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Education Technology

How Everyday Things Are Made 101

Posted by michael from the no-slide-rules dept.
OckNock writes "The Alliance for Innovative Manufacturing at Stanford University in conjunction with Design4x has released online courses on design and manufacturing that include over 4 hours of streaming video (Flashplayer required). Some of the topics include airplanes, crayons, and waterjet cutting. If only they had this when I had studied mechanical engineering - maybe I would have stayed awake in class more."
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How Everyday Things Are Made More

How Everyday Things Are Made

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  • Ah, the memories (Score:5, Funny)

    by Megane ( 129182 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @12:55AM (#6831238)
    When I was a kid, all you had to do was tune in Mr. Rogers to see crayons being made.

    • Re:Ah, the memories (Score:2, Interesting)

      by nettdata ( 88196 )
      My favourite was the spoon factory... who knew that spoons were made that way?

    • oh so true. (Score:2, Insightful)

      by twitter ( 104583 )
      When I was a kid, all you had to do was tune in Mr. Rogers to see crayons being made.

      That was back when you did not need to sign a NDA or EULA to get a propriatory player to learn something. Mr. Rodgers came to you via published standard broadcasting signal. Now you gotta have a silly flash player, tomorrow you will have to have a DRM OS and dissapearing files for the distributed memory hole and universal censorship to work.

    • Re:Ah, the memories (Score:2, Informative)

      by MikeD83 ( 529104 )
      Yes, I remember an episode where they went to a pencil factory. The interesting part was that all the waste wood was ground down and combined with glue to form a Duraflame faux fireplace log.
  • Seems alot like the MIT online courses earlier in the week. It's interesting but 4 hours on engineering isn't terribly helpful
  • This helped me a lot, watching the lectures of the inctructs that they tape is almost better than going to a real class

  • great stuff! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by seanadams.com ( 463190 ) * on Saturday August 30, 2003 @12:59AM (#6831257) Homepage
    During this internet craze, I think a lot of techies have lost touch with the amazing techniques that we develop for designing and manufacturing all the physical things around us.

    If you're an out of work geek, consider looking into the "old smoke-stack" industries for places where you could apply your software skills in helping companies improve margins through better automation and more efficient processes.

    • Re:great stuff! (Score:5, Informative)

      by PurpleFloyd ( 149812 ) <`zeno20' `at' `attbi.com'> on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:19AM (#6831316) Homepage
      Sorry, but process engineering is a dead field right now. Many companies are cutting "improvement" departments like process engineering and IT to the bone because they don't directly produce end products; middle and upper management often look down on divisions that don't do "real work." While companies doing this are essentially shooting themselves in the foot, most of manufacturing is cutting back or eliminating entirely divisions that serve to improve productivity. Since they're not directly related to product output, they get cut first and the company doesn't suffer immediately.

      Also, what makes you think that an out-of-work sysadmin or programmer would be qualified? All the process engineers I know have spent many years working on the shop floor in their industries, and know the processes involved like the back of their hand. If they can't find work, what hope is there for someone who walks in from what is essentially a completely different industry?

      • Also, what makes you think that an out-of-work sysadmin or programmer would be qualified?

        IMHO a lot of technologies stagnate for lack of "cross-pollination". Let me explain: would I expect a unix programmer to understand the process of glass making? No. Not any more than I'd expect the man operating the blow molding machine to understand the intricacies of select(). But I'm sure that the two of them working together, each contributing deep knowledge in their specific field, could come up with solutions th
        • I can see why you say it's dead field though, and honestly I do sympathize with the management's position - you either cut what you can or just close the doors. Once business stabilizes though, process engineering becomes important again.

          Booming in China, that is. It's so easy to exploit the poor bastards there with their wonderful centralized government. Once price pays all, all but the workers and engineers. Why pay 60,000 for a US process engineer when that might cover your entire Chinese or Russian

      • Re:great stuff! (Score:3, Interesting)

        by digitalunity ( 19107 )
        It depends very much on the process and the industry. I work for one of the largest silicon wafer manufacturers in the world. Our automation is so complex and mature that the only way we could lay off more workers is if we reduced capacity. That's the key. We did lay off almost half of the workers, but through efficiency increases, the capacity is where it was two years ago. The company saved a decent chunk of change because they kept the automation engineers around. I know of another similar company that j

      • Re:great stuff! (Score:5, Funny)

        by Jardine ( 398197 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @02:37AM (#6831526) Homepage
        middle and upper management often look down on divisions that don't do "real work."

        I wonder if that might be considered irony.

