Eyes Down In The Factory

Oh, I have stories to tell about my time working as a technical writer of mechanical and electrical processes at Mitsubishi Manufacturing of America, Inc. in Bloomington, Illinois. I contracted to write Standard Operating Procedures for a new apprenticeship program: gathered technical information and wrote standard operating procedures within each of the six maintenance departments of the plant: Trim & Final, Production Tooling, Press Plastics, Paint, Body Maintenance, and Utilities.

Something I recall with humiliation was when a supervisor told me to keep my "eyes on the ground" when I was working out on the floor of the manufacturing facility and I encountered groups of Japanese managers and maybe some company owners in from Japan. He said that the Japanese had complained that I "looked" at them. And I bet I did, they acted very strangely, huddling together, pointing at things, frowning. Well, that little story will have to do for today, but stay tuned.

Per Wikipedia:

"Production would shift to Japan, with Mitsubishi importing all vehicles sold in North America. Mitsubishi said it would try to sell the plant to preserve jobs, but that the plant would be closed by November if no buyer was found. Ultimately a buyer was not found in time, and production ended on the 30th of November.

Founded: October 1985

Headquarters: 100 N. Mitsubishi Motorway, Normal, Illinois 61761, United States

Key people: Jerry Berwanger (EVP, COO), Hideyasu Tagaya (Chairman, MMNA)

Number of employees: 1,900

Mitsubishi Manufacturing of America Inc in Bloomington, Illinois, non-commercial use