Original subtitles

Narrator: A gadget that's been in everyone's pocket

Since the turn of the century is getting an upgrade.

The journey to deep space is under way.

The world's most successful chocolate bar

Is breaking with tradition.

And one of the fastest production lines in the world

Is cooking up an unlikely product.

These groundbreaking innovations are all taking place

Inside some of the most incredible factories

On the planet.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Nestled in the slopes of the swiss alps,

A company is making one of the world's most iconic products.

Victorinox is the leading manufacturer of pocketknives,

Including the one and only swiss army knife.

In their sustainable super factory,

Victorinox makes these pocket-sized toolkits

By the million and sells them to 120 countries.

Think of a rolex watch that is extremely expensive

And has that miniaturization and key specialist engineering.

Another example

Is a top-of-the-range swiss army knife,

A hugely premium product that can set you back $500.

Narrator: Victorinox got their start in the late 19th century.

It all began in 1884 when karl elsener and his mother

Opened a cutlery workshop, where they made knives.

In 1891, the swiss army commissioned

A purpose-built knife.

It had specific requirements, such as allowing the soldier

To dismantle their rifle, to open cans,

And, of course, to fight in battle.

Elsener won the contract

And designed the officers' and the sports knife.

Narrator: Fourth-generation family member carl elsener

Now runs the company.

Today, 850 people work at the victorinox factory,

Manufacturing swiss army knives

Using methods that date back 100 years.

And an incredible 50% of the process is done by hand.

It all begins with a coil

Of 3-millimeter-thick stainless steel.

Wyss: We use 2,500 tons of steel in the production.

Narrator: Each roll contains enough steel

To make 16,000 blades.

It will become a little bit noisier inside here.

Narrator: This is the heart

Of the swiss army knife assembly.

Here, rolls of steel are fed into metal presses

To create the knife's individual components.

Here in this area, these are all different stamping machines

Where we produce all parts,

Which will be one day in a swiss army knife.

So blade, can openers, scissors, on and on.

Narrator: The raw steel

Is pulled through a stamping machine,

Which uses 154 tons of pressure

To punch out thousands of individual pieces.

♪♪

This is a little bit of special stamping machine.

It stamps out our famous emblem, the cross and shield,

Which comes to every swiss army knife.

One stamping machine can produce

Up to 60,000 blades a day.

Narrator: At every stage, sustainability is key

And minimizing waste

Is a high priority for victorinox.

Wyss: The waste we collect in these boxes,

We give back to the suppliers for recycling.

Narrator: More than half of the 2,756 tons of steel

Used each year is recycled.

Around 600 tons of grinding sludge is produced

As a by-product in the processing of this steel.

The water contained in the sludge is absorbed

And the steel particles are pressed into briquettes,

Allowing them to be properly recycled.

There are also nearly 14,000 square feet of solar panels

On the factory's roof that help reduce energy consumption.

It's not just green.

It's also steeped in history.

Traditional production methods haven't changed for generations.

Some of the machines are over 50 years old.

After the blades and accessories are cut,

The edges still remain rough, so they're processed

Through a mix of vibrating stones and water.

The friction produced cleans and polishes the steel.

After five hours in the mix, a powerful magnet

Pulls the parts out of the bowl.

♪♪

They may be polished,

But the parts are not yet strong enough to use.

So they're sent

To a 1,922-degree-fahrenheit furnace to harden.

This crucial step ensures the knives will last a lifetime.

At this temperature,

The molecular structure of steel changes,

Making it stronger.

Only steel that's high in carbon can be hardened and tempered.

If it doesn't contain the necessary quantity of carbon,

Then its crystalline structure can't be broken.

Therefore, its physical makeup can't be altered.

Narrator: Each blade has a different function.

So every one of them requires a different hardness.

There are 400 different knife models in production today.

Over the last few decades, extra gadgets have been added,

Including cigar cutters, nail files,

And a usb memory stick.

Nasa even equips its astronauts with swiss army knives.

The steel is now hardened, but it's still only roughly cut,

So it's placed on a turntable and rotated

Under a grinding stone until it's the right size.

Then it drops through to the collection bowl.

If the proportions of each part

Deviate more than 0.02 millimeters,

They will not fit together in the handle.

After the blades are sharpened, every part must pass inspection.

Only then is the company name stamped on the base.

The knife is ready to be assembled,

And despite today's age of robotics,

This process is mostly done by hand.

