In addition to his other notable pursuits, Henry Ford's reimagining of how civilization constructs things helped usher in the modern industrial age.
Nearly a century later, many of his production principles are still in use. Of course, we now have the help of robots, lasers, and cheap off-shore labor to create all the cool stuff around us, but the same idea nugget is still buried in there.
Most of us probably never consider all the hours and work that go into design and production of a cutting-edge device, but it's no simple task.
While many bemoan the loss of craft and artisanal flavor from the marketplace, I would argue that coordinating a vast organization to produce a ton of functioning high-quality gadgets at an affordable price is the new craft.
While your mass-produced gadget may not get the due respect it deserves on Etsy or at your local artisanal market, keep in mind that it takes just as much time, blood, sweat, and tears (if not more) to create that gadget (and all the other ones just like it) as it does for the solitary artiste to hone their craft into a singular unique item.
Here we present 11 behind-the-scenes glimpses into how all the hottest electronics of today are made.
1.
Boeing
Planes don't grow on trees. They come from vast assembly plants such as this 98-Acre facility in Everett, WA. That's about 75 NFL football fields for a reference point. The 24-hour factory employs 30,000 workers, has 39 miles of ceiling track to bring the large plane parts together, and has over 1 million light bulbs.
2.
Intel
How are microchips made? Here, Intel presents a basic, narration-free animated video which provides a
very basic run-down for those of us who only live at the consumer end of the process.
3.
Tesla Motors
One of the world's truly cutting-edge technology companies has an appropriately cutting-edge production method utilizing 160 highly agile robotic appendages along with 3,000 human employees in a vast, choreographed display of production prowess
4.
BMW
Fine German engineering, assembled in China with the help of many robots.
5.
Lego
Legos are probably the first "technology" to which many of us were exposed. The highly automated Lego factory churns out billions of pieces—each connectable to every other piece. And they are transported throughout the factory via roving robots that know to stop when a sentient being gets in the way.
6.
Android Tablet
Not all assembly plants are magical robotic playlands. In fact, many (if not most) are soulless houses of repetition, such as is captured in this vignette from an Android tablet manufacturing plant. Even if this video had a soundtrack and snappy post-production, chances are it could never be viewed as romantic in any way.
7.
Earbuds
Earbuds are the iconic accessory of the mobile age. But many have their start in fairly conventional, production lines that were familiar in decades past.
8.
Ford Focus Electric
This video makes note of Henry Ford's invention of the assembly line. And it's interesting to note how very conventional the production process is on Ford's all-electric Focus as compared to the production on the Tesla.
9.
Xbox Factory
Playing Xbox brings so much joy to so many.
Building Xboxes, however, looks really boring.
10.
Samsung Fridge
Samsung gets a lot of attention for its
top-shelf mobile devices. However, the Korean manufacturer has its hands in many consumer goods (not to mention a theme park, advertising agency, and life insurance company). And the production and design on its fridges, TVs, and other electronics are absolutely top notch. Here's a look behind the scenes at a Polish Samsung plant where they assemble refrigerators.
11.
Samsung Production Line
On the eve of the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S5, our own Sascha Segan headed out to Gumi, South Korea to get a first-hand look at how the phones
are put together.
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