Kids - Factory Tours

Last week we took the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory tour in Brenham, Texas.



They produce the third best selling ice cream in the USA behind Breyers, Dreyers/Edy’s Grand but sell more than Haagen Daz and Ben & Jerry’s. They sell their ice cream basically in seventeen Southern states which is probably why they are not number one. The tour guide stated that you can order Blue Bell’s vanilla ice cream at Outback Steakhouses anywhere in the United States.

While on Spring Break 2010 in Michigan we visited the Henry Ford and took the Henry Ford Rouge Factor tour in Dearborn, Michigan where they assemble Ford F-150 trucks.



The Blue Bell ice cream assembly line was active while the Ford workers were on an extended break this year and on our previous trip. We have made the Ford Rouge Factor tour three times in the last five years.

This year on the Ford tour I posed a financial auditor question to my sons. Do you think growing grass on roofs save Ford money?

Ford has the world’s largest “living roof” where they grow grass on the top of a factory building rather than using conventional roofing materials. The Ford tour guides claim it reduces energy costs by 5%, extends the life of the roof and results in cleaner storm water. It’s part of Ford’s “Green Initiative” that has won numerous awards and acclaims.

As we stood on the observation deck and looked out at all the various buildings in the Ford Rouge Complex we noted no other factory building had grass growing on top of them. If the grass on the roof saves 5% of energy costs, why don’t all the other factory structures have grass growing on them saving Ford tens of millions of dollars? Too soon to tell if the grass extends the life of the roof and I’m unsure about the cleaner storm water.

I explained to my sons it’s important to care about the environment but the grass roof probably doesn’t save money otherwise we would see grass on roofs everywhere, not just on factory buildings. Does what you physically observe agree with what you have heard? They didn’t think so but I also pointed out maybe the grass design is still too experimental to be practical. They have been working on this for ten years.

[Image credit: Blue Bell – coupondad.net, Ford logo student.ccbcmd.edu ]