People are better than robots at complex tasks

That require manipulation

And also hand-making or handcrafting something

Carries a premium.

People aspire to having a handmade item

Which carries some kind of cachet.

Narrator: The different tools are added one by one,

Along with springs that allow them to come forward.

Can opener...

Screwdriver...

Multi-purpose hook...

Scissors...

Wood saw...

And corkscrew.

All these essential tools

Are micro-engineered into the knife.

And it wouldn't be an authentic swiss army knife

Without the famous red handle.

The tool bundle is placed on a machine

That sandwiches it between the two iconic red handles.

Incredibly, for this knife, all nine tools

Are packed into the 2.5-centimeter-thick handle.

Victorinox sells each knife with a lifetime guarantee.

So all tools are checked by hand before being shipped.

This sustainable super factory is leading the way

In greener metal manufacturing.

Their meticulous attention to detail

And traditional craftsmanship

Mean victorinox will keep this small town

In central switzerland bustling for years to come.

Coming up, scientists in one futuristic factory

Are shooting for the moon and beyond

As they build the world's most advanced rocket.

And later, a famous chocolate bar is breaking with tradition.

Narrator: In new orleans lies a super factory

On a truly gigantic scale.

The innovative product created here takes years to assemble,

Costs billions of dollars,

And then self-destructs in just eight minutes.

Since 2011, nasa has been hard at work

On the space launch system, or sls.

This advanced space launch vehicle

Will be able to send astronauts

And cargo to the moon on a single mission.

But it will also have the power to go beyond the moon,

To explore destinations far into the solar system

And even land a crew on mars.

Rockets are the most complex machines

Ever devised by human beings.

Narrator: The key part to getting the sls into space

Is under construction here

At nasa's michoud assembly facility.

Michoud has been building rockets

Since the dawn of the space age in the 1950s.

And their futuristic super factory

Now covers almost 183,000 square feet,

More than 31 football fields combined.

Over 1,000 manufacturers from all over the u.S.

Are getting the various sls parts ready

Before it is eventually assembled

At kennedy space center in florida.

Here at michoud, they're making the largest section

Of the rocket -- the core.

It will hold the liquid hydrogen and oxygen

That feed the four engines powering the rocket.

The core stage is comprised of five major segments.

That's the engine section.

The liquid hydrogen tank, the intertank,

The liquid oxygen tank, and the forward skirt.

Now, that's not the completed rocket in itself,

But it is if you want to imagine the muscle

Behind what gets us to the moon and beyond.

Narrator: This complex of over 200-foot-high tanks

That fuel four liquid propellant engines

Will be capable of blasting the rocket into orbit

With over 1,984,000 pounds of thrust,

Allowing it to reach speeds of over 24,000 miles per hour.

♪♪

The effects of this massive surge of power

Are being observed on the michoud engine test bay.

And the test confirms just how challenging this project

Will be for the michoud rocket scientists.

The fuel tanks need to be as light as possible,

But still be able to resist incredible heat

Generated during liftoff.

What they need to get right are the domes.

These are the sections which seal the fuel tanks

At the top and the bottom.

Narrator: Some extra-strength machinery is on site to help

With the heavy lifting.

As we're nearing the completion of the forward dome

For the liquid hydrogen tank, some of our mechanics here

Are using this overhead lifting tool.

And once we've completed with the weld series,

We will remove this dome from the tool,

Take it to the far end of our factory.

And yet another larger welding tool

Where we will fully assemble a completed fuel tank.

Narrator: This is the biggest welding machine in the world.

All of the domes, rings and barrels

That make up the 171-foot-tall and 79-foot-wide rocket core

Are welded together section by section

On this colossal vertical assembly rig.

Once it's blasted off from earth,

The core has a life span of about eight minutes.

After that, it's jettisoned from the rest of the rocket

And falls back down to earth, where it lands in the ocean.

Narrator: The rocket scientists at michoud

Are no strangers to spaceflight.

12, 11, 10, 9...

This super factory has been central

To america's space program for more than 50 years.

We have a liftoff. Liftoff on apollo 11.

Whipps: We made both gemini spacecraft,

Particularly the first-stage rockets and the early apollo.

And finally, all the apollo first-stage rockets

Called the massive saturn 1-c

That took our astronauts to the moon.

Armstrong: That's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

Narrator: After the final apollo mission,

The factory refocused its efforts

Towards the space shuttle.

Whipps: From the middle '70s through 2011,

A total of 138 external tanks

For the space shuttle were all fabricated here

At the michoud assembly facility.

