Tuesday June 12th

Tuesday morning began bright and early as the group met in the hotel lobby at 6:15. Although I wasn’t too wild about waking up at 5:45 AM, I was interested to see what the day had in store. Once most of the group managed to struggle their way down to the lobby, we made our way to the train station to travel to the small German town of Gundelfingen.  Located about an hour and a half away from Munich by train, upon first glance there wasn’t much to see of the town. However, as we walked towards the direction of our meeting a large complex came into sight. The complex rising from the barren landscape was that of Gartner, a world-renowned manufacturer of custom-made curtain walls for buildings. Our Gartner representative, a man specializing in sales and estimating, led us into the compound and began his presentation with a quick PowerPoint. Since most of us didn’t have any knowledge of Gartner prior to our meeting, it was interesting to learn a little more about the company before we toured through their manufacturing facility. One point that I found most interesting was that unlike most building component manufacturers, Gartner does not use a catalog for their products. Instead, their in-house team of designers, engineers, and project managers design each project’s materials on a project by project basis. This custom-made task is even more impressive when you realize that their products makeup the exterior skin on massive skyscrapers from New York City to Shanghai. After learning more about Gartner we made our way into the showroom.

Showroom Exhibit

Although Gartner does not use catalogs for their products, they do have a showroom highlighting some of their previous designs. While seeing Gartner’s curtain wall panels firsthand was interesting by itself, the showroom was even more informative because we could actually touch and operate the windows and other components of the panels. As these are very intricate pieces of a building, it was helpful to see them up close and personal to better understand their operation. Following our visit to the showroom, we made our way to the actual manufacturing portion of the complex.

Wind Load Test

Gartner’s factory was absolutely massive. To give you a snapshot of its magnitude, it was common to see workers riding bikes around the factory to limit wasting their time walking long distances. We walked all over the factory, learning out the processes taking place as we moved along. One of the most interesting places was the testing portion of the factory where the curtain wall panels are tested before they are approved for use on a particular project. The testing area allowed the engineers to test the panels’ resistance to water, earthquakes, and even wind loads by using an airplane propeller. I was in awe of the magnitude of the factory as we made our way to the Gartner “canteen” for lunch.

Assembly Line

To round out our tour of the complex, our Gartner representative treated our group to lunch in the company cafeteria. Beginning with soup and having a main dish of roast pork and pasta, the meal was excellent. After finishing our lunch and thanking our contact for his time, the group boarded the train to head back to Munich. Even though the day started extremely early, our group was incredibly lucky to be able to tour the factory of one of the world’s preeminent curtain wall manufacturers.