      • Re:great stuff! (Score:3, Insightful)

        by weave ( 48069 )
        True, but capitalism would demand that at some point one of their competitors would figure out how to squeeze more productivity out of their employees who produce, and use process engineering to do it, and gain a competitive advantage.

        I know in my own work place, and I can't stress this enough, I can look and identify a plethora of processes and issues that my team could help my site's employees become more productive at their jobs, but we don't because we're drowning in doing tech support for braindead s

      • Sorry, but process engineering is a dead field right now.

        I make a very tidy sum doing process customization and optimization for this "dead" industry, in a small city on the east coast. If you can make a process more efficient, there's always money to be made. I don't know about larger industries, but smaller companies have been a goldmine for me. I'm an EE with an embedded design specialty, and right now I have more projects than I can handle.

        The pulp mills in the area are hiring qualified people as we
      • You bring up a point I have often wondered about. As an engineer I see company after company kill the section(s) that come-up with new products or build the infrastructure. Why is it that no one seems to realize you can't build one product forever? You have to have new stuff. There seems to be this idea that all that matters is tomorrow and not next year. Just because a division doesn't produce something physical doesn't mean it doesn't add to the bottom line. If that were true then no one would need
    • If you're an out of work geek, consider looking into the "old smoke-stack" industries for places where you could apply your software skills in helping companies improve margins through better automation and more efficient processes.

      I think for the out of work geeks, if they could've they would've and they wouldn't've (Bushism) been out of work geeks. Odd you should mention this, SecurityFocus' job list recently had a thread going on with people ranting about how bad the industry is. Personally I've found

    • If you're an out of work geek, consider looking into the "old smoke-stack" industries for places where you could apply your software skills in helping companies improve margins through better automation and more efficient processes.

      What you've just described is called systems engineering. Typical qualifications are 4 years tertiary level education, 2 years work experience, and an accreditation exam. Under-graduates are expected to be in the top-end of the intellectual curve; entrance scores for enginee

    • If you're an out of work geek, consider looking into the "old smoke-stack" industries for places where you could apply your software skills in helping companies improve margins through better automation and more efficient processes.

      Good luck. You are likely to be trampled by all the early retirement package, people from closed plants and layoffs who were hoping that this new fangled IT thing might make them useful again. People like me, who would be happy to have another job at a power plant. Manufactur

  • Just on time! (Score:5, Funny)

    by sinserve ( 455889 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:03AM (#6831272)
    Some of the topics include airplanes, crayons, and waterjet cutting.

    I was depressed after reading the story about tech jobs being
    outsourced. But this new story suggests me a new career and I can already
    see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am gonna become a World-Class
    Crayon maker.

    /me "borrows" candles blackout and emergency box ...

  • Mr. Wizard (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Jason1729 ( 561790 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:03AM (#6831273)
    I learned about this sort of thing watching Mr. Wizard's World [imdb.com] when I was a kid. I gained my interest in science watching this show.

    Jason
    ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]
    • more recently, it was bill nye the science guy, but he's not on anymore, near where i live. who's going to fill the shoes?
      • I was one of the eight people on this planet that loved "Beakman's World". Damn I miss that giant rat.

        Great camera angles and editing for its time, fun stuff.

        • Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Unfortunately I never saw Beakman's world, but I'm firmly in the Bill Nye is an idiot camp.

          Jason
          ProfQuotes [profquotes.com]

          • Re:Mr. Wizard (Score:2, Informative)

            by ruprechtjones ( 545762 )
            If you saw Bill Nye's original work on "Almost Live", a local Seattle comedy show that had its heyday in the early nineties, you would actually dig him. To me, he went to shit when he was picked up by Disney, but so be it. I still have some props from his studio (a killer 5-foot paper-mache T-Rex foot, I think it was used for prints in the sand, whatever, it's cool hanging on my wall), even tho I stopped watching him on cable, I still respect the dude. Like most other 'mericans, he followed the money, an

    • Re:Mr. Wizard (Score:4, Funny)

      by josh crawley ( 537561 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @02:06AM (#6831450)
      Hmmm.

      Mr. Wizard: So this old man invites little boys and girls over to his house to do "experiments". We never meet Mrs. Wizard.

      No, there's nothing suspicious here.
    • Every morning before school, Mr. Wizard would blow my mind with some crazy experiment. Remember his house and what not, well imagine if Mr. Wizard was just some guy who did experiments without a TV show or anything. I bet Mr. Wizard would get a visit from the fbi for all those chemicals he was buying. Or maybe the local law enforcement for all the kids coming and going from his house. I'm off on a tangent now... anyways, Mr. Wizard was an excellent show.

