Original subtitles

[power tool whirring]

- [Adam] Power tools put the power to change the world

right in your hand.

[saw whirring]

And they've allowed human beings to accomplish

some pretty extraordinary things.

I'm talking about drills, drivers, grinders, nail guns,

sanders, circular saws, band saws, and jigsaws.

Power tool innovators are working extremely hard

to make sure that you can do more and build more,

more efficiently and quickly than ever before.

This passion for power tools has created a marketplace

that was valued globally at about $30 billion.

That's enough to buy the New York Yankees

more than five times over.

In fact, last year,

DIY sales reportedly hit an all-time high

of $450 billion

in the U.S. alone.

That's twice the size of major league baseball,

the NBA and NFL combined.

I want to know how they're able to pack

so much powerful potential into a device

that you can hold in your hand.

What are the next innovations?

And how do they keep pushing the limits

of what one person can do with one very good tool?

We'll explore the world famous DeWalt Factory

and see how they make some of the best power tools

on the planet.

We're going to see power tools in action on a race track.

We'll see 150 year old tools still in use today.

And we'll see how power tools are used everywhere

from burning buildings,

to the operating room and even outer space.

So strap on your tool belts,

this is Modern Marvels: Power Tools.

[adventurous music]

[power tools whirring]

- [Adam] Today I'm in Fort Mill, South Carolina

at the factory for power tool juggernaut DeWalt.

Just like the company, this DeWalt factory

is huge at 350,000 square feet.

It is three times the size

of the playing field at Fenway Park.

And together with their sister brands,

Stanley, Black & Decker and Craftsman,

they are one of the top grossing

power and hand tool companies in the entire world.

In 1922, Raymond DeWalt invented

the radial arm woodworking saw.

DeWalt was the first to attach a motor arbor

directly to the saw blade.

Not only could the saw slide back and forth,

but it could be configured nine different ways.

Because it was so fast and so precise,

it was actually dubbed the "Wonder Worker"

and did nothing less

than revolutionize the entire lumber industry.

Perfect timing because the U.S.

was about to go into a massive construction boom.

It wasn't until 1992,

that DeWalt launched its first line of handheld power tools.

And by the turn of the 21st century,

they had 200 of the most powerful electric tools

on the planet and 800 accessories.

Plus they even sponsored their own NASCAR team.

And while DeWalt ships to several nations

around the globe,

it's a company that was born in the USA

and remains there still

with seven major factories across the nation,

making 90 million products a year.

And many of those powerful inventions

are made right here in this state of the art facility.

[exciting music]

Wow.

Holy moly.

Look at this place.

The 650 workers here produce and ship

about 5 million tools a year.

I'm starting at what they call the command center,

where the plant manager is going to show me

how they are able to do it.

Brendan.

- Hey Adam, how are you?

I'm sorry to interrupt

your storming of the Death Star

or whatever we have planning here.

- We can monitor everything that's going on

throughout the entire facility right from this point.

- All from here?

- Absolutely.

- These five screens, are they tracking machines

or global output?

- Up here you can see all of our various lines

and how they're performing.

and it's monitored by the same three components.

Are we running? Are we running at rate?

And are we making good products when we're running?

- This is incredible.

Now you can find out who the line leader was.

- You can.

- Psyched.

Lily's crushing it! [applauding]

You thought this was just a boys club? No, no, no, no, no.

Incorrect. Bravo.

So that means her lines have been the most efficient?

- That's correct.

[power tools whirring]

- [Adam] The technology of modern power tools

is astounding and it's improving every day.

But how did they get to where they are today?

In 1300 BC,

the Egyptians developed bow powered lathes and drills

then came the hand-powered hand brace and hand drill

which took a lot of manpower

[drill scraping wood]

and could take hours to drill even the smallest hole

in things like metal or stone.

- Tools have been powered by some kind of power,

wind, water, et cetera for millennia,

but it wasn't until the invention of Edison's light bulb

that we really started to think about how

to create electrically powered power tools.

In 1895, the first portable electric drill

was invented by a German company.

And this drill weighed over 16 pounds.

It had to be operated by two people.

In the 1910s Black & Decker was formed

and they were inspired by the Colt pistol.

This is where the modern drill came from.

The pistol grip and the trigger switch

came from Black & Decker's innovation in the early 1900s.

