Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Gargantuan tasks

demand mega-muscled machines...

♪

Dominating the drag strip,

commanding deep-sea construction,

or reaping the fields.

Whether at work or at play,

these heavyweight champions

are the masters of monumental loads.

Burning rubber...

Screaming engines...

It's just an adrenalin rush like I've never had before.

NARRATOR: ...these diesel-sucking beasts

are transforming trucking, from highway to raceway.

MAN: You're just on the edge

just watching loaded race after loaded race.

NARRATOR: It's all part of a rebirth of the big rig.

It's exciting, for sure.

NARRATOR: From heavy hauler...

It's exhilarating, man. It's a power like nothing else.

NARRATOR: ...to drag-strip brawler,

this is the Great Lakes Big Rig Truck Challenge,

where high-powered semis battle in uphill elimination rounds...

...until only one truck is victorious.

Tens of thousands of fans come from all over the world

just to watch these monsters race uphill, fully loaded.

You've got fans going wild,

the ground shaking,

black smoke everywhere.

When those rigs launch,

the roar gets you right in the chest.

We're talking custom-built machines.

These are one-of-a-kind racing beasts

that can't even function as normal big rigs anymore.

You could drive it down the road.

It would be very smoky and make a lot of people mad.

It would get very hot pretty quick.

Transmission is built for shifting fast,

not for lasting long. So, you would blow a transmission

fairly soon on the road.

ZEINAB EL-SAYEGH: These are the 18-wheelers

you'd see along any stretch of the highway,

holding materials, supplies, food.

Long-haul, heavy-duty veterans of the road

that have been reborn purely for competition.

NARRATOR: It takes more than speed.

They have to pull their weight uphill.

MIKE STURGILL: A-class is the best of the best.

8,000 horsepower,

16,000-foot pounds of torque.

Side by side. Straight up the hill. 700 feet.

Tires off the ground.

NARRATOR: Each big rig

is attached to a 54-ton load.

When they get their cue,

the pedal hits the metal

and the gears grind.

Will they cross the line first or get kicked to the curb?

WADE LALONE: We're all friends until the light goes green.

When we're on the racetrack, you're my enemy.

These aren't just big rigs.

They're heavyweight-pulling champs.

Top-tier A-class trucks hauling full loads,

out to prove who's the ultimate king of the road.

MIKE: These machines are pushed to the maximum for racing.

They were not designed to be a race application,

but we've made them into a racing machine.

NARRATOR: Long before their racing days,

big rigs were making their money out on the highways,

and they've been doing it since the early 1900s.

PATRICK: So, the semi-truck was invented in 1898

by a guy named Alexander Winton,

an American engineer who wanted a better way

to deliver his company cars

than using horse-drawn wagons.

Started out with steam engines

and then switched to gasoline and then diesel.

By the 1920s, when better road networks were created,

semi-trucks were everywhere on highways.

NARRATOR: Now, millions of semi-trucks

move trillions of dollars worth of cargo

on roads and highways the world over.

I love trucks because the world revolves around trucks.

Without trucks, you wouldn't have

the goods and services that we do every day.

NARRATOR: But when these haulers retire from the highway,

the lucky ones are rescued for the track.

Semi-truck racing was born

at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1979.

Two motorsport promoters, Jim Donohoe and Pete Keller,

organized the first major big-rig race.

That event led to circuits

like the Great American Truck Racing Series

and Canada's Truck Rodeo,

which began with regular big rigs raising up a hill.

They had to find an uphill, 'cause they wanted to see

who had the most powerful truck to get to the top.

So, it just became an uphill race.

NARRATOR: Now, it's evolved into maxed-out semis

that grow more powerful with each passing year.

Out on the track, the big rigs reach speeds

of 120 kilometres per hour.

But the drivers are more concerned with

their pulling power.

MIKE: All turbo. Everything's maxed out.

See the steep part of the hill?

Full boost, and that's when the engines work the hardest,

'cause there's a heavy load pulling on a steep hill.

NARRATOR: And that extreme pulling force

comes straight from the heart of these machines:

their engines.

We are going to take a look at the engine.

NARRATOR: Nobody is relying on

factory-made parts for these rigs.

Under the hood, it's all custom.