Man: Confirm good, solid rocket-booster separation.

Narrator: But compared to the space shuttle

Or even the mighty apollo saturn v,

Building the sls is a massive task

Because this multi-billion dollar craft

Is going into deep space.

The space shuttle was just designed to get to earth orbit

And no further.

So if we're looking at the next generation of space travel,

Of going to the moon and even beyond to mars

Or the outer solar system,

We need much more powerful rockets than we have today.

Narrator: Making the sls is the biggest challenge

This team here at michoud has ever faced.

This mission has to go faster and farther

Than any previous mission rockets.

And they're making it with far fewer people.

We are doing something that's never been done before

On a rocket that has this kind of power.

Narrator: Construction

Of the space launch system's rocket core

Is under way at nasa's michoud assembly facility

In new orleans.

Once complete, the sls

Will be the most powerful rocket ever built,

Capable of carrying humans beyond the grasp

Of earth's gravity and into deep space.

It's a major undertaking,

But this super factory is fully equipped

With the very latest in rocket technology.

Whipps: State-of-the-art tooling,

State-of-the-art manufacturing techniques

And significant multidisciplinary people.

We can make a rocket akin

And more powerful than the apollo-era rockets

With a workforce of somewhere around 1,500 people,

Compared to nearly twice that for even the last generation.

Narrator: Technology has made massive strides

Since the early days of nasa,

But building this new super rocket

Has tested even the most experienced engineers.

We are doing something that's never been done before

On a rocket that has this kind of power,

That is able to do the payload

And the astronauts into deep space.

We are going to go further than we've ever gone before.

So it is extremely complex.

Narrator: Work has already started on sls 2

And crucial lessons have been learned.

We've already started building for stage 2,

And we are seeing dramatic improvements in productivity

Just from learning from the very first one.

Narrator: The first sls is almost complete.

But the team at michoud faces one more massive challenge --

Moving the rocket core to the final assembly

And launch site in florida.

But this super factory's location gives it an advantage.

Dutriex: As you would understand, you can't ship those

Over the roadways because they're too large.

What's so unique to michoud is, is we have a deep-water port

So we can ship the components out,

The full-sized components on barges.

Narrator: Nasa's giant barge, pegasus,

Will make the nearly 932-mile-long journey

To the kennedy space center.

The sls core stage is more than 49 feet longer

And over 500,000 pounds heavier than its last cargo --

The space shuttle external tank.

So pegasus had to be lengthened and refurbished

For this new mission.

By the time the sls blasts off,

Space will be a much more crowded place.

A growing number of private companies

Such as spacex, virgin galactic and boeing,

Are now speeding toward space exploration.

There are a lot of private companies

With their own rockets,

Their own missions, their own goals.

But still, nasa is a major player.

And the administration has recently announced plans

To return to the moon.

And if that plan goes through,

Those astronauts to land on the moon

Will do so on rockets built at the michoud facility.

Its history in the making, and this factory is energized

To support the mission and support the challenge.

To the efforts of the core-stage production team here at michoud,

We will support yet again a man and a woman stepping foot

On the surface of the moon.

Narrator: The moon is just the first stop

For the sls.

Future models will have 25% more thrust

And be able to reach mars

And other deep-space destinations.

And that's what makes michoud a super factory.

How many factories on earth are making super-giant rockets

To launch us to the edge of the solar system?

Michoud is.

Narrator: Nasa michoud was established

At the dawn of the space age

And still has plenty of busy years ahead.

This rocket super factory remains at the cutting edge

Of mankind's quest to explore the universe.

Coming up, a british chocolate bar

Is bringing good luck to japan.

And later, one of the world's fastest production lines

Is cooking up an unlikely new product.

Narrator: This sprawling giant factory

May look like hundreds of other industrial plants near tokyo.

But it's actually the epicenter of japan's chocolate industry.

And inside the ultra-clean facility,

Workers are gearing up to put their own spin

On what "time" magazine has designated

The most influential candy bar of all time --

The kit kat.

Russell: Kit kats are a big deal in japan.

They were originally imported

As a traditional, english chocolate-wafer snack.

But when nestlé decided to open a factory in japan,

They decided to put their very own local spin on it.

To appeal to the japanese,

They started producing kit kats with flavors like soy sauce,

Wasabi and purple potato.

And this policy really paid off

Because the japanese eat an amazing 4 million

Kit kat every day,

Making kit kat the number-one japanese chocolate brand.

