Previous Tours

June 7th:  GOLF OUTING

Donald Ross Golf Course

7102 South Calhoun Street, Fort Wayne

Donald Ross was a world renowned golf course designer who designed 413 courses including such gems as Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, Seminole in Florida, and site of the 1996 U.S. Open, Oakland Hills outside Detroit. 

 This Fun Filled club event was planned by Jake Dinius, Mary Gynn, and Terry Van Daele for Saturday June 7 and began with an




MAY TOUR: Science Central

1950 North Clinton, Fort Wayne, IN

Thursday, May 22, 2008,

 Our evening will consisted of four parts, greeting by new Director, exhibit presentation, tour of old plant and refreshments.

 Our group was greeted by the new director of Science Central, Martin Fisher, who gave us some background on Science Central and bring us up to date on this fine Fort Wayne attraction asset. 

 We were also brought up to date on the work of a GE volunteer group that has been designing and building a new GE turbine generator exhibit for the main exhibit hall.  This new display will mount on top of the original CL&P #2 Generator and will stand over 15’ above the 1930’s generator.  The exhibit will mimic the running of the old power plant and visitors will be able to operate the display, putting coal into the bunker, weighing it, placing it on the grate, igniting it and boiling water to make steam and running the turbine.  The interactive display will take the operators through the paces required to operate the plant up to and including generating electricity and paralleling output with the electric grid.  Failure to operate the display in sequence will require restarting the process to get it right.  Successful operation of the generator will reward the operator with appropriate bells and whistles.

 In addition to touring the exhibit area and the new under construction generator exhibit, the group was given the opportunity to see behind the scenes on the boiler side of the plant.  For those wanting to climb stairs to the top, we were allowed to climb the open stairs and grated levels in the old auxiliary bay to the top fan floor level.  This was very cool.  We returned to the office area by the front original stairs and then returned to the lobby by the elevator where refreshments were available.  A great time to visit with fellow club members and staff members, thanks for another excellent tour!

 

 

The APRIL TOUR of the Air National Guard
Thursday, April 17,
was a big success with 33 members attending.  The group tour the facilities of the United States Air Force's 122nd Fighter Wing the Air National Guard fighter unit located at Fort Wayne International Airport since transferred to Fort Wayne in 1954.  In a national emergency, the 122FW may be ordered to active duty by the President and is also available on orders from the Governor of Indiana to assist in the event of a disaster, disturbance or other local emergency.   Aircraft:  The Blacksnakes currently fly the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, a multi-role 1970’s General Dynamics jet fighter aircraft.  The F-16 is a single-engine, tactical aircraft with a M61 Vulcan cannon in the left wing root, and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, one on each wingtip on a dedicated rail and can also be armed with a variety of air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground missiles, rockets or bombs, carried on a number of hard points under the wings. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/122d_Fighter_Wing




MARCH TOUR: 
INNOVATION Center & RFID

Thursday, March 20, 2008,

The Innovation Center was the site of the March tour where club members were brought up to speed on RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and Image Recognition which has many applications in industry as well as in the security field.  Terry VanDaele had arranged this tour through the IPFW professor, Rob Palevich, in charge of this joint venture.  It was a great update in this current technological application.        

The evening also included a presentation by a group promoting a concept called Tek.Venture bringing art and technology together in a laboratory setting to promote innovation and creativity combining senior local technical and art talent with young inquisitive minds in a creative supporting environment.  The group was advised of activities such as a traveling version “Tek.Mobile” and a “Chain Reaction Challenge” competition.




FEBRUARY 2008 TOUR:  SWEETWATER SOUND

Date: February 21, 2008. 

Location: 5501 US Highway 30 W, Fort Wayne, IN 46818

Had a great tour, visiting/socializing, and great attendance.  This meeting combined the FWEC and the AFE Facilities Engineers during Engineers Week and was arranged by Jon Rowe AFE and FWEC member.  Total attendance was ~100 and a great time had by all.  We toured Sweetwater Sound’s 180,000 square foot facility that is like a mall on its just completing $34 million campus.  We were treated to the crown jewel of the new facility, its 250-seat, state-of-the-art auditorium/ performance theatre with four separate sound systems, as well as three new recoding studios, all designed by legendary acoustician/studio designer Russ Berger.  A fascinating tour of this outstanding local high tech business.

 

JANUARY 2008 TOUR:  FORT WAYNE NEWSPAPERS

Date: January 23, 2008, Wednesday ,

Location: 600 West Main Street, Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Phil Haggerty from the Fort Wayne Newspapers offered a great tour of the new press in the brand new impressive building at the northwest corner of Main and Van Buren.  The 47,000-square-foot building houses a 60-foot-tall, six-tower printing press, part of the $34.8-million expansion by the newspaper publishing company jointly owned by The News-Sentinel and The Journal Gazette.
http://fwnextweb1.fortwayne.com/press

 

NOVEMBER 2007 TOUR: Warbird Micro Brewery

Date: November 29, 7:00 PM (Thursday)

Location: Warbird Brewing Company,
10515 Majic Port Lane
Fort Wayne, IN 46819, near the FW International Airpor

Background: The Warbird Brewing Company combines two favorite past times of its founder, Doctor Dave Holmes, of making hobby home brewed beer and his fascination with war air craft called war birds into one pretty cool business. Dave’s titles such as Operations Group Commander, 194th Brewing Wing, 1st Brew Force, reflect his patriotism and love of military aircraft. Dave’s interest in and pursuit of home brewing and enjoyment and encouragement of friends grew into the Warbird Brewery venture we will be touring. You can learn more about Warbird and Dave Holmes by visiting the Warbird Web Site: “www.warbirdbrewing.com”


OCTOBER 2007 TOUR:
  KARL SCHMIDT UNISIA
(Old Zollners)

Date: October 18, 7:00 PM (Thursday)

Location:  2425 Coliseum Blvd South, next to and north of the old Harvester Complex.  Follow Coliseum Blvd eastuntil it turns south.  Karl Schmidt Unisia is south of New Haven Ave. on the east side of Coliseum Blvd, before it turns into Pontiac St. at the Harvester tower.

Background:  Karl Schmidt Unisia is a premier producer of pistons technology with a broad portfolio of products for applications that range from automotive engines to hand power tools, motorcycles, and large marine applications. Karl Schmidt Unisia is a pioneer in lightweight piston technology for automotive gasoline applications and is a leader in producing pistons for a wide variety of diesel applications.  Karl Schmidt Unisia is a division of Kolbenschmidt Pierburg.  Kolbenschmidt Pierburg's world headquarters is located in Düsseldorf, Germany and employs approximately 11,400 worldwide and recorded global sales in fiscal 2004 of $2.4 billion.

The company's customer base includes most of the world's major vehicle manufacturers as well as some of their Tier One suppliers. It also supplies components for many of the independent engine builders for medium- and heavy-duty applications. 

This plant was originally Zollner Corporation, and was formed in 1912 as a Tier-1 supplier of pistons to companies such as Ford, General Motors, International Harvester, John Deere and Outboard Marine.  At one time, Zollner Corporation employed more than 1000 people. The company had 230 employees when acquired by Kolbenschmidt Pierburg AG in 1999.
The tour will consist of the manufacturing floor and their engine test lab and should be very interesting.