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Manufacturing

Cool Finds

Look How 30 Years of Automation Changed How Crayons Are Made

“Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” showed how people made crayons. Today, crayon-making is a robot’s job

A 4.4-pound, leg-worn exoskeleton creates a chair out of nowhere.

Tech Watch

Sit Anywhere on a Chair You Can Wear

A Swiss startup has created a trim exoskeleton that lets factory workers perch for quick breaks

Wooden letterpress type

Cool Finds

New York Once Had an Entire District for Typography

Downtown New York used to have an entire neighborhood of type foundries, before they all disappeared

Cool Finds

This Organization Recycles 120,000 Pounds of Mardi Gras Beads Each Year

That’s more than 60 walruses (by mass) worth of beads

Clouds of haze rise above China, largely the result of the country's massive manufacturing industry.

Air Pollution in China Is Spreading Across the Pacific to the U.S.

China is sending detectable levels of pollution to the U.S., but a significant fraction of it results from manufacturing products for American customers

Steel rule dies that are used to cut leather for mass production Location: Baikal Inc. Handbag Manufacturer

How to Bring Manufacturing Back to the USA in Small-Batch Format

Aspiring makers are now finding ways to manufacture their designs in American factories

Nature Works has figured out how to make plastic out of corn.

Corn Plastic to the Rescue

Wal-Mart and others are going green with “biodegradable” packaging made from corn. But is this really the answer to America’s throwaway culture?

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