Caterina gave me the itinerary for the trip on Monday:

• Depart 7:30 from Firenze SMN at the regular bus stop
• Meet the tour guides at Ducati factory at 9:15
• Factory, museum and gift shop at Ducati
• Lamborghini factory tour, Excellence centre (museum) and gift shop
• Pagani showroom, factory and gift shop
• Leave from Bologna at 18:00.
• That should put us back in Florence at 19:30 (depends on traffic).

Sometime during the day (maybe between Ducati and Lamborghini) we will stop at a shopping center where there is a food court (variety of places, including McDonald’s). We will probably stop there for about an hour.

You might plan to bring water and maybe some snacks for the day. We can also probably stop at one of the highway rest stops on the way back to Florence for people to grab something to eat or drink.

It will be a long day, but I think everyone will enjoy it. See you Monday morning.

I am going through the site, and I will post more comments on your journals and the company visits, but I’ve read through everything enough to have a “rough” grade estimate for everyone. Those emails will be going out shortly, and if you have any questions you can reply to my email. In addition, I will be around Palazzo Rucellai this afternoon, so you can catch me after your art history class if you want.

Please note that the estimate assumes that you are on the bus and engaged in the tour on Monday. Remember, this is a long day (but I hope it will be worth it), and the bus leaves SMN train station at the usual place at 7:30. Set an extra alarm if you are worried, or arrange for someone in another apartment to call you in the morning. Missing the day will change the grade estimate, and not in a positive direction…

Also note that I have put some videos up on the company visit page for the OPIM students, and on the Family Business page that will show you the kinds of products we will see assembled on Monday.

Sorry. 🙂

9:00-12:00, in our room back in the corner (Santa Maria Novella) for the UConn students, and in Classroom #3 in the “Library” side of the building for Penn State students.

I put some videos about the cars we will see next week (on the wiki). This is not one of them.

First, have a good (safe) time on your travels this weekend. I’ll most likely be here in Florence, having a gelato (or two) at Grom (pistacchio, stracciatella, fragola, mmm).

For next week, the schedule will be as follows. On Monday, it will be an optional class meeting day, starting in the classroom you are assigned to, UConn in Santa Maria Novella (back in the corner) and PSU in room #3 in the Library side of the building. We will be around from 10-12 to talk to you about how the class is going and to provide help with your wiki entries. For those of you that have not done any work on your journal, this might be a good time to get some help to get that started.

On Wednesday, we’ll have regular class time at Palazzo Rucellai, 9am until noon. We will talk about some of the company visits and do some work to set up our last trip to Bologna/Modena. There are some videos on the wiki (look at the vehicle production page under company visits) to introduce you to the products we will see assembled on Monday. In addition, we are very likely to visit showrooms at each company where you’ll be able to purchase gifts from the company (I have a nice Lamborghini tie, for example).

I am working with GE to see about setting up a visit for Wednesday afternoon for those that were not able to go this past week. Sorry about the mixup. When I have the details, I will let you know, but it will be a quick train ride out, the tour and a ride back. Both of us will be on the tour, and may be able to help in explaining some of the things you’ll see.

We will meet at the usual place on Wednesday at 1:00pm (13:00 Italian time). Instead of a bus, we will take a train from Firenze SMN to the next stop, Firenze Rifredi. From there it is about a 15-20 minute walk to the Florence Learning Center that is adjacent to the Nuovo Pignone plant.

The training center is business casual, and the plant will require closed shoes (you will be asked to stand outside and wait if your shoes are not “safe”). This visit is a courtesy extended to us by GE, and this is probably the visit to look your most “professional” — no shorts or ball caps. There will not be a bus where you could leave alternate clothes. The plant is huge, so comfortable walking shoes are okay (sneakers).

We will have a lecture about the MIS systems for managing the production of these complex products (I have some material on the website that you can look at before we go) and then a tour of the plant. Each will be about ninety minutes, so we should be able to get a train back to Firenze SMN by 6pm. Let me know if you have any questions.

We had one of our best weather days so far, and had a great trip into Chianti to visit a winery in a little village called Fonterutoli. The winery has been owned by the Mazzei family since 1435 (the current managers are part of the 24th generation). Here are pictures from the day.

I heard there were some camera problems, so if anyone wants copies of pictures, please let me know. The pictures can also be downloaded by saving images, and the resolution on those pictures should be good enough to print.

Monday we will visit a winery in Chianti, owned by the Mazzei family. We will meet at SMN Stazione, in the usual place at 8:30. The roads in Chianti are not straight for more than a few meters, so if you think you might need some motion sickness medicine, plan ahead. There will be a bit of walking, so comfortable shoes (not flip-flops, sorry) would be a good idea as well.
I have added some links to the wiki for this visit, for the GE trip, and for the vehicle production day. You can find them on the company visit page, and I also put links on the syllabus page.

I have appended a long comment to each of the first three company visits for each class (PSU and UConn). Take a look some time and think about adding some more analysis or comments to each page.
I have also started looking at all the Journals. If you haven’t done much on them yet, remember that six weeks disappears very quickly. What I will (officially) do is have an open class time on Monday June 16 to be in our classroom to talk one-on-one with anyone who wants help with their journal. We will have class at Palazzo Rucellai on June 18. For the Penn State students, Prof. Chelko will be here that week and may want to meet with you on both Monday and Wednesday. He will post something on the class wiki to confirm.

Remember that the Winery Tour on Monday will start at the train station at 8:30. We will have a meeting with the head of the winery in the afternoon, and so we will be back in Florence probably by 6:00.
On Wednesday we will go to Nuovo Pignone in the afternoon and meet at the train station around 1pm. We have a presentation from GE at 2pm, and then a tour of the plant starting around 3:45. The plant is in Florence, and the tour should finish around 5:30, so you’ll be ‘free’ around 6:00.
Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great weekend.

On Wednesday, June 4th, we will meet at the usual place at SMN Train Station at 9:00 (you get to sleep an extra hour and a half!). We will make a short trip to Prato, which we passed when we drove to Pietrasanta and Carrara.
There are two companies there that we will visit, and so half of the UConn students will go to one, the other half to the other (similar for PSU students). Alan will accompany one group, I will go with the other. On the website, there will be comments from each half of the class and some discussion of the differences between the two companies.
The tours should finish by noon, so we will be back in Florence in time for (Italian) lunch.
Next week: Wine and industrial machines.