  • Really usefull if you learn by example (Score:5, Interesting)

    by strider3700 ( 109874 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:04AM (#6831278)
    I love it when places do this. I've always found it easiest to learn by watching someone else doing it, then copying, and then experimenting. I've learned basic cooking and baking, simple home repair and basic automotive repair this way all from tv. From there I usually realize I enjoy it, pick up a book or find a web site and get better at it. I'm currently in the middle of rebuilding a car using a manual a web forum and what I learned watching those hotrodding shows on TV saturday mornings. Now if only someone would release free videos of how to play with fiberglass and carbon fiber.

  • Take a look at (Score:5, Informative)

    by AchmedHabib ( 696882 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:13AM (#6831304)
    Take a look at http://www.howstuffworks.com/ [howstuffworks.com]. There's a lot of explanations for just about anything.

  • this is college level? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by paradesign ( 561561 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:23AM (#6831328) Homepage
    it seemed to me like a crappily edited tape that theyed show to middle schoolers before a field trip. i watched the 'transportation / automobiles' and it was HORRIBLE. no mention of tolerances, or part placement. well no, the narator did say, "up it goes" when they put the engine in. this is hardly up to teh quality of MIT's open courseware, but hey, if perty colors is your idea of an education, go for it, im sure your 'accredited' degree is in the mail.

    • It is introductory. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Which means interesting and undestandable by anyone without specific prior knowledge. Their disclaimer says (with highlights added):
      AIM has developed an introductory website showing how various items are made. It covers over 40 different products and manufacturing processes, and includes almost 4 hours of manufacturing video. It is targeted towards non-engineers and engineers alike. Think of it as your own private online factory tour, or a virtual factory tour, if you wish. We are able to cover only a s
    • I think it may even be. I remember seeing a story on TV about a US university (can't remember the name but it is famous for trusting the students not to cheat in exams), where they had a 'how stuff works' course. It was said to be their most popular course. Seemed pretty much mid- or high school level for me, but they still had a problem with cheaters who copied their course paper (an explanation about how some thing or another works)...
      • You're thinking of a physics for non-majors course at the University of Virginia. The instructor, Louis Bloomfield (author of How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life), used a program to check the final papers for that course for plagarism, and came up with a disturbing number of positive results.
  • Everything needs a little bit of Agent X, just so we could PowerPuff everything! Muahahahahaha!

  • Hmmm (Score:3, Funny)

    by Timesprout ( 579035 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:53AM (#6831411)
    I dont see anything there about how babies are made

  • No way! (Score:3, Funny)

    by jeffkjo1 ( 663413 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @01:56AM (#6831423) Homepage
    You mean I've been lied to all these years.... stuff isn't made by tiny gnomes who live inside of everything?
  • Yeah, you should.

    Then you wouldn't have to spend the rest of your life railing against capitalism. Ya eejit.

  • Does anyone know how chicken wire is made? The best I could come up with grows it one strand at a time widthwise (ie, along the ground, given its eventual orientation).

    This just seems a bit slow.

  • I hope the poster didn't pass (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 30, 2003 @03:33AM (#6831671)
    "I only they had this when I had studied mechanical engineering - maybe I would have stayed awake in class more."

    Stick to the crayons, dude. I wouldn't want to cross any bridges you "engineered."
  • This rather reminds me of HowStuffWorks.com [howstuffworks.com] - I've just noticed that they have done a site redesign. A whole lot of neat documents there...

  • How Everyday Things are Mad (Score:3, Funny)

    by pe1chl ( 90186 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @04:54AM (#6831852)
    This is what it says in the upper-right corner of the screen.
    Or is that only when played on Linux?

  • Hate to say it, but it's a good thing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by weave ( 48069 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @05:05AM (#6831863) Journal
    Anything that increases productivity is a good thing. You want people to increase their standard of living. There is only so much wealth in the world to go around. You can either muck with the system to redistribute that wealth, or you can work to create more wealth so there is more to go around.

    Increasing productivity increases wealth. Unfortunately, some people don't get it. For example, if you force redistribution of wealth to balance things out and screw it up by removing incentives to increase productivity, you often descrease productivity and hence destroy wealth.

    Imagine back about 150 years ago when most of our society was agrarian. More than half of all labor went into producing food. Not a lot of luxuries back then. When automated farm equipment came out, a lot of farm hands lost their jobs. Was this a bad thing? Of course not. Because food became cheaper, jobs shifted to manufacturing where goods were produced to make people's lives easier, etc, etc...

