A manufacturing plant is essential to a business’s success. Being able to respond quickly to customers’ changing preferences, improving a production process and increasing production capacity are just a few of the ways top firms can stay ahead of their competitors. Senior leaders who make key decisions are generally removed from the day to day operations in a manufacturing facility, so how do these executives get the first-hand experience to know what exactly needs to be done to improve a manufacturing process? By scheduling time to visit factories and talk with frontline workers and plant managers, executives can gain a more nuanced understanding of how things work in the plant compared to looking at spreadsheets and discussing plans with other senior managers away from where the work is done. Anyone who interfaces with manufacturing companies on any level can benefit from facility tours. Executives can gauge a site’s potential, assess the morale of frontline workers, and communicate company strategy and values. Production managers and other team members can learn from sister plants best practices that they can replicate in their own factories. Suppliers can understand how they fit in the supply chain and work to improve processes from what they learn about how their goods and services are used. Plant tours can also be a great way to build relationships with internal and external stakeholders, such as customers and investors. However, just having plant tours is not automatically going to produce valuable results. Clear objectives must be set in order to realize the full value of the tour. With objectives in mind, factory tour organizers need to ask themselves “why are we scheduling a tour”, “who should be in attendance”, “what would be the ideal result for the business after conducting the tour”, “where should the tour be conducted” and “when should the plant visits take place”. Frameworks for discernment and retention of learning must also be developed so attendees can remember what they learn in order to recall and apply when they return to their everyday routine. Creating an easy to remember “success stories” template is one example of how to create a better understanding of what is learned during the plant visit.