he fact that you can drive a Mack truck through Monona Terrace is no accident, nor is it just a good line. It's the result of thoughtful planning in the facility's receiving area, where five loading docks and a 12 by 20-foot drive-through truck ramp make it a breeze to bring in exhibits of just about any size, from a sailboat to a piece of large farm equipment -- or a Mack truck. There's even a truck wash bay to spiff up that big truck for display. While a truck ramp may seem one of the less glamorous aspects of Monona Terrace, it's one of many important details that make the facility a dream for the people who book events. As important as, for example, the 16-foot dishwasher that will enable the kitchen to keep 110,000 glasses clean and ready for use ... or a set of coffee-makers that can brew 200 gallons of coffee an hour ... or a griddle that can turn out a thousand pancakes an hour ... or a 60-quart mixing bowl that can mash a couple hundred pounds of potatoes in short order, or mix up a batch of dough for 500 jumbo cookies ... or convection ovens that, if you filled them with pies, would bake 80 at a time ... or a 60-gallon steam kettle for brewing soup. A kitchen like that doesn't come together haphazardly; it took a lot of pencil scratching by someone skilled in volume food handling. Most visitors to Monona Terrace won't notice the truck ramp or poke their heads into the kitchen, but a myriad of more obvious details make the convention center a delight to use, an architectural landmark that blends form and function in a way that honors the spirit of Frank Lloyd Wright. And many of these details were made possible by Wisconsin companies.