Adec in Portland!

Jason and I were able to getaway to Portland in November for four days.  We went as guests of Patterson Dental and Adec Dental Supply company.  

Meanwhile... the boys roughed it in Stillwater!

Hanging out in Dallas!  Our flight was 3 hours delayed taking off.

Our day on Friday began with a van and our reps picking us up at the hotel and taking us to a community outside of Portland where Adec is located.  It is a town of about 25k and 1,200 of those people are employed by Adec.

I took so many pictures on our tour, but mostly at the end of it when we were presented with all of the opertory color/design options.  So.many.choices!

Most companies are scattered.  Their pieces are made in ABC location, customer service in QRS city, and operations in XYZ.  Adec has one campus where there are 14 buildings all together.  They do it ALL right there, only bringing in a few small items like nuts and bolts, from outside those walls, for all of their products.  We were able to tour it all and see where our equipment will be created and how and why they do it the way they do.

The Adec way.  Cool stuff if you can zoom in.

Old equipment (like decades) is in their customer service center so when a client has an issue, they can go to the exact piece and talk

There has been more automation incorporated to the company. However, anytime a robot comes to take a person's job, they are placed elsewhere.  Our tour guide started as entry level in factory and has worked his way to sales.  

There are the plastic molds and padding for the seats.

These are all part of an order.  Except for rare cases, products are not made unless it is in an order for a dentist.

Staff are given flowers representing years of service.

We headed to Oregon wineries after the tour.  Although it wasn't prime season, it was still very beautiful!

Pic of the trip...

Next was a brewery... what can I say?  Fun group!

Our Adec rep has been on 90+ tours.  This is our Patterson rep and this was also his first visit!  Jason and Kyle met in dental school.

The dental guys flew home on Saturday morning. Jason and I stayed an extra day to explore. We got a rental and headed to Multhomah Falls. So pretty.  We hiked up to the top, too!

Multiple views from up top!

We took this trying to show the slope.  It didn't work but it is a funny memory.

Jason liked the moss all over these trees on the hike.

There's Washington!

Took this for my parents...

Lunch was next.  We almost left this place as we didn't know half of the words on the menu (ha!) but so glad we stayed.  Both ended up with a great sandwich (mine was supreme!)

Keep Portland Weird... they say... they're doing it!

Jason really wanted to check out Voodoo donuts.  Not that super.

The line. For donuts. At 4 pm. I spy Jason!

Some inappropriate menu choices

We finished the evening with walking around the shopping area near our hotel - lots of upscale shops and it was all decorated for Christmas.  Good times.

Jason was nice to take a picture with our rental car.

My request: Barnes and Noble - a physical bookstore - with hot chocolate.