- [Adam] Soon afterward,

and Craftsman, started putting the power of tools

into America's hands,

Power tool designs were updated throughout the decades.

In 1961, Black & Decker designed the first cordless tools.

Today power tools are used in almost all temperatures

and in every environment.

What started as a partially electric power drill

has turned into a gigantic power tool industry.

[upbeat music] [truck beeps]

- This facility has 35 dock doors

for a variety of uses,

but this is where we receive our raw materials.

We've got over a dozen trucks arriving every single day.

- [Adam] At this DeWalt factory,

they make 32 different products,

including reciprocating saws, impact drivers,

staplers, drills, and even some flashlights.

Each one of the millions of tools

that this factory makes every year

consists of many components,

like circuit boards and copper wire for the motors,

just to name a few.

How many different components

are coming through the door every day?

- We're getting over a half a million

every single day through these doors.

- [Adam] And that's just for

the 32 different individual items made here?

- [Brendan] That's correct.

- You have a half million coming in every day.

How on earth do you find anything?

- Think of it like a mini postal system.

Everything comes in and gets a customized label

that tells us what it is

and tells the driver that's putting it away

where it goes and ultimately where it's used

out in the factory

so that when someone comes to get it,

they can figure that out.

And it's almost like delivering a package.

- You can't overlook

what an impressive feat of engineering that is.

This particular facility isn't just about assembly.

There's also part manufacturing going on here, correct?

- That's correct.

We make the motors that power a variety of our tools.

- Can I see some of the parts being made?

- Absolutely.

- Awesome.

So every single thing that comes out of this plant,

an automated power tool from DeWalt

gets its motor from right here.

- We make the majority of the motors here in this facility.

- [Adam] The assembling process

begins with building the motor.

They take the rotor,

which rotates around a copper wound stator,

which makes the armature spin.

They also include a PCA on the back to control the torque.

So how long would it take to make one of these?

- The motors fall off the line every 20 seconds.

[curious music]

- Wait, wait. This, every 20 seconds?

- Yes, sir.

- No way. - Mm hmm.

- 20 seconds to make a whole motor

that has one, two, three, four, five, six,

about seven or eight separate components

that they themselves have their own components.

So for example,

and you can see that it's wound pretty tightly,

how much copper wire goes into each individual one?

- Last year, we used enough copper wire

wound in these motors

to go around the entire world one time.

- Just on these machines?

- Yes, sir.

- [Adam] Almost 25,000 miles worth of copper wiring

get wound into these motors every single year.

I don't think many people realize how much technology

goes into the actual tool itself.

- Yep.

- These things are so complex

and so technologically advanced

the notion of it being a matter of seconds

to create one blows my mind. - Yeah.

Where does the process begin?

- It's going to start with the assembly.

- Okay.

- It's right over here.

- [Adam] We're here at the DeWalt factory

in Fort Mill, South Carolina,

where they produce about 5 million tools a year.

I'm getting a firsthand look

at how they make the motors for their power tools.

This is where those motors are made,

in this beautiful little horseshoe.

When the stators are finished,

you'll see them get placed onto this conveyor belt.

That's one of the fastest things I have ever, ever seen.

Here you go, watch.

That thing right there,

it's moving at 30 feet per second, talk about efficiency.

And then you can see the actual rotor

being snapped on over here.

And then right there, that's the giant screwdriver.

So once the rotor is on and the PCA's on,

it's going to set it down and then the finished motors

are actually going to go to the end.

Every 20 seconds another motor is coming out

and being hand inspected by one person

who's clipping the excess wires.

Now bear in mind that all of this goes to a motor

and a motor is but one component

in some of the most high tech, unbelievable,

cutting-edge power tools in the modern marketplace.

And what's even more incredible

looking at the power tools that build the power tools.

It's like a fine tuned, efficient ballet.

[energetic music]

A motor coming off the line

every 20 seconds is extremely fast,

but the speed of the assembly line

isn't the only place power tools have to be fast.

[race car engines rev]

[upbeat music]

- I'm Cole Custer.

I'm a NASCAR driver at Stewart-Haas Racing,

and I drive the number 41 car.

- [Adam] At Stewart-Haas Racing

in Kannapolis, North Carolina, speed is everything.

- On pit road, if you can have that

half second faster pit stop and gain that spot,

I mean, that's the easiest way to pass.

- [Adam] A professional car on the NASCAR circuit

travels up to 200 miles per hour,

but equally important is the speed

of the pit crew.

