Today we had the privilege of visiting Zeeland, MI based company Gentex. Gentex is a manufacturer of a variety of mirrors (especially auto-dimming) for the automotive industry. In 2017 they shipped over 39 million mirrors.
You would think this visit would be pretty boring with just mirrors. However, Gentex makes a number of things we use everyday such as back-up cameras, homelink systems, and sensors used when going trough a toll booth.
It was incredible to see the offices and distribution facilities of technology we use all the time and learn about the logistics behind them. But I think most of the group would agree that the best part was getting some insight into the future of the auto industry. In their showroom we were able to see how the elimination of mirrors and replacing them with camera and sensor systems can be very safe and is coming in the very near future.
Next stop of the day was a visit to Germany based company Dyna-Jet. Dyna-Jet manufactures high powered water jetting systems. But these aren’t the typical pressure washers you can buy at Home Depot, they are used to clean graffiti off concrete, take bark off trees, and clear barnacles off ships. Here we enjoyed great discussion about the challenges of international business, benefits and drawbacks of working for large vs small companies, and the logistics behind having 200+ suppliers. We were however slightly disappointed because we were not given a demonstration.
Goodnight from Landsberg am Lech.
Chase Morris