DUMARESQ: Drivers are obsessed with

squeezing every ounce of power from their rigs

to get that competitive edge.

They crank up air pressure to max out horsepower,

and pump in so much fuel that black smoke and flames

pour from the exhaust.

And when factory parts can't survive the abuse,

they build custom components from scratch.

For mechanics like Leland Zimmerman,

that means pulling in some parts

borrowed from even bigger beasts...

MIKE: These are big, massive turbos.

Big, big turbos. Like, look like they come off a train engine.

NARRATOR: ...retrofitting them into a big-rig engine.

The result?

A mutant, black-smoke-spewing force to be reckoned with.

LELAND: We also have a much larger turbocharger

that pushes air into the engine here.

We basically push way more air into it

and inject way more fuel into it.

Spin it much faster, and that creates more power.

We have a much bigger fuel pump.

Three or four times as much fuel as a factory pump.

The injectors are much bigger than the factory injectors.

It allows it to inject more fuel into the cylinders.

NARRATOR: More fuel and more air

means more explosive power off the starting line.

CLARENCE: To put these modifications in perspective,

these are high-performance, highly modified engines

capable of nearly 10 times the power

of your average 18-wheeler on the highway.

Modifications we've done to the fuel pump, the big turbocharger

and the RPMs we can spin makes this thing the mightiest,

and our goal is to get it faster than any of the other trucks,

from shifting our gears to the way we leave the line.

The finish line. It all has to work together

to get there ahead of the other trucks.

That's what matters.

NARRATOR: These engines are tested in back-to-back races.

As they charge up that hill,

it's all about the torque.

♪

Torque or twisting force

is the truck's not-so-secret weapon

when it comes to the starting line.

It determines how fast these monster machines

can take off from a dead stop.

NARRATOR: Torque starts with the rig's oversized pistons

pumping up and down inside the engine cylinders.

Each downstroke turns the crankshaft,

the part that transfers that force to the flywheel...

...through the transmission,

driveshaft, axles,

and down to the wheels that power the vehicle forward.

The result?

More torque, and the ability to pull enormous loads

uphill at high speeds.

The torque is how hard that shaft will turn,

and the horsepower is how fast it'll go.

When the engine fires up, it tries to twist

in the opposite direction of the drivetrain.

That's called a torque twist.

All that power lifts the front wheels off the ground,

like popping a wheelie.

The engine's generating so much torque force,

it really wants to twist itself out of the truck.

NARRATOR: But these souped-up trucks

with maxed-out engines

have to get all that power into the wheels.

The axles are where the power transfer starts.

An axle is the metal bar connecting two wheels

so they spin together in sync.

It takes engine power

and turns the wheels to move the truck.

In big rigs, these are massive compared to your car's axles.

They handle insane torque and weight,

so they're built like tank parts.

When the axle spins, it drives the tires.

So, the axle is directly bolted to the hub in the tire.

This is the axle housing. Those take a lot of abuse

because of the weight and the power that we have.

They can twist up to a quarter of a turn

without breaking, and they just rebound.

NARRATOR: All that torque means nothing

without rubber that can grip the ground.

PAUL: The tires we run

are a waste-hauler logging-truck tire.

They're about 20 millimetres wider than

a standard truck tire, and that extra width

gives us a significant amount of traction.

And we also run the tires at a lower pressure

to lengthen out our contact patch.

The contact patch is the portion of the vehicle's tire

that is in actual contact with the ground surface.

The larger the patch, the more friction the tire has

with the ground, creating the grip.

More grip enhances the truck's ability to accelerate and brake.

NARRATOR: Everything on these trucks

is built to take a beating.

It's all about riding the line between automotive engineering

at its best and total chaos.

LELAND: Something would happen

that the engine wanted to run away.

If a turbo blows, it'd be like a bomb under here.

NARRATOR: When pulling massive loads,

components can overheat, fuel lines burst,

engines strain,

and sometimes, something's going to give.

SPECTATOR: Whoa!

MIKE: Right here, the engine is at full power.

We actually had a part of the engine come out and go over

and hit the block over there.

LELAND: There's been cases where

they're making about 5,000 or 6,000 horse.