The average motorist on the road

can change a tire in about 20 minutes,

but NASCAR pit crews can change four tires in 12 seconds.

That means each of the 20 lug nuts

gets about a quarter of a second

to come off or come back on.

That requires a special air powered impact wrench

they call "thunder guns."

The official name for these tools

is the Paoli Hurricane Wheel Gun.

This impact wrench is powered by nitrogen gas

and puts out more than 3,100 pounds of torque.

These guns undergo such intense use and abuse

that they're built with titanium components inside.

These special tools cost $4,500

and the sockets they use can cost $1,500 each.

- [Cole] They're doing 12 second stops,

changing four tires and running all around.

And if you're not, you're getting left behind.

[race car engine revs]

[upbeat music]

- [Adam] Motors of these power tools

run on electricity that travels

through that universal pistol trigger switch.

The next step in the assembly is the intricate process

of soldering the switch to the motor.

- We're going to get you connected.

If any of the static from your shirt or your jacket

discharges into the electrical components.

it actually could damage the life of the tool.

So we ground you with these straps.

So you're going to grab a motor that we just made earlier,

and now you're going to grab a switch, switch module.

- [Adam] Okay. Oh, there's the trigger right there.

- [Brendan] So now we're going to actually

put these three wires inside the tangs on the motor

that we saw get fused earlier.

- So I take these out.

- Yep. Go ahead and fan those out.

- [Adam] I'm prepping these three wires

so the robot can solder this switch to the motor.

That way, once the trigger's pulled,

the motor will spin.

- [Brendan] Seat the motor in just like that.

- Is that all right?

- [Brendan] Yep. Everything's in there.

You should be able to let go.

Now you're going to get some solder.

There you go.

- [Adam] Oh! It's like being on the bomb squad.

[Brendan laughs]

Very impressive.

But just for DeWalt's overall sales

and the happiness of their workforce,

may I de-ground myself?

- [Brendan] You may.

- My mom always said I wasn't grounded, all right?

In order to remain a front runner

in the power tool industry,

DeWalt employs a collaboration

between highly skilled workers

and their electronic counterparts,

collaborative robots or "cobots."

Brendan is going to show me how these cobots

fit into the assembly process.

- After all the mechanical components

that you helped to solder get put into the tool,

it's going to get some screws driven into it

to keep it all closed together.

- [Adam] Okay.

- And then this collaborative robot

is going to take it out of screwdriving

and begin our end of line test procedure.

- That is crazy. So it's testing right now?

- It is.

- [Adam] That is just too awesome.

This cobot is testing to make sure

that the electrical components of the tool

were installed properly.

- That rotary table will index 90 degrees

revealing the next tool for this robot to grab

and move on to the next step.

- [Adam] So now where does it go?

- It's taking it out of the test station

and it's setting it on the table

for our team to put labels on it.

She's putting on the labels for DeWalt.

- [Adam] Brushless Motor

- And most importantly, that "made in the USA."

- [Adam] Next to her. Is he cleaning them?

- [Brendan] We're cleaning them off

to make sure they're sparkling shiny for our customers.

- [Adam] Every DeWalt tool is hand cleaned

before it goes to the consumer.

- Yep.

- It's amazing that I'm talking to you

in a DeWalt plant 99 years

after Raymond DeWalt created his first iconic saw.

Yet with all of the technological advancements,

the human element is still never lost.

And to know that there's a person,

a single individual that's responsible for that,

for countless DeWalt tools.

I'm never going to take anything for granted

in my tool chest again.

I mean that. I have a brand new respect.

I'm blown away by the whole process.

Your average weekend warrior might consider

some of the tools on their work bench critical,

but there are few places where power tools are more critical

than in the hands of our first responders.

No matter if it's pulling victims out of cars

or cutting through buildings to fight fires,

power tools help rescue workers save lives.

- I've been on the New York City Fire Department

for 16 years now.

In my career, I've seen power tools save numerous lives.

Power tools make our job a lot easier

and are critical to our success.

Our three extrication tools are putting a lot of force

in small areas.

For the spreaders,

we have two mechanical arms driven by hydraulics.

Gets 150,000 pounds of force on the two arms

that force them apart.

And we can drive apart hard metals.

Power tools are used in auto accidents,

cutting people out.

or get trains off of people.

Power tools can be used at fires to open roofs up

and ventilate smoke.