Narrator: Many unique flavors of the candy bar are made here

At japan's kit kat super factory in kasumigaura.

Here, the basic kit kat ingredients

Are the same as in the rest of the world --

Wafers smothered in chocolate.

In this highly automated factory,

The two are brought together without a human in sight.

First chocolate is heated and melted,

Then pumped through to the production line.

The wafers, made mostly of wheat flour, cocoa and sugar,

Are baked and then slowly moved along the line to cool.

The first wafer layer is covered with chocolate.

A second chocolate-coated layer is placed under the first

And then another

To create the classic three-wafer kit kat.

With two layers of chocolate sandwiched in the middle,

The covering will be added later.

The oversized wafers continue to cool

As they travel to the wafer-stacking area.

After the supersized wafers are stacked,

They're cut down to size.

Then a robotic arm stacks them.

Now they're ready for the next step --

A thick covering of chocolate.

Chocolate is an extraordinary material.

It is one of the few stuffs designed for our pleasure.

It is a material that is engineered

To make you go, "yum!" and have another bit.

When we eat chocolate,

All sorts of chemicals are whizzing 'round our brain.

But basically it produces neurotransmitters,

Mainly dopamine, which make us want another bit

And give us huge sensations of pleasure.

♪♪

Narrator: In japan, kit kats are a luxury brand.

The options found in its downtown boutique

Are staggering.

The company has grabbed the top spot

In the japanese chocolate market by offering over 350 varieties.

This commercial savvy has its roots in a business model

Which demands stores put new products on the shelves

Every two to three weeks.

This means that new flavors can appear really quickly.

Narrator: Coming up with new flavors is highly lucrative,

So here in the kit kat tasting lab,

A team of chefs concocts all sorts of different recipes.

The experimental flavors are ground into a powder.

Today, the head of flavor developments, mr. Nato,

Is trying out sweet potato,

Yuzu, a citrus fruit similar to lemon,

And a variation of one of japan's

Favorite kit kat flavors -- matcha.

This mix has % more tea leaves for an extra kick.

The wafers are cut to size

And then the new flavors are blended with chocolate

And poured into molds.

The mini wafers are added to create a perfect

Bite-sized kit kat.

After cooling,

The factory's professional tasters are called in.

First up, it's the matcha with extra tea leaves.

[ woman speaking japanese ]

Next up, sweet potato.

And finally, yuzu.

It won't be long before the results

Of this tasting session arrive on japan's retail shelves.

But the standard kit kat bar is also big in flavor-crazy japan.

That's what's on the production line today.

In the highly automated factory,

A robotic arm swings into action,

Ready to insert the wafer sandwiches into the molds.

The wafers are pressed into the molds

And covered with more chocolate.

Excess chocolate is removed

By pressing them under a flat surface.

Now the bars are cooled to harden the chocolate

Until they're ready to be removed from the molds.

Nobody wants a kit kat that's already broken.

So they're x-rayed and photographed

To ensure the consistency of every single bar

Coming off the production line.

This factory turns out 4 million of these bars every day.

At the end of the line, they're measured out for packaging

Into japan's hugely popular family-sized multipacks.

But there's an unlikely reason

The japanese love their kid kats.

And it has nothing to do with the flavor.

When the japanese visit ancient shrines,

It's customary to make wishes and pray for good luck.

Once the wish is made,

Many people make a small donation.

Kit kats play an unusual role in this tradition.

About 15 years ago, the boffins at kit kat

Noticed huge sales spikes in January.

Well, they wondered why.

What they realized was university entrance exams

Take place in January.

And people were giving students kit kats as good-luck charms.

Narrator: The fact that the japanese phrase

"kitto katsu" literally means "sure to win"

Is the stuff of a marketing team's dreams.

Today's production of kit kats are now packed and boxed...

...Ready to satisfy the voracious japanese demand

For these chocolate good-luck charms.

All made here at kasumigaura,

Japan's very own kit kat super factory.

♪♪

Coming up, a lightning-fast production line

Is cooking up a product with an important history.

Russell: For much of the 19th century,

It was used as rations for the american navy.

Narrator: On the north coast of England is a factory

That makes an old but reliable product.

This is heinz, wigan,

Covering a massive 236,806 square feet,

Around 40 football fields.

It's the largest food-processing plant in europe

And the biggest baked-bean factory in the world.

850 people work here day and night,

Producing 4 million cans of food a day,

Over 1 billion a year.