So, they're driving down the track

and the engine block splits right above the crankshaft,

right in here, and it has actually blown up

out of the truck,

blown the hood and everything off.

NARRATOR: But even seemingly insignificant components

can go a long way in saving drivers from harm.

There's a safety thing that's required in the rules.

That's just a normal steel cable

that you can buy at the hardware store.

Cable holds everything together. If the engine block

ever decides to split and leave the chass,

so it doesn't go flying and you run over it.

It can still break apart,

but it's not going to jump out of the truck.

NARRATOR: Sometimes, accidents are explosive.

Other times, they're small failures

that can bring rigs to a grinding halt.

Well, we just broke our transmission.

NARRATOR: Big-rig race trucks are pushed to their limits,

so breakdowns happen,

but losing your transmission could mean game over.

Transmissions are incredibly complicated.

Hundreds of parts. Gear sets. Input, main and countershafts.

Gear synchronizers.

Figuring out which part failed

can take time that racers just don't have.

So, they often choose

to just swap out the entire transmission.

This is what I expected.

A second gear that's been a problem before.

It just shelled all the piece off of it.

PATRICK: Transmission transfers engine power to the wheels.

When you're hauling heavy loads at high speed,

misaligned gears can grind each other to pieces,

like two buzzsaws colliding.

There's our spare transmission that we got to get in there.

This should be just as good as the other one.

I'm probably going to have to launch in a different gear.

CLARENCE: Truck transmissions are made to handle

immense power and torque,

translating the engine's raw force into controlled motion,

enable the truck to move, and in this case,

power them up steep inclines.

Here they come with the jack.

NARRATOR: Forget what you know about regular repairs.

When you're dealing with supersized parts,

everyone has to help out.

In the full-throttle world of semi racing,

mechanical failure comes with the territory.

DUMARESQ: Truckers spend all year

preparing for this event,

so swapping out such a crucial component at the last minute

can shake the confidence of even the most seasoned driver.

We're going to try to go 700 foot

in about 15 or 16 seconds up a 10% grade.

There's a lot of parts in there that are taking

two or three times the abuse that they were meant for.

We'll see how that goes.

NARRATOR: 63,500 kilograms.

That's like pulling 40 cars up a hill.

This is where engineering comes face to face with Lady Luck.

Rigs like these don't come with warranties

on their custom parts, so they could last 50 runs

or be toast after one trip up the hill.

PATRICK: The greatest feeling is when the clutch engages,

when the tires grab traction

and the engine is at full RPM.

It's the kind of power and motion

that just sets you back in your seat

and you can feel the thrust.

- (Indistinct shouting) - DRIVER: Got it.

(Indistinct shouting continues)

When you take off, it can feel good.

Get every gear just like you should, and get a win.

NARRATOR: All that hard work pays off.

The Zimmerman big rig

drives straight into the winner's circle.

Taking a highway truck that used to haul groceries

and jacking up the horsepower to ridiculous degrees

is proof that, well, thinking really, really big

can make the impossible look like a hell of a good time.

Yeah. It's crazy.

That's a hard truck to beat, too.

NARRATOR: Every element of this big rig

comes together to create two winners:

a driver and their mighty machine.

Thanks to everyone involved, and thanks to Mike and Billy

for making a great show as always. Thank you.

NARRATOR: Year after year,

these rigs dominate the hill, proving that steel, diesel

and determination can transform regular rigs

into racing legends.

SPECTATOR 1: Whoa! Let's go.

(Man shouting indistinctly)

NARRATOR: The Saipem 7000,

an elite vessel

tackling the biggest deep-sea construction projects

around the globe.

Its mission?

To lift gigantic structures and install them in

the world's most hostile maritime environments.

FRANCESCO DI PIETRO: The Saipem 7000

can work in the shallow water, deeper water.

Heavy lift, pipelay. Everything is possible for this vessel.

NARRATOR: It's semi-submersible.

It can raise itself higher or lower depending on the job.

It's not a conventional vessel.

You won't find the usual hull shape

in the bow and the stern.

The way the vessel was built,

that was by building two separate hull

that in this moment are underwater and cannot be seen.

NARRATOR: This unique ability

is controlled by the vessel's ballast system.