You have to be ready to perform at each accident

because someone's life could depend on it.

- [Adam] And when every second counts,

first responders use reciprocating saws

equipped with specialty blades

to cut through everything in their path.

[blades whirring]

These special blades that rescue workers use

are designed to shred virtually anything.

Thanks to their curved shape and titanium coating,

they can cut through an entire car

in just over a minute.

Here at the DeWalt factory in Fort Mill, South Carolina,

we're getting an inside look

at how modern day tools are made.

Thank you, sir.

- [Brendan] You're welcome.

- Oh, where have we landed now?

- We're in our test lab.

We're going to have a little fun.

We've got some tool demonstrations set up for you.

And Lee here is going to take you through it.

- Yes!

This is what you were waiting for.

- Well I'll leave you guys to it.

- All right brother.

A percentage of each product

DeWalt makes here at the facility

gets tested with all the rigors of the real world.

Before it hits store shelves,

they need to verify that every product

does what it's supposed to do.

I don't know where to start, but I know I want to.

- Absolutely. Let's go test some tools.

- Oh man. Is it weird to be star struck by a power tool?

The 996 could like pierce the heart of darkness,

like it could drive a dry wall screw into the night.

I haven't seen it with the full on G.I. Joe grip before,

but there is something so beyond satisfying of holding it.

- Let's suit up.

I'm going to give you a pair of gloves.

- Okay.

[dramatic music]

- All right. So let's get a bit loaded up.

We're going to put the bit

directly on the work surface here.

- Yes sir.

- And let's go ahead and pull the trigger.

- Okay.

[drill whirs]

Oh yeah.

[rock music] [drill whirs]

Holy moly.

Between the smell of the wood and that feeling

when it finally goes through,

it's like hitting that perfect baseball

or hitting that perfect shot.

There's nothing quite like it.

It's awesome.

- Let's drill another one.

- All right. Let's do it.

- You'd see a bit like this

commonly used to drill some holes

and joists to run plumbing.

- Oh my God.

- Slow, steady.

Make sure you've got a firm grip on the tool.

- All right.

- Let's go.

[drill whirs]

[dramatic music]

- Whoa. Love it.

The amount of torque surprises you,

the power's unrelenting.

If you trust your grip,

the drill does the rest.

- [Lee] This is called a reciprocating saw.

We're going to cut through a couple of two bys.

- I'm noticing that there's metal in here.

Am I trying to cut in between that metal or on the metal?

- These nails are at 45 degrees.

So no matter where you cut on this board,

you're going to cut through some metal.

[dramatic music]

- And we're doing that why?

- When we test these products,

we want the resistance from the metal.

It's going to throw a little bit more load on the tool.

- This one scares me. I'm not going to lie to you.

There's like one horror movie where they're using a drill.

There's like 100 horror movies where they're using these.

- Let's go ahead and put the shoe

right against the work surface.

- Right here?

- Before we pull the trigger.

Yep. - Okay.

- We're going to pull that blade off the wood

just a little bit. Yep.

And then you're going to pull the trigger

and let the blade come to full speed.

And then you can plunge down into the wood.

[dramatic music]

- So shoe against the wood,

three, two...

[saw whirs]

Oh my God.

[power tools whir]

- [Adam] Power tools have truly changed

the way we live our lives.

There is even a class of power tools

that has improved our life expectancy

and saved the lives of millions of people.

It's the impressive array of power tools

that doctors use in medicine every day.

We've come a long way from the rudimentary tools

that doctors had to use in the past.

- Before power tools, surgical tools were pretty rough.

They would literally use a hand saw to amputate.

And also back in those days, there was no anesthesia.

So it was usually the speed of a surgeon

that was prized over skill.

- [Adam] Orthopedic surgeons are a lot like carpenters,

except instead of fixing the frame of a house,

they're repairing the frame of the human body,

hips, ankles, knees, you name it.

And without the use of power tools,

their job would be even more difficult.

They use these tools to insert screws, bolts,

and even staples to repair broken bodies

and help people heal.

Some surgical drills spin 35 times faster

than the average DIY drill

and can bore holes only a millimeter in diameter

to attach titanium plates to bone.

In the right hands, power tools can help to save lives.

Here in the DeWalt test lab,

we still have more power tools to play with.

- These nails are at 45 degrees.

So no matter where you cut on this board,

you're going to cut through some metal.

