeinhardt
Producer of flutes and piccolos. From the home page, click on "tour". Then click on the script "Start the tour" on the left side of the page. This is a brief tour, with good description, but weak on pictures.
|
quality, craftsmanship |
**1/2 |
| 20 Not used, more about products, less about process. |
Genesis Technologies
A manufacturer of speakers and audio equipment. This tour is pretty light on process detail, and high on product and product characteristics. If you're into audio equipment, it will be interesting. It also emphasizes quality testing. From the home page select "factory tour".
Discussion Question in Chapter 6
|
quality control, testing. |
** |
| 21 Steel manufacturing in an urban center . |
Geneva Steel
A manufacturer of steel products for industrial and agricultural machinery, pipelines, ships and barges, rail cars, storage tanks, structural tubing, highway guardrails, etc. This is an in depth tour of a steel manufacturing plant. It starts with an image map diagram of the entire process. Clicking on each step takes you to a description of that step. This tour is short on graphics, and a little technical, but it provides a great description of the steel producing process. Check out "sales" first to view sample products. Then go back to the home page and click on "plant tour".
|
continuous process industry, product-oriented layout |
**** |
| 22 Maybe ABC, and/or C-V-P analysis. |
Golden Cheese Company of California
A manufacturer of cheese. This is a tour of the largest cheese, whey, and alcohol plant in the world, processing over a billion (yes, that's a "b") pounds of milk per year. This is a very informative and well-designed tour. The images are great, and the text descriptions are among the best of any plant tours. From the home page, click on "plant overview and tour". Click on the "control room" image for the first step in the tour, from then on click on the image for the next stop.
Discussion Question in Chapter 13
|
Food processing, large batch manufacturing, quality management |
**** |
| 23 Process costing. |
Great Divide Brewing Company
A brewery producing 16,000 barrels per year and selling beer in twelve states. This is an interesting and informative tour that starts out with a great overview of the brewing process. It provides nice photos and descriptions of the brewing process in a small-scale facility that adds to the understanding. From the home page click on "Brewery", then click on "Take the tour".
Discussion Question in Chapter 4
|
Food processing, batch processing |
**** |
| 24 Standard costing. |
Hershey's Chocolate Tour
The candy manufacturer. A fun and interesting tour that has excellent images and descriptions of the processing steps. Start the tour by clicking on "plant tour".
Discussion Question in Chapter 3
|
High volume, repetitive manufacturing, food processing, varying quality of raw materials |
**** |
| 25 Process costing. |
Jelly Belly
A manufacturer of gourmet jelly bean candy. A short, fun tour with interesting processes, good graphics and text. From the home page click on "factory tour" and just move through the process with your mouse. Check out the freebies.
Discussion Question in Chapter 9
|
High volume food processing, batch processing. |
**** |
| 26 Relevant cost, service, quality. |
J. M. Schneider
Take the VR Butcher Shop tour to walk through time with J.M. Schneider. You will first need to download the SuperScape plug-in, available at the sight, and then proceed through the tour.
Discussion Question in Chapter 13
|
Food processing, relevant costs, quality |
|
| 27 Inventory chapter. |
Jøtul
A manufacturer of woodburning stoves. This is a clear, short tour of the manufacturing process, from raw materials (scrap iron) to casting, finishing, and assembly. At the home page click on "virtual factory tour".
Discussion Question in Chapter 8
|
Functional layout, metal casting, batch processing. |
**** |
| 28 Not used, few details. |
Kinetco Incorporated
A producer of water conditioning systems for residential and commercial use. Learn about the company, its products, and take the virtual tour. The tour provides some good images of various manufacturing departments. No process detail, but a nice overview of departments. From the company page, click on "virtual plant tour".
|
General manufacturing |
*1/2 |
| 29 Traditional costing chapter. |
Kokomo Opalescent Glass Company
A manufacturer of art glass using traditional, century-old techniques. A traditional batch processing operation using hand mixing and manual techniques. The tour includes descriptions of each processing step accompanied by "artsy" line drawings that emphasize the time tested traditional approaches used to make their product. Click on "tour of the factory" and go.