JAMES DERICK ALFONSO: We are on the bottom part of the ship.

All of this will go underwater. It will sink

while we are filling the water in the ballast tank.

This vessel has the rare ability

to sink itself deeper into the water

by flooding those internal tanks.

And then, just like an iceberg,

the deeper it sits the more stable it becomes,

giving it rock-solid positioning

for all its heavy lifting operations.

So, here beside me is what we call the rapid valves.

It's two metres in diameter.

When we open this one,

it's filling up to 150 bathtubs per second.

22 tons per second.

NARRATOR: Its massive water tanks flood

and empty with the push of a button,

giving this vessel a greater level of stability

as it lowers deeper into the water.

The Saipem 7000's 54 ballast tanks

hold 40 Olympic swimming pools' worth of space.

The lower hull of the vessel is divided into tanks,

each subdivided into chambers, like an aquatic beehive.

And the columns of the hull house a combined

14 gravity-fed rapid valve tanks,

the most frequently used tanks of the ballast system.

When their huge two-metre valves open,

seawater surges into or out of the tanks

and the deck level lifts or lowers.

The ballast system is simple.

Add seawater into the tanks to increase the weight of the ship,

sinking it lower for stability,

or pump it out to lighten up

and rise higher above the water line.

When you add more water, the weight increases,

and it gives the crew

a more stable foundation to work from.

STEVEN: This system becomes even more important

when bad weather hits.

Sitting lower in the water creates more stability.

As the Saipem 7000 is battered by waves and wind,

it allows it to take that punishment

without being tossed around as much as a normal vessel would.

NARRATOR: In this line of work, stability is essential.

The operational deck has to be still and stay still

for the vessel's true purpose.

FRANCESCO: This is the reason why Saipem 7000 exists:

the two main crane.

NARRATOR: These aren't ordinary cranes.

They're 200-metre steel giants with a critical capability

that defines what the Saipem 7000 can accomplish.

NEWSHA HAGHGOO: These twin cranes

are built for the heaviest of lifts.

They can work independently or in total synchronization,

distributing enormous weight evenly

to accomplish lifts that would crush a single crane.

JEANETTE SOUTHWOOD: Cranes synchronize when a single crane

can't safely handle the load,

whether it's too heavy, too long, or awkwardly shaped.

Like offshore platforms,

bridge sections, wind turbines,

anything massive that needs multiple lifting points

to stay balanced.

NARRATOR: Each crane can lift 7,000 tons.

That's like picking up the Eiffel Tower.

But they're even stronger when they work together.

ROBERTO SPREAFICO: Two cranes can lift in a tandem

up to 14,000 tons.

NEWSHA: Tandem lifting allows for more efficient

and faster construction of large, complex offshore work.

NARRATOR: The crane's boom arms are marvels of engineering.

Each arm is as long as a professional soccer field

and can reach far past the edge of the ship's deck.

CLARENCE: With a 360° rotation,

these cranes work like a sprinkler head,

covering an incredible range by simply pivoting

from their fixed base

that's built into the deck of the vessel.

Greater range eliminates any wasted movements

and the need to reposition the Saipem itself.

(Man speaking indistinctly over radio)

NARRATOR: In their lifetime,

the twin cranes have hauled millions of tons of cargo

on and off its deck.

Right now, we are preparing the vessel

to install an offshore substation.

It's essentially a very big towering steel

that rest on the seabed.

This is the kind of job that the Saipem 7000 specializes in.

A wind substation is a power hub sitting in the ocean,

collecting electricity from wind turbines.

To anchor turbines to the sea floor,

you need piles, massive steel cylinders,

as the turbine's structural support.

NARRATOR: These turbine piles

tip the scales at 375 tons,

heavier than a 747 airliner.

But before the installation job can begin,

they have to load up the cargo.

NARRATOR: Barges bring eight of the giant piles

to the broadside of the Saipem 7000.

The crew prepares the piles for hoisting.

Like blades on a Swiss Army knife,

the crane has a range of hooks for different loads.

ROBERTO SPREAFICO: One hook, which is 7,000 tons capacity.

Then, we have another hook which is 2,500 tons.

A third hook which is 900 tons,

and is mainly used for underwater operation.

