Today was our longest day while in Prague. We went on a corporate visit to a Black and Decker plant in Utsi in the morning and then had class in the afternoon, so we didn't finish until 4:30. The visit to Black and Decker was quite interesting. The man who gave the presentation was from Scotland and had a serious Scottish accent that made me think of Reid and Todd. I won't bore you with too much information about the plant - I found it very interesting, but that is why I am a business major. They are a 6 sigma corporation, which means they are very efficient and have a serious lean manufacturing system. As you walk around, each assembly line has the parts all located within 5 feet of the machines. I was quite surprised at how much labor was actually used to make these drills and hammers. I thought more of it would have been automated.
At any rate, we then came back, had class (Global Business Strategy again) and then had the rest of the day free. I went running for about an hour and found this great park right across from our hotel; perfect to just go and relax and read. Classes aren't too bad we have a big project due sometime in the next two weeks, but it will be an interesting project to work on. I didn't go downtown tonight, I was pretty tired from the day and didn't feel like walking or taking the tram. Most of us ate at a pizza place right across from the hotel - it was cheap and good. Afterwards we stopped at a grocery store for some snacks totaling only around 2 US dollars. This update was short, but I am tired now and should get some sleep. Here are some pictures of Prague, I will get the full album up on Facebook soon.
Prague overlook
One of the largest squares in the city
The Charles Bridge
Red roofs all over the place. Did you stay in a Red Roof Inn? Is B&D in the Czech Repub. because of cheap labor or low corporate income taxes?
ReplyDeleteBecause of low taxes. Nothing they make in the CZ is actually sold there, 100% is exported. And because labor isn't that cheap, they actually only make one or two black and decker products, the rest are all DeWalt tools - higher quality and more expensive
ReplyDeleteThe red roofs remind me of Santa Barbara.
ReplyDeleteAre the boats in the last picture tour boats?
yeah they are. we almost got hit by one during our paddle boat excursion. but not really. i like to say that we almost did
ReplyDelete