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Glimpses of How it's made, 6 Minute Manufacturing
ptorrone writes "We (MAKE Magazine) have released a free 35 minute film for download - "Glimpses of How it's made" - a tour of how many things in our world are made, each segment is 6 minutes (hence the full name "Six-Minute Manufacturing Glimpses of How it's made"). Learn about, get inspired, and see how stuff is made: LectroSonics (wireless microphones), Rose's Southwest Papers (paper converting), Accurate Custom (Injection Molding), Mega Corp. (water haulage equipment), Earthstone International (recycled glass abrasives), Butterman Tool (tool and die), Eclipse Aviation (small jet aircraft), Optical Insights (optical equipment). Downloads and more info."
This sounds great!
I think the length is fine, and nice that they packaged up a few into one...
I call bullshit!
...
The industry average is 26.4 hours per car!!
And I call "Common sense".
The US alone buys 17 million new cars per year, or an average of 51,000 per 26.4 hours. Those cars, by necessity, come from somewhere.
Do you seriously suggest that the entire planet has 51 thousand automobile assembly lines operational?
And for another bit of reality, the UAW has 620,000 members. That would come out to only 12 people per line... I know the automobile industry has gone mostly to robots, but 12 people? Sounds a bit low even to just keep the robots fed and in working condition, doesn't it?
So where does that figure of 26.4 hours come from? Offhand, I would say it includes all the time that goes into making each and every sub-assembly. For a fair comparison, if you build your own PCs, would you include the actual manufacturing of a modern CPU in your time estimate?