We managed to get a very early start to our Tuesday this morning, as we visited our first company, Bruno Independent Living Aids, Inc.! This company is located in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, which is about an hour and a half from Carthage. After a long drive and Starbucks run, we managed to find the correct building where we met Bill, the Director of Engineering, in a conference room for a presentation to follow.
During this presentation, we learned all about the founding of the company and what they do. Bruno Independent Living Aids, Inc., makes stair lifts, vertical platform lifts, and scooter and power chair lifts. Below, you can see one of my fellow classmates, Matt, and Bill testing out the curved stair lift that they have on display.
From here, we were given a very extensive plant tour by Bill. We got to see the workers actually welding and making the products by hand which was really cool. We also got to learn how they do the distribution of them to the warehouses and everything.
After we finished touring both factories – one for the welding and one for the packaging, we walked back to the first building that we were in and had a very nice lunch in the conference room. They provided Jimmy Johns sandwiches, along with chips, grapes, cookies, etc. During this time, we were able to further ask any questions we had for Bill or the other employees. My group decided to ask Bill about what he thought of Goteborg, and we learned that the best restaurant there is not open anymore, and that it is truly a beautiful and exciting place to visit.
Here is a picture of our group in front of the first factory building that we toured where they do the welding and everything.
This is a picture of our group after the final factory walk-through, and we were just heading to lunch then. This was such an exciting and informative opportunity to learn from Bill and other employees from Bruno and it only makes me even more excited for who we will be meeting in Goteborg.
Things I learned today:
- Always make sure you are at the exact right place when you go somewhere, especially a business that has multiple buildings.
- Businesses like to give away a lot of free food and souvenirs.
- Some great life advice is to “pay yourself first” after college, and never settle for a job, even when right out of school.
- Never try to break in brand new shoes while doing a company and plant tour.
Nicole's Adventures in Sweden 