It can reach up to 370 metres water depth.

And then, we have a small whip hook which is 120 tons,

that we are using for the normal operation.

NARRATOR: These cranes are not just good

at lifting heavy things.

They're good at lifting heavy, awkward construction materials.

These piles are more than 70 metres long.

The crane is lifting the piles that will be used

to fix a support structure to the seabed.

NARRATOR: One by one,

the piles are hoisted onto the deck.

The cranes work in tandem,

with the choreography of a construction ballet.

A tandem lift involves securing both cranes' hooks

to a single large structure,

and then operating both cranes in unison.

It requires precision planning and communication

from the operator to the ground crew

to ensure the load's centre of gravity

is balanced between the cranes.

NARRATOR: The cranes are not just super-strong.

They're super-smart.

Okay. Copy that. Stand by.

Computers and sensors are the thinking power

behind the lifting prowess.

They track weight, position, weather,

and use multiple cameras

to identify objects in the workspace

so they can pull off the perfect lift.

NARRATOR: It's an uplifting combination.

Computing power and mechanical power

come together in perfect synchrony.

This complex pulley system distributes weight

and multiplies the crane's lifting power.

NEWSHA: The hoist system is made up of

winches, cables, pulleys and motors.

Think of it like the crane's tendons and muscles.

We are in the main crane machinery room.

Here, we have the wires which control the boom of the crane

and every single hook.

We are talking about almost 20 kilometres of wire.

This is really a unique piece of equipment.

The crane's pulley system makes lifting easier

by spreading the weight across all of the wires.

More pulleys means less force needed to lift.

It's kind of like inviting all of your friends over

to help you lift something heavy.

JEANETTE: They're suspending thousands of tons

in mid-air over open water.

Cables aren't just holding the weight.

They're also absorbing the constant movement of the waves,

the wind and the vessel.

NARRATOR: The Saipem 7000's cranes

hoist these jumbo cylinders like they're soda straws.

Slowly, carefully, the turbine piles are placed one by one

on the deck of this amazing vessel.

(Crew member speaking Italian)

Yeah. We're ready.

I am ready.

(Man speaking indistinctly over radio)

Copy that.

Coming down easy.

All stop.

NARRATOR: The Saipem 7000 and its crew

are no strangers to big lifts.

It's become part of their daily routine.

FRANCESCO: She can work in any kind of latitude.

This is why this vessel is special,

one of the giant in the world.

NARRATOR: The vessel has navigated

hundreds of thousands of kilometres

around the globe,

and has conquered huge projects across every ocean.

We're talking about a vessel that has travelled far enough

to circle the earth more than a dozen times.

That's farther than the trip to the moon.

NARRATOR: All this power starts below deck

in a vast series of engine rooms.

MAN: We have six engine room with 12 engine.

Everything is powered by this engine,

from the auxiliaries,

from the ballast pump for the main cranes,

even for the lighting on the toilet. (Chuckling)

NARRATOR: But it's the Saipem 7000's power-lifting prowess

that gets most deep-sea construction crews excited.

Back in 2004, it shattered

the world offshore lifting record

by hoisting a 12,150-ton platform in Libya.

Normally, world records aren't broken by standing still,

but the Saipem 7000 is all about stability.

GIACOMO BRIGLI: This vessel,

because of this very huge superstructure,

is very affected by the wind,

especially because the crane now is very, very tall.

But the current as well can be a challenge.

A big part of the vessel is submergent

while we are in operation.

NARRATOR: Maintaining a precise position

in moving water is a trick at the best of times.

So, when the water gets rough,

the tough get dynamic.

This is (Unclear) dynamic position.

It's a system that can lead to the Saipem 7000 to work

without the use of the anchors.

NARRATOR: The Saipem 7000's twin cranes

depend on dynamic positioning to stabilize the ship

so they can hoist safely.

Computer-controlled thrusters fire in precise bursts

to hold the ship in position.

All of it is controlled from a panel

in the ship's command centre.

FRANCESCO: In total, we have 12 thrusters here

that allow to us to have a full system

with the full DP.

The ability to stay in one spot without dropping anchor

is a huge advantage for the flexibility of the vessel

when the crew needs to drill, lay cables, or build

when they're in extremely deep waters.

