How it's made

[Tai Fu]

Does anyone here watch that show? If you do has anyone noticed any obviously dangerous things happening?

I saw one about barber chairs, a worker feeds a piece of steel plate into a roller to bend it into a circle, and that guy's hand looks like it was seconds from being drawn in and crushed, since the roller seems a bit fast.

[Bruce Page]

It's one of my favorite shows. Coming from a research laboratory environment a lot of what they do makes me cringe a little, but it is real world production. I am often amazed at how much work goes into making things that we take for granted.

[Tai Fu]

Or how much technology it takes to produce seemingly cheap items...

[Brian W Smith]

Love watching the show from a sort of twisted viewpoint.I am a student of shop design(have built a bunch,professionally) and have to get past certain embarrassments........how safety works with shop profile and it's general flow.Taking a pce of plywood and using it as a scatter shield between work stations not only increases safety,if done correctly it serves the equipment as part of their overall stations....and costs about a 1/2 sheet?Putting freakin tape on the floor to keep people the heck out of my work station?Priceless.

[John McClanahan]

I think a lot of what you see is prototype, or one off production so you can see the steps clearly. It also allows the manufacturer to not show the real manufacturing, and company secrets.

John

[Jim Matthews]

My wife derides the show as "Romper Room for grown men".
(Those of you not old enough to get the reference likely have your phones out, already.)

The first years were really interesting, with advance processes on display.
As they go along, the material gets a little less involved...


"How it's made - Soap."
"How it's made - Mulch."
"How it's made - Dirt."

[Bill Huber]

I like the show and DVR it all the time and then set and watch it when I get a chance. I agree there are somethings that I see that look a little unsafe but I guess the company has never had a visit from OSHA,

I do think it is funny at times when the guy that narrates it makes a statement about a punch press and the guy on the show is using a break.

I guess what gets me the most is some of the machines that are built that do some of the neatest things, like the chain making machine.

[John Pratt]

The products made are not what amazes me on that show; it is how complex some of the machinery is to produce seemingly simple items. The number of tasks that one machine can produce in the assembly process. I want to see a "How Its Made" on the machine in the plant that makes the products. Some engineers are truely blessed to be able to see the necessity and process in their head, put it to paper/design, and have a complex machine in the end.

[Tai Fu]

Actually some of those machines are just amazing. For example machines that heat seals and packages products at the same time while the parts are moving at like 3000 rpm, shooting completed products at that speed without missing a beat. Though I do see products like that (individually wrapped chopsticks, forks, toothpicks, etc.) where the product is completely missing (empty heat sealed package)... so I suppose when things happen that fast mistakes do happen.

[Matt Meiser]

A few of my clients have been featured on those shows. In those cases you really are seeing how its made. One client that was on there they used high speed photography then slowed down so you can see the process. Normally it happens so fast you can't even see the product.

The processes for making bottles, potato chips, etc are pretty similar from company to company. Often they are using the same equipment from a 3rd party--for example just about every bottle making or bottling plant I've been in has equipment from Krones. The secrets are in their formulas and process conditions. Sometimes they do internal R&D or work with an equipment manufacturer to make custom equipment for revolutionary ideas.

[Tai Fu]

Often if there's a secret they will say so. I suspect in food service the process is all the same, it's the ingredients that are secret.

[Dan Hunkele]

The quantities they make are mind boggling too. Example: We can make 3,000 screw drivers and hour, okay where do they all go?

[Mel Fulks]

I think the the old INDUSTRY ON PARADE films were much better. Hate the "music" they use on HIM. Dislike the style of
voice over and tendency to only explain what is obvious.

[Michael W. Clark]

Like Matt said, it is cool to see places I have been to and customers. I have seen a few on Dirty Jobs too when they go to manufacturing plants.

[Brian Elfert]

The lack of safety equipment is evident on many TV where things are made. On DIY type shows they often remove the safety devices on purpose. Other shows the workers don't use proper face shields or safety glasses.

I toured a plant many years ago that made pallets from logs. They rotary sliced the logs like you would for veneer to get the thin boards for the tops and bottoms of pallets. Every single guard was removed in the entire plant. They said it took two weeks to prep for a scheduled OSHA inspection. They wouldn't fare too well with an unscheduled inspection. I wonder if they gained enough productivity between inspections to justify the time lost re-installing the guards.