    When jobs shift to other countries, some wealth shifts there too. But usually the productivity gains are more than enough to offset the loss in wealth because there's more of it to go around. It also helps the lives of other people in other countries to improve. Is that such a bad thing? Having a billion people in this world just sitting around and not being productive is a horrible waste of the world's potential. They should be out there making cheap toys for Happy Meals damn it!

    Beyond the economic benefits there are also other benefits. As each country's economy becomes dependent on others, they are less likely to take hostile action against each other (although introduce religion into the mix and all logic and sense goes out the window).

    As was posted by someone else above, there are still opportunities in IT to increase productivity in workers in your native country. As I look around my job site now, I see a tremendous amount of time spent in desktop support issues. I think the current design of software and OSes really suck. Lack of security, viruses, software that, when installed, can negatively affect other software on a PC, user's mucking with and destroying settings on PCs, etc, etc. Too much time in IT is spent with desktop support issues, fixing software issues, supporting users and not finding ways to improve the business process and hence increase productivity all around. There's also a horrible lack in adequate training. There are software tools out there to help, but employees don't know how to use it. How many in management know how to use software to plan things using a project-planning program for example?

    • very good post. While I'm for redistribution of wealth from people who don't contribute through some kind of labor, the comment I had is that the reduction in food pricing and clothing pricing is wonderful until there is price fixing in Cereals that cost 4$ a pop or clothing that costs 30 cents to make,transport,etc and 50$ on the shelf.
    • It sounds good but what have people benefitted really? We still have to work to live, but now we work to buy bits of plastic we have been trained to want. We are all still peons.

      If people werent buying $200 nikes that were made for $5 by a 10 year old sweat shop worker i'd agree with your rosy picture.
    • "Imagine back about 150 years ago when most of our society was based on Information Technology. More than half of all labor went into producing computerised knowledge systems. Not a lot of luxuries back then. When offshore IT shops came about, a lot of IT workers lost their jobs. Was this a bad thing? Of course not. Because IT became cheaper, jobs shifted to nanomolecular biotechnology where goods were produced to make people's lives easier, etc, etc..."

      What goes around comes around...

    • How many in management know how to use software to plan things using a project-planning program for example?

      That would be a valid question - that is, if there were any decent project-planning applications out there...

  • Taking a step backwards... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by swordgeek ( 112599 ) on Saturday August 30, 2003 @05:07AM (#6831869) Journal
    The first thing I thought of when I read the subject was closer to 'how everyday things are created,' a cause near and dear to my heart.

    Manufacturing is fascinating stuff, but my wife is an industrial designer, and as a result I get to see the REALLY neat parts--the research/design/prototype/test process that feeds into manufacturing.

    Not too many people thing about the work that goes into making a chair (for example) fit properly, but it's a complex process and one that requires a lot more engineering than people realise.

    Nothing really important to say here--just thought that people (especially those younger /.ers who haven't yet decided on a career) who find the manufacturing process interesting might also give a thought towards the industrial design aspect.
  • I watched the harly davidson motorcycle manufacture and immediately saw ways for them to reduce up to 100 people in their manufacturing process through automation. I thought this was all done in the 1980s and 90s.
    • I'm in milwaukee right now watching the Harley 100 aniverssary parade on tv right now. A bit of history, Harleys used to be manufactured by assembly line, but their quality declined so much that the company almost went under, it changed hands a few times, and was eventually bought by the employees. Now the bikes are hand assembled by four man teams.
      • I didn't know that. Thank you for your post. I'd still rather use a machine put together by a machine than by a person. Once something is automated correctly I'd rather trust the machine than the human.

  • And today kids (Score:2, Funny)

    by TCM ( 130219 )
    we learn how molten piles of server goo are made.
  • Somewhat OT, but lately I've been interested in learning a bit of carpentry. Any slashdotter's recommendations of online tutorials about working with wood?
  • This presentation seems to be addressed to intelligent 12-year-olds. It's below the Discovery Channel level, but above Sesame Street.

    Then again, there's a sizable portion of the population today that's never been inside a factory of any kind.

    There used to be thousands of "industrial films", (many of which are online here [archive.org]), intended for instruction and used for advertising. Watching some of those will give you a good sense of how things were really made.

  • The following comment is neither deep nor original, but ...

    Waterjets are cool.

    When I was small (too small to remember, but I've been back to the place), I lived in a house with central vacuum. Central vacuums always puzzle me; Sure, it's a bit lighter than carrying around a complete vac, but it seems to introduce fiddly bits in places (like walls) where trouble could become Trouble when something goes wrong, and introduces a much longer tube along which suction must be maintained.

    However, waterjets are a

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