Auto Plants and Astronauts

Two things stand out from the last few weeks: auto plants and astronauts.  Let me explain…

Auto Plants

With Cynthia still on her internship in Detroit and me in Boston, we’ve been finding creative ways to meet in the middle.  Last month’s destination: Nashville!  Not wanting to let a 3-day weekend go to waste, we flew down to meet up with Beto (who is doing his internship in Chattanooga) and explore the area.  We had a chance to see a concert at the Grand Ole’ Opry, wander through the Country Music Hall of Fame, and tour an old plantation.  And of course, being LGOs, we also couldn’t resist the chance to tour two big auto plants in the area.

First stop: Bowling Green, Kentucky

This wasn’t just any GM factory; it was the Corvette factory!  The LGO in me was interested in comparing the factory operations to the GM-Korea site that we had toured in March, but the rest of me was just thinking “wow, what an awesome car!”  Since Cynthia has been working at GM in Detroit, she was able to get us a meeting with the assistant plant manager before the official tour kicked off, which turned out to be a great chance to learn more about the facility and how it fit into the bigger picture at GM.

Outside the GM Bowling Green Factory

The tour itself was very well run, but it only covered the final assembly steps and none of the frame / body / engine shops.  Even still, it was impressive to see the build process (especially the body-drivetrain join of a glistening new Z06!).  The most striking difference between Bowling Green and GM-Korea was the rate of production (160/day vs. 2000+/day) but that’s understandable considering the very different products and markets.  What was particularly striking at the Corvette plant was how much everyone took pride in what they were building, and how the Corvette culture permeated the whole plant.

After the tour, we headed over to the National Corvette Museum, home of the now-famous sinkhole.  I hadn’t realized it before, but the entire museum is funded and run by the community of Corvette owners around the world and many of the cars are merely on loan from personal collections.  Through another GM connection, we ended up getting a personalized tour of the entire museum from a staff member and ‘Vette enthusiast/driver.  He turned out to be a wealth of knowledge and walked us through everything from the very first Corvette to the latest-and-greatest racing models.  What fun!

One of the first production Corvettes (1953!)

The now-famous sinkhole that swallowed 9 'Vettes

What's left of some of the collection after the sinkhole

Testing one out for myself!

Second Stop:  Smyrna, Tennessee

From Bowling Green, we headed down to Smyrna, TN to tour the largest auto plant in the country (Nissan North America), source of the Altima, Maxima, LEAF, Pathfinder, Rogue, and Infinity QX60.  This time we met up with an LGO alum and he took us for a true behind-the-scenes tour of the plant.  In stark contrast to the rates we saw at Bowling Green, this plant was producing 2500 cars per day off two lines (or about one car every 30 seconds!!).  Another amazing aspect was that it was almost entirely vertically integrated.  Raw rolls of steel came in one end and completed cars came out the other.  We ended up making a big loop of the building, starting at the stamping stage and passing through paint, assembly, and final inspection / test.  What was remarkable was that the two lines (one for cars, the other for SUVs) didn’t seem to make the same car twice.  A LEAF could be made right in line with an Altima, which could be right behind a Maxima.  The amazing output numbers were testament to the efficiencies that they’ve been able to achieve and it was a very impressive sight!  Overall, it was another great LGO adventure.

Outside the Nissan plant - with the first LEAF ever produced

Other Nashville Sights:

At the Country Music Hall of Fame

Downtown Nashville

Delicious BBQ!

Concert at the Grand Ole' Opry

"Tennessee Style" Eggs Benedict; basically follows the concept of "everything tastes better fried"

Full-scale replica of the Parthenon in downtown Nasvhville...go figure!

Astronauts

This year is the 100^th anniversary of the Aero/Astro program at MIT.  And what better way to celebrate than to get together a bunch of aerospace nerds and luminaries to mark the occasion?  The Aero/Astro Summit was an impressive 3-day event that started with a panel of Apollo astronauts (including Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins) and ended with an open-mic session with Elon Musk.  In between, we got to hear from amazing panels of alumni and industry leaders about the past, present, and future of aerospace.  

Buzz Aldrin talking about the future of space exploration

Each one of these people is an MIT Alum.  And each one has flown on the space shuttle!

Elon Musk discusses rockets, electric cars, hyperloops, and the danger of artificial intelligence.

The overall message was that MIT has been a huge contributor of aerospace technology and leadership and will continue to be so in the future.  As I sat there in the audience, I was reminded how truly special this place is and how fortunate I feel to be able to spend two years on campus.  And it reminded me again why I chose to come to LGO: to not only get a world-class MBA, but to also have access to the entire MIT community of engineering!  For any prospective students reading this blog, I can tell you that you won’t find this anywhere else in the world.

By the way, I’m writing this post from 29,000 feet over Greenland en-route to Hong Kong.  More to come on that later…