Plunge down into the wood.

- Three, two...

[saw whirs]

Oh my God, I wasn't ready for that.

I really was not ready

for like the full Rambo machine gun vibe.

That rattled my pancreas.

[Lee laughs]

[saw whirs]

[rock music] [saw whirs]

Oh yeah, I killed it.

Look at that.

Mentally. I was prepared for the saw blade

to hit the nails and buck a little bit,

but this thing cut through them

like a hot knife through butter.

We all know chainsaws are used by lumberjacks to fell trees,

firefighters to cut fire lines

and even sculptors to carve ice.

But what about work that has to be done underwater?

A lot of work happens below the surface

where they use special versions of power tools

like this chainsaw

that is much lighter than the above land variety,

because it doesn't have a typical motor or fuel.

Instead it's powered by water

or air that travels through hoses to spin the chain.

A normal chainsaw blade rotates in a clockwise direction.

But an underwater chainsaw rotates

in a counterclockwise direction.

So sediment and particles drift away from the saw

instead of back into it.

- Just about everybody can operate power tools on land,

but take those power tools under water

and you've got a totally different thing.

It takes somebody years of practice and certification

before they can do something like weld underwater.

And in fact, underwater welding

is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world.

- [Adam] Underwater jack hammers

are used for things like demolition.

Some tools like this impact hammer with a special battery

are used for ship repair or construction jobs.

There are saws, grinders, buffers and drills

that are used to salvage airplanes and ships.

No matter where power tools are needed,

there is always one to get the job done.

What do we have here?

- This is our largest brushless impactor.

This actually generates about 1,200 foot pounds

of breakaway torque.

If you're going to remove bolts.

- 1,200 pounds of torque

in something that you could fit

in the palm of your hand,

and they could actually snap bolts out.

- That's right. This tool actually

has the internal nickname of "Bruiser."

- [Adam] 1,200 pounds of torque,

all with the pull of a trigger.

- You can do automotive applications.

You can do electrical applications.

You can take tires off of NASCAR's

or any other big heavy bolt

that you'd have to get off of a piece of steel.

We're going to use a socket. These are special sockets.

These are impact rated sockets, right?

They can stand up to the abuse of all the torque

that we're going to put on these bolts.

- What is it that sets an impact driver apart

from a typical lug wrench or something like that?

- There's a mechanism inside. There's a spring

and there's a big impact wheel

that basically as the motor turns,

you know, wind this whole thing up, you generate inertia.

As soon as it sees a resistance

that mechanisms going to pull itself back,

rewind, and then hit the anvil again

when it sees itself stuck.

- [Adam] Instead of constantly pushing

like a drill does,

an impact hammer, revs back and hits an internal anvil.

And if it meets resistance,

it revs and hits again to create the force.

Let's bruise some stuff.

- Let's do it.

[dramatic music]

[motor whirs]

- Holy smokes.

It's unnerving how fast it does that.

[motor whirs]

The amount of power and how effective these are is bananas.

[dramatic music] [motor whirs]

[Adam laughs] It's insane.

- [Lee] It's pretty satisfying.

- [Adam] It really is.

- Go ahead and throw it in reverse.

- Okay, reverse, backing on up.

[motor whirs]

Holy [beep]. Sorry.

All I'm doing is squeezing the trigger by bending my finger.

And this tool translates that

into 1,200 pounds of breakaway torque.

It's so easy to take that for granted,

but you can feel the power in your hand

when you use this tool.

Listen to the gauge of these things

and it treated it like a Velcro hook.

It was just the most remarkable thing.

Electric power tools have come a long way

in the past century.

Lumber mills today use very high powered saws

that run on electricity

to produce millions of board feet of wood each year.

But some pretty ingenious power tools predate electricity.

Before plugging the saw

into an electrical outlet was an option,

lumber mills here in the U.S. were run by water power.

We're going to Garland Mill in Lancaster, New Hampshire.

A water powered mill that's been in operation since 1856.

When it was built,

this was one of 600 water mills in New Hampshire.

But this one is not only one of the last mills

remaining in the area,

it's also one of the last ones

that's still in operation anywhere.

- The Garland Mill was built five years

before Abraham Lincoln became president.

- [Adam] Mills like this

not only use water as a source of power,

but also as a way of transporting heavy logs.

Using a tool called a pike pole,

a single man can easily move a log

weighing more than a ton.