60% of them are baked beans.

Every week, 661 tons of steel plate

Arrives at heinz, wigan.

It's sent to one of the most modern and automated parts

Of the site.

The canning plant here is one of the most advanced

And fastest in the world.

It can belt out a staggering 4,500 cans every minute.

♪♪

The humble tin can is truly

One of the building blocks of the modern world.

They were invented just over 200 years ago.

And the first commercial canning factory

Was in east london in 1813.

We've gone from the original, rather crude template canisters

Made by hand to today's lightweight,

Completely recyclable containers.

But the design principles are effectively still the same.

And the can still preserves and endures like no other packaging.

That's why in the u.S. Alone, every year,

130 billion of them are made.

That's over 400 per person.

Narrator: The metal is mostly steel with a thin coating of tin

On the outside to stop oxidation.

0.3-millimeter-thick sheets are cut,

Rolled into tubes,

Then electrically welded and sealed.

Heinz veteran john brockley oversees this process.

At this stage, the base of the can remains open

And for one very important reason.

It's time to fill it with something.

♪♪

Every week, over 1,200 tons of haricot beans

Arrive at wigan, shipped in from north america.

Russell: The haricot bean is native to south america

And the variety used in canned baked beans

Is often referred to as the navy bean,

Because for much of the 19th century,

It was used as rations for the american navy.

Narrator: Just two hours after their arrival,

The beans are in their tins and stored in a warehouse.

But not all of the dry beans will complete that trip.

They face a stringent series of tests

As they travel across this huge factory.

The beans are covered in dirt,

So they head to the washer to be cleaned.

The blanching process rehydrates the beans with steaming water,

Partially cooking them.

After 20 minutes, the beans are inspected

By a high-spec laser beam.

The ones that don't shape up, size or color-wise,

Are discarded.

Russell: Laser sorting has revolutionized

Counting technology in the last 20 or 30 years.

Lasers can sort in various ways.

For instance, when the light from a laser bounces

Off the surface of a bean,

It tells us about its texture and its structure.

Narrator: They've been sorted, sifted, washed and blanched

And are on their way to the canning plant.

But opening up a can of beans would be a major disappointment

Without one key element

And a few top-secret ingredients.

Narrator: After they've been sorted, cleaned and blanched,

It's time to add the key ingredients

That give heinz beans their distinct flavor.

Almost half of what goes into every tin

Is this thick, bright-red liquid.

It's tomato sauce,

An ingredient heinz takes seriously,

Very seriously.

The paste arrives from Italy, Spain, and california,

Prepacked in heavy-duty bulk bags.

These bags are the end result of pulping 10,000

Juicy, ripe tomatoes.

Every day they process enough

To fill an olympic-sized swimming pool.

Narrator: So how do you squeeze out 4 tons of tomato paste

Without making the plant resemble a crime scene?

You need one of these --

A tomato pulp extractor.

Once extracted,

The freshly squeezed paste is diluted with water

And ends up in one of these massive vats.

Now it's time to add a very special ingredient.

The secret recipe for heinz baked beans dates back to 1896

And is closely guarded in the world of food processing.

The exact amount of the mix has to be perfect.

Just 27 minutes into the process,

It's time to combine the beans and sauce

And add them to the cans.

When you're turning out around 4 million cans

Of beans a day, you have to be fast-moving.

And the factory's very latest production line

Is turbo-charged.

The beans are now sealed in their cans,

But they're far from baked.

In fact, they're still uncooked.

The next step is the most surprising part

Of the whole heinz baked bean process.

The sealed cans of beans

Continually turn in these giant rotating ovens...

...While getting blasted with steam.

So baked beans are not actually baked.

And although they're cooked by steam,

It is on the outside of the can.

They effectively cook in their own sauce.

Once cooked,

One of the 57 famous labels are attached

At an astonishing rate of 1,000 per minute.

♪♪

But precooked, preserved food may never have happened

Without a french discovery.

What made modern canned food possible

Was a discovery at the very end of the 18th century

That if you heated food inside of a sealed jar,

It would last longer.

That observation was made

By a french chef named nicolas appert,

Who was responding to napoleon's challenge

To more effectively feed his troops during a campaign.

Narrator: It takes just two hours to turn bags

Of dusty navy beans into a product ready for shipping.

Loaded trucks are ready to distribute baked beans

To over 60 countries worldwide.

And this process continues day in and day out

Here at the world's biggest baked bean super factory.