|
Batch processing, process industries |
**1/2 |
| 30 Not used, no pictures inside the plant. |
Konica
A manufacturer of photographic film, office equipment, etc. An excellent tour, with or without Shockwave. From the main page click on "virtual factory tours". Then page to the bottom, under the facility drawing, and select the Shockwave or non-Shockwave version. (the Shockwave version only adds music, and given the music, I'd go with the non-shockwave version). This tour consists of a step-by-step explanation, with drawings of the manufacturing process. Clear and well-done, but no photos inside the plant.
|
Batch processing, clean-room manufacturing |
*** |
| 31 Process costing. |
Labatt's
This brewery tour provides information regarding the process in creating beer and the quality requirements used by Labatt's to ensure their beer meet their exacting standards. Enter the site by clicking on the bottle cap and then enter as a "guest". Under Tour, click "Take the tour". Try the express tour for a quick review of the process. Also includes movies to download for additional information.
Discussion Question in Chapter 10
|
continuous process, quality |
|
| 32 Quality. |
Linetec
A custom finisher (paint, anodizing, etc.) of aluminum, vinyls, etc., on-site or off. A very nice, structured plant tour, illustrative of batch processing. Clear step-by-step descriptions and images of processes. Very quality-oriented. An excellent tour. Read the home page to learn about the company, then click on "corporate tour".
|
Batch processing, quality management, flexibility, manufacturing technology |
**** |
| 33 Benchmarking, and innovative manufacturing. |
L.L. Bean
A mail order retailer. This is not a tour, per se, but as close as can be had. Click on "About L.L. Bean" and then on "LL Bean Today". Check out "Timeline" first to get a feel for the volume and background. then click on "Golden Rule" and "Our Guarantee" to see examples of how product quality is monitored and tested. Then click on "Making the Best" for some great examples of innovative manufacturing approaches used by L.L. Bean.
|
Service, product quality testing |
**** |
| 34 Service departments. |
Malloy Lithographing, Inc.
A manufacturer of books. An extensive and very descriptive tour of a book making process, by department and within each department. A good tour of the manufacture of a product all students are familiar with. From the home page, go to the site index, then click on "plant tour". Click on the arrows at the bottom of each screen to proceed through the tour.
|
High volume, make-to-order, batch manufacturing |
**** |
| 35 Not used, too long. |
Merlin Bikes
A manufacturer of high quality moutain bikes. This site has an informative tour, but it is short on visuals. The overall site is very nice, however. Go to the home page, click on "tour" and proceed.
|
Low volume, high quality |
*** |
| 36 Assembly line manufacturing. |
Monitor Sugar Company
A manufacturer of sugars from sugar beets. This site has two great tours. One is a very slick animated tour with excellent detail of product flows and descriptions for each step in the sugar manufacturing process. The other is a photo tour of the processing steps. To really understand the process, do the animated tour first. From the home page click on "tour" and then on "Animated Demonstration Tour". When completed, come back to the "tour" page and click on "Behind-The-Scenes Photo Tour".
|
Continuous process, food processing. |
**** |
| 37 Service and quality. |
Morgan Motor Co.
A manufacturer of sports cars. This is a great site for students to get a real feel for a process-oriented layout assembly plant. Cars are made in low volumes, from the ground up. This is one of the best tours on the net. From the home page, select "Production" and then select "click here to tour the Morgan factory". The layout is worth a good look to get a feel for the departments. Although it is an image map, clicking on the list of departments below it guarantees that you do the tour in the best sequence. Start with the Reception, then Parts Department, then Service Department, etc. After viewing each, click the "back" button on your browser and select the next one.
|
Process-oriented layout, automobile assemble, |
**** |
| 38 Not used, too long (30 mins). |
Paris Health Care Linen Service
A cleaning service for hospitals and health care linens and operating room supplies. This is a very high quality, understandable tour with excellent graphics, and great process descriptions. A very educational tour of a service firm with a quality-oriented mission and a high-volume service-factory type of focus. From the home page select "Healthcare Linen", check out the mission statement and product review to learn about what the company does, then go back and click on "virtual tour".
|
Service, health care, quality management |
**** |
| 39 Not used, limited time availability. |
Peavey
A manufacturer of musical instruments and equipment, this is a tour of their drum factory (a tough tour to get to, but worth it). You'll know how drums are manufactured after completing this tour with steps described and photographed. Click on "Start Tours" at bottom of page.
