An effective way of incorporating more experiential learning elements into engineering courses and conducting them as active learning process is by adding site/factory tours to the curriculum. This paper reports research outcomes which help to conduct a successful and active plant tour for engineering students. Acknowledging logistical and managerial aspects of organising such tours, useful techniques are suggested to reduce this load. Pedagogical principles related to factory tours are then reviewed and appropriate activities to maximise the learning of students are proposed.