Before I begin I would like to add a disclaimer as to why I don't have a picture associated with this post. When we walked in we started taking pictures of the production floor from the balcony we were escorted to and the women running our visit was very unhappy and conveyed we were not allowed to photograph anything - an interesting comment for a company with no trade secrets or IP according to our amazing tour guide, Andres. Therefore my apologies.
Wearing a badge and having to swipe key pads is nothing new to me as I work at Lubrizol Headquarters back in Cleveland, however it seemed like something new for the Chileans working at Wenco. Wenco is Chile's largest producer of plastic based products such as storage boxes, plastic tables, bins, coolers, and export crates just to name a few things. Wenco started as a family company in 1954, producing plastic bottles for liquid medications. In the 60s, the company started to produce toys, something they are still known for today (think Little Tykes of Chile). With over 500+ specialized containers, Wenco is the leader of plastic products in South America with over $150 million in sales and with a 11% growth rate. There are facilities in 3 countries and customers in 20.
The whole presentation portion of this trip was really different from other visits on this trip because they had employees (all men mind you) who were taking the English class, come and present to us on their specific division. As fluent English speakers, we could empathize with these men as they sometimes struggles to find the right word, or pronounce something correctly because we were going through the same thing with the Spanish here in Santiago. There were varying levels of english, however they all did a fantastic job conveying what it is Wenco stands by.
My personal favorite presentation was the Agricultural Division. "What is this? Parade around all your attractive men day?" The person responsible for this quote will remain anonymous due to him being our professor for this trip... :) Beside's the beautiful Chilean men, I learned a lot. Wenco has reduce the weight of their agriculture boxes from 590g to 360g, the legal limit for their purpose of holding fruit. Wenco competes with traditional wooden boxes and cardboard boxes that look "more beautiful" according to my good friend Jaime. Wenco's cost efficient boxes are very "ugly" in comparison, however then engineering behind them is very intelligent. I discovered this first hand when discussing box design with the actual designer himself, our tour guide Andres. To prove to me the strength of one box Andres grabbed a wooden crate and placed it on top of his constructed plastic box. I was able to stand on it no problem - but noooo why stop there? To prove it was the best design possible, Andres brought Andrew up on the box with me. It must have been the angle of his step, but when Andrew stepped on, the box collapsed and I scared a few line workers with a loud scream of unbalance.
The tour itself was impressive. Not only did we get to see the injection molding, we also got to experience the wonderful feeling of looking like idiots clopping around the production floor. Due to safety reasons, I donned a beautiful pair of toe protectors that alerted everyone that visitors were near.
Since the group was so big, we were split into two. Unfortuantely, everyone from our group was present at the Headquarters tour, therefore I don't have any input to share on the other facility. I believe the other group enjoyed their time there as well, however we were more enthused returning to the bus, mostly due to free cookies, juice, and hot Chilean men, but who's to say really?
Wearing a badge and having to swipe key pads is nothing new to me as I work at Lubrizol Headquarters back in Cleveland, however it seemed like something new for the Chileans working at Wenco. Wenco is Chile's largest producer of plastic based products such as storage boxes, plastic tables, bins, coolers, and export crates just to name a few things. Wenco started as a family company in 1954, producing plastic bottles for liquid medications. In the 60s, the company started to produce toys, something they are still known for today (think Little Tykes of Chile). With over 500+ specialized containers, Wenco is the leader of plastic products in South America with over $150 million in sales and with a 11% growth rate. There are facilities in 3 countries and customers in 20.
The whole presentation portion of this trip was really different from other visits on this trip because they had employees (all men mind you) who were taking the English class, come and present to us on their specific division. As fluent English speakers, we could empathize with these men as they sometimes struggles to find the right word, or pronounce something correctly because we were going through the same thing with the Spanish here in Santiago. There were varying levels of english, however they all did a fantastic job conveying what it is Wenco stands by.
My personal favorite presentation was the Agricultural Division. "What is this? Parade around all your attractive men day?" The person responsible for this quote will remain anonymous due to him being our professor for this trip... :) Beside's the beautiful Chilean men, I learned a lot. Wenco has reduce the weight of their agriculture boxes from 590g to 360g, the legal limit for their purpose of holding fruit. Wenco competes with traditional wooden boxes and cardboard boxes that look "more beautiful" according to my good friend Jaime. Wenco's cost efficient boxes are very "ugly" in comparison, however then engineering behind them is very intelligent. I discovered this first hand when discussing box design with the actual designer himself, our tour guide Andres. To prove to me the strength of one box Andres grabbed a wooden crate and placed it on top of his constructed plastic box. I was able to stand on it no problem - but noooo why stop there? To prove it was the best design possible, Andres brought Andrew up on the box with me. It must have been the angle of his step, but when Andrew stepped on, the box collapsed and I scared a few line workers with a loud scream of unbalance.
The tour itself was impressive. Not only did we get to see the injection molding, we also got to experience the wonderful feeling of looking like idiots clopping around the production floor. Due to safety reasons, I donned a beautiful pair of toe protectors that alerted everyone that visitors were near.
Since the group was so big, we were split into two. Unfortuantely, everyone from our group was present at the Headquarters tour, therefore I don't have any input to share on the other facility. I believe the other group enjoyed their time there as well, however we were more enthused returning to the bus, mostly due to free cookies, juice, and hot Chilean men, but who's to say really?