Today we visited the company Hoerbiger. This visit consisted of two parts because there are two parts to the company. In the morning we visited the location focusing on making chips with various applications. They can be used in ventilators, pipes, and lasers. I was more interested in this part of the company than I thought I would. We got to see how the boxes are put together, and how they make the chips that go in them. I thought it was fascinating, and these values are very needed, especially after the pandemic when ventilators were in high demand.
The second part of the company works in the automotive industry. They work on making gear shift parts. We got to see the whole factory and every step of the process. There were a lot more steps than I thought there would be. first, the steel is shaped into the correct shape, then it gets rinsed to make it smooth. After that, it gets checked for defects. Then it’s coated with something and heated up. That’s the basic process for all of the parts. I thought this tour was really interesting but it made me realize that I didn’t want to be an industrial engineer as I would get bored.
The main difference between the two parts of Hoerbiger was that the automotive one was very much a factory where they produce their product from just steel. It was a lot older than the other part of Hoerbiger and it didn’t seem like they’d changed much from the beginning of the company. The chip production part of Hoerbiger was a lot newer and they do make the chips and applications of them there, but they get some of their parts from elsewhere. This part of the company seems more modern, and more of a company that changes designs and how they do stuff all the time while the other part felt like it was the same thing every day. I think the future of the automotive side of it will need to change because there won’t be a need for that product soon. They will probably switch to making parts for electric vehicles.
The last thing we did today was go to the Alps in Oberammergau. It was absolutely amazing here. Everywhere you looked was a gorgeous view of the mountains and old German towns. The ride up the gondola was very fun and scenic, but the view was nothing compared to the one on top of the mountain. It was absolutely breathtaking, and by far my favorite part of the trip so far.