NARRATOR: With anchors, you drop cables,

lock in position, do your work, then haul everything back up

before moving to the next spot. With dynamic positioning,

the vessel simply shifts to the next position.

No anchors to drop, no cables to retrieve. Just continuous work.

Dynamic positioning is basically a 360 autopilot system

that allows ships to stay in one spot.

It employs GPS, sonar, and a slew of sensors

which control underwater thrusters

that continually adjust the ship to counteract waves

and currents and the motion of the cranes,

ultimately keeping the vessel stationary.

NARRATOR: There are four fixed-pitch azimuth

or 360° thruster units at the back of the hull.

These are the main propulsion units moving the vessel

and putting it into specific positions.

There are six retractable thrusters

that can be pulled inside the hull

when the vessel is in transit,

and there are two tunnel thrusters on the bottom.

Once on site, these thrusters lock the vessel in place,

turning it into a stationary worksite

that can stay exactly where it needs to be.

The important thing on the dynamic position

is that we are able to stay

within one metre when we are there.

That is important, because sometimes,

we are not so far from the (Unclear)

so that the movement is not so big.

Otherwise, it-- They fracture.

NARRATOR: Combining perfect positioning

and colossal lifting, the Saipem 7000

is an essential partner in deep-sea construction.

The 7000 keeps a sense of belonging

to a team that doesn't just complete a job or do a task.

It does make something that, up to that moment,

was considered not possible

or something that nobody has done before.

NARRATOR: With depth-controlling ballast tanks

and colossal cranes that dominate deep-sea lifts...

...the Saipem 7000 sails the world,

handling storms that send lesser vessels speeding for port.

Highly regarded for its engineering and construction

of offshore energy infrastructure,

it picks things up

and puts them down like no other machine in the world.

A floating testament to human ingenuity,

the power that makes power happen.

Deep in the grain belt, legions of mechanical giants

turn fields into food to feed the world.

This is one of the most advanced agricultural machines

on the planet...

...cutting, threshing...

...churning...

...devouring 23 football fields' worth of wheat an hour.

That's enough grain to fill 40 semi-trucks a day.

This is the John Deere X9 combine.

Combines are so-called because they combine

six important harvesting functions on the farm

into one powerful machine.

They cut and feed, thresh and separate,

clean and manage the grain.

They're farming factories on wheels.

DAVID YANG: Combines are basically

an automated rolling processing plant,

doing in minutes what used to take farmers

days on end to accomplish by hand or with lesser machines.

NARRATOR: But before this harvesting powerhouse

can take to the fields,

it takes shape in a state-of-the-art factory.

NARRATOR: Here at John Deere Harvester Works,

separate parts become an entire machine.

NEWSHA: The assembly of big machines

requires a very big factory.

This place is the equivalent

of 53 football fields' worth of space,

making it one of the largest

agricultural manufacturing facilities in the world,

and it employs nearly 2,000 people.

JOSE MARTINEZ RAMOS: At first

I was very surprised, 'cause I didn't think

a machine would be this big.

NARRATOR: Here, those 18,000-plus pieces

are shaped...

There's so many components that go into that machine.

NARRATOR: ...sealed and assembled.

It's one of the mightiest farming machines ever created.

From the factory to the farm, this is what it's all about.

While combines come in various models and sizes today,

their development was a long time coming.

For thousands of years, harvesting grain

was done mostly using hand tools.

Cutting, bundling

and removing the grains from the stalks

took hundreds of hours.

NEWSHA: The first combine, invented in 1836,

was a massive wooden machine

pulled by a team of up to 30 mules.

Their strength turned the wheels of the system,

moving the internal parts of the combine

and harvesting the grain.

NARRATOR: By the mid-20th century,

the Industrial Revolution modernized the farm.

Animals were mostly replaced

by gas- and diesel-powered tractors.

DAVID: Steam-powered threshers

separate the grains from the husks of plants,

and other machines, like early pull-behind combines,

made farming less challenging

while increasing the amount of crops a farmer could manage.

John Deere's Model 55 changed the game

as the first American-made self-propelled combine.

PATRICK: A self-propelled combine

only needed one person to run it

and a second to haul the grain away,

drastically reducing labour costs for the farmers.

