How to arrange special tours of large factories:
Let’s say you are a big baseball fan, and you want to take a tour of the factory where they make Louisville Slugger baseball bats like the ones that Babe Ruth used to use. Or perhaps you like M&M candies, and want to visit the chocolate manufacturing plant. Maybe your hobby is cigars, and you want to tour a cigar making facility, or you would like to visit a real mine, where they dig coal, gold, or rubies from deep beneath the earth. There is every chance that you can have your wish, if you follow a few procedures and protocols to work out your plan in advance of your excursion.
Try to first contact the main office of the company that owns the facility you would like visit, and get information about how to communicate with someone in public relations or community relations. Most large companies have a department that specializes in working with the general public to answer questions, and if you can get in touch with someone in that department, they may be able to grant you clearance to take a special tour of their facility.
You may have to follow certain guidelines. For instance, you may not be allowed to take photographs, although you might be given free brochures, postcards, and other materials with pictures in them. And you may have to wear special clothing. For instance, if you are touring a mine, you will be asked to wear a hard hat, which they company will supply to you for the time of the tour. And if you are visiting a place like a military base or the White House in Washington, DC, you may have to submit to a search and even a background check.