Like Mr. Rogers without the hipness.

January 23, 2007 5:23 AM

Cool Stuff Being Made: Each week the National Association of Manufacturers posts a new, generally-lengthy video of something being made.
posted by Captaintripps (18 comments total)

Awesome, I already have How it's Made getting automagically tivo'ed. Industrial videos are great fun.
posted by Mach5 at 5:39 AM on January 23, 2007

Wow-I can't get enough of manufacturing and industrial vids. Thanks!

Mach5-never heard of "How its Made" before-thanks too!
posted by neilkod at 5:43 AM on January 23, 2007

Indeed, the first thing I thought of was good ol' How It's Made. I miss good ol' days when Mark Tewksbury was on it. :)
posted by antifuse at 6:42 AM on January 23, 2007

I dunno, I think I sort of prefer the generic female voice over. It strangely soothing to sit back and listen about how widgets are made.
posted by Drunken_munky at 7:09 AM on January 23, 2007

How It's Made is great because theres no damn host that is trying to get facetime, it's just straightforward informative, probably because its originally Canadian. I'm excited to go home today, I'm gonna learn how sanitary napkins and robotic arms are made!

My life is boring.
posted by Mach5 at 7:19 AM on January 23, 2007

Archive.org has some great industrial videos too, like making chocolate at Hershey's.
posted by roboto at 7:32 AM on January 23, 2007

This is great, it reminds me of shorts that Sesame Street would show in the early 80's. Their episodes on "How Milk is Bottled" and "How Apple Cider is Made" that still come to mind. Thanks!
posted by bullitt 5 at 7:56 AM on January 23, 2007

X_that_X
posted by bullitt 5 at 7:57 AM on January 23, 2007

Polka Dot Door (another Canuck kids show) did industrial vids as well. I still remember the crayon one.
posted by Zinger at 8:07 AM on January 23, 2007

It's amazing how so many people take things for granted and don't think about what went into producing the item. This is a brilliant PR and educational concept.
posted by rolypolyman at 8:09 AM on January 23, 2007

Anyone know where I can get a K-Car sized roll of duct tape?

Is it possible to download these videos?
posted by Mitheral at 8:20 AM on January 23, 2007

Not a 'double' double, but I have linked here before to a video on how investmet castings are made.
posted by fixedgear at 8:24 AM on January 23, 2007

This is still here?
posted by fixedgear at 8:25 AM on January 23, 2007

Oops, wrong thread, that comment should have gone in the Billings, MT thread. Flagged.
posted by fixedgear at 8:26 AM on January 23, 2007

Whenever I see one of these videos I imagine a roomfull of Industrial Engineers brainstorming the next widget factory production system design.

After a couple of hits it clicks and they're all, "Oh yeah, and then after the blower flattens the creme-filling, we'll spin the cakes 180 to line them up for the tops."

"Let's install some automatic flippers to turn them back over before pushing them into the oven."

"But first oughtn't we get this bong-conveyor straightened out? I'm tired of always being the reloader."

"That's it! An automatic combustion-chamber reloader..."
posted by notyou at 10:05 AM on January 23, 2007

This is cool. I liked the silly putty one because I remember being fascinated by the stuff back in the day. Now I know.... how awesome it is!

I wish I could understand why I enjoy this so much (although, yeah, the narrator people have to go....).
posted by dios at 11:28 AM on January 23, 2007

The days we got to sit in the dark and watch industrials were my favorite days, back in grade school.
posted by lodurr at 12:29 PM on January 23, 2007

This is, indeed, awesome stuff. And a great resource for a parent with a kid that starts asking where _____ comes from and why and how.
posted by fenriq at 11:30 AM on January 28, 2007