165 years after it opened,

the mechanisms that cut logs today

are still the analog technology from a century ago.

- [Dana] The majority of the timbers

that are sawed here in the mill,

we use for houses.

We also build barns, cabins, saunas,

covered bridges, pretty much anything that uses timber.

- [Adam] In order to get the machinery started

they divert water from the river

into the top of this barrel shaped turbine.

- Like pulling on this

water will start flowing into the turbine.

- [Adam] This old school technology works

by water entering a turbine

and dropping about 10 feet

to turn a series of metal fins

generating about 30 horsepower.

This motion turns a shaft

connected to a series of pulleys and belts

that powers the mill.

- It's a natural resource of power.

Come up to speed as I let more water in,

You need to be able to get power from a turbine

through a series of belts, wheels, cogs,

two at the board saw,

at a consistent and regular RPM

in order to properly cut wood.

- [Adam] The saw spins a blade

that is 50 inches in diameter

and can cut timber that's twice as long

as a modern day saw mill.

And even though the motor has a small fraction

of the horsepower of modern day saws,

thanks to its high torque,

this 19th century relic has no problem

tearing through a 3,000 pound log.

These belts and pulleys also power

an edger and cleaning machine as well.

- Being able to utilize almost all of the water

that comes down the stream is a very, very nice feeling.

On most days I can't eat my breakfast fast enough

to be able to get to work.

I adore what I do.

The advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

- [Adam] Because power tools make our jobs

hundreds or even thousands of times easier,

just about anywhere you find humans

you'll find power tools.

In the deepest caves or the highest peaks.

The highest altitude at which power tools have been used

might surprise you.

On Mount Everest they're used to drill bolts

for climbers at 29,000 feet.

Astronauts work with them at the International Space Station

220 miles above earth.

At 238,900 miles away,

astronauts have drilled samples of moon rock.

And the Mars rovers use power tools

136 million miles away from earth.

Black & Decker was asked to design a drill

that massively reduced reactive torque.

- [Astronaut] Still checking the bypass duct.

- [Adam] In a weightless environment

using the standard drill

would leave the drill bit motionless

and send the astronauts spinning

as soon as they pulled the trigger.

The specially designed version of the tool

operated more like an impact hammer

that would wind a spring and impact wheel

that creates inertia and releases an internal hammer

against an anvil to create the force to spin the bit.

Wherever humans go, power tools will go with us.

Here at DeWalt, we're getting an inside look

at how a pile of composite pellets transforms

into these iconic DeWalt tool cases.

Can you show me how these are made?

- This is the raw material where it starts.

- [Adam] So these pellets

that's the composite of plastic?

- [Wayne] Yes sir.

- [Adam] This vacuum hose sucks these pellets

into a loader system that feeds them into a barrel

and heats them to 450 degrees.

That allows them to melt

so they can be injected into these molds.

- From the barrel is called a nozzle seat.

It's injected, they're valve gates.

You can hear them snapping.

The gate will open with air and let the plastic in.

- [Adam] Is that what those little pneumatic sounds are?

- [Wayne] Yes.

- [Adam] That's the gate opening?

- [Wayne] Yes.

- [Adam] No way.

That right there was liquid plastic 60 seconds ago, right?

- [Wayne] Yes.

- [Adam] 450 degrees molten plastic

is now these hard cases

that are traveling right above me.

They're going to come right down on this line right here.

Look, I just want to touch one.

I mean, it's just incredible.

These black rigid cases

are the iconic image of the DeWalt brand.

Now that they're molded, Wayne's going to show me

how these cases are assembled.

They are literally hot off the press.

- [Wayne] We'll actually slide the pin in.

- [Adam] Okay.

[curious music]

I'm getting a very "I Love Lucy" feeling

how fast these things are coming down.

- [Wayne] Yes.

- [Adam] I'm going to need my Vitameatavegamin

in a little bit. All right.

- Just set it in, in the roof.

[curious music]

- [Wayne] Then we'll come here.

- [Adam] Yes sir.

- Handle up.

- [Adam] Okay.

- Label.

And we'll just transfer it here.

Inside.

[upbeat music]

- [Adam] The skilled workers here at DeWalt

are not just skilled at the machines at DeWalt.

They're always learning, hard American workers like Wayne.

That's what I love about this job.

I got a case to build. One minute.

