Subaru plant tour, Lafayette, Indiana.

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:22 pm

Took the Subaru plant tour on Wednesday, June 13, it was a birthday present.
Neat tour, cost nothing. We had a nice woman who gives you a headset so you can hear her. Then went for a walk through the plant. Started at painting area. Then went to body stamping. On to the assembly line, and Quality Control.
You also get to see the Toyota Camry on the assembly line, as SIA is making them under contract for Toyota. Temp wasn't bad in the plant, being as the tour was at 9:30 am. You walk on a concrete walkway above the production floor. Only a few steps here and there to go up or down.
Went through the office area, and then got to stop at the trinkets and trash shop. Got a nice hat. They had lots of shirts and jackets, coffee cups, etc. This shop is for employee use, so it was nice that they extend that to us as we went through.
You were not able to take any pics, thats why I didn't post anything.
Its a bit weird to be in front of a auto plant, and not see any smoke or smell anything outside. It was very quiet. I can see how this can be a wildlife area. We were told that they have the usual rabbits all over, along with lots of birds, and deer right on the property.
They have a rec center for workers to use, a ball diamond, and free daycare for workers whose kids are 12 and under.
Got to see the new Tribeca, a new grille that kinda looks like a Chrysler Pacifica grille. Looks alot better than the original setup. Was told that the old grille was too "polorizing" for most Subaru owners, thats why they changed it. In other words, it was too ugly for most people.
So if you are in the area, go. Its neat to see where the Baja came from. And the truck of choice for use at the plant is, you guessed it, the Baja. They were all over the place being used for hauling things around. I don't know how many they kept to use there, but I saw about 20 of them in use, more than I have ever seen in one place at the same time.
To get in on a tour request, you have to email or fax a form off of the SIA website to them, then wait for a reply. Since we went on a trip to the USAF museum in Dayton, we did this on the way home. My mom faxed the form to them about 8:15 am, and they were calling the house talking with my brother about the time and date within 15 minutes. You can't get into see the plant without a reservation to tour, the guards will not let you in. And I wouldn't want to get the guards po'ed at me. While we were waiting for the tour to start, I heard on the radio in the reception area that they were looking for a car that was there on business. He had done something that was against policy, and they were going to throw him off of the property.
All in all a neat tour. Like I said, if you get a chance, and are around the area, fax a request in and go.
Mike

jaxed · Post by **jaxed** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:23 pm

Very cool.. I noticed that the Tribeca has a new grill and they dropped the "B9" shenanigans. I guess it has been a dud from the get go.

NOTBRAT · Post by **NOTBRAT** » Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:11 pm

I took the tour last year. All is as you say it was. However, we did not get to stop in at the employee store. I would liked to have purchased at least one souvenir

Atomis · Post by **Atomis** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:42 am

I need to do that.......I know some plants have a test drive track near them or around them any chance they have one there? my friend went to the nissan plant and apparently they had a track he got a chance to play

mbaksic · Post by **mbaksic** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:01 pm

They have a test track, but no tour of it is offered. Was told that it has four different types of road surfaces, I think it was dirt, asphalt, gravel, and cobblestone type. Thats all we were told. They supposedly drive each car over it to make sure that nothing is wrong before they get cleaned up to ship to dealers.
I guess we just lucked out with the giftshop. Our tour guide told us that she thought that it might be open.

Mike