NARRATOR: Very quickly, the combine

became the king of the harvest.

But a farming giant like this

doesn't just roll off the production line.

It's a built-to-order type that begins in the factory.

KARTHIK KANAGASABAPATHY: Industrial fibre-optic

laser stations turn raw sheet metal

into combine parts, chassis components,

and the sides of the grain tank

by vaporizing or melting metal into specific pieces.

So, this is an entire right-hand-side sheet frame.

This is the entire length of the combine.

So, pretty cool that we're able to move that with one robot arm

from one fixture to another automatically.

NARRATOR: With the help of robots,

the factory turns 54,000 tons of sheet steel

into combine parts each year.

That's enough steel to build 22,000 cars.

BRYCE: That's one of the biggest arms

that we have here in this factory.

This is a large material handler.

It's going to come over on this track

and pick up a gripper tool. It's a custom tool

designed to pick up the entire side sheet of the combine.

NARRATOR: Robotic welding arms

along with human counterparts

ensure the combines are built strong...

...to handle the enormous physical stresses

of harvesting at high speeds.

BRYCE: That is a new substitute

for, like, a spot-welding application.

This is a much stronger joint

and a much more reliable process,

that we can build an entire side sheet in one shot

without human interaction.

KARTHIK: The shift towards robotic labour

for repetitive tasks makes the process more efficient

and reliable, requiring less time

and less welding to get the job done right.

NARRATOR: But some pieces still need

the steady hand of a human.

Well, I'm actually building the actual side sheet,

where all the pulleys and the belts

and everything else go onto.

Everything connects to this.

There we go. That's the finish-off

of that weld right there.

Human skill is always going to be necessary,

even when the robots are perfected.

You still need someone to look it over

before it gets sent up to paint to be taken to the main line.

NARRATOR: When it's time to paint,

this isn't a single coat to make it look pretty.

It's a specialized suit of armour

made from electrostatic paint.

TODD: That paint stays for that customer

17, 18, 19 years down the line,

for that second and third customer, too.

We have four robots in this cell

that will apply the paint electrostatically.

We use electrostatics to get that high rate of efficiency.

PATRICK: Electrostatic paint is basically magnetic.

By giving the paint droplets an electric charge

and applying the opposite charge to the object being painted,

or the combine part,

the paint will be attracted to its surface.

KARTHIK: The electric charge guarantees consistent thickness

and an even finish,

especially with intricate parts and hard-to-reach areas.

NARRATOR: Parts are transformed

with a specialized protective coating.

That paint coverage on top of the parts

is what really adds that extra protection

and preserves that product for the whole life

that the farmer wants to use it.

NARRATOR: Conveyors stretching 16 kilometres

hang above the factory,

hauling, heaving and hustling every last part into place,

including the all-important axles of the combine.

The axle there is about 100 parts to attach.

It's a core piece of the equipment.

NARRATOR: Built to hold loads

that are double their own weight,

these axles are designed to grind through fields of dirt,

mud and intense weather without ever giving in.

An empty combine is already the weight of 15 average-sized cars.

Add to that a full tank of grain?

It's like adding a full-sized school bus on top.

The axles have to hold all of it, so they have to be tough.

DEWAYNE: It keeps the machine moving down the field

and helps with the steering of it as well.

The durability and strength of this axle

is amazing and incredible.

It's able to plow bigger crops for the farmers.

Saves them a lot of time.

NARRATOR: Hoses dangle

as they wait to join the underside of the combine...

I'm hanging the hose hangers for the four-wheel drive option.

NARRATOR: ...and bolts await their union

with the big green machine.

This is the transmission right now.

I'm going to secure the top portion of it.

Once I get it flush,

I can attach a washer and a screw to this side.

NARRATOR: With the body of the combine tightly secured,

now comes the moment to drop

the machine's most important muscle into place.

We have a department called 550, and they do all the engine work.

They do the fuel tank. They do the hoses, the harnesses,

the fan that keeps the engine cool.

DAVID: This allows for innovative,

specialized engine development,

like greater fuel capacity and efficiency,

so it can run eight to 10 hours straight

without refuelling. An absolute necessity.