Humans are able to go to incredible places.

And thanks to power tools,

we're able to do some pretty incredible things

once we get there.

Thanks to power tools,

we're able to repair towers that stand

hundreds of feet off the ground.

And how would you like to be strapped in

50 feet off the ground with a chainsaw in your hands?

Luckily, there are trained professionals

who do that every day.

- Cordless power tools have enabled us

to do projects that in the past

we have thought unattainable.

For example, the Whistler Pedestrian Bridge,

which is built

in one of the tallest North American mountains.

- [Adam] Whistler Bridge is 7,200 feet high.

Workers had to suspend themselves

over the gaping canyon below

with cordless drills, saws and impact wrenches

to construct the bridge.

And when Lady Liberty

was nearing her Centennial celebration,

President Ronald Reagan

commissioned a team of professionals

to help restore her to her former glory.

And of course it was all made possible by power tools

that were not available when the statue was first built.

So whether you're a repairman hanging from a cell tower

or hanging a picture in your living room,

power tools will be there every step of the way.

[exciting music]

Just like the amazing craftsmanship

that went into making tools here at DeWalt,

they take just as much care packaging them

for their customers.

Here in the packaging area, highly skilled humans,

work hand in hook with cobots named Yoshi and Super Mario

to make sure everything leaves the factory

just as it should.

- I'm going to have Nicole...

- [Adam] Hey Nicole.

- who leads our assembly operations...

- How do you do?

take you through the process.

- We start out by taking our kit box.

- [Adam] Okay. You'll have your QR code there.

- Okay.

And this is essentially like the birthday for these tools.

- Yes - All right.

So I'm going to scan it.

- There you go.

- Okay. And then I place it right here.

- Yes.

- Okay.

Next?

Each of these classic DeWalt cases

gets loaded by a human hand.

Every tool and every battery are first scanned

before being placed just so

inside that signature black plastic case

before sliding into the person at the next station.

- We're going to go in here.

- Okay.

- Open the box back up.

- All right.

- Grab a manual and a sheet out of that bottom bin.

It's called a charger sheet.

- Okay, the manual, charger sheet.

- When you close this box,

we're going to lock it up

and that's going to be the last person that has it open

before the customer gets it.

- Can I send him a little note, a nice note.

- Sure.

- Okay.

- This is awesome.

I can't believe someone to actually get this note.

I feel like it's almost like the power tool equivalent

to putting a message in a bottle.

I love it.

- I know it's pretty awesome.

It'll be exciting to see who gets it.

- Alrighty.

Shameless plug.

- I like it.

Alright, so now we're going to close it up.

- All right.

- You're going to lock it.

And we're going to put the "Made in USA" label

in that top right corner.

- Here? - Yes.

Then you come over here, put the box on the scale,

it tells you whether or not it's the right weight.

It's an acceptable weight. You get the green light.

- Okay.

Why would it be off?

- Anything that's missing, it'll register.

- Got it.

With a scale registering everything is in the case

that should be in there.

We zip tied the box closed

and then wrap it in a cardboard sleeve.

It gets taped closed

and we add yet more stickers

including an all important QR code.

- Tells us it's no longer in production.

It's going on a pallet to go out to a customer.

- So that moment is literally the end of production.

- Yes.

- It's like if impact drivers had a bar mitzvah,

when you scan it, it becomes a man, mazel tov!

[Nicole laughs] - [Adam] You know?

- We're going to take it.

We're going to put it on our conveyor here,

just like that. - [Adam] Okay.

And Yoshi will go ahead and put it on the pallet for us.

- Come on Yoshi get to it.

[Nicole laughs]

- It's a suction cup that adheres to the cardboard

and picks it up to put on the pallet.

- Another robot!

- So this is our mirror robot. It's really cool.

As we finish a pallet,

it will pick it up and it'll take it away.

- Oh my lord, you have robot Uber? [laughs]

Even if you don't consider yourself

a particularly handy person,

you can still appreciate the unbelievably hard work

and high level of skill

that goes into making the power tools

that allow us to build,

create and maintain this beautiful world around us.

Using fingertip sized microchips

and designing systems that literally

turn the air around us into energy,

they have managed to distill centuries

of engineering and innovation

down to the point where they fit

into the palm of your hand.

So turn those screws,

tackle your to do's

because with power tools by your side,

you can tackle any job with pride

and a whole lot of power.

See you next time.