This afternoon we visited a production plant for Skoda cars (wish I could have taken some photos 
). It is all okay though because I will definitely remember how surprised I was that a manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic utilized so many lean manufacturing tools and systems to achieve their quota of 440 cars per 8 hour shift. For example, they do just in time production and use a two bin system for parts. Then, in terms of parts retrieval they have a light that goes off for each part so the “kitter” (for lack of a better term) can put together exactly what parts are needed. I also noticed that their material handling is not only semi automated with a person driving a cart with the parts bins, but also consists of fully autonomous carts that deliver parts to the production line. I felt like I was seeing my industrial engineering classes come to life, which felt quite strange in a foreign country but I loved it.
P.S. for all those concerned, I am not concussed and feel great
Swanson School of Engineering 