Jetting Off

On Monday I flew to another Woodward factory in Rockford, Illinois, as part of a process and product benchmarking exercise. I've taken a few trips around the country and even up to Montreal, in Canada, before but this was a little bit different. A bit special.

I got to fly on the companies corporate jet.



A work friend and I drove to the far side of Burbank Airport to a small private terminal. We were greeted by the pilots of the seven passenger jet and told we could board when ever we liked.
No check-in, boarding passes, security or departure lounge hassles. I didn't even have to show any ID.

The plane was amazing. Comfortable leather seats, wood veneered interior and a fully stocked galley, with snacks and drinks.



The take off and landings were really smooth and the flight went by with very little turbulence.

When we landed at Rockford it was cold and snow covered. It was a good job there was a car that was at the bottom of the steps when we got off the plane. Talk about the rock star treatment. During the day it was about 12 degrees F (-11 degrees C) with temperatures in the evening getting down to about 7 degrees F (-14 degrees C).

Also on the trip were the operations director and manager, the engineering manager, the continuous improvement engineer and the leader of our facility.

The next day, Tuesday, was spent at the Woodward plant were I toured the shop floor looking at their assembly, test and machine shop processes. In the evening we all went for a lovely meal at a local Japanese restaurant.

More snow in the night, which was still falling after we ate breakfast, meant a careful car ride back to Rockford airport on Wednesday morning. Lucky for us we had a chap on our team who had previously worked at Woodard Rockford for a few years and was used to the driving conditions.



Our next trip was a short flight to Traverse City, Michigan,where we were given a tour of a company that supplies parts to Woodward and has some good examples of automated assembly techniques. 
When we were finished we went back to the small airport where we re-boarded our plane and headed to North Platte , Nebraska, for a re-fueling stop, before flying back to Burbank.














This was one trip I will never forget. Especially when I'm waiting to get through security and the customs line with a million other people when coming through LAX. How will I cope?