PATRICK: The engine's job is to ensure enough power

and consistent operation to handle

the various heavy-duty tasks

that a combine tackles during harvest season.

DAVID: For many crops, there's a limited window

for optimal harvest,

so you have to make hay while the sun shines.

NARRATOR: Connecting the engine with the combine

is an intricate process

that needs to be done with precision.

Right now, he's just setting the engine down

on the frame of the combine. The engine has to be secure

before they do anything because of how heavy it is.

I'm just lining them up.

NARRATOR: Bolting the engine to the frame

stabilizes it, letting the combine's steel frame

absorb the intense vibrations when it's operating on the farm.

JUSTIN: This is a large engine, so it's got to get through

the fields for the customer to get the job done.

BRIANNA: So, this is what he uses to tighten the bolts down.

It's very fascinating.

It's safe after we've tied everything.

It's set to a specific torque

to torque down the bolt to the nut.

KARTHIK: Not only are they ideal for heavy-duty, repetitive tasks

where a manual wrench would be too slow.

They're made with smart technology.

The computer tells the worker

when they have tightened a bolt enough,

ensuring each combine is properly fitted

before assembly can continue.

Looks good over here.

- Good. - Thank you.

NARRATOR: The grain tank is inspected and secured,

becoming the machine's steel stomach.

JOSH HENSLEY: Just making sure

everything's lined up,

and they're just making sure everything's straight,

'cause if it's off by any sort of degree,

then we have to pull it all out and take it out,

and have repair come and fix it.

NARRATOR: With so much grain

travelling into and out of the tank daily,

leaks could be costly.

DAVE HANSON: It's got a lot of augers on the inside of it.

It's got a few other things to help move the grain

and the other stuff around for when you open your auger

and unload it into your truck.

NARRATOR: The enormous,

nearly nine-and-a-half metre unloading auger

is a giant spiral-shaped tool

that transfers grain into waiting trucks.

Any problem with the auger

has to be detected and addressed here.

DAVE: I got to pay attention to where it's at

so we can get them down without damaging it.

NEWSHA: Combines are on the front lines

of the global food supply chain,

and these made-to-order machines have to perform,

no matter the crop or the weather.

NARRATOR: At the next station is the header,

the combine's most critical component.

It's the tool that gives this beast its bite:

the harvesting head.

PATRICK: The header is what cuts,

grabs and feeds the crop into the machine,

And for a top-of-the-line machine like this one,

the head is customized for different crops and conditions

with a range of widths and shapes.

NARRATOR: The two main options are corn heads,

with individual row units

for harvesting tall stalks of corn,

and draper heads, so named because they drape-cut crops

onto belts that bring them into the system.

My station up here is actually responsible

for three different types of hinged draper.

The one up in the middle of the build right now

is a 50-foot flex.

We're actually installing this top on her.

NARRATOR: The iconic rotating reel arm

is added to the header.

The reel is actually bringing the crop into the machine.

It's designed to take it and grab it and pull it.

NARRATOR: But its cutting tool

gets all the glory for good reason.

We have the knife installed here.

The knife is actually going to move back and forth like this.

These are super-super-sharp.

NARRATOR: Out in the field,

these oscillating blades slice through stalks in seconds

so the crops can be swiftly carried

into the belly of this green goliath.

With the cutting-edge cab attached...

CASEY JACKSON: This is basically the farmer's castle

until he's done getting all his harvest out of the field.

NARRATOR: ...all circuits connected

and components tested...

I got the best job in the world, 'cause everybody

inside that factory wants to be out here driving.

NARRATOR: ...a completed combine comes to life.

What we have here is an X9 machine

straight off the assembly line.

So, it's the first time the key's actually turned on.

The motor fires, and all the hydraulic systems,

electrical systems, all the belts, pumps and pulleys

are going to be moving for the first time, and it's right here.

NARRATOR: A combine, as the name implies,

is the sum of its parts,

making these colossal machines some of the mightiest on earth.

WORKER: Yeah. They're big, but the durability and strength

of them is amazing.

It's amazing what this X9 machine can do.

NARRATOR: All 18,000-plus parts unite

as one relentless harvesting heavyweight hero,

ready for the field.

♪