Manufacturing

This 6,000-Year-Old Amulet Is an Ancient Metal Marvel

Lost-wax casting is still used in modern manufacturing

The Fight for the "Right to Repair"

Manufacturers have made it increasingly difficult for individuals or independent repair people to fix electronics. A growing movement is fighting back

Photographer Captures the Enduring Grandeur of the Steinway Piano Factory

Christopher Payne's new book strikes a chord

An illustration of a prosthetic hand.

Sensors Designed for Prosthetic Hands Could Lead to New Textile Standards

Haptic sensors might help figure out if thread count really matters

Four engineering students from the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada invented a printer that produces circuit boards in minutes.

This Year's James Dyson Award Goes to a Circuit Board Printer

Four engineering students in Canada win the prestigious international award with their invention, which they hope will speed up electronics manufacturing

The History of the Bar Code

Inventor Joe Woodland drew the first bar code in sand in Miami Beach, decades before technology could bring his vision to life

Mills and smokestacks in Lowell, Massachusetts, considered by some historians to be the first real company town in the U.S.

America’s Company Towns, Then and Now

A look at these small towns across the United States shows the good, the bad and the ugly of the industrial boom

1924 Doble steam car at the Henry Ford Museum

Here’s What Steam-Powered Cars Were Like Before the Combustion Engine

The Doble brothers’ built a beautiful steam car in 1924 but mismanagement kept it from being a financial sucess

Michael Fraley, a Vice President with Yulex Corporation, cuts a guayule plant that can be used to make natural rubber, in 2008

Could This Shrub Overthrow the Mighty Rubber Tree?

Researchers are working to make a shrub found in southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico a viable natural rubber alternative

Today, where the concept of “disruption” has become so popular in business, those developing apps and new startups can look to the Singer Sewing Machine as one of the original disruptive technologies.

How Singer Won the Sewing Machine War

The Singer Sewing Machine changed the way America manufactured textiles, but the invention itself was less important than the company’s innovative business

Screenshot from "Toy Figurines / How It’s Made"

Here's How Plastic Toy Dinosaurs are Made

A series of molds help the toy creators’ vision pop into 3-D

How Non-stick Frying Pans Are Made

Spinning the pans helps coatings apply evenly and makes the process hypnotic

A new record comes off the press machine at the GZ Media factory in Lodenice, Czech Republic in 2013

Vinyl Presses Struggle to Keep up with the Resurgent Demand for Records

Only a handful of pressing plants can make records in the U.S. and their machinery is finicky

Actress Jodi Foster in 1985 with an interactive Mickey Mouse created the old fashioned way.

Disney's Getting Into 3D-Printing Soft, Cuddly Things

The world of cartoons is going to get a little realer

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.

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

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

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

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