Today has been amazing so far. This morning I woke up bright and early at 6am. I changed into nicer clothes and made my way down to the lobby to eat breakfast. After eating a surprisingly good breakfast I made my way to the bus to go to our first site visit at Hoerbiger.
Right as we pulled up I was very excited to learn about this company and take the factory tours. They have two separate factories which focus on completely different industries. The first factory we toured was focused on manufacturing Piezo chips which are integrated into valves and then are used in a variety of machines to regulate pressure. These valves are used in many things from ventilators in hospitals or metal laser cutters. Their chips focus on powering modern technology and will stay relevant for years to come. The amount of modern robots and machines they had were amazing to see in action. In order to enter the section of the factory where they produce the chips we were required to put on lab coats and shoe covers so that not even a speck of dust entered the room. After touring this factory we headed to their other factory which was the absolute opposite from the first.
The second factory was focused on the fading industry of synchronizers for manual cars. This gear-like object helps keep the gears of a car’s engine in sync. The factory tour was amazing. There were heavy duty machines stamping metal into the basic shapes and then robots shaping the pieces into their final form which was very cool to watch and learn about. Our tour guide went and just started grabbing unfinished pieces off of the assembly lines which shocked me, but was also really enjoyable to see the unfinished pieces during each part of assembly up close. Now with the world demanding more electric powered vehicles than ever there is less and less demand for these synchronizers.
In the synchronizer factory, the technology was much older than compared to the other factory. The biggest difference I noticed was that the synchronizer factory was much more “worn down” with grease stains on machines and dust everywhere, whereas the chip factory was spotless with glass encasing all of the machines. It felt like entering two different worlds where everything including the air smelled different. In the chip factory the air was clean and smelled very neutral, whereas the other factory had a musty or unidentifiable smell that differed from room to room. Despite the many differences, both factories emit a high quality finished product that customers keep coming back for.
An issue that Hoerbiger now faces is how to adjust to the changing conditions in its industry. There is projected to be a huge demand (nearly half the market) for electric cars in the next ten years. This is a problem for them because their main business is producing these synchronizers which is slowly becoming less relevant. It was explained that they will react to these changes by using their intelligence and change the machines they already own because purchasing more machines would be too high of a cost. They want to switch their focus from manual cars with internal combustion engines to fully electric cars and use their current machines (with modifications of course) to create parts relevant to the electric automobile industry.
After this amazing factory tour we headed right to the village of Oberammergau which is right at the base of the Swiss Alps. This was an amazing, picturesque town. Although it was pouring, we all had a great time walking around and exploring the gift shops and bakeries. After this, as if it was meant to be, the sun came out and the rain stopped so we were able to take the gondola up to the top of the Alps where I saw the most breathtaking views I have ever seen. We were able to get some amazing photos while also enjoying the scenery.
After leaving the top of the mountain we headed back into Oberammergau and found an amazing Bavarian restaurant for dinner. I ordered Bratwurst with potato salad and it was great. I definitely love all the new food I have been able to try. I am writing this at about 8pm on the bus ride back to the hotel, having been out since 7am this morning. We are planning to hang out tonight and then get some sleep. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow.