|
Quality management, quality control, functional layout |
****+ |
| 40 Life cycle costing. |
Rickenbacker
A producer of electric guitars. This is another interesting tour of a company that utilizes real craftsman in a traditional production process that does not include conveyors and automation. Three departments are toured. From the home page, click on "factory". The best order to tour is: "Visit The Wood Shop", then "Visit The Finish Department" then "Visit The Assembly and Inspection Department"
|
Low volume traditional manufacturing, skilled craftsmen, quality control |
*** |
| 41 Cost identification and cost behavior. |
Roco
A manufacturer of toy trains. This is a short, simple tour, but it provides a nice overview of their process, from initial product concept to quality testing. From the home page, click on "Roco Factory Virtual Tour" and page through the tour.
Discussion Question in Chapter 6
|
Functional layout, quality testing |
*** |
| 42 Quality, ABC, cost identification. |
Roxton Furniture
A leader in the construction of meticulously crafted maple, oak and cherry furniture. The tour takes you through the steps in making their furniture. Click through the twelve slides on the "Scene selector".
Discussion Question in Chapter 7
|
Craftsmanship, quality, design |
|
| 43 Not used, too much PR. |
Royal Cake Company
A cookie manufacturer. This is a tour of the manufacturing process used to make their hallmark product--the Oatmeal Creme Filled Cookie. Its a short tour for a simple process, but the graphics and descriptions are high quality. From the home page, check out "products" first. Then go back to the home page and click on "Plant Tour". OOOOH! COOKIES! mmmmfffffmmrrrrrmmmm. . . . .
Discussion Question in Chapter 5
|
High volume, continuous processing, food processing. |
***1/2 |
| 44 Traditional manufacturing. compare with the manufacturing in 45. |
Sentry Manufacturing Company
A leading manufacturer of quartz crystals and electronics components. Not a lot of processing detail, and sort of "PR" oriented, but has an image of each processing department and good descriptions of departmental roles. Click on "tour the plant" and begin.
|
High-tech manufacturing, quality management |
** |
| 45 Compare with 44. |
Statton Furniture Company
A traditional "one-at-a-time" producer of solid cherry furniture. This is a tour of the shop, with descriptions of each step in the process from cutting rough-sawn lumber to length, to staining and finishing. A nice tour of a very traditional furniture production facility, the way everyone used to do it. Very fast-loading images and good descriptions. From the home page, check out the catalog first to see the kind of products these craftsmen produce. Then go back to the home page and click on "Tour the factory".
|
Functional layout, job shop "craft" manufacturing, quality management |
**** |
| 46 Not used, incomplete tour in terms of detail. |
Steinway & Sons
Producers of pianos. This is a great description of the piano-building process, with nice photos and descriptions. The construction is more like large-scale manufacturing, so your really don't get much of impression of the facilities. At the home page, go down to "factory tour" and click on it. Then click on factory tour again. The images in the tour are "thumbnails", so if you click on them you get the full size version. A "different" sort of tour that will be very interesting to some, boring to others.
|
Large-scale manufacturing, quality management, skilled crafts. |
**** |
| 47 Compare with books manufacturing in 34. |
Taylor Country Farms
A jerky manufacturer and internet server. TCF offers a very superficial tour with an image of each department in the manufacture of jerky and sausage. No descriptions available, but from the pictures you get a reasonable idea of their operation. An interesting combination of businesses! From the home page select "Take a Virtual tour of the Jerky Plant!!"
|
Batch processing, food processing |
* |
| 48 Not used, limited value addition. |
Thomson-Shore
A manufacturer of books. This is one of the best tours on the net. It goes into excellent detail about each department and what the workers do. The illustrated overview of book making is worth a visit from the first tour page. It'll help you understand the process. At the home page click on "factory tour".
|
Functional layout, batch processing. |
**** |
| 49 Service industry. |
Welded Tubes, Inc.
A manufacturer of steel tubes for a variety of uses. A nice example of a large volume make-to-order manufacturer. The tour provides clear images and descriptions of major processing steps in a tour that takes about 5 minutes. At the home page, first learn a little about the firm by clicking on "more". Then go back to the home page, view down to the bottom of the left frame, and select "plant tour".
|
Make-to-order, batch manufacturing, quality management |
**1/2 |
